After all, there aren't too many lanky, redheaded Americans trudging the country's by-ways with a set of golf clubs strapped to their back.

Question Tom Coyne's sanity, and you certainly won't find him eager to shoot you down. He is already well into the heart of an odyssey which will see him play Ireland's links courses hail, rain or shine, and while on the face of it, the project doesn't exactly come over as that original, there is a bit of a difference here. Coyne is doing it all . . . the golf and the road . . . on foot.

The book which will eventually chronicle his experiences on and off the links has 'A Course called Ireland' as its working title. Having already wandered the guts of 180 miles from Kilkee in county Clare to Belmullet in north Mayo, he's thinking of changing it to 'Yer doing what?'

"I feel as if I'm playing Ireland as one complete links course, the greatest in the world, " he says before heading out to do battle with Mulranny.

"I don't feel as if I'm going to play Belmullet and then play Co Sligo for example, it's more like Kilkee was hole number one and then I was starting hole number 119 at Mulranny. I've sort of mapped the country out to be a 700and-a-bit-hole golf course."

Fine, but when half the Yanks who venture here on their golf pilgrimages can now be seen and heard flitting from venue to venue in choppers, why walk?

"I've actually been asking myself that question more and more. I suppose it's that when you play in Ireland you walk, and walking is an important part of the experience. So, I reckoned I was going to start walking, and only stop when I was finished."

If some American golfers leave these shores with a cliched, John Hinde impression of the country, mercifully it's Coyne this time who comes across as the mild eccentric. Most of his compatriots disembark at Shannon and ask the way to Ballybunion, but he decides to set off in the opposite direction, and will only find his way to the Kerry links at the back end of a four-month ramble taking in 40 courses.

But then, in the realm of golf challenges, Tom Coyne is a recidivist. In 2004, his quest was to transform himself from a scratchy 14-handicapper into someone who was competent enough to tee it up with the pros, and the result was the perceptive and amusing tome 'Paper Tiger'.

It should be mentioned that the 32-year-old was once a decent enough player to have been considered for the Notre Dame team before he allowed his game to slide, however, after immersing himself once again in golf for 'Paper Tiger', he is now a sore-footed vagabond with a four handicap.

"Because I was trying to be as good as I could be for 'Paper Tiger', and because I surrounded myself with a coach, a shrink and a trainer, how I played was obviously a hugely important part of that story. This time I can shoot 78 or 88, and it doesn't really matter. This book is primarily about the places, the people, and then the golf."

While Philadelphia-based Coyne doesn't want to be considered as anything other than an American, both his parents hail from county Mayo, and before setting out on this project, he had plenty of experience of golf in this country. So when he pitched the idea to his publisher, a sort of Bill Bryson 'Walk in the Woods' with clubs, he already knew Ireland and several of its famous links.

Not surprisingly, after only nine courses, he has already had second-thoughts. He had three companions for the round at Kilkee, and at the end of the day, they all piled into their hired car. Coyne was relaxing, savouring the moment, when he suddenly remembered he had to walk to the hotel.

"My friends kicked me out of the car, and they drove and I walked. I knew then it had started."

Later, the six-hour trek across the isolated, windswept bog road from Cashel to Connemara GC at Ballyconneely seriously tested his resolve. He then had to endure the front nine in a rainstorm. "The conditions on the front nine were the worst I've ever played in, and then the weather changed dramatically. It was warm, sunny, and I was on my own.

The setting and the golf felt just right. Connemara was a metaphor for the journey so far. Every hill I trudge up, there's one I get to walk down."

A couple of weeks ago at Spanish Point, where some of the members opened the clubhouse and joined him for a few drinks . . . no chance of Coyne being breathalysed on this trip . . . he felt part of the landscape for the first time.

He experienced the classic links at Lahinch, created for the most part by God, as well as the modern grandeur of Doonbeg, created for the most part by Greg Norman.

With the benefit of complimentary flights and green fees, and alternating between modest B&Bs and the occasional comfort of a good hotel, his total spend for the trip should be under $15,000 ( 11,000). As for the book itself, it has yet to really take shape.

"When I get home, I won't think about it for a couple of months, and then I'll work out what has stuck with me, but it won't be a diary. In a sense, 'Paper Tiger' was about living a dream for some people, and this will be the same thing for people who are interested in a bit of adventure, a bit of a quest.

The book will end up on the golf shelf, but it won't really be a golf book."

For now, he is relishing the prospect of the North's links, hoping that his feet bear up, and hoping that another truck won't run him off the road. "I wish there were a few more sidewalks out there, " he says.

They're pavements, Tom, but then he knows that, and if he forgot the word for a moment, he'll never forget it after he has sunk the final putt at Ballybunion in August.

Tom Coyne will write an article describing his experiences on the western and northern trails in the June issue of 'Mad About Sport' which will be published free with the 'Sunday Tribune' on 24 June

HOLE-IN-ONE CLUB WINNERS

The winner of this week's hole-in-one competition and the prize of a Ping collection polo shirt and a fourball in Druids Glen & a fourball in Druids Heath plus a lesson with resident PGA Pro is Ann Loftus (handicap 19) who recorded her memorable shot on the fourth at Clontarf Golf Course.

This week's runners-up, who receive six golf balls, ball marker and pitch repair kit are:
Jim Stokes (10), 7th, Rosapenna Patrick Ruane (17), 8th, Old Conna S. McGranaghan (12), 12th, Balmoral Deirdre Daly (16), 16th, Westmanstown Frank Tumelty (13), 10th, Ardglass