It’s the middle of October but why wait till New Year for sweeping changes?  So, first, a much-needed new hairstyle and, secondly, and more importantly, the breaking news is I’m shortly going to treat myself to some new clubs.  Not exactly earth shattering stuff, is it, but my current set IS 15 years old and, although relatively lightly raced over that time span, it is definitely time for an upgrade.  So, before taking myself off for a club fitting at a certain place in Lincolnshire I decided it was time to visit my great friend and former coach, Lawrence Farmer, now living in glorious Somerset.  I thought it’d be handy to have a bit of an MOT on my own swing and time spent with Lawrence is always a joy for lots of reasons.

We first met around 25 years ago, introduced by Trish Johnson, former Solheim Cup player and multi-tournament winner.  Lawrence was coaching Trish at the time, along with a number of other players on the Ladies’ European Tour, notably, I remember, Aussie Karen Lunn, who blitzed the field at Woburn in 1993 to win the Women’s British Open by a whopping eight shots.

I had never, to that point, met anyone with such a detailed understanding of the golf swing, matched only by his desire for more and more information.  His voracious appetite for reading and researching all things golf was what struck me greatly and that enquiring and searching mind is present to this day.

And when Lawrence made up his mind to do something he was unwavering in achieving his goal.  One day he decided he needed to up his fitness levels, so he started training with a view to running the London marathon.  The greatest obstacle to his success turned out to be when his Dandie Dinmont dog ate the microchip that Lawrence was supposed to wear on his shoe to time and track his progress during the race.  Ignoring our advice that now he would have to run carrying the dog, he completed the first of his three marathons, then turned his attention to cycling and shortly afterwards completed the Land’s End to John O’Groats trip.  Another goal was ticked off the list.

We spent some 90 minutes last week hitting shots and talking golf and I came away, as always, refreshed by this remarkably enthusiastic coach, encyclopaedic in his knowledge and blunt in his delivery.  He never stops learning, questioning, striving and I’ve learned so much from him as regards my own coaching career.  He inspires me every time.

If you told me I could never play another round of golf but I could hit balls and chat with Lawrence for 90 minutes every other week, I would be happy with that – THAT’S how much I enjoy our sessions.

On the long, wet journey back from Somerset with the tail end of hurricane Lorenzo as a companion I began to muse on other influential figures in my golfing life.  First of these was a man I met when still at school.  My mother had written to Peter Alliss asking him to recommend a good golf coach in the Edinburgh area as Patricia had just gone to uni there.  Back came the answer:  John Shade, the professional at Duddingston Golf Club.  And so as a 15-year old I travelled over to the Scottish capital to spend half-terms and holidays with my big sis and I began to have lessons with JS, as we called him.

I don’t think that I realised for one minute then just how good a coach he was.  Sure, I knew that he had coached his multi-initialled son Ronnie (RDBM – known as Right Down the Bloody Middle) to five consecutive Scottish Amateur Championships, four Walker Cups and four professional wins but it was only as my own knowledge grew that I appreciated him more.  We worked hard together on the practice ground and boy, did we laugh!  He was straight-talking with a Scottish gruffness that frightened me a little at first, but he was kindness personified, giving me lifts across the city to where Patricia lived so I wouldn’t have to clatter up and down to the top deck of the bus swaying its way down Princes Street.

They were great days but far too short.  JS died in March of 1979 three months before I won my first British title.  He would have been proud of that but more proud, I suspect, of helping set a gangly teenager from Northern Ireland off on a wonderful journey in the world of golf.

Sandwiched in between these two professional giants and inspirations in my golfing life was another person pivotal to my development, both as a player and person.  Pat Park was the coach/manager of the Lamar University women’s golf team in the 1970s and was brave enough to recruit me, amongst others, to the Texas uni in the hope that the team would qualify for the National Finals for the first time in their history.  We repaid her belief in us by finishing in the top 25 in the country, thus qualifying for the finals in Hawaii.  We repeated the feat the following year as well – a tremendous achievement by a coach with limited financial resources but boundless energy, positivity and enthusiasm.  She took many young, very green players under her wing and helped them produce their best with a no-nonsense attitude that encouraged a strong work ethic and team camaraderie.  We are friends to this day and still in touch.

