Cleary: Pay the money, take the ride – how to make golf fun again

Clayton then wandered up to the green and, while chatting with his pals, bent over and simply picked the ball up, and strolled off.

Those with him were aghast – what are you doing, man? Don’t you want to make the putt? Don’t you want to make a birdie? Don’t you want to score?

I’m good, thanks, Clayton said, or words to that effect, before loping off with that languid stride of his, one likes to imagine squinting around the property, mentally designing ‘holes that aren’t holes’, and just enjoying his time amongst the gnarly, natural, bulbous, rolling links that he and Tom Doak designed along the wild north-east coast of Tasmania.

Golf, you see, for the renowned architect, former European Tour pro and Golf Australia magazine columnist Clayton is a touch more … organic, say, than it was in his angst-ridden, score-focused, play-for-pay…