But that didn’t last. The trouble with team sports is that you can play well individually and still lose. I didn’t enjoy that aspect of football. So, while I am first to acknowledge the help of those around me – especially my wife, Marian – for me the best thing about golf is that I win or lose on my own efforts.

I turned professional at the age of 17 on April 1st 1986. My handicap at the time was five and I had no real amateur record to speak of. But Doug Smart, then the club professional at Banchory, saw something in me and hired me as an assistant. I can see him now on my first day, darting into the back of his shop and emerging with what he called my “new best friend” for the next three years – a vacuum cleaner.