THE use of the term "hidden gem" to describe an emerging golf course is more than a little overdone. But I will risk the wrath of the reader by placing Dr Arthur Spring's creation at Bodyke in Co Clare in that category.

ONE might call it the disaster scenario. The US goes to war with Iraq to rid Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction, but North Korean leader Kim Jong-il launches an attack on South Korea, forcing America simultaneously to wage two major wars.