Through uncertain times and unprecedented personal restrictions, golf is proving one of the few remaining outlets for sporting participation, at the grassroots at least, writes Simon Lewis.

Irish rugby players, professional and amateur, will have woken this morning to a very different sporting landscape as their governing bodies called a halt to all playing activity in response to the growing threat of Covid-19 on these shores.

The 62nd Forbes Travel Guide 2020 Stars Awards were published last week. Exclusive hotel names? Absolutely. Eyebrows raised? You bet.

In March 2019, the historic decision to form Golf Ireland was completed.

THE professional game beckons for James Sugrue after a stellar 2019, but the Mallow golfer will not rush into the paying ranks on anything but his own terms.

Irish golf clubs have had plenty to celebrate in 2019.

No man is an island, not even in a non-team sport like golf and while Shane Lowry is not one to use “we” when referring to his achievements in the style of many of his counterparts in golf’s elite, the Irishman is not afraid to give credit where it is due.

It is all very well taking the historic steps to form an inclusive governing body for the game on this island, but with preparations underway for Golf Ireland to supersede the Golfing Union of Ireland and the Irish Ladies Golf Union in January 2021, a leader needs to be found for the brave new world.

Conor Purcell missed out on his country’s blue-riband amateur title as the Flogas Irish Amateur Open went to England’s James Newton — but Ireland’s highest-ranked player hopes his runner-up finish at Co Sligo impressed the watching Walker Cup selectors.

Tralee Golf Club will again host the 2019 Kerry Scratch Cup on May 11-12. The prestigious 115-year-old trophy will be won over a 54-hole tournament with an increased prize fund of €2,500.

Happiness for some is a long walk with a putter. But for West of Ireland champion Robert Brazill, few things match the thrill of ripping a drive a mile — especially if he’s trying to beat a souped-up track car down the straight at Mondello Park.

Templemore’s John Moloughney bowed out as president of the Golfing Union of Ireland at the weekend as the office transferred out of Munster to Connacht.

If you see Cathal Butler and his Kinsale Golf Club Barton Shield team-mates bickering at the AIG Cups and Shields finals in Thurles this week, do not be alarmed, they’re just being friendly.

Mallow’s James Sugrue and Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) have been nominated by the Golfing Union of Ireland to compete in the 36-hole Dubai Duty Free Irish Open qualifier.

For all the excitement generated by last month’s announcement that the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open is to be played at Lahinch Golf Club next summer, there is plenty to whet the appetite in 2018 as the famous links plays host to the 117th South of Ireland Amateur Open Championship.

The return of #TheFairWay campaign reminds us all that handicap cheats are not welcomed in the game, writes Kevin Markham.

Some friendly advice from Paul McGinley has set up South of Ireland champion James Sugrue for an all-out assault on Irish domination in 2018.

As one of 20 teams still standing from a starting field of 1,800, Thurles Golf Club have plenty reason to be proud heading into this week’s AIG Cups and Shields finals at Carton House.

Club membership numbers are dropping but plenty people are still playing golf. Kevin Markham weighs up the membership route against the nomadic green fees option.

AIG Irish Close Champion Alex Gleeson will head into the European Nations Cup in Spain next week in confident mood, his early season form kick-started by warm-weather winter competition and a positive vibe from a close-knit Ireland squad.

The GUI has drawn a line in the sand, writes Kevin Markham.

There’s plain cheating — and then there’s handicap massaging. And the Golfing Union of Ireland doesn’t differentiate — both are forms of cheating.

The jury is still out on whether golf club membership numbers for Irish men have bottomed out but the powers that be at the Golfing Union of Ireland are confident that does not necessarily mean those people have turned their backs on the game.

Former Ryder Cup star Des Smyth has accepted the challenge of mentoring Ireland’s fledgling touring professionals.

Monkstown Golf Club’s Jim Long has been elected as the new chairman of Munster Golf at the Munster Branch Annual Delegates Meeting.

Rivalries are nothing new in sport. They are on every corner but few have the importance or the commercial impact of the three-day match play tournament which biennially pits the best players from both the US and Europe against each other: the Ryder Cup.

The AIG Senior Cup returned to Rosses Point on Saturday night as Co Sligo reclaimed Irish club golf’s blue riband title with a dramatic final victory over Leinster’s Castle at Carton House.

More affiliate members of the Olympic Council of Ireland have called for a review of structures within the OCI, as one member organisation insisted a constitutional review was “long overdue”.