We are familiar with the stories of how the early, US-bound Ryder Cup and Walker Cup players from this part of the world, would launch golf balls into the briny from the decks of luxury liners. And you might well ask what the creatures of the deep made of core-wound rubber.

Well it seems that offshore oil rig workers and navy midshipmen are doing likewise these days, but in a far more fish-friendly manner. A biodegradable golf ball has been developed, using bits of skin and bone from meat-packing plants and held together by collagen, the fibrous animal proteins used for lip-enhancing cosmetic surgery.

And the reaction of the fish? I understand that some of them have been moved to quote from Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, exclaiming: "We could not have had a better dinner had there been a Synod of Cooks."