Research leads us to believe . . .

Bitter experience should have sounded alarm bells when I read the words "despite careful research, it has not been possible to trace . . ." Billy Feherty had my full attention when he phoned to say that Wentworth will not be the first British club to have a former professional as captain, when Bernard Gallacher takes over the role in 2000.

Clearly, I had been misinformed by my colleagues across the water. And who better to know about such matters than the father of David Feherty, one of our leading tournament professionals?

"They overlooked Tom McKinstry from Helen's Bay, where I happen to be a member," he said. "At various stages, Tom was professional, captain and president of the club. Check with his wife, Pearl; she'll tell you." Which I did. And Billy Feherty was perfectly correct.

Further investigation at Helen's Bay uncovered a charming story. It seems that in the summer of 1933, 19-year-old Tom McKinstry played for the first time on the delightful, nine-hole links, which is situated four miles from Bangor. So began a remarkable love-affair that would last almost 60 years.

Tom learned his craft from his father, also Tom, who was a highly respected professional at Balmoral and Ormeau. In fact, they were the first father and son to compete together in the Ulster Professional Championship, when it was played at Royal Belfast in 1933.

Young Tom was taken on as professional at Helen's Bay for wages of 10 shillings per week in the summer and five shillings during the winter. But when the club made a loss of £105 in 1937, he was summarily axed from the payroll. Still, he remained on in his little hut on the course, surviving on lessons and the sale of equipment.

"I might have spent the rest of my life as the unpaid pro at Helen's Bay, but for Adolf Hitler," he would later joke. He joined the Royal Navy on the outbreak of the second World War, and, on returning to civvy-street six years later, decided to get himself a proper job.

So it was that he got involved in shipping and animal feed and joined Helen's Bay as an ordinary member in 1946. He then gained reinstatement as an amateur and went on to become a formidable player, despite being plagued by the dreaded yips. He won the captain's prize (Sam Derby) in 1964, four days after Pearl had captured the lady captain's prize.

McKinstry went on to become captain of Helen's Bay in 1977 and club president from 1987 to '89 and served on the Ulster Branch GUI before his death, five years ago. All of which, in its own way, is just as colourful as Gallacher's career, even with all those Ryder Cup appearances.

"I think one of the reasons why the public like the Ryder Cup so much is that they know we are not in it for the money." - Colin Montgomerie.

WHEN the eighth European Tour Training School was held at San Roque in Southern Spain in January 1996, veteran coach John Jacobs was particularly impressed by the interest and application of a young Irish "student". Which may explain why Padraig Harrington has since become the ninth most successful graduate in the history of the school.

More than 200 graduates have won in excess of £35 million in prize money, of which Harrington can account for £1,119,754. The list is headed by Vijay Singh, who brought rather special distinction to the school by becoming the first graduate to win a major championship when he captured the USPGA at Sahalee, Washington, last August.

Meanwhile, Lee Westwood, from the class of '94, has won seven tournaments this year, and David Carter from the class of '95 has added the World Cup to his Irish Open triumph.

The school's 11th staging, sponsored by MacGregor, will be from January 3rd to 10th, when more than 20 invitees will absorb the collective knowledge and wisdom of some of the finest coaches, psychologists, physiologists and nutritionists in the game.

FACED with the constant challenge of keeping his staff on their toes, Pat Ruddy gathered them around this week and asked each in turn to name an Irish course which started with a par three. To his great delight, courses such as Elm Park, Grange and Corballis came tripping off their tongues.

When it came to the turn of European Club vice-president Eddie Fallon, however, there was an embarrassing silence. Even though the bould Eddie had slipped and broken an ankle on the par-three opening hole at Donabate, two months ago!

ON seeing such illustrious names as Frank Beard, Bobby Nichols and Jodie Mudd on the trophy, Len Ashby had reason to believe that victory in the Junior Falls Cities Championship would not come easily. But as things turned out, it was to be the softest challenge of his young golfing career.

Granted, Ashby was only one up after 10 holes of the 36hole final at Shawnee GC, Kentucky. But that was when his opponent, Kyle Newell, departed the scene for a rather special appointment. He was appearing in the local district court to answer a charge of vandalising the Ballard High School.

"They weren't allowed to give me the eight holes when Kyle wasn't there," said Ashby. "So I had to play them out." Which meant he was nine up before Newell returned for the second 18. "Len couldn't have been nicer and more co-operative," said Newell after his court appearance.

It seems that Newell, who graduated from high school last spring, didn't foresee a problem when he entered the tournament in that he never expected to reach the final. But he did. And it coincided with a sentence of 25 hours' community service after he had offered regrets for his involvement with eight others in what had become an annual prank at the school.

For the record, Ashby won the title by a final margin of 8 and 7 in circumstances somewhat different from his predecessors.

FOR years, Canada geese were making a mess of the fairways at Shorehaven GC in East Norwalk, Connecticut, which has half-a-mile of coastline, four ponds and 43 acres of marsh. Even when golf balls inadvertently whistled among them, they stubbornly refused to move. But everything changed when the great goose chase got under way in 1992.

Where noisemakers, scarecrows, plastic swans and multicolour flags had all failed miserably, Skip and his friends became an unqualified success, surpassing the wildest expectations of course superintendents. One of then said: "When I told the American Border Collie Association what I wanted the dogs for, they thought I was crazy. Now I'm told that 150 border collies have been sold to clubs in this area."

Another superintendent commented: "About 500 of the geese were driving us crazy, but after I got my border collie four years ago, we no longer had a problem, other than the occasional straggler."

But the members of Whippoorwill GC in York can't understand what all the fuss is about. Long before border collies came on the scene, they were using an English setter, Lucky, to chase geese. And he was so successful that when he died a plaque was erected in his memory at the 10th tee. An inscription reads: "Dedicated to our bird dog Lucky, who kept the geese from Whippoorwill." Doglegs and all.

THIS day in history . . . On December 5th, 1949, Jerry Lanston "Lanny" Wadkins was born in Richmond, Virginia, which means that this time next year he will be eligible for the US Seniors' Tour. Winner of the Southern Amateur in 1968, he went on to capture the US Amateur in 1970 before embarking on a highly successful professional career.

Wadkins won 21 tournaments on his home circuit, including the 1977 USPGA Championship. Further afield, he won four events internationally, the last of which was the 1984 World Nissan Championship in Japan. And he was tied 18th, behind Ken Brown, in the 1978 Carrolls Irish Open at Portmarnock.

Renowned as a fierce competitor, he desperately sought a home victory in the 1995 Ryder Cup at Oak Hill, where he was skipper of the American side. But his dignity in defeat did much to repair an image of the Ryder Cup greatly tarnished by events at Kiawah Island four years previously.

Teaser: A player in the process of removing a loose impediment on the putting green accidentally moved his ball with his foot. What is the ruling?

Answer: The player incurs a penalty stroke under Rule 18-2a (Ball at rest moved by player, partner, caddie or equipment) and the ball must be replaced. Rule 18-2c provides that the player incurs no penalty if, on the putting green, his ball moves in the process of removing a loose impediment. However, the rule applies only where the moving of a ball is directly attributable to removal of a loose impediment. In this case, removal of the loose impediment did not cause the ball to move.