Anyone for golf? What on earth was this all about?

An undated newspaper cutting (but we think it's from the early 1970s) sent to Heswall Nub News has thrown welcome light on an historic and extraordinary match between the Heswall and Royal Liverpool Golf Clubs.

For reasons we can only guess at - and drink probably had something to do with it - it was decided that, one Sunday, eight players from RLGC at Hoylake would meet eight from Heswall to play a golf match with tennis balls.

The match would begin on the first tee at Royal Liverpool and end at the eighteenth hole at Heswall - some eight miles away.

The 'Day to Day on Merseyside' columnist of the region's paper described the action: 'Heading down Hoylake's Stanley Road - where one golfer had to climb on to a wall to address his ball resting on top of a privet hedge - the game proceeded to the foreshore, went round West Kirby marine lake, and on to Heswall via Caldy and Thurstaston.

'From time to time, players were seen to be up to their knees in water, trying to smite the bobbing tennis balls. Two players had to retire after running out of ammunition. Another suffered a severe back injury after breaking his club within a foot of its head (only one club per player was allowed). And the tennis balls soon showed a tendency to split at the seams when thrashed by irons.'

The match - no surprises here - was never repeated.

For the record, the winner of this unique sporting extravaganza was D. G. Williamson of Hoylake, who set a never to be beaten course record of 553 strokes played between 11.15am and 4.15pm.

Hoylake won the match by 108.