It was the kind of glowing report that would have had the good folk at the Ayrshire Tourist Board beaming like the Bee Gees after a scale and polish.

"Ayrshire is my favourite place in Scotland," said Amy Boulden, the 21-year-old Welsh girl as she gazed down from the Turnberry Hotel at the shimmering Ailsa course spread out in all its sun-soaked majesty.

Boulden may have been making her first visit to Turnberry, where she was helping to promote this season's Ricoh Women's British Open, but her affinity with this corner of Caledonia runs deep. Three years ago, and just up the A77 at Troon, she claimed the biggest title of a sparkling amateur career when she won the Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship.

Since that triumph, Boulden, who was part of the GB&I Curtis Cup-winning team at Nairn in 2012, has flourished in the professional ranks. Last season, she edged out Scotland's Sally Watson to the Ladies' European Tour's rookie of the year award during a campaign in which she recorded a second, a third and a fourth while qualifying for both the US Women's Open and the Women's British Open.

It's very much a case of onwards and upwards. "I didn't win but I got close and I learned a lot," said Boulden, who did record a victory on the second-tier Access Series which helped to raise morale. "That win on the Access Series made me realise I could compete as a pro and now I have to take those experiences from last year and make that breakthrough."

In a women's scene that continues to be energised by fresh-faced vigour, Boulden is enjoying being part of this Royal & Ancient game's youth movement. Her former Curtis Cup team-mate, Charley Hull, topped the European order of merit as a teenager last year, while the remarkable Lydia Ko leads the world rankings at the ripe old age of 17 as she continues to send records tumbling with her global conquests.

"There is still that perception that golf is an old man's sport but it is changing and this an exciting time for the women's game," added Boulden. "I played golf with Lydia when we were both amateurs in the Astor Trophy. She was only 13 or 14 at the time but she was awesome then. She was very mature and had a great temperament. She's in the spotlight all the time now but she's taken on the role and handles it superbly. To see someone so young being world No 1 raises the bar and pushes the rest of us to try and do better ourselves."

Ko will make the trip to Turnberry in July to headline a stellar field for the Women's Open. Boulden, meanwhile, is looking even further ahead and hoping, one day, to join Ko in the promised land of the LPGA Tour where opportunity abounds and the rewards are considerable. Boulden earned around £60,000 last season and finished 18th on the European money list. The player in 18th place on the LPGA rankings after nine events this year already has over £130,000. "I didn't have sponsorship last year, although I did have valuable funding from Elite Cymru and managed to make ends meet," said Boulden of a globetrotting existence that can quickly leave a sizeable dent in the bank account. "I will go to the LPGA Tour's qualifying school at the end of this year and try and make it out there. I know a couple of girls who got LPGA Tour cards last season and within a couple of events one of them said they felt a bit out of their depth and uncomfortable. The European circuit is a close tour, we are all friends and it's easy to adapt as everybody makes you feel welcome. But I'm excited about the prospect of the LPGA Tour. The best players in the world are there and that's where I want to be playing too."