Mike Doyle-Davidson has been a member of Minchinhampton (New) Golf Club for over 30 years.

So when he was moving house some four years ago, one of the big requirements was that his new home was still within commuting distance of the golf club that had become his second home since joining in 1987.

“I put a compass in the map and drew a circle that took in a 40-mile radius around the golf club,” explained Doyle-Davidson, who now lives in West Lavington, a village five miles south of Devizes in the heart of Wiltshire.

And although it can now take him 55 minutes to get to the club from his new home, the 80-year-old remains an important figure at the club.

In fact he is an important figure in golfing terms county-wide because he is the current president of the Gloucestershire Golf Union.

Talk to Doyle-Davidson for a couple of minutes and it’s not difficult to see why he is held is such high esteem in golfing circles, not least because he can tell an entertaining story.

“We’d lived in Chalford for 20 years in a house which dated back to 1600,” he said when reflecting on his move to Wiltshire. “We had an acre and a half of garden which was on a 45-degree slope – the house was at the bottom.

“We were part of the National Garden Scheme for 15 years and we’d get people coming down from Birmingham each year to see what our next project was going to be.

“My wife Leslie wanted a wildlife pond which I built for her. It wasn’t easy because of the sloping garden and I had to put in lots of steps.”

Doyle-Davidson was warming to his story even though it had a painful twist.

“Unfortunately, I fell down the steps,” he continued, “and broke two ribs. It was then that we decided that the garden was too hard to maintain and we ought to move.

“We still wanted a home with character and a reasonable sized garden but we wanted the garden to be flat.”

So that’s how they ended up in West Lavington.

“We’ve got a beautiful old brick and stone cottage with a delightful garden at the back with pleasing rural views,” added Doyle-Davidson. “When asked, my wife says she lives midway between Avebury Rings and Stonehenge!”

Doyle-Davidson is also a Freemason – he belongs to a lodge in Stroud – so his is clearly a busy diary.

Unfortunately for him he hasn’t been able to write the words ‘playing golf’ in it over the past 12 months after sustaining a shoulder injury in a car accident.

That’s been a frustration and ask him what he plays off and he’ll say: “I don’t know at the moment!”

The lowest his handicap has been is 11 and although he hasn’t been able to play in recent times it has at least meant that he can devote more time to his role as president of the Gloucestershire Golf Union.

When he spoke to The Local Answer he’d just returned from five days in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, where he was Gloucestershire’s chief cheerleader in the men’s county finals.

In fact he was a lot more than a cheerleader because he caddied for three days – “I was shattered,” he laughed – as Gloucestershire went very close to winning their first county title since the late 70s.

“We were playing Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and BB&O – that’s Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire,” explained Doyle-Davidson.

“Gloucestershire have got 40 clubs and Yorkshire have got 187 and they’ve been winning the competition for years. I think we last won it in 1979.

“We were full of enthusiasm but it was a bit like David and Goliath except that we didn’t have a slingshot!”

And yet they so nearly landed a knockout blow.

“We won our first two matches and then drew with Yorkshire,” said Doyle-Davidson. “I was delighted even though we missed out on the title on countback.”

Doyle-Davidson first moved to this part of the world in the mid-70s when he lived in Amberley.

Born in Wimbledon before moving to Kent, he spent 34 years in the RAF – “I was a navigator, I failed as a pilot,” he said – and saw service in places such as Cyprus and Singapore flying in Canberra aircraft before being posted to Lincolnshire flying in Vulcan bombers and finally ending up as a Group Captain flying a desk in the Ministry of Defence.

He also enjoyed a three-and-a-half year posting to Virginia in the US so has certainly seen plenty of the world.

When he first moved to Gloucestershire some 40-plus years ago, he played his golf at Gloucester Golf and Country Club.

“I was working at Barnwood and Gloucester offered a no joining fee and a reduced annual fee for people in the Royal Air Force,” said Doyle-Davidson, “it was no-brainer.”

And he’s been just as happy at Minchinhampton where he was captain in 1995 and chairman from 1996 to 2002 before becoming the club’s representative to the county.

His current position as president of the Gloucestershire Golf Union lasts for a year and it’s something he describes as a “super job”.

Doyle-Davidson comes from a strong golfing family and his time as captain of Minchinhampton coincided with the opening of the club’s Cherington course.

“That was a euphoric time and we welcomed lots of new members,” recalls Doyle-Davidson.

The club run the Cherington course alongside their well-established Avening course and Doyle-Davidson said: “Not many clubs have two courses, it’s a hell of an advantage.”

There are actually three courses that carry the Minchinhampton name and Minchinhampton (Old) Course, set on Minchinhampton Common, while a separate entity, is still part of Minchinhampton Golf Club Ltd – it is on the Common where golf began in 1889.

Ask Doyle-Davidson which is considered the better course to play – Avening or Cherington – and he’ll say the membership is split 50/50.

“The Avening course is a parkland golf course that contains two lakes,” he said. “It’s a very good test of golf, you’ve got to put the ball in the right place. The greens are good but are not too big.

“The Cherington course is much more open, is in a larger space and was designed to reflect a seaside links course, the greens being larger and the fairways narrower. Positioning the shot is all important.”

Doyle-Davidson likes both courses; in fact, he likes playing the sport he first took up back in the mid-60s.

“I first started playing when I was in Singapore,” he said. “This chap wanted to sell his Jack Nicklaus-named Slazenger golf clubs and I thought they were a reasonable price.”

Golf as a worldwide sport was just starting to taking off around this time on the back of Nicklaus, Arnie Palmer and Gary Player and it has continued to grow over the decades at both the top end of the game and at amateur level.

But although golf continues to be very popular, Doyle-Davidson does admit to having the odd concern.

“Golf in terms of its population has just peaked,” he said. “A round of golf takes a long time, much longer than it used to.

“When we opened Cherington, a game of three would take three hours, 20 minutes, now it’s four-and-a-half hours.

“And when you watch people on the telly it takes five-and-a-half hours.”

In today’s 24/7 society that adds a lot of time pressure although Doyle-Davidson is encouraged by the fact that concerted efforts are being made to speed up the game including handicaps for nine holes.

One thing is for sure, if golf, particularly in this part of world, needs a cheerleader, then Doyle-Davidson will always be one of your go-to people.