Hit the ball 340 yards and become a millionaire!

So let’s think about this for a moment — to be one of the best golfers in the world now you have to be a least six feet (1.8m) tall or over, weigh roughly 13 stones (82.5kg) and hit the ball 340 yards!

I ask you all to think of a golf course anywhere that you’ve played that would not lend itself to giving up many a birdie opportunity if you could wallop the ball that sort of distance.

All par-five holes become a drive and a middle to long iron, and parfours are a little more then a wedge.

Now add around US$15 million in your bank account, and you too would be striding (swaggering) down the fairway with the confidence of Brooks Koepka who won the PGA Championship last Sunday.

Thank you for the great feedback received from my recent few words on Peter Thomson.

I did manage to say hello to him once but I was intimidated just to be standing next to this great golfer.

I knew full well that he suffered fools gladly, therefore the words of my dear old mother bounced around in my small brain “empty vessels make the most noise” so my mouth became glued shut whilst in the same room as Mr Thomson while at the same time trying to look intelligent.

One reader who knew Thomson better than most said that he was very dry and with a mind like a steel trap who spoke candidly and thoughtfully on subjects as diverse as politics, literature and had an impeccable dress sense.

He ran for parliament and was a TV commentator, built golf courses, wrote for many years for the renowned Australian Age newspaper and won many tournaments around the world.

When asked about his five British Open wins he merely said: “Well I played in 30, and lost 25 of them!”

Asked also to talk about his golf game, he said in a no fussed way without a hint of self-congratulation that he was good at getting the ball into the middle of the green in regulation.

Out of Bounds: Rumour has it that Thomson required some funds for a certain project so he dusted off his clubs and played almost a full season on the PGA Senior Tour and won nine tournaments — a record that still stands.

Still talked about today down under is when Thomson was doing a TV commentary and suddenly said: “Look ahead, young man! The pin is ahead of you!”

What is he doing? Why is he looking down at the ground? The unfortunate golfer that Thomson was chastising was desperately looking for a distance marker to be able to work out how far he was from the hole.

Thomson played virtually his whole career without reference to a yardage book and therefore couldn’t understand what this player was doing.