My three-week drought of golf was broken last Monday at lovely Enville Golf Club, home to two beautiful courses, right on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border. It was where Diane Bailey (nee Robb) played a great deal of her golf and is rightly an honorary member. Diane, now an MBE, was a British Girls’ Champion, an England International, a Curtis Cup player and president of the Ladies’ Golf Union but she will mostly be remembered for being the first to captain a winning British and Irish team (male or female) on American soil. That was in the 1986 Curtis Cup at Prairie Dunes in Kansas – unforgettable for many, including Patricia who was there covering the match.

Diane Bailey, front row second left, with her successful 1986 Curtis Cup side. Can you name them all?[Women Golfers’ Museum.]
It’s interesting to ponder which is the better approach as regards bringing on youngsters in the game. At 15 Rory McIlroy was teeing it up in a professional European Tour event, something hard to imagine happening had he been restricted to playing in age appropriate competitions as opposed to skill appropriate ones. Tiger always felt the best way to develop was to win at every level, which he did, of course, but he wasn’t restricted from playing against boys a lot older. I’m pretty sure the current system will encourage many more very young ones to get involved. Being solely with their peers will probably mean they’ll keep going for longer, not get too discouraged and hey presto, before they know where they are the bug has bitten! And that may just keep them in the game for life.

Patricia, Anita and me, a little bedraggled, but smiling after a great day out [Thanks to Lorna Bennett, pressed into happy snap service]
I was laughing at the pair of them and shaking my head at their senior moments when I realised that these were the very folk who had absolutely trounced me on the golf course! “And I used to be quite good,” I thought. A chastening moment.
Anyway, I plan to return during the week to see the girls and how it ought to be done!
The past week has seen wonderful tributes pour in from all over the world for Renton Laidlaw, broadcaster and writer extraordinaire on many subjects, but specifically on golf. Renton would always have been on my list of favourites to have as a dinner companion. Be that as it may, I have one Renton tale which I would like to share with you.
Forty years or so ago I was working for a golf promotion company which organised pro-ams in the winter in the south of Spain. I was a general dogsbody in the running of the tournaments and I am hazy as to how it came about but I actually caddied for Renton in one of these 54 hole pro-ams. He had arrived out in Spain, a member of well-known professional David Huish’s team. David was a terrific player and a great ball striker – we were, after all, only a handful of years removed from when he had led the Open at Carnoustie after 36 holes. To David’s horror Renton had come armed with a new set of John Jacobs’ clubs which claimed to be anti-slice. David had completely dissed these clubs in the press, totally rejecting, at that time, that clubs should be tinkered with to mask skill deficiencies in the player. And boy, had Renton skill deficiencies!
Anyway, Renton and the clubs (and I like to think the caddy also) performed like a dream team. Drives were straight and true, no trademark deviation to the right-hand side of the course, and a final triumphant chip in from off the final green sealed the win after three tense days of competition. It was hilarious, one member of the winning team claiming victory despite the anti-slice clubs and another claiming victory precisely because these new weapons had been in his bag!
We had a lot of fun that week and Renton certainly had the last laugh.