There is always something refreshing about the Scottish Boys' Championship. It is golf in its purest form and adults, particularly professional golfers, could learn from the spirit in which it is played.

In a nutshell, they get on with it. When all was at stake in the clutch afternoon round of the final at Dunbar, Paul Ferrier and William Bremner played the full 18 holes in 2 hours 50 minutes.

Club medals, the lowest form of competitive golf, generally exceed four hours. Professional play often tops the five-hour mark. In the US, where they use buggies which should speed things up, recreational rounds sometimes stretch to six hours, almost a full day's shift. It's a shame that these boys are going to grow up and, inevitably, slow up.

We have heard the story about the snails who were taking an eternity on yet another green when one of the group behind could stand it no longer and shouted: "Oi, you *****, show some ****** etiquette."

Slow play is the festering sore of golf. It makes the game unattractive and drives people away. Sometimes you can feel your life ebbing away while you are waiting to play your next shot. It's selfish and inconsiderate, and the culprits are generally blissfully unaware.

Lee Trevino has recommended that every golfer should experience the impossible; of playing a round from time to time in the group behind himself just to find out what it's like. Laura Davies, when asked her views on the subject, offered a novel solution in how to deal with slow players. "Line them up and shoot them," she suggested.

The trouble is that players are coached to be slow. Slow is a key thought when the slightest quickening of the swing can cause a bad shot. The idea of moving quickly between shots might seem no more than commonsense but it introduces the concept of speed into the psyche that might manifest itself when the club is in the hands.

It has been a problem for generations. The legendary South African, Bobby Locke, reputedly did everything slowly as part of his preparation.

He ate his breakfast one small bite at a time, chewing thoroughly, and even brushed his teeth with a slow, languid action. On the course, huge gaps developed in front of him and no urging could make him move faster.

Sam Snead said of the late, great Ben Hogan that you could smoke an entire cigarette in the time it took him from the point of addressing the ball on the green to actually drawing the putter blade back. Wild horses would not make him play before he was ready.

Ben Crane, the American golfer who famously had a PGA Tour spat with the South African, Rory Sabbatini, has employed a psychoanalyst to help him out of his torpor.

There is a repertoire of wisecracks . . .

Robert de Vicenzo on leaving a restaurant was asked how his meal was. "Like Jack Nicklaus," he replied, "very good but very slow."

Bernhard Langer, one of the slowest of the modern era, was once said to carry his clubs in a sleeping bag.

Padraig Harrington, who has speeded up since, was said to have been so slow that Augusta National was quicker at changing its membership policies.

One solution to this chronic dilemma was there for all to see at Dunbar. Ferrier and Bremner were hardly racing round but, invariably, each was ready to play when it was his turn. It's a pity you can't bottle that and make every golfer the world over drink deeply from it before every round.

IT is hard to avoid the impression that the Scottish Golf Union have swept the Richie Ramsay affair under the carpet. Remember he arrived at Bay Hill in Florida for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, as a key part of his preparation for the Masters, only to find he wasn't in the field because the paperwork was incomplete. You never hear of that happening with Tiger Woods and IMG.

Ramsay's wonderful exploits are being funded by the SGU, who in turn are funded primarily by a per capita levy on all club golfers and as such are accountable to the rank and file.

No-one wanted to upset Ramsay before his Augusta campaign, but now that it is over there is still no sign of the SGU, who are always ready to take credit for player success, volunteering an explanation of how the cock-up of the year came about and what new procedures are in place as a result.