Time to get your walking shoes on

After a rather sublime and very relaxing trip to the UK I am now faced with the reality which is Dubai's summer - whoop-ee-doo! I'm not quite sure whether my editor's thesaurus will like that term but I'm sure you ‘the reader' catch my drift!

Aside from playing some great courses back home, I can't say I was particularly blessed with ideal golfing conditions - in fact far from it. It was a far cry from the "Barbeque Summer" that was prophesied back in rainy April and when turning up with just one jumper, one rather flimsy waterproof jacket and no umbrella, I was kind of asking for trouble.

Anyhow, as was the way I and many other Brits were raised - when it came to playing golf in the UK you didn't have much choice other than to get on with it. Moving on, rather than rattle on about the rubbish British weather, today I want to highlight the rather topical issue of golf fitness and starting with basics - simply walking.

What a breath of fresh air (minus the annoying raindrops) it was to pull the clubs out of the boot of my car, meander down towards the first tee with them on my back (yes - I was actually carrying my own clubs - god forbid!), peg it up, swing away and trot off down the fairway (hopefully) without a care in the world.

It took me three holes of my first round, following a yell from my fellow golfing buddy (also from Dubai) across the other side of the fairway announcing "how great it was to walk", for it to dawn on me that this was the first round of golf I'd actually walked for at least……you know, I genuinely can't remember! The thing is, I genuinely can't recall when it was and as a golf professional I kind of felt within me that that's not really good.

There is no doubt that as expats living in Dubai we are presented with fabulous opportunities to live life to the full and if we were that way inclined - to spoil ourselves rotten.

Dubai luxury

On the golfing scene we are looked after hand and foot at five star venues and wherever you look there is always a smiling face to assist you with…well pretty much most things aside from actually hitting the ball. Perhaps if you asked nicely you could even get that one sorted out - this is Dubai after all!

Jokes apart, I know the summers are pretty brutal but we have beautiful winters for 7-8 months of the year and we really have no excuse not to leave the cart behind and put our health first by forcing one leg in front of the other every now and then. As most of you know I'm a traditionalist at heart and also more recently a more health / fitness conscious golfer, and I say let's aim this winter to get back to the golfing roots and show our children that golf is good for the body and can be enjoyed much more by striding out the courses.

Life is too short and if we've made the time to commit to four hours of mental torture out on the course - let's at least get some good out of it! See you out walking…….in October!