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OK. Why 'one tanned hand'? Obvious if you think about it. The golf glove goes on the left hand (If you're right handed) so you get a suntanned right hand, a pallid, fish like left. Could have called it 'V-neck tan' too, but it wasn't as snappy! Would be a good name for a clothing brand, so if anybody fancies it - I want royalties!

First, some background. My brother Andrew is four years younger than me. He and I have always been a bit over competitive (OK, I have, not so much him), so we have had an unspoken agreement not to play each other's sports. He played football, I played rugby, we both played tennis, but he made it through to County coaching (I didn't, I'm not bitter...), I played squash, he played badminton and so on. He has played golf since he was about 6, and despite playing about four times in a good year, maintains a handicap of around 10, and could have been much lower. I naturally avoided golf, and heaped much scorn on the game, as was the family tradition. When I was 42, my knees went, really quite quickly, and despite a few months of physio it was clear that it was time to give up squash. I'm built like a prop forward too, so maybe it was time. To avoid playing golf, I even took up crocquet for a while. What a tedious game that is. 3 - 4 hours and you can be an hour between shots.

Then, about five years ago, a client of mine (I run an industrial marketing communciations business) asked whether I wanted to play in their company golf day. Cutting a story short, I borrowed clubs, played, was dead last but enjoyed it, played again six weeks later with the same bunch and was SECOND, and was hooked, hooked, hooked (not the shot, the obsession!).

My youngest son, Peter, who was nine at the time, wanted to join in, so he has had lessons for quite a lot of the intervening period. Now he's 14 he's starting to really develop both in terms of his skill level and also physically, so I'm expecting him to start coming down quite quickly now. He, like me, is not 'talented' - we're never going to play professionally - but it's nice to be able to play a game together. My wife Julie started last year, when the club ran taster sessions and cheap lessons to encourage lady members to join, so rather than being out-driven and depressed playing with us, she was able to make a few friends of people all in the same boat, so they could be frustrated, elated and elevated together. She was delighted to get her first handicap certificate a couple of weeks ago, and has already come second (in Division 3) in two competitions.

We're all members at Mapperley Golf Club in Nottinghamshire, a beautiful but mildly vicious sloping, hilly course with quick greens.

Hope you enjoy reading the blog. All the best, Martin