Aware of my close association with some of the game's great players, people often ask me what it's like being able to play with them and what sort of tips do they give you. Well, this is a story I have about golf lessons, which may be of some enlightenment.

After I had played moderately well back in the 1950s and early '60s (he competed in the US and British Amateur championships), I started to work very hard and didn't play golf at all. Then, some time after this, I was playing one day with Arnold Palmer and he suggested I should try and hit a half-three-iron.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it went as far as my full three-iron. And Arnold said: "Why don't you swing that way. It repeats and you'll have more fun."

I never had a very good swing and it now became very short, but about 10 years later, I guess it was in the early '70s, I decided I wanted to play golf better again. So I happened to meet up with John Jacobs, one of the pioneers of the European golf circuit and a noted teacher.

John was at a place called Sandy Lodge, near London at the time and I had dinner with him one night during the World Matchplay. "C'mon, let me give you a lesson," he said. So I went to see him and the first thing he remarked was that I had no hand action. "Look Mark," he said, "you've got to get your feet close together and this will make you swing your hands and arms. And you've got to practise it a lot."

So I secretly went out and practised because I was about to play in the Bing Crosby tournament with Arnold. Anyway, we went to Palm Springs the week before the tournament and I was playing with my narrow stance and feeling I was getting somewhere. Then we arrived at Pebble Beach where we played a practice round with Jack Nicklaus and Mason Rudolph.

It was the day before the tournament was about to start and on the seventh hole, Arnold looked at me and said: "Why are you standing with your feet so close together?" I knew immediately I was in big trouble. "Well," I replied timidly, "I've had a lesson from John Jacobs and I've been working on something. He told me that if I put my feet closer together, it would help me to use my hands and arms."

Arnold was horrified. "That's what's been the matter with British golf for the last 20 years," he stormed. "Now, take a wide stance and hit it." So now I'm totally confused.

Anyway, when I had played a couple more holes with my new, wide stance, Nicklaus said to me: "Mark, if you were gripping a bird as hard as you're gripping the club, do you think you'd hurt the bird?" I got the message. Then he added: "Why don't you pretend there's a bird there and give it a real loose grip." OK. I had it.

Then, a further three holes on, Mason Rudolph observed: "Mark did you ever notice when you're taking the club back that it seems to stick in the grass a bit? So why don't you take the club up a little before you go into your backswing and I think it'll be a little smoother."

So now I've got a wide stance and a loose grip and I'm taking the club back in the air and the tournament is only 24 hours away and I can't wait to get off the golf course. I then go to the practice ground to try and figure something out and along comes Doug Sanders.

He said: "Mark, what are you doing?" To which I replied that I was working on some things. He rather liked my short swing be]cause it was like his own, but he wanted to know what my problem was. I explained that I was pushing the ball to the right, to which he suggested that what I needed to do was to start hooking the ball.

So now I've got my loose grip, my wide stance, my in-the-air takeaway and I'm trying to play hooks. Whereupon he marches off and leaves me in my confusion. Finally, Gary Player's brother-in-law Bobby Verwey, whom I'd known for years, comes along.

He said: "Mark, when I last saw you, you were hitting it pretty good and you sure weren't swinging like you are now." Whereupon Arnold reappears on the scene having finished regripping some irons and seeing the two of us together, he looks at me disbelievingly while mouthing the words "Bobby Verwey!"

Now you can see the wonderful benefits that are to be gained from knowing the great players.