A golf correspondent who swapped the pressure of sports desk deadlines for the greens of The Belfry, soon discovered it was not going to be the stroll in the park he expected.

The Derby Telegraph’s Matthew Law has spent the week caddying for professional golfer DJ Russell at the Benson and Hedges Open, after accepting an invitation a couple of months ago.

But the reporter’s notions of relaxing week away from the office soon disappeared after he got his first taste of carrying a professional’s clubs.

In his first report back, Matthew said: “I discovered the prime objective of most caddies is not to attend flagsticks, clean clubs and rake bunkers better than anyone else, but to simply to avoid a damn good rollicking.

“If a caddie mistimes any one of their standard tasks, it can result in a very public humiliation in the form of a torrent of abuse from their player.”

The first mistake he admitting making though, was away from the course completely, by only having a light breakfast, not realising he would not get the chance to eat again until about 5.30pm.

He said: “For at least 10 of those 18 holes I would have killed for a bacon sandwich or a plate of chips.”

His first day of caddying saw him sharing a round with former Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst and Carl Mason.

And the second round of the tournament put him in the company of two more former Ryder Cup players, Ian Woosnam and Peter Baker.

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