It's not always the case, of course, but golfers can be a one-eyed, rather selfish lot. The nature of the sport, like tennis or boxing, is to glorify the individual rather than the team. So you get the odd bod on his or her own mission - not too worried about their neighbours, or what's going on in the big wide world off the golf course.
Fortunately South Africa's Mandy Adamson, who comfortably topped the Order of Merit on the 2002 Nedbank SA Ladies Professional Tour which ended on Friday, does not fall into this category.
Adamson (30) has a heart for development in the game in this country and has spent time in Soweto and with disadvantaged communities and schools in rural areas teaching Gogo golf, a modified golf game with loops and tennis balls, for learners from four to 18 years.
"The youngsters we came across have so much potential, so much natural ability. We take the talented ones and move them along from the Gogo stage to the next level, where the idea is to sponsor them and get them into the Junior Foundation."
So that's the philanthropist in Mandy. But there's also a creative side. As well as being a golfer, she's an artist - an acrylic painter. She has sold a few of her paintings in London, and has exhibited her work in Johannesburg - one of the places being with the Artists Under the Sun group at Zoo Lake. Recently, inspired after going to Soweto, she has painted township scenes - "shacks, bright colours, that kind of thing ...
"Golf and art are both creative and both individual occupations; it is either you and the golf course, or you and the canvas," she says.
After a glittering career as an amateur golfer, in which she won just about everything there is to win in South Africa, Adamson joined the paid ranks in 1994. Since then she has recorded eight wins as a professional in this country but has yet to taste success in the "big-time" in Europe where she campaigns each year.
"That's my big goal as a golfer - to win over there," says Mandy. And her dream may yet come true if she can reproduce overseas the kind of form she has shown in South Africa in the past month.
Sports psychologists are all the rage with the world's top golfers these days and Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, for instance, have both heaped praise on Belgian "mind doctor" Jos Vanstiphout for helping them lift their games to new heights.
"And working with a psychologist has been the key for me too," enthuses Mandy whose three wins this autumn included victory in the SA Open at Devonvale in the Cape with a remarkable 54-hole total of 205, and a round of 64 on her way to victory in the Nedbank Ladies SA Masters which ended at Houghton on Friday.
"If you want to take your game to a higher level you need to be strong on the mental side," Adamson says.
"So last year on the European Tour I started working with sports psychologist Vicky Aitken and she's helped me really believe in myself."
This new-found confidence was evident towards the end of last year when Adamson gained top 10 finishes in both the German Open and Dutch Open.
Adamson got into golf through her father John, an Irishman who was mad about the game and took her to his countryman Harry Middleton - a professional who like himself, had emigrated to South Africa - for coaching. "My dad, who has passed away, would have been a pro himself if he hadn't met my mother and had kids, so I'm probably living out his dream."
Mandy feels there is a "terrible lack of exposure" in women's golf. "We need to advertise ourselves more, and make people aware of what is going on in our sport. Often guys don't believe women can play good golf. So when they do get paired with us in a pro-am, they're stunned when we shoot the lights out."
The four-event Nedbank Ladies Tour was a huge success in her estimation. "We've got the weather and the enthusiasm as well as the courses. Having a bunch of talented Scandinavian girls out here helped a lot too. It meant we had to work really hard for that cheque. Their presence raised the standard and as a result all the South Africans started playing better."
Anyone she looks up to in golf? "Retief Goosen. He has come down a similar road to me, playing overseas and finding it tough to begin with. But by hanging in he showed that you can be a major winner despite having had to struggle beforehand."
The highlight of her career? "Representing South Africa (with Joanne Norton) in the World Cup. It was the first time SA had played in the Cup and it was such an honour."
What motivates her? "Everything I do I try to do to the best of my ability, whether it's making a cup of coffee, fixing macaroni cheese, playing golf or painting. I'm a perfectionist."