The Further Ballad Of Mikey B

You may recall Mikey B, he being the recently retired tax partner at KPMG who last year incinerated his golf glove in an attempt to dry it in an Irish oven. Well he is now taking advantage of his retirement by playing lots of golf at his home club, Woburn. This is a very plush set-up that is the only institution to boast three courses in the Golf World UK Top 100.

It transpires that Mikey B is a very poor judge of character and thus he invited the OG and Big Willy Mac (you've met him before, he organises the annual Ireland trip) to join him for a game on the Duchess Course yesterday. A cracking day of sport and one which the OG managed despite his lack of practice not to disfigure too much with his incompetence. Big Willy had one of his frequent on-days and took the spoils.

A lot of trees and not much room for cat swinging

The Duchess course is carved out of the forests of the Woburn Estate. It is apparently the narrowest of the three courses, which is just as well because I don't believe I've ever played a narrower. Each hole scythes its sway through the woods without being overlooked by any other. Any errant drive has no chance of finding another fairway. This is a strong test of golf and the mark of its quality is that I enjoyed it thoroughly despite its marked unsuitability for my own broad-brush brand of golf.

So, many thanks to Big Willy for doing the driving and particular gratitude to Mikey B and Mrs B who put us up and put up with us on Sunday night and ensured that no golf was played with an entirely clear head. This lack of mental clarity is a feature of all my golf these days but yesterday's pleasurable experience has made me vow for the umpteenth time to play more often and to get to bed early the night before I do so. Fat chance.