EUROPEAN Seniors and Champions Tour winner Mark James has paid one flying visit to the region in the last few weeks and is now gearing up for what could be his final competitive appearance in the North-East.

James, the former European Ryder Cup captain, has never been short of refreshingly honest opinions and he shared some of those with guests at a clinic, sponsored by Bibby Financial Services and Patrick McLaughlin, at Sunderland Golf Centre.

Members of Chris Pope's operation on Newcastle Road attended the event at which James was in top form demonstrating his skills with the golf club and at one point hitting drives while on his knees in the style of the late Seve Ballesteros.

James, 61, has always has a strong connection with the North-East with business partner Andrew Mair specialising in course design and management and he will be at Close House, near Heddon-on-the-Wall, on June 11-14 for the ISPS Handa PGA Seniors Championship - one of his last tournaments as a professional.

“This will probably be my last year on the Seniors Tour," he said. "I'm looking to move direction to do a bit more TV commentary next year and maybe a bit more corporate stuff.

"This year I hope to play about ten events and, hopefully, do commentary for the BBC at the Open. I will be playing at Close House in June, absolutely."

Much wringing of hands followed the BBC's loss of exclusive coverage of the Open - it's not a view entirely shared by James.

He said: "It's a fact of life that the coverage of the Open on TV is changing. The fact is an awful lot of people have access to Sky so I'm not so sure it's going to be a situation where a lot of people are not going to see the Open and the BBC will be doing a two-hour highlights programme.”

Golf faces difficulties and is having to change with club membership declining, but more people actually want to play the game and James insists it has to be more accessible.

"I think there is a big argument for 27-hole complexes where you can play one 18-hole course and one shortish nine-hole course, but then trying to get planning permission for new courses is difficult,” he said.

“It was, frankly, a load of rubbish when we were told several years ago that we needed 700 new courses. Maybe there will be closures and amalgamations, things certainly do have to change.

"We should be looking at complexes with golf courses, gym, nice clubhouse with a thriving social membership - that has to be the way forward. I've been the member of a tennis club, a gym and golf course and you think if these things were more readily available in one place it would be better, it's a no-brainer.”