with a great dash of Irish pride attached.

Whereas 61 of the clubs have had their royal status granted to them by the British royalty, the golfers of Royal Tara assumed that the kings who once resided in their area would have bestowed this prefix on them and so, quite rightly, became royal of their own accord.

The club was previously known as Bellinter Park and at the time that it became royal it operated, in the traditional Irish way, from a tin hut hidden amongst pine trees not far from today's palace of a clubhouse.

It was in this modest accommodation one windy night in 1965 that John Spicer, Pat Reynolds, Des Collier, Frank Garrahy, Peter McKeever and friends sat around and, either before or after a few shots of malt, decided to go royal!

They have never looked back and their club today is recognised as one of the finest in the land. There are, of course, three other royal clubs in Ireland. Royal Dublin was the first to go to that level when Victoria gave it the nod in 1885.

Royal Portrush was promoted by the Duke of York in 1888 and Royal County Down was favoured by Edward VII in the following year.

The oldest royal club of them all is, of course, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews which was granted the patronage of William IV in 1834.

The youngest of them all is Royal Wellington in New Zealand which was elevated by Prince Andrew as recently as 2004.

The royal clubs are to be found in all the old British colonies and in 14 countries all told with Royal Marianske Lazne raising the flag for the Czech Republic thanks to Queen Elizabeth II, who was reminded that Edward VII used to holiday there, in 2003.

Hats, or should we say crowns, off to Royal Tara for playing such a bold shot in such an elite atmosphere.