Life on Tour - then and now: Paul Gallagher charts the remarkable changes in the lives of touring professionals as seen through the eyes of three of Ireland's elite players

Getting on a boat then alighting from a train before eventually finding the designated guest house while lugging, not just the tour kit, but practice balls as well isn't exactly the trimmings associated with the life of a top professional golfer. But not all that long ago that's exactly how it was, a world apart from the jet-set lifestyle today's stars of the fairways enjoy as they are lifted and dropped off at the drop of a hat.

Indeed, when the likes of Christy O'Connor Jnr and Des Smyth set out for a life on tour in the 1970s the situation was considerably different to the mollycoddled approach which today's generation have become accustomed to and expect.

Graeme McDowell only joined the paid ranks in 2002 so the 27-year-old hasn't known any different. Management companies, state-of the art tournament facilities, private jets, five-star accommodation all come with the territory these days.

When drawing on the experiences of this particular Irish trio it's fascinating to see how life on the European Tour has evolved into a multi-million euro, global operation since its official inception in 1971 when John Jacobs was appointed tournament director-general of the PGA.

Smyth is better placed than most to observe the changes on tour due to the longevity of his career since he started out as a 21-year-old in 1974. He remains the oldest winner on the European Tour after capturing the Madeira Island Open in 2001 (aged 48 years and 34 days) during his 28th consecutive season on tour. The Drogheda native is now enjoying something of an Indian summer to his career on the highly-lucrative Champions Tour in the States since turning 50.

"There's a huge difference now compared to when I started out," explains Smyth, now 53, who has won twice on the Champions Tour and collected over $3.2 million in three years on the American Senior circuit.

"For a start the travel is a lot easier and more frequent nowadays. In the mid 1970s someone setting out from Ireland usually always had to get flights to London to connect on to Europe as there weren't too many direct flights into Europe. The only direct ones I remember were to either Paris or Amsterdam. When you landed it wasn't courtesy cars from the airport to take you to the tournament venue. No, in the '70s we took trains everywhere."

O'Connor recalls similar travelling arrangements yet looks back fondly on those days in an era when only a fraction of the events were close to home as opposed to trekking the globe in search of tournaments staged almost every week.

"In the beginning we usually travelled by boat to England or Jersey, that's simply the way it was in those days and we made the most of it," notes O'Connor who turned pro in 1967 when his generation looked after all their own travel arrangements.

"A bunch of us Irish guys got together and made the trip and that way it was also cheaper to sort the accommodation - a good bed and breakfast not plush hotels!"

"All it really takes is a call to the office and everything gets arranged, flights and hotels, everything really," was how McDowell succinctly summed up the ease with which everything is booked for him. That's simply the way a top level pro gets pampered by his management company in modern times. At least the 27-year-old admits: "To be quite honest we are usually lifted and laid wherever we go these days. Absolutely everything is taken care off," added McDowell.

"When I signed up with Chubby (Andrew Chandler, who heads up International Sports Management) his policy was: 'We do everything so all you gotta do is take care of your golf ball'. By doing that the players are able to concentrate solely on their golf and that's a pretty big deal."

Tournament venues from a previous generation were also something to behold, especially when it came to practice, according to Smyth and O'Connor.

"Practice facilities were awful or non-existent in some cases," noted O'Connor with a chuckle. "You had to bring your own practice balls as there were never any at the course. Even at the British Open you brought your own practice balls, I'm absolutely serious.

"We went down to the range, if there was one, and your caddy went to one end and we aimed at them from the other as they tried to catch the balls. I can tell you, I've seen many a caddy getting hit because you might have had up to 50 caddies at any one point with golf balls raining down on them."

Alternatively, Smyth recalls teaming up with a fellow pro as they took turns to hit and collect balls for each other.

"It was a bit of a bind at times. I remember Jimmy Heggarty, for instance, chucking balls for me, then when he hit them I'd go down and chuck them for him. But nowadays at a tournament you can go to the range with acres of space and they present you with a lovely collection of brand new balls, so you really enjoy doing your two or three hours work."

And because the golfer is king in these days of sponsorship and advertising, manufacturers are only too happy to provide their master with what they want, whereas as one point a premium was even put on golf balls.

"At tournaments we used to be given three new golf balls and if you made the cut you got three more," noted O'Connor before illustrating his point by referring to Seve Ballesteros.

"I remember when the great Seve first came out on tour and was world number one. His brother asked Slazenger, the company who sponsored him, for some more golf balls. The response he got was, 'I give your brother three balls, and when he qualifies, I give him three more'. Nowadays manufacturers wouldn't think twice about throwing 10 dozen in your locker."

