Irritation with the annual invasion is as old as the ages.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the phenomenon is found in OB Keeler's charming Autobiography of an Average Golfer written way back in 1925 in Atlanta.

Keeler and his friends were shocked at the manner in which East Lake was fairly taken over by kids in summer and one of them complained bitterly when drawn in the club matchplay against a particularly small 12-year-old.

The only consolation was that he imagined he would demolish the kid and put him off golf for life. The result, however, was 8 and 6 in favour of the kid. . . who was named Bobby Jones.

Keeler and his pals in the local newspapers, however, were an inept bunch of golfers.

He tells the story of one huge matchplay tussle in the local newspaper league when he won on the last green having shot 103 to his rival's 108.

It sounds eerily like newspaper golfers in Dublin today.

So much hasn't changed as most of today's journalists are strugglers on the course but equally optimistic as Keeler and his pals.

The Keeler story concerns a lifelong search for solutions.

Ways and weapons which would allow him break 100 at East Lake and other local courses. His search included a big-headed driver in an age when snub-nosed weapons were the vogue except with the real experts, as he observed from watching Harry Vardon and Ted Ray on their exhibition tour. If the most accurate strikers found comfort in a bigger-faced club, he reasoned, then he should. In that one respect he proved a thoroughly modern man and he would have adored today's weapons of mass destruction.

Keeler is famous, of course, as the friend and Boswell of the aforementioned Bobby Jones as they travelled the world together, player and chronicler, for the best part of 20 years. Jones was the greatest youth phenomenon in the game since Young Tom Morris 60 years earlier. They had little competition then but would find things somewhat different today.

The trend towards ever younger golf champions was brought to a new level this month with two 12-year-olds getting into the matchplay stages of the US Ladies' Amateur Championship.

No other pre-teen player had reached the matchplay stages in the previous 106 years of competition. As luck would have it, the two who met in the second round where Alexis Thompson beatPearl Jin, were both 12. The latter is a veteran already as she took up golf at eight having first earned a black belt in taekwondo.

Thompson eventually met her match in the quarter-finals when 15-year-old Ha Na Jang from South Korea birdied four of the first seven holes. Yes, 15 beats 12 and it is the Women's Championship of America.

Thompson was not too upset, as she had been on the competitive road for a month, with her father as caddy, and admitted she missed her mum and her cats and was glad to be going home. Oh, yes. . . the championship was eventually won by an old lassy of 17. Maria Uribe from Colombia employed her swing coach Pedro Rossi as her caddy all summer and kept in touch with her three sports psychologists throughout. These little touches can make all the difference.

AMEN CORNER GOLF TIP OF THE WEEK

Reading Greens When reading the contours of a green don't wait until you are standing on the short grass . . . assess the undulations on the surface from as far back as 50-100 yards. This will give you a good overview of the contours affecting your putt.

Despite the myth, it is a fact your ball will roll away from mountains and towards the ocean. This is most prevalent on links courses where the adage "the ball always falls towards the sea" rings true. The grain of the grass will also affect the roll. Putts with the grain roll faster while putts against the grain tend to be slower.

Check from both sides of your ball as well as behind when lining up. The appearance of the grass shows the grain. If it looks shiny the grain is away from you and the putt will be faster while if it is dull, the grain is towards you needing a "rmer strike.

Emmanuel Riblet, Golf Pro, Premier Golf Santry