A number of years ago we were playing at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, the venerable home course of Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke, and we noticed a young couple walking their black Labrador amongst the low dunes between the holes.

Every minute or so the Lab would leap into the high grass on the dunes, forage for a minute, and then return to his owner with the prize of someone’s lost ball he had discovered.  The owner would drop it into a sack he was carrying and they would plod on.

The more I watched the more I wondered, did the dog have the good sense to spit out the Pinnacles and Top Flights and leave them there.

December, 2011