Amateur Scene: Peter Cowen, one of the leading coaches in the world, and Neil Manchip, the head teaching professional to Leonard Owens at Royal Dublin Golf Club, are both joining the Golfing Union of Ireland's coaching team.

Cowen, a former European Tour player, and now much sought after by many of the top tour players, including Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn, will have the role of consultant both to the national panels and provincial coaches.

Manchip, a former winner of the Irish Assistants and the Irish PGA Championships, will fill the role as national coach, combining with his present teaching programmes and tournament schedule.

Cowen's first task will be to conduct a two-day seminar at Carton House Golf Club on Thursday and Friday, April 28th/29th which will be attended by Manchip, the provincial coaches and three Irish team captains (Mark Gannon, senior; Michael Burns, youths; and Ciarán Burke, boys).

Manchip, who has already been in charge at a number of national panel weekend training sessions, plus the week-long trip to the Algarve, will accompany the international teams to the main events this year, the European Championships (senior and boys), the Home Internationals (senior and boys) and the Youths' International against Scotland.

As national coach, Manchip will join the GUI's high performance committee which will have the responsibility of preparing future coaching and competitive programmes for the national panels, plus individual tuition.

Their task is immediate after Ireland's dismal showing in the Sherry Cup in Sotogrande last week. The Irish quartet of Brian McElhinney, Darren Crowe, Seán McTernan and Michael McGeady finished a disappointing 11th behind winners Spain.

Spain's total of 854 gave them a five shots win over Scotland with England taking third place a further nine shots back.

Veteran Gary Wolstenholme won the men's individual title with rounds of 72, 68, 71 and 73 for a four-under-par aggregate of 284. Richie Ramsay (Royal Aberdeen) and Andrew McArthur (Windyhill), always in the picture throughout the four days, did well to finish in a four-way tie for second place on 286 and certainly boosted their Walker Cup team selection prospects for the Chicago match against the Americans in August 13th and 14th.

Scottish open amateur strokeplay title-holder Ramsay was very consistent with rounds of 71, 71, 72 and 72 while McArthur did not make many mistakes in compiling 70, 71, 72 and 73.

Seán McTernan, who finished second to Wolstenholme in the New South Wales Amateur Championship earlier in the season, was best of the Irish with a total of 296.

McGeady was next best on 299 (77, 75, 74, 73) while Crowe never reached the the form he showed earlier in the season in returning 306 (76, 76, 77, 77) while Irish champion McElhinney had three successive 78s before a final round of 74.

Austria were the surprise winners of the women's team eventfrom Scotland and Spain with Stefanie Endstrasser taking the individual award from Scotland's Clare Queen and Nicole Gergely also from Austria.

The Austrian shot rounds of 74, 70, 70 and 73 to edge Queen (73, 69, 74, 73) into second place.

The Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU) has relaunched its Website. CONGU represents the four men's and the four women's national unions/associations for handicapping in Britain and Ireland.

February 1st 2004 was a landmark day for golf handicapping with the introduction of the Unified Handicapping System (UHS), which, for the first time, used the same system for men's and women's handicaps.

The objective of the new website is to promote greater understanding of the UHS and the principles behind it. This is achieved by publishing the system in full linked to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) and explanations of the more important aspects.

The more common criticisms of the UHS are answered by the analysis of actual competition data in a 'Myths and Misconceptions' section. The site contains items of interest for experienced administrators, golf club secretaries, club golfers and, indeed, for anyone who has an interest in golf handicapping.

By using the website, golfers should develop a greater understanding of the handicapping process and the reasons behind it, which in turn will enhance their enjoyment of competitive golf. It is intended that the site will become the focal point where administrators and golfers will find the definitive answers to their handicapping queries. The site will be further developed from now on with more FAQ's and other items of interest as the need arises.

"The site has been professionally developed to enable easy access and navigation for both the dedicated web surfer and the more inexperienced internet user.

"The site will continue to be developed with the FAQ's being added as required. I hope that the site will help club handicap committees in the administration of amateur golf in Britain and Ireland," said CONGU secretary Kevin McIntyre.