Thracian

Pleased for Garcia - and so appropriate to win his first major on the late Sevvy's birthday.

I just hope you come through fit and well again.

Congratulations Col and have a great time. When I got married I was well into my football and suggested a two year contract with a two-year option. That was 50 years ago come the back end of this summer and she often says she should have accepted! .

Bothers me too - so many potential fiddles. Gang-master pays to see his charges get the work then deducts that cost, plus "finder's commission" from his "team" when they get their wages. Or am I just being a cynical theorist?

Leicester-London and back and cleared a house fast enough to be back here for the football. Then could only get tickets rows apart. Does anyone screen the game anymore?

I must pay a visit, I usually head for the Curzon Arms in Woodhouse Eaves if I don't cook at the chalet and raid my own wine stock!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSI-cNpB9-Y/ Anyone needing tee-shot tutor?

I must pay a visit, I usually head for the Curzon Arms in Woodhouse Eaves if I don't cook at the chalet and raid my own wine stock!

Virtually finished clearing my chalet in Swithland prior to moving out. Many happy days spent there but times are changing and it seems a bit of history will disappear in the next few years. .

I don't know anything about his capabilities as a coach - decent players don't always make effective coaches - but it can help to have players who've recently been there and done things, helping around the training ground. Kids can be inspired by players they've known and admired. When I ran my squash club I always had champions around - including the then Leicestershire Number One and England-ranked Simon Taylor. If the first thing juniors see at a club is people playing the game brilliantly, there's every chance of a knock-on effect over time. I don't say Konch was brilliant, but he did well enough.

Whole swathes of our country, its environment and infrastructure, have gone downhill these last 40-odd years.

Lots of loading then more effort to improve on the golf course until the rain clouds opened up and settled their own score!

I nearly added a rider about that but I hadn't read the judge's statement and couldn't imagine she'd have implied in any way that a woman being drunk would mitigate anyone else's action. It wouldn't in my mind. I chose the word "responsibly" because while a woman should be able to dress (legally) in the way she chooses, it seems perfectly obvious that some people - perhaps themselves the worse for alcohol, consider that the more provocatively a woman dresses or behaves (including in relation to their levels of intoxication) the greater their justification for taking advantage. You and I might not think that but some clearly do. And, presumably the female judge felt it would improve the situation if women didn't get drunk and behaved more sensibly/responsibly/considerately, call it what you wish.

Judge suggests women behave responsibly ( for their own safety) outrage!

"Embrace it" ... you're so right about that. As I've often said "you'll never beat the game". Just enjoy your good shots and the special moments we all have, revel in the fresh air and the joy of the countryside and forget all the bad things at the next tee. Whenever I miss an easy putt or smash a teeshot into the canal I think of the cardiac ward my wife was in at Glenfield Hospital and all the people who'll never have the energy and strength to walk a golf course . It sure keeps things in proportion.

The problem is getting through the teen years and still being motivated. Whacking the ball 250 yards with a kind handicap and getting all the encouragement imaginable is one thing, dealing with playing off scratch against kids who've been tutored since they were nippers is quite another, especially when it might be months and months between victories. It happens with so many sports and things like music too. How easily distractions of being a young adult can compensate from the literal and metaphoric pains of practicing day in day out to keep in touch with players who are just that bit longer off the tee, a bit more imaginative when they're in trouble and ruthless when they get in front. There's no easy way through this period or easy answer to the talent and determination of others. But I hope the lad gets through what I call the doldrums and emerges a champion. There's no short cuts. He'll have to dot the i's and cross the tees to be a winner. And have nerves of steel. I almost matched Izzy with a 74 this afternoon - but off winter tees, in warm, virtually windless conditions and without the pressure of being in a competition but ended up disappointed having finished the first nine in 36. In reality that would have no chance of winning any kind of scratch competition. To win you have to make things happen, and when you get in front you have to push still harder rather than hope the rest will falter. Because someone always sticks in there and does something special. Close to scratch gets an honourable mention. Below scratch is the only place to be.

Haha, when my kids ask me what I want for Christmas there's nothing more than to master the art of putting! I'm still haunted by hitting our par five fourth in two for the first time in my life (wind assisted) and the taking four putts from 25 feet! I can miss from any distance, even a few inches. My wife laughs and says it's a wonder we ever had kids at all!

Seems to me there's a mental barrier to overcome as you get a lower handicap - the thought that you can't afford mistakes. At first I became a bit defensive and dropped far too many putts short but, in the end decided you've got to think "birdiies" rather than just pars, and make sure you give the putts a chance to go in by hitting them with enough weight whatever.

Cracking score off the white tees, so much concentration required. I think any good golf round requires good fortune, perhaps more so this time of the year when a heavy footmark can make a perfectly good putt turn off line just in front of the hole or hit some other miniature obstacle on the green.that said, there's no way anyone scores 73 off the whites without being an excellent player.

Circa 1956 Consul or Zephyr perhaps?

I felt exactly the same about the British people and Blair.

I'd be the last to defend irresponsible management but so often the compensation culture ignores the responsibility of parents/guardians and adult customers themselves to weigh up the risks, to decide whether they're suitable for the activity concerned and to limit their or their charges actions to the levels of their ability. I visited a trampoline facility in Ashby and the safety measures seemed entirely adequate and reasonable, though they'll doubtless be improved over time . When my son took up boxing it was just the same. Training was properly supervised, with properly approved safeguards. But there were still risks and, as a parent, I accepted my responsibility for weighing up those risks. One of the risks concerned levels of refereeing when my son graduated to proper fights. The real risk to was is in the balancing of fight opponents. Get it wrong and an inexperienced boxer might be damaged very early on. But very quickly in a bout, it became quite obvious to the referee whether one fighter is of a much higher quality than another and a potential danger to the weaker lad. And it became the referees greater responsibility to act sensibly and to negate that risk if the need arose. In trampolining it's surely down to monitoring levels of progression but, just like with the gymnastics and rugby we played at school, there are always risks and if some people/parents aren't prepared to accept responsibility for taking them they shouldn't make cissies out of everyone else and get the opportunities banned as a result. The compensation culture does so much damage and sometimes out of all proportion to the potential benefits of risk activities. Taken to the nth degree, how we'd ever have armies or airmen I'd never know. Health and safety should be of constant evolutionary benefit not a vehicle for restraint or abolition due to the compensation culture. I'd still advocate risk disclaimers. the issue of bad/poor management would have to be proven and entirely separate. This would encourage councils and governing bodies to set standards and to see them maintained.

Sounds like paradise for plaintiffs. Such a pity people can't simply sign a risk disclaimer so facilities like these can stay open for the fit and adventurous instead of being blighted by those who refuse to take responsibilitiy for their own actions and decisions. It's like boxing really. Brilliant sport and with such positive benefits when promoted properly. But it's never without risk, any more than driving a car or playing golf. The compensation culture pisses me off but it'll likely be at full throttle with this.

Belated condolences Ken. We've never agreed on anything but I feel for you on this.