The serious business of golf!

I drove to Tyne Green (Hexham) today to walk along by the river. It's a dog walkers' paradise (flat and easy paths, but with lots of running space). There is also a golf course in the middle of the area.

After bad weather with lots of rain and then snow and ice, the golfers were out of the traps this morning and moving quickly around the course. You will see in my photo that two of them had completed their drives and set off immediately towards the green, before number three could get going!

I walked along parallel to them. Near the green they stopped to take their second shots. A very bouncy, large, young dog came racing over and snaffled the ball belonging to the chap with the long white hair. He was not amused. At first, he thought I was the owner, but I was just a lurking grandstander!!

The owner arrived and returned the ball. All good. About 20 seconds later the dog returned and ran off with the ball again!! I enjoyed this. The golfer did not.

We watched the first of the Royal Society Lectures tonight with Jonathan Van-Tam presiding. My favourite part was when Helen Lee came on to explain how her diagnostic kit, Samba II, has been repurposed to use for rapid Covid testing. It was invented to use to test for HIV in rural communities in the developing world. I hoped that the audience of young people would be inspired to see and older woman at the forefront of technological advances.

The dogs today were small and large, pedigree and Heinz 57. There were a lot of the doodle crosses. The cutest was a Jackdoodle, absolutely tiny at 8 weeks and being carried in the front of a jacket. I wonder how big it will grow? 

And my admiration for the older man who was able to throw the ball long distances for his exuberant cocker spaniel. He used a thrower, but it was impressive. The dog ran very fast and showed no signs of tiring.

I enjoyed observing as I walked and the odd chat too.