Okay, Philomena Garvey dabbled into professionalism back in the 1960s and Gwen Brandom followed-up her win in the Irish Ladies Amateur Championship of 1967 with a prolonged and successful career as a teacher. But both were in the business too soon for the emergence of a professional tournament circuit for women.

How they would have loved an opportunity to play a twenty-four tournament European circuit for prize-money which now exceeds 10-million and take the occasional trip to America where milk and honey are diluted with liberal quantities of dollars.

The women's professional golf circuit got underway in America in 1950. Things didn't get going in Europe until 1978. To say that both circuits suffered great growing pains is to understate the case. It was starvation rations for the pioneers on both sides of the Atlantic.

But they persevered and eleven girls won in excess of $1-million in America last year.

This is the lure.

Success is elusive, of course.

Ask Maureen Madill who plodded around Europe through the 1990s with scant returns before moving along to great success as a television commentator and teacher.

She was a great amateur but just a middle of the pack professional player.

Notwithstanding, Ireland now has seven girls seeking success in the European tournaments. Latest into this scene of prosperity and promise is Irish internationalist Marian Riordan of Tipperary who has given-up her teaching job to seek fame and fortune, more importantly contentment and self, both as a player and as a club professional.

She knows that the odds are stacked against her as a player. They are stacked against everybody and only the few will make it through to the big-time.

Rebecca Coakley is by a distance the biggest money-winner to have emerged from Ireland so far. She has played fourteen events this year and banked 37,701. New professionals Claire Coughlan and Martina Gillen have won 5,993 and 1,949 respectively from ten and seven outings.

They will be hoping for more in the next few years.

So, too, will Riordan. They will have their sights on Maria Hjorth who currently leads the European money-table with 192,657 from just six events and who has won a further $547,000 in America this year. It can be done.

In fact there are great riches out on those fairways.

Lorena Ochoa has banked $2,299,090 in prize-money this year and probably half that again in endorsements. Just a few years of that would far outweigh a lifetime of schoolteaching and what a healthy, outdoor life it is.

Equally satisfying, if less rewarding financially, is the life of a club professional.

Merchandising and giving lessons, even playing a few games a week, suits many temperaments much more than does the day-to-day life in an office. Fourteen Irish ladies are now professionally involved in this aspect of the game.

Gillian Burrell has a huge reputation as a teacher and is seldom idle at the Stepaside Golf Centre. She has to find it comforting to have so many other girls following her trail in what was a male dominated profession until now. The way things are going it is expected that there will be as many as 50 lady professional golfers in the country by 2020 and it will continue to grow apace from there.

The Irish ladies seeking to win money on the European Ladies Tour are- Rebecca Coakley, Claire Coughlan, Martina Gillen, Hazel Kavanagh, Suzie O'Brien, Marion Riordan and Aideen Rogers.

Those who are working as club professionals and teachers are: Sue Bamford (Blanchardstown), Deirdre Brennan (Tramore), Gillian Burrell (Stepaside), Emily Butler (Black Bush), Leslie Callan (Unattached), Michelle Carroll (Castlewarden), Louise Darcy (Celbridge), Claire Durbin (Fota Island), Debbie Hanna (Blackwood), Deirdre Judge (Island), Dymphna Keenan (Tandragee), Heather Nolan (Leopardstown), Joanne O'Haire (Ballybofey Academy) and Denise O'Shea (Limerick Unigolf).