Dem's da rules

The unfortunate incident of Peter Whiteford being 'escorted from the course' after his disqualification at the Avantha Masters sparked a storm on social media outlets, the general target for the vitriol being the armchair referee who called in the infringement and the unfairness of the situation around the DQ. There are clearly a number of issues with this turn of events, all of which served to overshadow what was a superb maiden European Tour win for Jbe Kruger.

Tweet Golf Cup - the countdown begins

According to the website, there are 200-odd days to go until the inaugural Tweet Golf Cup, an 18-hole, four-person-team Stableford competition to be played over the impressive and intimidating Dundonald Links golf course in Ayrshire. Having received the news that the entry of my team, Never Up Never In, had been accepted, I thought I would start the build-up and anticipation of what promises to be an exceptional day of golf.

What lovely balls you have...

John Solheim, CEO of Ping, recently proposed a change to golf balls whereby professional players use a different type of ball to us mere mortals, primarily to combat the continuing upward creep of average driving distances amongst the professional ranks. As part of a feature debating the pros and cons of this idea, I was invited by Today's Golfer magazine to contribute to the 'No' camp - this is the full extended version of my comments (which appear on page 15 of the March 2012 edition (#292).

Drive for show...

Extra distance. Added length. Obscenely long. 

Terminology with which we, as amateur golfers and suckers for marketing, are all too familiar. It seems that, despite the debates raging amongst the professional ranks about the distances being hit on tour and what can be done, the club manufacturers are sticking to the tried and tested principle of producing the gear which promises to give you the 'missing' extra yards off the tee. The question I have is 'Is it worth it?'

Protect what's most valuable

The extremely unfortunate news of Paul Casey dislocating his shoulder, resulting in an untimely lay-off, and the ensuing debate on Twitter, got me quite cross (grr - how very British) about the 'avoidable injury'.

Nailing my colours to the mast

As 2011 emits its dying breaths and shudders to a wintry close, I thought I would offer up some predictions for the golfing year in 2012. Clearly there is huge scope for these to be wildly inaccurate (and rest assured I won't follow up any of these with a monetary commitment) but hopefully they are of interest and spark some debate.

Didn't he do well? Alvaro, that is...

Amid all the hyperbole, chatter and general noise surrounding Luke Donald's remarkable achievement, it is very easy to forget there were two players who actually scored better than the World #1 and pond-straddling money list winner.

What Luke really meant...

Apparently, we are meant to swallow the headlines that world #1 Luke Donald believes Rory McIlroy to have more talent that Tiger Woods. Did he actually say that? His later clarifications would imply that his remarks were taken out of context (shock - when doesn't this happen?!) but the undertones of his gamesmanship are designed to unsettle the pretender to his European Tour crown.

Old guard aren't finished yet...

As weekends of golf go, that one was ok. Not bad. Quite interesting.

Three tournaments reached their conclusion at various times yesterday and whilst there was a win for a member of the next generation of golfing superstars, two of the elder statesmen showed they're not quite ready to hand the baton over.

My Dream 18

I thought I would put together a 'dream 18' of holes I have played which, given artistic licence on the laws of physics and geography, would make the perfect course. These are not in any particular order either.