Rosses Point was especially busy on a memorable Wednesday three months ago. It was June 20th and the semi-finals and final of the Irish Men's Close Championship were being staged on the famous Co Sligo links. But there was also golfing activity of a rather special nature on the new, nine-hole Bomore stretch.

That was where prospective Olympians were sharpening their skills.

Ireland is to play host to the Special Olympics in 2003 and, after the inclusion of golf as a demonstration sport in 1999, this country is to have the distinction of staging it as an official event for the first time.

So it is that aspiring medallists will be particularly active in applying themselves to golfing disciplines specially designed for them.

They will be competing on five different levels: 1 Individual skills; 2 Alternate shot (foursomes); 3 Unified sports team play; 4 Individual strokeplay competition (nine holes); 5 Individual strokeplay competition (18 holes).

The Special Olympics began in 1968 when Eurice Kennedy Shriver, sister of former US president John F Kennedy, organised the first games in Chicago. It become the realisation of an objective which she had cherished from the time she started a day-camp for people with a learning disability, a few years earlier.

Ms Shriver was convinced that handicapped people of this nature - for instance victims of Down Syndrome - were far more capable of participating in sport and physical activity, than many of us might have imagined. And her conviction has led to countless children and adults with a learning difficulty becoming involved in the Special Olympics.

In fact, the movement has grown to the extent that it now incorporates 160 countries. And participants must be at least eight years old and be identified by an agency or appropriate professional as having a learning difficulty, what are described as cognitive delays as measured by formal assessment, and have required specially-designed instruction.

And it seems that golf is a ideal outlet. Rory Callagy, a member of Co Sligo GC can speak with some authority on the subject, given that his daughter, Bairbre, has Down Syndrome and a heart condition. As it happens, she has been playing golf for five years.

Golf started for her in 1995 when, from her bedroom window overlooking the Rosses Point links, she saw about 20 competitors preparing for the West of Ireland Championship. "Can I try that?" she asked her father. The upshot was that within a few weeks, having acquired two putters and gained membership of the club, her golfing career was effectively under way. She was 14.

Since then, her determination was never more evident than in the wake of a stroke, which she suffered in November 1999. Not alone did it seem certain to scupper her chances of taking part in the Special Olympics Inter-Regional Golf Competition in Dublin three weeks later, it seemed likely to end her involvement in the game.

In the event, she declared she was "running out of medals" and would "give anything to go to Dublin." So it was that she overcame serious problems of balance and power on one side of her body to win a silver medal and, as a bonus, was nominated to accept a splendid trophy on behalf of the Connacht team.

"The beauty of golf is that it is not as physically demanding as events such as horse-riding, swimming or athletics," said her father, who is golf co-ordinator for the Special Olympics in the Connacht area. "And it's tremendous the lift it gives them, particularly in enhancing their co-ordination and sense of achievement."

Former Irish champion golfer Mark Gannon, now an international selector, can appreciate these benefits first-hand. His sister, Ariane, is a victim of Down Syndrome, who has delighted in playing golf since she was introduced to the game by her father, the late Jack Gannon.

"While the rest of us (himself and his brother Frank) were off competing in championships, my father would take Ariane out on to the course with one club and play five or six holes with her," said Mark.

"Looking back on my own competitive experiences, the thing that has always intrigued me about her is her total absence of fear." He explained: "Put her on a tee with out of bounds on one side and water on the other and she'll simply give the ball a whack as if she was hitting it into a 40-acre field. She actually plays the game quite well, though she struggles around the green."

In fact she can score well enough to cover nine holes in 47 or 48 strokes, pulling her own trolley.

Her mother Nancy is clearly very proud of her. "Ariane won a bronze medal when competing in Scotland earlier this month, but she normally wins gold here at home," he said of the 32-year-old. "I suppose the most important thing about golf is that it gave her a common bond with the rest of the family. You know we're all golf mad."

Ms Gannon, a former lady president of Co Louth, went on: "She has been a member of our club since she was seven and she has a lovely swing, exactly like Frank's.

Then there is Oliver Doherty, a 21-year-old from Donegal, who competed in the US in 1999. When Oliver was six, his parents were informed by doctors that he could never participate in sports, but five years later, he proved the medics wrong by taking up golf. And his success at the game can be gauged from the fact that he had an 18-hole score of 39 points at the Inter-Regional tournament.

"When I was a little boy, my father took myself and my sister out to the links," he said. "From watching him play, I developed an interest in the game and when I was 11, he bought me a junior set of Ballesteros clubs. I won my first juvenile prize a year later and, from then on, golf became my whole life. And it is still is."

He added: "My father coached me well, especially on the rules of the game, making sure that I respected them. I have won many competitions and being able to participate in the Special Olympics is the greatest thing that has happened to me. I have met and competed against some great players and this, in turn, has given me great confidence in myself."

Perhaps the most endearing aspect of watching the mentally handicapped in competition, however, is their wonderful generosity of spirit. There is never a hint of envy at the performance of a rival. Rather will they whoop with delight at a particularly good shot executed by another player.

A week after the Co Sligo get-together last June, the Irish Regional Games were held at Elm Green GC in Dublin, where 70 players participated. And, in a fairly grim summer, their activities were again blessed by delightful weather.

All of which is a build up to the National Games next June, which will act as a qualifying process for the big event the following year. The two Dublin venues will be Elm Green and Portmarnock Links and, according to Callagy, Ireland could have as many as 30 to 40 qualifiers in golf, as opposed to the five who travelled to North Carolina two years ago.

From a geographical standpoint, the regions are different to other all-Ireland sports. Donegal is absorbed into the Connacht Region while Cavan and Monaghan come under the Leinster umbrella. But it remains a 32-county operation, involving competitors from Northern Ireland.

Earlier this year, a Council of Patrons was announced for the 2003 games. Under the chairmanship of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the patrons include British Prime Minister Tony Blair, pop stars Andrea Corr and Ronan Keating, the three Archbishops of Dublin, Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne, financier Dermot Desmond and leading businessmen Seβn Quinn, Michael Smurfit and Peter Sutherland and the North of Ireland First Minister, David Trimble.

Denis O'Brien is chairman of the organising committee of the games and, as with the list of patrons, the board of directors includes representatives from the corporate, political, media and entertainment sectors.

The Special Olympics believes that with proper instruction and encouragement, their competitors can become physically fit while developing mentally, socially and spiritually. There is also a huge benefit for their families, while communities are helped to accept people with a learning difficulty in an atmosphere of equality and understanding.

Now, through the addition of golf to their activities, it is hoped that these admirable benefits can reach a new dimension.