THE Greeks did it.

The Romans did it. The British and the French tried it. Now it is the turn of Irish golfers to commemorate the great and the brave in monumental form as statues of golfers have begun to appear at courses across the land.

It started at Waterville where they have a statue dedicated to Payne Stewart, who was club captain there when he died, and one showing John Mulcahy, the founder of modern golf in the town, hunched in putting stance behind the ninth green.

Now the practice of commemorating great golf people in bronze is to accelerate rapidly thanks to the artistry and the energetic enterprise of Paul Ferriter, who is a thoroughly Irish sculptor of a great and growing reputation.

There are two Ferriter statues on Irish golf courses already. Old Tom Morris is to be found, life-size and splendidly bewhiskered, aiming a drive down the valley holes which he designed at Rosapenna back in the 1890s.

Seve Ballesteros is frozen in a powerfully poised followthrough position at The Heritage.

Work is now underway on a life-sized Jack Nicklaus bronze for the soon-to-beopened Killeen Castle Golf Club in County Meath and planning has commenced for a Retief Goosen statue to grace the Carriglass Manor golf course which is currently under construction to his design in County Longford.

The pity of it is that the nationality scoreline on golf statue subjects in Ireland reads two for America, one for Spain, one for South Africa and only one for Ireland. Given his way, and the commissions, Ferriter will change all of this in the years ahead as he would like his work to celebrate those who have contributed to the building of the game in this country.

Because here is a thoroughly Irish fellow. He hails from Donegal where his father is the great Sean Ferriter, who captained Donegal and Ulster, and is an intensely keen sportsman himself.

He has devoted immense amounts of time to golf while staying so fit he is looking forward to tending goal for Trinity Corinthians in the upcoming Leinster Junior Cup final around the time of his 40th birthday.

His enthusiasm is infectious as his conversation moves from art to sport and back again. His face lights up as he talks of the delights of drawing and the purity of line whether in art or in the cut of a fairway or the shape of a bunker.

The line followed by a golf ball is almost all-consuming in his mind as he can spend hour after hour hitting shots on the practice tee just to enjoy watching a well-hit drive go. This gave him the great reward of a 65 around Dunfanaghy on one occasion but he was wise enough not to be deluded by that purple patch and knows that, when it comes to making a score, his place is back in the ranks.

Which is not to say he has given up. Who does? Just a glimmer of hope prevails as he has been having lessons from Neil Manchip and been picking-up golf tips from conversations with Nicklaus, Ballesteros and Goosen. Who knows, they might all come together in a swing action worthy of being frozen in bronze.

That would give a chuckle to his pal Ciaran McMonagle, the former Irish amateur champion, for whom he has caddied in amateur and professional competition.

Close contact with famous subjects is, of course, one of the rewards for a golf artist.

They have to meet and talk; and he has to measure facial and cranial features and revisit them after initial modelling.

He even plans a visit to Muirfield Village, the Nicklaus monument course in Ohio, to seek clues as to the true spirit of the man so that his bronze will encapsulate that boundless energy and athletic dynamism.

It wasn't as easy working with Old Tom Morris, as the great man has been dead about 100 years. For this assignment he had to go to St Andrews and visit the house in which he had lived, visit his grave and play the Old Course thinking as a man would have done in the late 1800s.

Local artist David Joy, who acts the part of Old Tom in the Titleist advertisements, proved most helpful and the size and bulk of Old Tom was assessed by studying pictures which showed him standing against architectural features which are still in existence and by running calculations from those clues. One feels it is likely that Morris would like his statue if he were to come back and have a look at it.

The Ferriter presence is creeping rapidly across the Irish map. His earliest sporting commission was from Charlie Chawke who had him prepare a series of sportsmen in miniature for the Goat Grill together with a terrific image of Dawn Run and John Joe O'Neill.

Frank Mullen had him do statues of Peter Farrell and the great Paul McGrath.

It is a growing and distinguished list of people who are beautifully preserved in bronze for centuries to come.

Just how long they will last is difficult to say but Ferriter is recently returned from Florence where he was interested to learn that 2000-year-old sculptures had been recovered recently from the seabed near Croatia and that they are still in remarkably good condition.

Talk about longevity in sport.

Queue up for immortality by e-mailing the artist at paulferriter@eircom. net.

EXPLAINING THE RULES RULE

5.3: THE BALL . . .

BALL UNFIT TO PLAY Q: What happens when a ball becomes unfit to play?

A: According to Rule 5.3, if a player believes his ball has become unfit for play, the ball may be lifted without penalty. A ball is unfit for play if it is visibly cut, cracked or out of shape.

A player must announce his intention before lifting the ball and mark the ball's position. Once lifted, the ball can be examined by both the player and his opponent. The ball must not be cleaned and if the player fails to comply with any part of this procedure a one-stroke penalty is incurred.

If a ball disintegrates as a result of a stroke, the stroke is cancelled and the player can play a new ball without penalty from the spot of the original stroke.

PENALTY FOR BREACH OF RULE 5-3: Match play . . . Loss of hole;

Stroke play . . . Two strokes Rules from '2004 R&A Rules of Golf'