That is the objective of the Golfing Union of Ireland as it grooms dozens of young players for golfing greatness in the mould of former leading amateurs such as Philip Walton, Ronan Rafferty, John O'Leary, Des Smyth, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley all of whom have gone on to fame and fortune as Ryder Cup players.

An Irish team of three will travel to the World Amateur Team Championship in South Africa in October following a programme of competition and the most extraordinary activities at Carton House to make a serious bid to take home the Eisenhower Trophy.

This year's team will be buoyed-up by the fine form all year of Rory McIlroy. He set the golfing world alight last year when scoring a 61 at Portrush and has emerged as a dominant force this year.

His scores of 65-69-72-68 in winning the European Amateur Championship in Italy last week are just the kind of numbers required to win the World Championship.

An ability to go really low on the card is required, something that has been missing in Ireland's first two bids for the World Championship.

The Irish debut was in Kuala Lumpur in 2002. Thunder and rain effectively ended the event after three rounds with the Irish trio of Noel Fox, Justin Kehoe and Colm Moriarty down the field at 28th.

They had scored rounds of 71, 73, 74, 76, 76, 76, 77, 78 and 79 for a grand total of 680.

That is an unacceptable average of 75.5 per round.

The 2004 World Amateur at Riomar in Puerto Rico was also curtailed by bad weather.

The Irish improved to 17th, as Darren Crowe, Brian McElhinney and Sean McTernan scored in order from low to high like this - 69, 71, 72, 73, 73, 73, 74, 74, 79 for a grand total of 658. An improved average of 73.1 per round but all of 34 strokes, or almost four strokes per player per round, behind the winning Americans.

The victorious American team of Ryan Moore, Spencer Levin and Lee Williams scored in the 60s no fewer than five times. Their scores arranged from low to high read like this - 65, 67, 67, 67, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74 for a grand total of 624.

The message is clear. The Irish have to play aggressively for lower numbers because that is what it takes as the leading nations are not going to come back to meet them.

Perhaps the Irish need to take a leaf from the Swedish Golf Federation's textbook which has, for the last ten years, identified 54 as the ideal golf score! Yes, 54, or level threes, is the ideal score upon which the Swedes focus and Annika Sorenstam has already had a 59!

In Ireland's favour is the fact that the teams are small:

three players per team with the best two strokeplay scores to count for each team in each round. It is just conceivable that we can produce the best scores in such an event whereas we could never aspire to matching 6, 8 or 10 cards with giants like the U.S.A. But two cards per round, yes!

Irish team captain Michael Burns is well aware of the possibilities and is refreshingly open. "Everyone wants to be the World Champion.

We have been talking about it.

We believe we are capable of winning but it is all down to performance in the vital week, " he says.

Preparations have included participation in the South African Open at the same venue earlier this year by Rory McIlroy, Darren Crowe, Seamus Power and Brian McElhinney.

Since then, the Union's headquarters and academy have opened at Carton House and the panel of players has undergone the most extraordinary training, amounting almost to being programmed for success. "We have worked on psychology, optometry, nutrition and mind focus, " says Burns as he pauses to take a breath before adding to the list - "swing-coaching, tactics and yoga."

Quite a change from the days when the GUI failed to enter an Irish team because some people were afraid that the R&A would be offended if Ireland went alone, and would throw Ireland out of the Walker Cup. Other people cited high costs as a reason for not entering.

Luckily, things changed and Ireland got into the premier world event, just in time to avoid major embarrassment as newcomers to the event this year include such powers as Bulgaria, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Honduras and Bosnia. Already in the competition were El Salvador, Egypt, Latvia, Estonia and even the mighty Tunisia. Ireland had to be there and it was always obviously so.

Odds are that the Irish may peform better this year. The team will not be picked until after this month's Home Internationals. But hopes are that Rory McIlroy will be the catalyst for a great Irish week in South Africa on October 2629 in what amounts to golf 's Olympic tournament.

Meanwhile, the Irish Ladies' Golf Union is going it alone for the first time this year at the Women's World Amateur Team Championship at Stellenboch, South Africa. Tricia Mangan, Claire Coughlan and Martina Gillen will compete for the Espirito Santo Trophy on October 18-21.