Ireland has hundreds of left-handed golfers - enough to form a club. And even right-handed people can join, writes Olivia Kelleher

Don't go contacting the National Association of Left-Handed Golfers for information about scissors or anything else designed for left-handers. Strange as it may seem, more than half of left-handed golfers are normally right-handed. It turns out that the way you play golf has to do more with your eyes than with your hands. In fact many left-handers feel more at ease playing golf right-handed, as they are leading with their left side.

Jerry Bradley, the right-handed secretary of the National Association of Left-Handed Golfers, played pitch and putt as a child with right-handed clubs. He recalls having difficulties, but there were few alternatives. The association was set up in 1986, after a left-handed golfer from Galway called Ron Attwooll had to join British players to take part in the World Left-handed Golf Championship. It now has hundreds of members.

The association took off when the championship came to Ireland for the first time, in 1990. Bradley says it was a huge undertaking, as golfers made the journey to Galway from countries as diverse as Taiwan, Germany, Sweden, Australia and Japan.

"We had 280 golfers from 15 countries in the 1990 tournament. It was amazing to see all of the Japanese and Taiwanese golfers arrive. It was a great event. Many people just arranged a holiday in Ireland, England and Scotland around the event. The biggest contingent came from Australia, the US and Canada. The Japanese had to limit their group, because of the need for interpreters and so on."

The success of the event prompted the association to compile a register of left-handed golfers: more than 600 of the 2,500 it found signed up.

The National Association of Left-handed Golfers is hosting the world championship for the second time next June. The 72-hole strokeplay competition will be played over four courses in Co Dublin and Co Kildare: Beech Park, Citywest, Castlewarden and Naas. The competition is open to all left-handed players, with open, senior, super-senior and ladies' categories.

Bradley, who has been to almost all of the world championships, from New Zealand to Canada and Taiwan to Japan, says golf can be secondary to the friendships he has formed over the years.

Cultural differences have also been a source of fascination - and of frustration. In Taiwan, for example, all of the caddies are female. "They also had a snack after every six holes of golf, which is unusual. The Taiwanese are very nice people, but it was hard at times to play golf all day without a word being spoken between players. You might be the only English-speaking person in your group. I think a lot of people missed the fun and the wind-up that goes hand in hand with playing golf."

As it prepares for next year's world championship, the National Association of Left-handed Golfers is also about to host its annual tournament. The winner of the event, at Carton House Golf Club, in Maynooth, on Sunday, will receive the Bob Charles Trophy, which Charles presented to the Irish left-handers. It was the one he got for winning the British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1963.

One of the most competitive events at the association's national championship is the Martin Quinlan cup for seniors. Bradley jokes that the senior cup is getting to be a crowded affair as the organisation's founding members advance in years.

As for those awkward clubs, Bradley says life has got a little easier in recent years - and, he adds, no left-handed golfer need be short of clubs on holiday, as the association has friends all over the world who are only to happy to be of service.

"If I know a left-handed player going on holiday in Australia I will be able to point him in the direction of a golfer there who can give him a loan of clubs," says Bradley. "It is an unwritten rule that if a left-handed player arrives in your country you give them clubs and go for a round of golf. We have made great friends all over the world in places I never would have visited. That is the best thing about the events."