This whole notion of better facilities came about when the players recognised the need for improvement after they'd sampled the facilities available in the States. They not only had great practice ranges but excellent chipping and putting areas too.

"I think the whole area of practice has been the biggest change and it improved the standard of play in Europe dramatically," insisted Smyth.

"The guys would come back from the States, see the facilities and say 'look we are miles behind, no wonder we can't win a Ryder Cup'. That changed a lot of things and I suppose it started from the late '70s and early '80s. Standards then got a whole lot better in the 1990s and now the service really is excellent."

"Facilities at the golf courses really are second to none," concurs McDowell with attention to detail stretching way beyond golf.

"Everything is thought of, right down to the fine food or the creche for the kids if necessary, every aspect is looked after. We do live in a bit of a dream world sometimes, no doubt about it."

The technological revolution in equipment design over the last 30 years has also been a crucial element of change. Season by season old persimmon woods were replaced by metal heads, later to be replaced by titanium, just as steel shafts made way for graphite. The enhanced performance of golf balls - never mind adopting a universal one-sized ball - remains a key debate with the governing bodies to this day as they strive to stem hitting distances for fear of rendering shorter, classic courses redundant in this power age.

Whatever about the improved standards, the popularity of the game has seeped into every corner of the globe. To call it the European Tour is somewhat misleading given the amount of co-sanctioned events with other tours around the world. In fact, the first official counting event for the 2006 European Tour season began, strangely, in November 2005 when the current Order of Merit leader David Howell won the HSBC Champions Tournament in the co-sanctioned event with the Asian Tour in Shanghai. And bar the festive period, Ryder Cup or perhaps a World Golf Championship there is a regular event each week of the year through to the season-ending Volvo Masters in November this year.

In one sense such a long, gruelling season requires military-style planning of a playing schedule for the likes of McDowell, who also dedicates time to competing on the PGA Tour, if only to ensure the logistics work.

O'Connor feels there are simply too many events and isn't surprised these guys feel tired as they traverse the globe to chase the coin.

"Working out your schedule is a pretty big deal for tour players nowadays," explains McDowell, who sits down with Chandler and works out his plan of attack for the season.

"Overall you try to set up the year so that you're not playing seven/eight weeks in a row and risk burning out. My ideal run is say three/four weeks on then a couple off. That said, schedules can quickly change as mine has done in this, a Ryder Cup year."

"I know we only had eight or nine tournaments in total when we started," noted O'Connor. "But I personally think there are too many events these days. A lot of guys think nothing of flying 5,000-odd miles in a private jet to tee it up in the next event after they've barely just finished one.

"I think it's important to spend quality time away from the game, not spend so many weeks on the road as life is also for living too. I also don't think all that travel can be good for you. Players wonder why they don't play well sometimes. I can tell you, the only reason is fatigue."

Partly for these reasons O'Connor also feels the sense of camaraderie has gone from the game. Even allowing for the nostalgic at play, he may have a point. "We had an incredible time on tour. It used to be a very, very friendly and fun time because everybody spoke whereas nowadays you could walk into a locker-room and not one other person would speak to you - too busy in their own world.

"I recall Christy (O'Connor snr) and the likes taking eight or nine of us out for dinner and that was by far the highlight of the whole day. We would sit there, have a drink, and listen to them telling stories. The 65s and 66s were still shot but we were able to enjoy ourselves."

"That's not to say there isn't still the same friendship on tour but times have changed as Tiger Woods led the way and professionals saw the benefit of being in peak physical condition for better performances. And naturally the better you play the more the sponsors want to get on board and so the prize money goes up accordingly," added O'Connor.

And that leads to perhaps the most obvious and significant change in the life of a professional which has been the vastly increased amount of prize money on offer. To compare the fortunes on offer week-in, week-in out is tangible, and even though it's all relative, there is no escaping the fact that even a journeyman pro can make a tidy living from the main tours these days.

Take O'Connor; he earned £5,000 (€7,300 approx) for winning the Carrolls Irish Open in 1975 and finished seventh on the order of merit with £11,979 (€17,500) from 14 events. In 1979 Smyth won twice and picked up £7,000 (€10,200) for winning the Newcastle Brown 900 before going on to finish 10th in the standings with £31,521 (€46,000). McDowell's first win came at the Scandinavian Masters in 2002 - after only his fourth start as a professional - and earned him €316,660. In 2004 he finished sixth on the order of merit with earnings of €1,648,862 from 31 events.

Different times, and most certainly different numbers.

Yes, they still play the same game, albeit with all-singing, all-dancing cutting edge technology to hand, but when it comes to ease of travel, tournament facilities, prize money, schedules or a plain old sense of camaraderie, the life and times of a touring professional have certainly changed.