Which country’s welcome flings its arms open to you with coast-to-coast golf courses, culture oozing from every orifice, gleaming and brooding natural beauty and an attitude that if you ‘sing for your supper’, you’ll be valued by all, even with any quirks you might have in your bag?

There is only one place on earth this applies to: the Emerald Isle. This report is not just about golf in Ireland; hopefully it will give an insight into what makes the place and people tick, why it produces some of the world’s best cultural and sporting performers, and why every time you touch down,

that feeling of people accepting you just as you are, even if a bit barking mad (speak for yourself – Ed.), is what the inhabitants are interested in. What can you ‘bring to the table’? What is your contribution to the day? Are you entertaining to be around? Or are you simply full of bull?