Scotland is justifiably proud of its golfing heritage, and lays claim to many of the finest links in the world.

The Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Royal Troon and Turnberry are all on the Open Championship rota, but, strangely, it is that very asset that could be holding back the professional development of our best players.

Links demands a different approach. Unlike the "hit it high and watch it fly" parkland style, particularly in the United States, a low draw and knock-down iron shots are the more recognised methods to keep the ball in control under the wind on cold, windswept seaside courses.

Such skills are great for the amateur world, but are less prevalent in the paid ranks where visits to such courses, notably the Open, are the exception rather than the rule. Conversely, tournaments on lush inland courses that form the bulk of the European and PGA Tour schedules are infrequent for the non-paid brigade.

A glance down the Scottish Golf Union fixture list this season confirms an almost slavish adherence to playing on classic links.

This year, the showpiece Scottish Amateur Championship goes, as usual, to a links, Carnoustie. Players, though, are being indoctrinated to links at an ever earlier age. The relatively new SGU junior tour will visit Kingsbarns, Carnoustie, Irvine and Moray Old, while the Scottish Boys' Championship was at Southerness. Ambitious young players know from an early age that, to be considered for selection to international teams, they must excel on the bounding, gusting links.

The R&A-run British Amateur Championship goes to Turnberry, while the St Andrews Links Trophy is the most prestigious international amateur event on these shores. To traditionalists, nothing could be finer, but there are signs that it might be a short-sighted policy.

Richie Ramsay is a case in point, even though his links-reared game was good enough to become the first home-based Scot to win the US Amateur Championship two years ago at Hazeltine. That success opened the door to a succession of missed cuts on the PGA Tour events, including the Masters.

I caught up with the 25-year-old Aberdonian last week on the range at the Tolcinasco Castle course near Milan where he was preparing for the Italian Open with a row of some 20 different drivers behind him.

His shots were being assessed by a radar device that was designed originally to track missiles but which has been subsequently modified for golf balls.

"I am trying to hit the ball higher and this kind of technology helps," confirmed Richie, who learned his game on the Royal Aberdeen links and made his way right through the international ranks to the Walker Cup. "I can change my swing a little bit to achieve that, but altering the shaft and the weights in the clubhead can do the same."

Ramsay was a Walker Cup contemporary of the Americans Anthony Kim and JB Holmes, both big-hitting, high ball-flight winners on the PGA Tour this year. While such victories are inspiring, he was quick to point out that any suggestion that he and Lloyd Saltman are slower developers is not entirely fair.

"These guys are coming from college golf where they play top-class courses week-in, week-out," said Ramsay. "Then they go on tour and they play the same courses. People sometimes don't realise that when we played amateur golf, it was on courses like Royal Lytham and Royal Aberdeen. Then you come out here and it's completely different.

"For players like me who were brought up on links, it is a total change. I have to learn to hit the ball higher, especially with the driver. I also need a better flight for approaches to tight pin positions. That's the stuff I've been working on. I had a good result at the US amateur, but since then it's been a case of re-learning what I'm doing."

Stephen Gallacher, a European Tour player, earlier this year called for more attention to be paid to the crucial area of transition from amateur to professional. That is relevant for Ramsay and Saltman, who are widely regarded as equal to, or better than, any young amateurs we have had in recent times.

Curiously, Gallacher, who excelled as an amateur, winning the Scottish titles at boys, youths and senior level and then playing in the Walker Cup, has enjoyed his only European Tour victory in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship that includes among its winners fellow Scots Paul Lawrie and Colin Montgomerie.

There is lip-service recognition that investment is needed in an area that is currently inhabited by Ramsay, Saltman and a host of others such as Andrew McArthur, Jamie McLeary and Eric Ramsay.

If that transition is to be considered a real priority then that vocal support needs to be turned into action and that includes taking a long and open-minded look at a links obsession on amateur schedules, which looks as if it is actually hampering the progress it professes to foster.