Shane Warne: Me and My Golf

In the great Australian team that dominated world cricket in the 1990s stood two bowlers integral to the side’s fortunes. Merv Hughes, with his bushy sideboards and moustache, and a fiercely aggressive character, was an opponent to be feared.

However, while he was one of the most successful seam bowlers of his era he was also capable of bowling exceedingly fast and wide balls that no batsmen could hit.

And, as his team-mate Shane Warne remembers fondly when Merv was out on a golf course with him on their days off from cricket, he hit the ball with the same ferocity.

“There was no holding Merv back, “ says the leg spinner. “ He could hit the ball a long way and always tried to.

“But there would be some holes that he simply couldn’t play because he had a huge slice, the biggest I have seen. Car parks and trees were always in danger when he was on the tee.”

But where Warne would laugh at Merv’s wild attempts he has always taken his own golf seriously since his days being brought up as a youngster in Melbourne he had so many world-class golf courses within easy reach.

“In Melbourne we tried to play all sports – tennis, cricket Aussie rules football and there was only so much time at weekends when we could do other stuff,” Warne recalls.

“But for golf we were lucky in Victoria state because there are so many amazing courses in the Sandbelt, some of them public, and I would play with my father and brother because it was something we all tried to do together.

“Now after my career in cricket I can get on courses which are known around the world like Royal Melbourne, The Metropolitan, Kingston Heath and Huntingdale, which have all staged tournaments.

“And it was touring the world with Australia that got me playing seriously when we weren’t playing cricket. As soon as two hard hours of  training were finished would go off straight to golf.

“And it was competitive. Allan Border was a good golfer and other players like Mark Waugh, David Boon and Michael Slater would come out with regularly and none of them liked losing.”

Retiring from cricket gave Warne time to play even more golf  as he joined the exclusive Capital Golf Club in Melbourne, owned by a casino, and got his handicap down to six.

He has now drifted up to 12, but his enjoyment of the game has not diminished.

He said: “I love my golf now and like everything in life I am very competitive. I have been fortunate to get to play in a lot of celebrity pro-am and charity events.

“When I was working for Channel Nine in 1996 I got to play Augusta. Among the pros that I have played with, John Daly is great fun and has become a good friend.

“It’s also been an experience to play with Greg Norman and Fred Couples.

“My favourite memory was shooting two under at St Andrews in the Dunhill Links. I had five birdies on the back nine and I could have had seven the way I hit the ball into the greens. My putter was hot that day and it was my best ever round.”

Tagged Australia, Me and My Golf, Merv Hughes, Shane Warne