'Who knows where I will end up?' Why this golfer has embarked on a links road trip around Britain

by Steve Carroll

 YouTube can provide a wealth of mindless entertainment and distraction – such as endless clips of cats being cats and exhortations to binge watch another three series of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

They promise everything. They usually deliver little other than an evening of sedentary, bleary-eyed, ‘where did the time go?’ distraction.

It was during such an Alice in Wonderland mission, though, in the midst of lockdown when solitary confinement was an order and not a request, that Sam Cooper and wife Harriet had a eureka moment.

“We’d fallen down one of those YouTube wormholes, where it keeps suggesting a video to watch and then another,” he remembers.

“For some reason, it suggested we watch this couple in America who converted a Mercedes Sprinter Van and were just driving round the country.

“It looked like a little hotel room on wheels, and it looked fantastic. While we were in lockdown, sat in our garden and not able to go anywhere, that sort of nomadic travelling around the world might sound a little bit grandiose but it was pretty appealing.”

Golf’s been part of Cooper’s soul for as long as he can remember. A lifetime member of Royal Liverpool, his passion is playing everywhere and anywhere he can.

“That’s where I get the most enjoyment out of golf – going to different places, seeing the different people you meet along the way, and seeing a wide range of courses.”

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