The world is definitely getting louder. I said louder. Oh, for goodness sake … LOUDER!!! Did you hear that? Probably not.

It’s hardly surprising really given the sheer volume of background racket these days. Simple pleasures in life, such as ordering a pint of pale ale in the local, becomes a strained exercise in throaty bellowing which is a bit like roaring nautical instructions from the crow’s nest of a galleon during a violent tempest.

Thumping music, ear-shattering football commentary? There’s a heck of an unnecessary din to counter and the piped in pandemonium generally means that everybody else in the pub has to crank up the volume too. The other night, for instance, I stood next to two women whose unbearable shrieking became so penetrating it sounded more like an angle grinder holding a conversation with a pneumatic wrench.

Thank heavens then for the relative tranquillity of the golf course. Then again, a knifed sand wedge into the face of the bunker can generate the kind of agonised wailing that could fuse the Decibel Meter.

There could be plenty of teeth gnashing, cursing and muttering across Europe over the next few weeks as stage one of the European Tour’s qualifying school gets underway.

As usual, there is a giddy mix of Scottish hopefuls competing, from seasoned veterans still pining for that one last hurrah to young, up-and-coming talents trying to get a foothold on the ladder. Ewen Ferguson, the Bearsden rookie, and his Walker Cup team-mate, Jack McDonald, are both in action at The Roxburghe near Kelso while former Amateur champion Bradley Neil, who has made just five cuts in 26 events on both the Challenge Tour and the main European circuit since turning pro a year past June, will be competing at Schloss Ebriechsdorf, which sounds like an Austrian easy listening singer from the late 1970s.

Wherever they are, the general cut-and-thrust will be fevered. For a £1400 entry fee, you’d expect it to be as players try to negotiate a 72-hole first stage, a 72-hole second stage and a six-round final where only the top 25 and ties get a card.

Of course, plenty will argue that the q-school doesn’t prepare you for the myriad rigours of life as a touring pro. You can have three good weeks in the various stages and be fast-tracked to the top table. But then, that’s always been one of the most enticing aspects of the whole qualifying scene. It’s a great come all ye, democratic process which continues to offer hope and opportunity to golfers from all backgrounds. Take away that, and you take away much of what keeps driving players on.

The detractors of q-school say that those passing the test get little opportunity to establish themselves on the tour. The qualifiers tend to be down the ranking when it comes to entry into events and are playing for a fraction of the overall purse available on the circuit as a whole. That may be true to a point and Keith Pelley, the chief executive of the European Tour, has to make sure that the mid to lower ranked players are not simply brushed aside in the clamour to have huge, multi-million pound closed shop bonanzas for the great and the good in the rich-get-richer upper echelons.

But then again, in the ruthless, cut-throat world of the paid ranks, where there can be no room for a sense of entitlement and there is certainly no right to success, those who are good enough will make the most of the chances they are afforded.

Chris Hanson, who had nine previously unsuccessful trips to the qualifying school, was the last of 27 qualifiers from the 2015 final, has played in 17 events so far this year and is on course to cement his place in the top-tier. If he gets 20 or so starts by the end of the campaign, many would say that’s a decent enough crack of the whip.

For the likes of Ferguson, McDonald and Neil, the stage one shoot-out will say a lot about them as golfers. The pressure and competition will be fierce and will only intensify as the process goes on.

Scotland doesn’t have a male professional under the age of 30 on the European circuit and we are desperately crying out for some new faces to bridge this worrying generation gap. Earning a licence to tour is hard work. Keeping hold of it is even harder.