In recent weeks if you are a regular reader of South Leeds Life, you’ll have noticed that you can hardly raise an eyelid without reading about Middleton Park.
Quite right too. There’s no doubt that the Park is seriously underrated and under visited. Did you know that it’s over 90% the size of Roundhay Park? I wonder if it’s had 90% of the funding spent by Leeds City Council on the latter over the past ten years?! Let’s hope the current improvements help raise its profile and status and above all get people using it.
Unless you are an aficionado of waving a stick at a little white ball i.e. the game of golf or walking your dog where you shouldn’t, you probably won’t have visited the municipal golf course at Middleton Park. You’ll have missed a treat.
I have paid two visits in recent weeks – the first on a grey autumnal day and the second on a glorious crisp sunny winter’s day when the views of the city, especially from the 5th fairway were stunning. On each occasion hardly anyone else was playing which, when your golf is as bad as mine, is good news…
My golfing partner was brought up in Beeston and having emigrated to north Leeds many years ago had only played the original nine holes which are on the east side of the park. As the course was extended to 18 holes in 1979 it was obviously some time since he’d played the course. He recalled stopping on what is now the 15th tee as a 14 year old for a fag break…
Apart from a solitary effort in the 1970s I hadn’t played golf before this year and it is very like life: full of variety and totally impossible. Every time you think you have cracked it, it comes up and bites you.
In my last round I really played the 3rd hole quite well probably only a couple of shots over par. I approached the fourth in high confidence. I hooked my drive about 50 yards to the left behind a tree and the proceeded to take 5 shots to hit the ball a grand total of 60 yards. My playing companion asked for permission to laugh…
Golf’s good exercise, you can play with people of greatly differing standards and unlike, say squash, you are unlikely to die of a heart attack if you play in your twilight years. It’s also cheap.
My wife, predicting there was a risk that I’d clutter up the house getting bored when I retired, hunted down a set of clubs and a trolley from a charity shop (total cost £45). You can buy lake* balls for about 25p each and if you‘re over 60 with a Leeds card you can play 18 holes midweek for £8.40 at Middleton. Given that I don’t always (okay, ever) take the shortest route between tee and green and par is a land never visited my progress round the course is slow… I reckon the costs work out at about 3.5p per minute’s entertainment. When I compare this with my other love – opera – it seems incredibly good value – but that’s another story…
*Lake balls are second hand balls which have been discarded, some of which may have been recovered from watery graves – hence, ‘lake’…
This article was written by Stephen Williamson using our Community Reporters website at www.communityreporters.sllife.leeds11.com
