Dubliner Noel Fox is hoping that a secret weapon at the end of his garden will help him make the Walker Cup side at last.

Captain Garth McGimpsey recently included Fox in his Great Britain and Ireland panel.

And Fox is determined to repay McGimpsey's faith in him and make the Walker Cup side proper- at the fourth attempt.

He's even installed a state-of the-art artificial green at the end of his Dad's garden in an effort to make his short game razor sharp.

Said Fox: "My short game was something I neglected in the past but thanks to the green I feel I'm a much better putter and chipper than I was a couple of years ago.

"In fact, last year I changed business from property management to artificial greens because I was so impressed with the results. Now I think that if I'm not striking the ball well I can still scramble around in level par anyway."

On his inclusion in the Walker Cup panel he said: "I was a little surprised to get in because I've been in that squad since 1996 and never made the team.

"I thought they might have given up on me. But they're keeping the faith in me, which is fantastic.

"I was in South Africa practicing with the Ireland squad when I heard the news, and it's really given me a boost because I was preparing myself for the worst news and it would have been a blow."

Fox is so keen on his new green that he has set up a company called "Tour Greens Europe" that designs and installs artificial putting surfaces made from polyuthelane fibre, a surface similar to that used to build tennis courts.

"You roll it to make it faster and brush it to make it slower" explained Fox. "So if I'm going to play in the East of Ireland at Baltray I roll it to get it to 12 on the stimpmeter. But if I'm going to a scratch cup at an inland course I'll take the speed down to nine by brushing it."

"It looks and feels exactly like creeping bent grass, the same surface as the official greens for the USPGA tour and you can put in the slopes and breaks that you want and it's maintenance-free.

"We've done 10 installations already and hope to put in another one is Spain pretty soon."

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie, Ulster's Darren Clarke and US Tour stars Paul Azinger, John Daly and Lee Janzen have all had artificial greens installed at home to hone their short games.

And Fox is hoping that pal Padraig Harrington will cough up the ¤150 a metre it costs to have one installed at the house he is building on the outskirts of Dublin.

"I had dinner with Padraig over Christmas and he's thinking about it," he said. "A 60 square metre green would cost around ¤10,000 and a few of the Irish pros have said that they'll have a look."

And Portmarnock man was both stunned and delighted to get another chance to make the premiere event in amateur golf after a poor 2001 season.

"That's the nature of golf. You go through highs and lows, peaks and troughs, but I'm back up there again and I'm really looking forward to it this year."

Fox, meanwhile, is preparing for the West of Ireland Championship and the first Great Britain and Ireland squad session at the Belfry in April.

And he feels that new skipper McGimpsey will be a huge asset to the chances of a third Walker Cup win for Great Britain and Ireland at Ganton in 2003.

"Garth will be a great addition to the set up. Johnny Foster and Andrew McCormick said that he brought a degree of professionalism to the Ulster Youths side when he was captain and that they felt they were one up already before it had even started. He leaves nothing to chance - it's in his nature - and I think he'll be a great Walker Cup captain."

But the winner of two East of Irelands and an Irish Amateur Open championship is still unsure of his own professional ambitions, despite shooting an incredible 70 in last season's Mullingar Scratch Cup.

"I always said that I wouldn't turn professional. But I'll have to see where my game can take me. Padraig has told me to go for it but it would be hard to give up the amateur game, which has improved so much over the years. I'll definitely go the first stage of the qualifying school but it probably won't be this year.

"We have a fantastic set up with the GUI (Golfing Union of Ireland) now and we had a golf coach and fitness expert on an Ireland squad session in South Africa recently.

"If you're at the top of the amateur game these days you can enjoy the very best of golf."

And if Fox keeps improving, Ireland could be about to lose another gem to the professional ranks.

© Brian Keogh 2002

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