\n Think of auld Cammy and Norrie necking back 12 cans, blethering about the fitba and dozing off as the chip pan goes ablaze and you get the general idea.\n<\/p>\n
\n If hygge doesn\u2019t float your boat, then there\u2019s always niksen, which is the Dutch notion of doing absolutely nothing.\n<\/p>\n
\n Or you could try fika, which is the Swedish art of the coffee break. It\u2019s actually the favoured concept of the sports editor who regularly pores over this column with a chipped mug\u00a0of Nescafe Gold\u00a0Blend and mutters, \u201cwhat the fika is he writing about now?\u201d. Or something like that.\n<\/p>\n
\n So, what are we going to write about this week? Well, let\u2019s have a meander along with the amateur-to-professional transition.\n<\/p>\n
\n Lottie Woad seems to have mastered it. Her victory in the ISPS Handa Women\u2019s Scottish Open on Sunday in her first start as a professional was a quite tremendous effort.\n<\/p>\n
\n Forget hygge, niksen or fika. Perhaps \u2018Lottie\u2019 could become a type of buzzword for self-help in golf?\n<\/p>\n
\n While Woad marched to glory at Dundonald Links, a programme aimed at boosting various layers of women\u2019s golf here in Scotland was launched.\n<\/p>\n
\n As part of the initiative, some funding to help smooth the path between the amateur game and the professional scene was unveiled.\n<\/p>\n
\n We all know that birling here, there and everywhere as a touring golfer can lead to the kind of eye-watering expenses sheet that would make Auric Goldfinger choke on his bullion.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the women\u2019s game, with fewer playing opportunities, smaller prize pots but just as much outlay, the figures often don\u2019t add up.\n<\/p>\n
\n That earlier 007 reference is quite apt.\u00a0Financial assistance to the leading Scottish players is being provided by the Sean Connery Foundation. Not quite Licence to Kill, more licence to help with some of the bills.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hannah Darling, who made her pro debut at Dundonald, and Lorna McClymont, who is in her rookie year on the Ladies European Tour, are the first recipients of this funding with more, hopefully, to benefit in the next few years.\n<\/p>\n
\n This amateur-to-pro lark, both in the male and female game in Scotland, has caused much head scratching and teeth gnashing down the seasons.\n<\/p>\n
\n Scores of talented amateur golfers\u00a0were tipped for great\u00a0things but, upon turning pro with little financial backing or a hand to guide them, struggled to keep their heads above water and disappeared into obscurity.\n<\/p>\n
\n A number of years ago, Iain Stoddart, the effervescent head of the Bounce management firm which has nurtured Robert MacIntyre\u2019s career, pieced together a meaty document broadly equivalent to the Beveridge Report as he mapped out a plan to bolster the health of the country\u2019s rookie pros.\n<\/p>\n
\n The tome was called \u2018Fusion Scotland\u2019 and it essentially called for the various stakeholders involved with Scottish golf to work together for a wider cause.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a such a fragmented scene as Scotland, with different bodies all protecting their pockets of power and influence, it was a complex exercise in gentle shepherding that was akin to a vast sheepdog trial.\n<\/p>\n
\n Stoddart and his team identified the problem areas and, over time, did a grand job in helping a new generation find their feet and prosper.\n<\/p>\n
\n The hope now is that a fresh\u00a0wave of women golfers can benefit from the Connery Foundation\u2019s support.\n<\/p>\n
\n Finding our next Catriona Matthew was never going to be easy. We were spoiled by her trailblazing triumphs and wonderful longevity even though, in a wider sporting sense, her achievements were often woefully under appreciated.\n<\/p>\n
\n You could probably say that about UK women\u2019s golf in general. The exploits of the aforementioned Woad have certainly attracted plenty of attention. It probably helps that she, dare I say it, is English.\n<\/p>\n
\n But as various female pursuits garner unprecedented levels of coverage, golf, by and large, still muddles on in the margins and seems to have missed the tail wind that\u2019s been gusting behind other women\u2019s sports.\n<\/p>\n