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Howard Jones is quick learner

Howard Jones started playing golf regularly pretty late in life, but as with most things he has taken on over the years he has proved to be a good learner.

The now 60-year-old didn’t have his first golf lesson until he was past 50, and joined his first golf club just six years ago, but is now captain of the men’s section at Naunton Downs, the delightful club set in the heart of the Cotswolds.

That’s a pretty meteoric rise, but one that matches his professional life where he worked in the city – he retired several years ago – and his earlier sporting life when he was a pretty decent rugby player, playing alongside England and British Lions legend Brian Moore while at university in Nottingham.

Rugby was a very big part of his life when he was younger, but it’s fair to say that golf is a big part of his life today, especially since he took on the captaincy at the end of March.

And while he admits there are “difficult aspects” to being a captain, it’s certainly a role that he is relishing.

“One of the upsides is that you get to know people at the club across the whole age spectrum,” he said.

“I’m trying to engage with our younger members. We have a lot of younger members and they all have big enthusiasm.

“I’m trying to encourage these young men to participate more – I say men because I’m men’s captain, but it can equally apply to ladies.

“I want to get them involved in club matches, competitions. Golf should be inclusive for everybody whether you’re eight or 80.”

And Jones seems to be getting his message across.

Howard Jones

“We recently had a club match and eight of the 12 players were under 30,” he continued. “That doesn’t happen very often.

“We’ve just set up a men’s committee for the first time and we have good representation from younger members which I think is very good, we’re a very, very inclusive club.”

It was Jones who introduced a Bucks v Stags match for over40s and under-40s during his time as vice-captain last year and he continued: “Integration at golf clubs is very important.

“I respect traditionalists but you’ve got to have one eye on the future and try things.

“We’re not trying to re-invent the wheel, it’s just a realisation that younger members are very important to a golf club.”

Naunton Downs was bought by racehorse trainer Ben Pauling and his wife Sophie a couple of years ago and Jones is, as you’d expect, a big supporter of the 18-hole club.

“On a summer’s evening, it’s a stunning place,” he said. “There’s a serenity about it.

“It’s a challenging course but it’s a very nice walk. It’s a beautiful course, open spaces, big skies, I feel at ease there. And in the winter the course drains very well so it’s hardly ever closed, it’s a very peaceful place to be.”

And even though Jones, who left London seven years ago to live in Cheltenham, clearly enjoys everything that Naunton Downs has to offer, he doesn’t regret not playing the sport more when he was younger.

“I’m like a lot of people, I was a very, very casual golfer, I played three or four times a year with my buddies,” he said. “I hacked around a golf course, I never took it seriously.”

These days his handicap is just under 10 but he insists he still doesn’t take it seriously.

“I’m not competitive, for me it’s all about enjoyment,” he said. x“The reality is that golf is a difficult game to play and the later you come into it the more difficult it is.”

Jones spent a year at Brickhampton Court before moving to Naunton Downs – he was a regular on the Churchdown club’s 9-hole course and at their driving range.

He worked hard at his game, just as he had worked hard as a rugby player many years before.

“I was a no. 9,” he said. “My last game was for Rosslyn Park Vets when I was 41.

“I really enjoyed the camaraderie that came with rugby, I don’t think there’s any sport like it.

“That team we had at Nottingham University was really good, we reached the English Universities final and quite a few of the players went on to play for top clubs.”

He also coached rugby at youth level and refereed after he’d hung up his boots – “If you’re an opinionated no 9. you make quite a good ref,” he laughed.