I was introduced to golf when I was five years old. Over the following years, I played many sports but golf was always something I returned to. And starting young, while not essential — Pádraig Harrington was 16 when he picked up a club — is the key to unlocking talent as well as a child’s lifelong passion for the game.

Across the fields from Barryscourt Castle in Co Cork, the 15th century tower house of the de Barry family, is a fine 33-acre residential farm.