Just got back from playing eight holes at the stunning new golf course at Rockcliffe Hall in my home village of Hurworth, near Darlington.

The course won't be open for another six weeks but I was invited to one of a number of taster days.

I have to say the course is superb, the service top class, and the facilities are going to be second to none.

Don't underestimate what's happening at Rockcliffe because it is going to be a tremendous asset for the Tees Valley.

To think that it was just a flat potato field until Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson decided he wanted to build a hotel, spa and golf course on it.

The fifth hole is a cracker. A 165-yard par three, with the green on an island in the middle of the lake.

I am proud to report that my ball now sits for posterity at the bottom of the lake.