Andy Outhwaite will relinquish the captaincy of Cleeve Cloud Golf Club in a few weeks’ time.

His one-year term comes to an end at the end of January but the good news is that it’s a role that he would be more than happy to take on again.

“Not straight away,” said the 56-year-old with a laugh, “but certainly in two or three years’ time, I’ve loved doing it. I’ve met some great people and been able to play at some really nice courses.”

Outhwaite, who will be replaced by his vice-captain Phil Dean, is a relative latecomer to golf.

Originally from Newcastle, he’s a big fan of Newcastle United and remembers watching them as a youngster when Malcolm Macdonald, or Supermac as he was commonly known, was banging in the goals for fun in the 70s.

He didn’t really take up golf until he moved to Cheltenham from Newbury in the mid-noughties.

Even then it didn’t happen straight away.

“I’d played a couple of games of golf before I’d moved here,” he said, “but I had a mixed set of golf clubs, all the clubs had a different feel, all the grips were different.

“It was two years after I’d moved to Cheltenham before I picked up the sticks.

“I moved to Cheltenham in 2004 and when I first came here I played skittles and darts at the Hop Pole in Gloucester Road.”

The Hop Pole isn’t there any more so what did he do when the pub shut?

“I stopped drinking,” he laughed, before adding, “that’s when I started to concentrate on golf.”

He still plays skittles occasionally at the Albion for the Cheltenham League team the Cannonballs but golf is now very much his number one sport.

“A couple of people who used to get in the Hop Pole – Dave Macey and Nathan Hayward – asked me to play at Cleeve Cloud,” explained Outhwaite. “Dave was a member.”

So how did it go?

“It was a disaster,” laughed Outhwaite. “It took me 11 shots to get up the hill on the first hole! I thought it was a pit pony course. There were people laughing at me and when I finished I said I’d never play again.”

Fortunately, he did although initially he joined Sherdons because “it was flat and only nine holes”.

After a year he went back to Cleeve as a fee payer and he became a member of the club in 2010, since then he has never looked back.

Now the self-employed carpenter, who plays off 12, is a big supporter of all things Cleeve Cloud Golf Club.

“It’s a great crack with the lads,” he said, “they’re really down to earth people.”

And he likes the course too.

“It’s in good condition at this time of year,” he continued. “Because it isn’t tree-lined you’re not looking for your ball in the leaves all the time.

“It drains very well as well. There’s no mud so you don’t get trench foot. We don’t have temporary greens either although we do have temporary mats.”

And while it’s a good course to play in the winter, Outhwaite says it’s a great course to play in the summer, especially when you get one like the summer just gone.

“On a clear day you can see for miles,” added Outhwaite. “You can see both the Severn bridges. I think I’m right in saying that the top of the eighth hole is 1,055 feet above sea level – it’s the highest part of Cleeve Hill.

“It’s beautiful, you can see all over Cheltenham, over the racecourse. When the Red Arrows fly over or the military aircraft from Fairford or Brize Norton, it’s spectacular.

“It’s brilliant, I don’t want to play anywhere else.”

And that’s a good thing because he’s up there “trying to improve the handicap” two or three times a week.

“Golf gives me a purpose,” he said. “It’s good exercise. When I was younger it never bothered me – I could never see the point of knocking a golf ball around a field.”

Now he wants to continue playing the sport for as long as he can and he’s obviously clearly happy to continue contributing to the club as well.

“I’ll still be on the committee when I’m no longer captain because I’ll be the immediate past captain,” he said.

And when he does hand over to Phil Dean, he hopes to have raised £2,000-plus for his chosen captain’s charity, Alzheimer’s Research UK.