Yes, golf is great, but it’s the people in your life who make your life.  I feel anybody in any walk of life who finds a mentor is very fortunate.  I have been very lucky, very lucky indeed.

Did you catch any of the final day’s play on the Old Course last Sunday?  It was the denouement of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and while I was delighted that Frenchman Victor Perez procured his maiden professional win it was the pro-am team competition that really captured the imagination.  The McIlroys, Rory and Dad Gerry, were in hot pursuit of Tommy Fleetwood and his amateur partner Ogden Phipps who set the clubhouse lead at 39 under par.  Rory finished with six consecutive birdies, finally providing the support to Gerry’s stellar play, to tie the leaders.  Family McIlroy had to settle for second, however, as the tiebreak was decided by the better professional score and Tommy had finished at 19 under to Rory’s 15.

Still, it was a lovely 60th birthday present for Gerry.  My interest was piqued, however, when Sky Sports’ Tim Barter asked Rory if the duo would play next year for Gerry’s 61st birthday.  “I don’t have any real ambition to play again.  I’m happy enough with what we’ve done,” came the reply.

I found that a little puzzling until I read later of the Ulsterman’s criticism of the European Tour course set-ups as being too easy.  He stated:  “…if the European Tour want to put forth a really good product the golf courses and set-ups need to be tougher.”  He added:  “There are no penalties for bad shots” and “I don’t feel like good golf is regarded as well as it could be.”  He summed up his frustrations with this:  “I’m honestly sick of coming back over to the European Tour, shooting 15 under par and finishing 30th.”

Well said, Rory!  But I’d go further.  It’s not the set-up of the courses that needs to change first.  Rather, it’s time for a serious reining in of the equipment and time, I think, for a tournament ball for professional play.  That’d be a good start.  Why can’t each manufacturing company be charged with producing a ball that is defined by rigorous conditions which would primarily limit distance?  That way the great courses can still be played as their designers intended without the need for adding ridiculous length.

It’s the prodigious distances that the modern professional hits the ball and the fact that many tournament venues require nothing more than a 9-iron second shot at par 4s that make many of the tests too easy.  The artificial “tricking up” of some of our great venues, purely to increase the difficulties for the professionals, is not the answer.

So, that leads us to a word much reviled by the powers-that-be – bifurcation.  This would mean accepting two sets of rules, one for the pros and one for the amateurs.  Allow the amateurs to take advantage of all the technological advances there are with clubs and balls – but not the professionals.  The advancement of today’s equipment makes it difficult for the really top players to separate themselves from the pack.

The supreme skills required to be a really good long-iron player or to have the ability to move the ball both ways are dying out due to the test the pros face on a weekly basis.  The current recipe for success is hit it as hard and far as you can, be a good wedge player and have a good short game.  That’s fine, but what happened to the skills of playing mid- and long-irons into par 4s and sometimes from straggly rough that gives the player a sporting chance?  More searching than bomb-and-gouge from ankle deep stuff.

Strategy will play a bigger part too.  The modern game is becoming boring to watch and rounds are taking forever, not least because of the courses being stretched to their limits.  Rein back the equipment, limit the ball and the skills required will subtly alter, making the sport multi-dimensional and watchable again and our great courses will remain relevant.  Bifurcation is not a dirty word, it’s a beautiful word.

Changing tack slightly, my great pal Mary McKenna and I were guests of Mo Richmond at her Ladies’ Captain’s Day and Dinner last week at Royal Liverpool.  I didn’t realise that they had actually partnered each other in Curtis Cup foursomes many moons ago but I always knew they were two of the best amateurs that these islands have ever produced.  They could each have made a success in the professional ranks but chose to follow other career paths and, according to them both, without any regrets whatsoever.

