A MARKETING philosophy much loved of Mark McCormack is that you keep asking for more until somebody shouts "Stop!" On that basis, it will be quite a while before the alarm bell sounds at Druids Glen, where green fee revenue has amounted to close on £1 million in their first full year of operation.

Sceptics found it difficult to imagine that the splendid Co Wicklow facility could achieve such targets, certainly not at £75 per round. But the last 12 months have generated so much confidence there, that they are anticipating an increase of between 10 and 15 per cent next year, without raising the fee.

Helped undoubtedly be the staging of the Murphy's Irish Open last July, Druids Glen have, in fact, surpassed their two biggest rivals, Mount Juliet and The K Club, in attracting business. Mount Juliet's green fee income for the year is £850,000 while The K Club is £700,000.

"We've never had any negative reaction to our green fee," said Druids Glen chief executive Denis Kane yesterday. He went on to explain, however, that as much as 60 per cent of their business came from the corporate sector who would have paid a reduced fee of £65 per person.

Still, the figures are staggering, particularly at a time when the PGA in Britain are deeply concerned about a reported decline in the numbers playing the game. "Ireland may be coping better than most but even for you, there is certainly a levelling off," said executive director Sandy Jones this week.

He was in Dublin to promote PGA National Golf Week on April 21st to 27th in a determined attempt at raising the profile of the game. "There is a growing perception that golf is unwelcoming, difficult to play, time consuming and expensive, added Jones. "This has an especially negative impact on women."

In the US, where 21 per cent of all players are women, as many as 80 per cent of newcomers abandon the game in the first year. And on a general level, women represent as many as 50 per cent of all those who relinquish their memberships.

But in Ireland, the game remains very big business, indeed. Director of Golf Paul Crowe informed me that The K Club were expecting to increase green fee revenue by 40 per cent next year, despite a lift from the current £100 to £110 per round. And Tony Judge also anticipates an increase at Mount Juliet, though of a more moderate order of around 10 per cent, with the green fee remaining at £65.

Meanwhile, I asked Kane about the significance of the Irish Open. "We can't really say, because we haven't had a full year without it," he replied. All of which would suggest considerable wear and tear on a course that was officially opened only 15 months ago.

If so, one couldn't tell from its current condition which, on a visit this week, was exceptionally good for the time of year.

"I think appearance money is wrong, unless it's being paid to me. Then it's great." David Feherty.

DURING a chat I had recently with Scott Hoch about his various playing visits to Europe, he recalled the Monte Carlo Open in 1990. Having being paid appearance money to make the trip from the US, Hoch missed the cut. "I thought it might be a nice gesture to offer the organisers half their money back, so I did," he said. "The problem was that they accepted it."

Then there was the other American who, accompanied by his wife and children on a trip to Europe, also missed the cut. On this occasion there was no offer of money back. And the sponsors were less than pleased to discover that earlier in the week the family had booked a Friday afternoon flight to Paris.

Such matters will be considered by Murphy's official Paddy Rossi over the coming months as he lines up an appropriately strong field for next year's Irish Open at Druids Glen. And the sponsors have already indicated that the field will be stronger than last season's.

Of course appearance fees will be paid, quite apart from air fares and hotel accommodation, possibly for two. And when the figures are quoted in the media, everybody will deny them. And we'll all have great fun speculating.

To whet the appetite, here is a list of the average payments made to the world's leading players. $200,000 - Greg Norman; $150,000 - Nick Faldo; $125,000 - Fred Couples, Nick Price; $100,000 - John Daly, Jack Nicklaus; $80,000 - Ernie Els, Tom Watson; $70,000 - Bernhard Langer; $50,000 - Seve Ballesteros, Ben Crenshaw Steve Elkin on Corey Pavin; $45,000 - Steve Jones, Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson, Mark O'Meara. A figure of $35,000 is quoted for Colin Montgomerie but he denies accepting such payments.

Now, aren't those figures worth a few good arguments?

DURING a recent visit to South Africa I came across an intriguing newspaper item concerning John Vorster, when he was prime minister. It seems that while playing at Rondebosch, his fourball saw a group of black children diving into the filthiest pool to retrieve lost balls.

Three of the players recoiled in horror at the health risk they were running. "No, no," Vorster corrected them. "You don't understand. They can take it. They are not like us."

Thankfully, things have changed. And there is rich irony in a policy being promoted by Kader Asmal, the one time anti apartheid activist in this country and now a member of the new, majority government in South Africa. In what is described as "a marvellous exchange whose possibilities have yet to be fully explored," clean water is to be piped to the poor and sewage to the golf playing rich.

So it is that four megalitres of treated sewage effluent are being piped each day to the new Steenberg golf facility in Cape Province, while the nearby Westlake course is also receiving a generous supply. As one golfing wag commented: "We daren't admit we're playing s... ,for fear we might be taken literally."

MICHAEL D HIGGINS, Minister for the Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, informed the Dail earlier this month that EU habitat directives will shortly be transposed into Irish law. This will require the establishment of Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) in ecologically important locations.

As it happens, sand dunes are listed in the directive as a priority habitat under threat in Europe. According to the minister, it will not be possible to identify the likely impact on golf courses here until consultations begin in February.

In the meantime, however, the ever vigilant Pat Ruddy, commander in chief of The European Club and its towering dunes, is making something of a pre emptive strike. He has established the Irish Golf Links Heritage Trust, largely with a view to heightening awareness of our precious linksland.

"Not many people appreciate just how precious it is," said Ruddy. "For instance, out of 40,000 golf courses in the world, only about 150 of them are of the links variety. And of that 150, Ireland has 39. That is a golfing heritage worth protecting.

In brief: Strandhill GC are staging a three person Open Rumble over 15 holes on December 28th in aid of St Luke's Hospital, Dublin. Further details at (071) 68188.

TEASER: A player's ball carried over a water hazard into some trees. It could not be determined whether the ball bounced back into the hazard or came to rest in the trees. Therefore, there was not reasonable evidence that the ball was in the hazard.

The player did not search for his original ball. He assumed that it was in the hazard, dropped a ball behind the hazard at a spot which conformed with Rule 26-lb and played that ball onto the green. As he was walking to the green, he found his original ball in the hazard. What is the ruling?

Answer: The first paragraph of Rule 26-1 states in part: "In order to treat the ball as lost in the hazard, there must be reasonable evidence that the ball lodged in it. In the absence of such evidence, the ball must be treated as a lost ball and Rule 27 applies." Since the player treated the ball as lost in the hazard at the time when there was not reasonable evidence to that effect, the ball dropped and played under the water hazard rule was a wrong ball. The fact that the original ball was subsequently found in the hazard is irrelevant.

In matchplay, the player lost the hole (Rule 15-2). In strokeplay, the player incurred a penalty of two strokes and he was obliged to continue play with the original ball which remained the ball in play (Rule 25-3).