PGA Features

The idea was simple - to take one top coach, two hackers, and demonstrate that regular tuition is the best way to improve your golf. Throw in a £10 side bet to spice up proceedings and the Macca versus Milly series suddenly assumed the ingredients of a classic encounter.

In the red corner, fiery Macca, with the fastest swing in the west (and temper to match). Up against him in the blue corner, the calm and languid Milly, ice blood running through his veins but unfortunately through his putter too - the coldest one on the planet. PGA Master Professional Gary Alliss, head professional at The Belfry, was tasked with supplying the expertise - Macca and Milly the latter! Months of practice and tuition from Gary were finally put to the test in a 18 hole shootout over the PGA National in sodden conditions.

Of its kind it was an epic, made even more remarkable by a shocking twist in the tail. Below is the full account of the Macca versus Milly 2008 showdown as seen through their eyes...

Macca

For the remaining six holes, it became a mental battle as well as one against the elements.

A wet afternoon in April was hardly the conditions I had banked on for the eagerly awaited head-to-head with Milly. Months of preparation under the watchful eye of Gary Alliss were poised to be tested to the fore on a very damp PGA National Course. Formalities out of the way and we were up and running, with me drawing first blood with a coolly taken five on the opening hole. Instantly noticeable were the pin placings and the dampness of the greens.

It was going to prove a long round where concentration and fatigue would also play as much a key role as technique. The advantage was instantly lost with water and a bunker doing severe damage to the score card. More water at the fourth and suddenly the idea of wracking up a cricket score was a nightmare scenario. My rival was fairing little better with any advantage gained normally surrendered pretty quickly.

A nett birdie and nett par at the next two holes recovered some of the early damage as we reached a third of way. At this point Milly held a one stroke advantage as we plundered into the middle part of the course.

A useful tip we'd both been given was to break the course into to three groups of six holes and use each six as a clean slate. That was my focus after a mixed opening six holes. The next three holes were achieved at one over par each, two of them being among the toughest six on the course. By the turn, we were level - having both shot 51, arguably at least four shots over what we had both been targeting. At this point, while victory was uppermost in the mind - so was breaking 100.

The next three holes also failed to separate us as I undid good work on 10 and 11 with a double bogey on 12. The par 3 11th proved interesting as Milly capitalised on witnessing my five iron go through the green, taking a club shorter to land a matter of feet away from the hole for a nett birdie.

For the remaining six holes, it became a mental battle as well as one against the elements as the heavens opened. The only daylight was that in the scores as I opened up a perceived two shot lead with two to play. Sensible golf was all that was needed.

A sliced shot off the tee behind trees at 17 was not an ideal start. With no shot to the green was forced to lay up and then play a tricky shot over the bunker to the green. I was making hard work of this while Milly went down the middle to haul back a shot.

So, a one shot lead with one to play. But it was all going wrong as like the previous hole I landed my tee shot behind the large oak, putting me in all sorts of trouble, with Milly playing safe down the middle. Victory, it seemed, slipped from my grasp as we drew, which after a titantic struggle felt a fair result.

But now, some time on as I retraced that battle, the scorecard tells a different story and only adding it up again does the outcome become clear. A one shot success that had remained unnoticed by the victor and kept under wraps by the loser. The injustice though, is weighted by the fact I broke the 100 mark off a handicap of 24, none of which would have been imaginable prior to the lessons.

What I learned then certainly served me well then and does know.

Milly

God only knows how the Tour players hold it together when there are millions of pounds at stake.

Sport always throws up some titanic battles - Real Madrid v Barcelona, England v Australia and Mohammed Ali v Joe Frazier - and the finale of Macca v Milly proved to be just as tense as the Rumble in the Jungle (well maybe just for Macca and I). Apart from the fact neither of us were bruising heavyweight boxers there was one other major difference - the weather. Typically when the day of reckoning arrived so did the driving rain and the howling winds, not ideal conditions for two revolutionised hackers to take on the PGA National course at The Belfry.

Like the weather things didn't start too promisingly for me, an all too frequent visit to the bunker on the first saw me take two shots to get out (unheard of since our bunker lesson with Gary), but a two putt just about saved me.

The second hole saw me seize the early initiative as a 160-yard six-iron to the heart of the green set up a great chance to par this tough par-5, while Macca struggled finding both water and sand. Things levelled up from there as we matched each other for a couple of holes before the pendulum swung back in Macca's favour as I blighted my card with consecutive sevens on the par-4 fourth and fifth.

As the weather brightened so did my game, however, my rival also picked up the pace and we managed to string together a run of bogeys to reach the turn at level pegging.

The back nine started disastrously for me with yet another seven (one of three to blot my card). But a stunning (I'm not a modest person) tee shot on the par-3 11th allowed me to regain my composure and put together a little run of good scores, but then disaster struck as Macca took a two-shot lead going into the penultimate hole.

A change of tactics was needed, I'd been struggling with my driver for the last two or three holes, so decided to leave it in the bag on the 17th tee and take out the five-wood. The tactic paid off as my tee shot sailed into the centre of the fairway, while Macca pushed his into the trees on the right.A simple second shot to leave me just off the green gave me the advantage as my opponent struggled in the wooded area. A bogey for me and a double bogey for Macca gave him a one-shot lead going down the 18th.

In general I've never been a particularly nervous person, life throws you challenges you just have to deal with them, but stood on that final tee knowing this was my last chance to save the match I'd been building up to for six months I have to admit my heart was pounding.Once again the five-wood came out, once again the ball sailed to the middle of the fairway, as Macca found his favourite spot under the big oak tree in the rough.

As I approached the second shot I knew I had the advantage and having seen Macca's second clip the tree and stay in the rough. A simple five-wood again took me to within 10 feet of the green. A simple chip on and putt would give me the win as Macca struggled to find the green. However, my chip wasn't great and left me with a nine-footer for par and to win.

Macca putted out for a six, all I needed was one more good putt. The tension was unbearable, God only knows how the Tour players hold it together when there are millions of pounds at stake - I was only playing for the boss's crumpled tenner. The ball left the putter and headed off toward the cup, it looked good, oh boy did it look good...but not good enough. The ball came to rest just inches from the hole leaving me to tap home for an honourable draw - until the recount proved otherwise and my joy turned to despair weeks later.

The whole Macca v Milly series has been a wonderful experience, from the lessons with PGA Master Professional Gary Alliss to those final rain sodden holes.The one thing to take from it all is the fact that without doubt lessons from a PGA professional work, I am striking the ball further and straighter than ever, my putting, which was always woeful, is now the best part of my game, and most of all and has brought back the enjoyment of golf which seems to go missing when you're slicing everything and struggling round in three figures.

I just wish I'd had lessons years ago, I'm quite confident I'd be near a single figure handicap if I had.