We were royally entertained and had a lovely evening swapping golfing stories and experiences with a very vibrant, jolly membership, some of whom we’d known for decades and some of whom we met for the first time that evening.  I think I speak for everyone present when I say we could listen all night to Mary Mc, whose passion for the game is undimmed.  These get-togethers are to be treasured and once again I found myself silently sending thanks to Mum and Dad for introducing me to the greatest game of all.

It’s been quite a year!  Twelve months ago the cheers of Ole, ole, ole were ringing out around the Golf National Golf Club near Versailles as Europe romped to a terrific Ryder Cup victory.  April meant Augusta in the spring sunshine and the extraordinary 15th major win for the injury ridden Tiger and then……. well, then July and the Open at Portrush – for me, arguably the absolute pinnacle of all my years of playing, watching and working in golf.  But the game has kept on giving and last week Europe squeaked home in the Solheim Cup at Gleneagles, against the US, by the narrowest of margins.  Ole, ole ole indeed.

That was the 16th edition of the Solheim Cup and between us Patricia and I have been present at 14 of these encounters.  Our roles have altered over the last 30 years.  Patricia has morphed from a supposedly unbiased, sensible, considered golf writer for the Times into a bona fide European supporter, actually (whisper it quietly) sporting a Scottish ginger wig one day.  Of course, that WOULD be the day she chose to drop in to the TV compound, popping in to the BBC production office to say hello to Peter and Jackie Alliss.  I, meanwhile, have moved from being fellow tour player and friend of the players to broadcaster, member of the back room team and then back to commentator.  My own blue and yellow wig is not far away, I think.

You have to accept that at the moment Europe and the US are not exactly the powerhouses of women’s golf.  That accolade lies a little further east but you don’t necessarily need the best teams to get the best contests and I don’t agree with those who say the Solheim Cup is no longer relevant.  The BBC highlights programme peaked at over 650,000 viewers.  Add in Sky’s live coverage averaging 250,000 and that’s considerable interest for what some commentators have called a second rate contest.  And let’s not forget the 90,000 spectators actually at the match.

I confess I still find it difficult to get past the R&A’s decision to remove the Open, the Women’s British Open, the Walker Cup and the Curtis Cup from terrestrial TV.  Obviously none of us was party to the behind-the-scenes discussions that took place but the net result is golf on television is only available to those who can afford a hefty monthly subscription.  Those people tend to be avid golfers and already hooked on the game.  Slim chance of inspiring interest in non-golfers.  Funny way to “grow the game” isn’t it?  If the R&A felt the BBC coverage of the Open was tired and dated, why not make more stringent demands on the Corporation?  Was it REALLY only ever about the money on the table?

I’d like to emphasise here that I think Sky do an excellent job but their reach is small and I don’t believe that is good for golf.  It certainly won’t help the Ladies’ European Tour who will be desperate to capitalise on this great win in a very uncertain commercial climate.

One of the downsides to doing a highlights programme is that I do not get much of an opportunity to get out on the golf course during the matches.  I’m buried away in the TV compound commentating from a TV monitor.  I do, however, get to sit next to Peter Alliss for a straight eight to ten hours and I can tell you that is never dull!  I do, occasionally, escape to do a small piece to camera with Eilidh Barbour, our presenter, and it’s great fun getting prepped for the camera by one of the make-up artists.  They are magicians!

Opportunities to bump into old friends from tour days are therefore limited but a great week came to a perfect conclusion for me when I spotted a familiar figure as i was leaving our hotel on the Monday morning – the always elegant Swede, former European Solheim Cup captain, Lotte Neumann.  Lotte had been supporting the team all week and was looking forward to a few rounds of her own in Scotland.  She was off that day to play at St Andrews and had Muirfield on the list for later in the week.

I came away reflecting yet again on all that golf has given me across most of my life – competition, fun, friendships, principles and a living, to name but a few things.  All I really want is for others to have a chance to know and love this game as I do and it’s imperative we keep striving to be all-inclusive and welcoming.  Time to ditch the exclusivity label that sticks to our sport and the outdated views that hold us back.  Time to welcome all with arms outstretched.