Success doesn't come cheaply, and last year the Irish Ladies Golf Union's expenditure on coaching was in excess of £39,000. Yet, such visible dividends as the annexation of the Irish Women's Close Championship at Carlow last weekend by someone like Claire Coughlan - a teenager who has benefited hugely from the ILGU's foresight - appears to make it money exceptionally well spent.
Coughlan, at 19, was the youngest winner since Philomena Garvey, in 1946 - and, by coincidence, her win came a hundred years to the week after the victory of the youngest ever champion, May Hezlet. Coughlan's win is suitable affirmation of the ILGU's nurturing policy.
Indeed, it is an indication of the modern demands on golfers that members of the Irish girls' squad of recent years, among them Coughlan, were involved in physical and nutritional assessment at the NCTC in Limerick University, quite apart from coaching from professionals Lynn Sweeney and Philip Murphy.
Elaine Bradshaw, who was captain of the Irish girls' team when Coughlan was first brought on board, recalls her determination to improve. "When she first underwent all the physical tests at the centre in Limerick, Claire finished close to the bottom. A year later, she emerged top in almost every discipline," said Bradshaw.
And that policy of introducing young golfers to the physical and mental demands of top-class golf has continued under Ada O'Sullivan, a former international, who has taken over as Irish girls' captain.
After Coughlan's breakthrough, and especially the manner of it, O'Sullivan must now entertain even greater hopes for the Irish team for the Home Internationals at High Post Golf Club in England this summer.
Undoubtedly one of the main beneficiaries of the more aggressive approach of the ILGU has been Coughlan. Earlier this year she was dispatched to Portugal with the full senior squad (where she had the chance to work with national coach Howard Bennett) and, now, as Irish champion, she has been selected on teams for two major championships in the coming months: the British Women's at Royal Birkdale on June 8th-12th and the European Team Championships in Versailles on July 7th-11th.
She is also assured of selection on the Irish team for the Home Internationals in Scotland in September.
But Coughlan was not assured of entry into the British Championships this time last week . . . but, as if to hint at the fate that awaited her later in the week, she had been brought into the field before her Irish championship success.
Coughlan's acceptance into the British championships has brought the number of Irish entries to 12 for Birkdale next month. The full Irish challenge is: Lillian Behan (The Curragh), Alison Coffey (Warrenpoint), Coughlan (Cork), Pat Doran (Donabate), Elaine Dowdall (Wexford/UCD), Jenny Gannon (Co Louth), Sinead Keane (The Curragh), Maura Morrin (Naas), Irene Murphy (Cork), Susie O'Brien (Milltown), Oonagh Purfield (Co Louth) and Deirdre Smith (Co Louth).
Royal Co Down's Emma Dickson, one of the six-player team selected for the European Championships, is currently on a reserve list and could yet be drafted into the British.
Of the six-player team for the European Team Championships in France, Dickson and Coughlan are the only debutants.
Meanwhile, Purfield has been forced to withdraw from the travelling party to this week's St Rule Trophy tournament at St Andrews. Her absence is due to business commitments and reduces to seven the Irish representation at an event which will have a major influence on the Vagliano Trophy team. Coffey, runner-up in the recent Helen Holm Scottish strokeplay championship, Dowdall, O'Brien, Tricia Mangan, Michelle McGreevy, Hazel Kavanagh and Yvonne Cassidy are the Irish competitors.
