A large man dressed in black sat beside a small man dressed in blue at the Irish Open in Co Cork last week and talked like they has not seen each other for quite a while. They hadn't. The bigger of the two puffed vigourously on an expensive Cuban cigar as he made his point to the smaller man, who was distracted with keeping his modest cigarette alight as he listened to his companion.

There were many conversations going on at Fota Island during the Murphy's Irish Open last week but not many as intense as this one on Saturday on the spectator stand beside the practice ground.

Darren Clarke was expressing his feelings about the day's round to Jos Vantispout - they would have been good feelings, Clarke had had a very good round of 65. The volatile Northern Irishman had made the cut and put himself into contention for the tournament. Things had gone well and all this on a week that had seen the rekindling of an old relationship that had been in recess for a few months.

The little man, Jos Vanstiphout, is not a psychologist, a psychiatrist nor a psycho-analyst. He prefers to describe himself as a mental coach. Players spend endless time on the range grooving their swings and this man from Belgium is there to take care of the mind training that all golfers need to combine with their technical skill. The perfect swing cannot work without a clear mind to control it.

Vanstiphout arrived on the practice grounds of the European Tour in 1996 having spent considerable time in the United States trying to track down the man who originally inspired him to work as a mental coach, Tim Gallway. Gallway wrote the famous book on the inner game of golf, the mental approach to success in golf.

Vanstiphout began a road trip across America which resulted in him finding the guru and spending three months in Carmel, California learning his thoughts and theories on controlling the mind. Some six years later Jos still uses the knowledge gained from his American adventure, but most of his coaching comes from what he taught himself by his own hard slog on the range with different players.

He is 15 per cent Gallway and 85 per cent Jos and he is most definitely full on 100 per cent at all times.

If ever there was an unlikely companion for the conservative image-conscious world of professional golf then Jos, by his own admission, is that person.

"What do they want to do with me, I'm an ugly little git," he joked as I chatted with him on the talk-inducing terrace of Fota Island clubhouse on Friday last.

He is more likely to be seen strutting about the range sucking on a cigarette and sipping a coke than consuming the water and fruit that is more commonplace these days. He obviously believes he has a lot to offer golfers and there is no doubt that they believe he has a lot to offer them. Jos has been working with three out of the last four winners in the last month, one of them US Open winner Retief Goosen. He had four of the top 10 finishers in Cork last week.

After two years and eight months of working with Goosen he found himself trying to get some positive words out of the South African on the Sunday night that he had seemingly thrown away his golden opportunity of victory in the US Open by being caught after holding a strong lead.

They were in neighbouring rooms in the same hotel, Goosen had close access to Jos all week long if he needed it. Access is one of the important aspects of the Belgian's support. He is always there for his players. He is the first at the course in the morning and the last to leave. He is reluctant to refuse a struggling player assistance but it is impossible for him to work efficiently if he has too many minds to attend to.

Jos went through the usual relaxation program with Goosen that Sunday night and asked him how he felt. Goosen admitted that he lost focus for five seconds and that cost him victory on the 18th green. Jos then asked Goosen to tell him something positive about the week in America to which the player replied: "Now I know I can beat them all."

Jos replied: "This is the first day of the rest of your life," and left the room content that his man was ready for major success after over two and a half years of coaching.

Nothing special in what he asked or said you may well surmise, but as most of us who play the game know, the simplest of words can trigger the most positive or negative actions. As a caddie you constantly encourage, try to trigger good memories or distract players' attention away from intense situations.

Many of us wonder why our sage words usually fall on deaf ears. We all know that psychology is only advanced common sense, which can be so absent in the heat of battle on course. But it seems that the words need to come from an outside source and this is where Jos comes to the fore.

"Even being with someone without saying anything, they seem to play well at the moment, I don't know what it is, maybe it's Him upstairs," Vanstiphout chuckled. "It's easy, something clicked."

He has certainly become the Midas of the Tour. Thomas Levet started working with him some 10 days before he won the British Masters a few weeks back. Andrew Coltart is also in his camp and won two weeks ago.

It's like a rocket, according to Jos. Even Colin Montgomerie shook his hand in congratulations to his success with Goosen in America. Seve Ballesteros broke his silence with him to congratulate him. The silence had lasted for over two years after Jos had worked with "El Gran Senor" in Germany. Ballesteros shot his lowest round in years the day after and did not speak to Jos again until last week.

So what does the mental coach do to bring out the best in his pupils? "I want them to be able to look at themselves in the mirror in the bathroom, talk honestly, have the guts to ask about the soft mental points and start to cure themselves of their weaknesses," Jos says.

The big secret is to reprogramme the subconscious. Jos gives his players relaxation tapes which they must listen to for 10 minutes in the morning and evening. He wants them to learn to love themselves, be honest and have discipline. "I am not a rookie, I see them all on the range, in the locker room, in the hotel, in the airport, I can smell when they are lying to me, if they don't trust me then it won't work, if they lie to me then they are cheating themselves," he adds.

Jos is a dreamer, he dreamt of becoming the number one mental coach in Europe after five years. He is at present undisputed in that position. His goal in another three years is to become the best in the world; the victory with Goosen an intermediate goal in that pursuit.

Management groups are talking to him, there is talk of a bus coming out on tour to provide a secluded area for Jos to retrain his merry men's subconscious. There is a transient gym, why not a roaming psychologist's sofa?

So if you see the little fellow talking to the big fellows in Co Kildare this week you will have a better idea of what their conversation is likely to be about. He will be getting them to examine their very core, which is what golf will do to you anyway.

You might as well discover it yourself, with the appropriate words from the Belgian mental man before you get to the first tee, at least then it won't be such a shock when the mind unravels into a complicated ream of negatives after the first mistake.