Brian Coburn's life-long passion for links' golf is more than that. It's an obsession.

That's why the Royal Co Down club's green convenor is so highly thought of in the engine-room of the game. Show him a towering sand dune, acres of wild gorse, and a boisterous sea breeze, and he'll take you back in time, back to the days of Jones and hickory, or Vardon and the gutty ball.

To Brian, links' golf is central to the mystery, and history, of this great game, golf in its purest, most ancient form.

It was as founder of the Irish Links' Initiative that a livewire Coburn gave legs to a recent one-day get-together of the biggest names in club golf.

Who better than his home club to host the event, at which over 30 clubs were represented, Ballyliffin, Waterville and Ballybunion among them.

About a third of all the world's great links courses are in Ireland, and must be protected in their natural raw state, enthused Coburn.

"They are prized pearls that now cater for over 60,000 visiting golfers a year, and contribute greatly to the economy," he said. "Naturally, such heavy traffic makes problems for many clubs, but so does the threat of coastal erosion and climate change, both subjects for lively debate on a day given more to listening than preaching."

This was the Links' Initiative's second big seminar of the year, and rarely in autumn has the world-ranked Royal Co Down course looked better. Here, golf and nature have always been in perfect harmony.

For over 70 delegates, part of the day was spent outdoors, where Alan Strachan, course manager, had set up three different work-stations. There, greens staff not only outlined the pluses and minuses of a creative low-input maintenance programme, but, perhaps not unexpectedly, gave a curt thumbs down to the use of fungicides.

Later at a 90-minute talk-in, the speed of links' greens came under scrutiny. Clearly, some players now prefer fast greens, but how many of us can handle them, I wonder? Eventually, it was agreed that the optimum speed of a green should be between nine and ten on the stimp metre.

Dr Raymond Maw, RCD's captain, and club secretary, Jim Laidler, welcomed guests, among whom were Nick Park, of the R and A; top golf girl Michelle McGreevey, from Failte Ireland; Eamonn O'Connor, representing the Golfing Union, and Karen Hope, NI Tourist Board. Feedback from the exercise, says Coburn, couldn't have been more encouraging.

"Never a dull moment," comments Park in a 'thank-you' e-mail. "One of the best events of its kind I've ever attended." Happily, the exercise will become an annual affair. "Next year's conference could be at Co. Sligo," says organiser Coburn. "Our aim is to open the door internationally."