Martin Dempster on golf: Exiles making hay

SCOTLAND must surely be world champions when it comes to producing people in the golf industry who help other countries prosper after leaving these shores.

Take Dean Spriddle, for example. A former Fife champion, who played his amateur golf at Pitreavie, he headed for North America and became the Royal Canadian Golf Association's head national women's coach.

After ten successful years in that post, he has just taken up a new challenge as the National Golf Director of Coaching on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.

"With constant near-ideal golfing conditions on the island and excellent resources, the job at hand is both exciting and challenging," says Spriddle.

A dreary day in Scotland or a sun-kissed one in the Caribbean? Now I can see why these people head for pastures new.