Golf . . .

For readers unfamiliar with this pastime, I will attempt a brief summary.

Players, or golfers, use long sticks with various shaped implements attached, depending on the job required - bashing a long way, chipping over an obstacle and the final act of putting the ball in the hole. This last one is called a putter. The hole is the aim, there are 18 on a proper course, the player getting round with the least number of shots is the winner. There is a 19th hole on most courses, but this is not a hole like the others, it's a watering hole or bar.

Golf tends to be a pastime of men with money except in Scotland, where it is also popular with poorer people. And whilst the game was mostly for men, women are also allowed these days. If not encouraged.

One wit dubbed it "a good walk spoilt", though walking is not essential, milk float type vehicles are available. Milk float type mobile bars too.

Readers may have spotted that I am not keen myself, though I have tried pitch and putt, putting and crazy golf. I welcome a little balance from golfing enthusiasts on the comment box here and I understand that it is a medium for engagement with other human beings. And freemasons.

This little rant is provoked by the large number of golf courses I pass on my walk along the Algarve coast. It certainly brings wealthy visitors, sells property, creates wealth for the local economy. On the down side, the associated building boom has become a crash, as usual with the capitalist model. More importantly for me, there is an incredible volume of water sprayed on these courses in an area where water is not in abundance. Unlike Scotland.