It’s a popular question that often leads to folk scratching their heads like Stan Laurel mulling over a plugged lie in the bunker. Just how do you entice juniors into golf? By all accounts, it was easier shepherding the animals on to the Ark in the frantic scenes before the deluge but Annette Paterson may just have found a recipe for success. “The hot dogs and the juice swung it,” said Paterson, who is the first female vice-captain at Prestwick St Nicholas and, subsequently, will become the club’s first woman captain in its 166 year history.

The ploy by Paterson, and the club professional Gareth Hardy, to rally the young ‘uns in the local schools has reaped considerable rewards while the aforementioned hot dogs and juice proved to be a decent bargaining tool. “It wasn’t hard to lure them in and it was quite an easy sell after that,” added the retired school teacher.

There was a serious side to this charm offensive, of course. “We had quite a major slump in our junior section and it basically went down to nothing,” said Paterson, who has been instrumental in reviving the membership among the nine to 18-year-olds while nurturing a Little Nicks section for those between the ages of six to eight. “Now it’s oversubscribed. We have 70 juniors and 40 Little Nicks with a waiting list. We now have a tie up with a club in Hamburg which has a very good junior section and there are mutual benefits to be had. I was something of a late starter to golf and I wish I had taken it up 20 years before I actually did. I was busy teaching at school but managed to run out at half past four and play. I got addicted to it. Like any club, we need an input of fresh blood. We have an ageing membership and we have to push the new generation. Yes, I am older but I like to think I’m very young in mind. That is the key for the development of the game; get them in young.”

Keeping them in the game can be a challenge and Prestwick St Nicholas, like many other clubs, have adopted a variety of flexible membership options to help meet the demands of these fast-paced times where leisure time gets squeezed like a damp cloot in a mangle.

The redoubtable Old Tom Morris was a founding father of the Prestwick St Nicholas club back in 1851. Here in 2017, Paterson has become something of a trail-blazer. In this day and age, of course, the appointment of a female in high office shouldn’t really be an earth-shattering event but when it comes to embracing change, this Royal & Ancient game often moves at the speed of coastal erosion. “I hope it gets to the point when this kind of thing doesn’t generate news,” said Paterson, who will serve a season in the vice-captain’s role before stepping up in 2018. “A woman captain or vice-captain often makes the press but there are quite a few of them now and I’d rather this was just the norm. That again takes time. We are always trying to work towards equality. I know different clubs have had female captains and the roof didn’t fall in. The club is still there. It’s an exciting step for myself and the club. I hope I’ll not be the only lady captain at the club. I don’t want that to happen.”