LOSING a leg put an end to Lee Cooke's hopes of a professional football career when he was a 19-year-old defender and midfield player with the academy at Crewe Alexandra.

Tomorrow he plays his first tournament as a club golfer at the age of 41 in Congleton Captain's Day only four weeks after starting to play the course.

In that space of time Lee has been out for nine holes 10 times and 18 holes on four occasions, three of the latter producing scores of 130, 110 and 109 to qualify him for a handicap.

He had his final nine-hole tune-up for the event on Friday and is resting today as he prepares to compete against 69 able bodied players tomorrow.

Luckily, the former pupil at Westlands High School is able to fit his passion for the sport around his business because his job is putting the Lee in Lee's Taxi.

He's a welcome member at Congleton. Chairman Paul Bennett says: "Lee is very determined to become a proper club golfer and good on him.

"He's got the bug and he wants to get better. You will be chatting with him in the clubhouse and he'll say 'I had 18 holes yesterday, I'm hurting a lot all over and I've been sweating like anything.'

"In the next breath he tells you he's booked a tee time to play another 18 the following day.

"He has that real competitive streak. All the time he seems to be telling himself 'I can do this'.

"I have played the course with Lee. He is good company and the rest of us ignore the fact he has a disability. We treat him like any other player.

"Lee Cooke is an ideal new member of Congleton Golf Club. You have got to give him respect for that.

"Of course he will want to do well on Captain's Day but if he treats it as just another game of golf and enjoys it then that will do just fine.

"He is not going to win so he has nothing to worry about!"

Lee used to work at the Shell garage next door to McDonald's, not far from his home in central Congleton.

He flirted briefly with golf in his late 20s when he bought a set of clubs, had some lessons at Astbury and practiced on the range at the Woodside club in Holmes Chapel.

"I could not find anybody to play golf with me," he said. "So I packed it up.

"A friend and a former neighbour, Shaun Davies, is a member at Congleton. He invited me, I had a few taster sessions first then joined the club a fortnight ago."

Lee's fondest memory of his football days came in his mid-teens. He scored from the halfway line for the Congleton team Vale Juniors against Witton Albion juniors, a match in which he also broke his left arm.

Describing how his dreams of a pro career were shattered, Lee said: "I had an operation at Macclesfield District General Hospital which was intended to put right what basically was a bent tibia.

"They burst three of the four main arteries and I lost my leg from just below my knee.

"In terms of golf, this means I have my artificial leg to finish my swing on after I have followed through.

"My main difficulty is playing the ball off an uphill or downhill or sideways lie which makes it a little bit harder. All I can do is to keep trying to adapt as well as possible."

How he has coped with life in general since seems to echo what chairman Paul has had to say.

"I have occasionally had not so good days. But you have to get on with it, don't you? And do the best you can."

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THERE was personal choice involved this week when the government announced the forthcoming lifting of Covid restrictions.

England Golf's website is busy keeping up with what happens when in terms of club related issues items such as flagsticks and bunkers.

Even before the announcement, Astbury captain Richard Webb happily had been able to report a maximum possible travelling contingent of 48 for his away day at Northenden on Monday July 26.

That date is now exactly a week after the government's so-called day of freedom.

However, there will still be no coach travelling from Astbury to Northenden and players will make their own way.

As well as Covid, this is partly because of problems concerning trolleys and lithium batteries, which could be resolved by next year.

It was interesting to get Richard's take on what the future might hold for club golfers and he reckons the days of turning up at any course to play a round on spec are at an end.

"This is just one man's view and something the club and the sport will discuss before making a decision," he said.

"But I can foresee danger in terms of Covid should a mass of players turn up to play unexpectedly without having booked tee times beforehand.

"Big groups congregating around the first tee is the last thing anybody wants.

"So I suspect the answer is that no players will be allowed on the course without having booked a tee time a certain amount of time beforehand."

Now retired, Richard used to be a direct marketing business consultant specialising in insurance computer systems.

His work for companies such as IBM and Accenture at times saw him dealing with 100 customers in 50 countries and globetrotting around the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

Should Richard get lost on the way to Northenden, he will never hear the end of it.

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WHO is going to win The Open Championship at Royal St George's next week?

Your humble correspondent has ghost written Andrew Murray's expert preview of the tournament for an online magazine, Exclusive Golf & Travel.

The former European Open champion from Cheshire will be commentating on his 30th Open for BBC Radio 5 Live.

You can discover Andrew's tip for which name will be engraved on the Claret Jug by clicking on this link and turning to page 8.

Some members of Astbury will remember Andrew speaking at their club around 15 years ago at the invitation of his friend, the late and much-loved antiquarian bookseller and golf philanthropist Eric Morton.

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THIS same humble correspondent is taking a break next week. The Congleton Nub News golf column will be back on Saturday July 24.

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Tim Taylor of timmyteepr is a former national newspaper staff sports reporter and sub-editor who is now chief writer for the online golf magazine Exclusive Golf & Travel.

He is a member of the Association of Golf Writers, the Football Writers Association and the Cricket Writers Club.