Golf Club - Northern Golfer

SteveCramHappy 10th birthdayto Jarrow Arrow’sstar-studded COCO dayThis year marks the 10th anniversary of the SteveCram Celebrity Golf Day in aid of COCO. DeanBailey talks golf and charity with the Jarrow ArrowSteve Cram made the careermove from athletics tobroadcasting with ease,becoming a regular on theBBC and playing a key role in theLondon 2012 coverage. But, by hisown admission, golf does not comequite as easy to the 52 year-old.“I used to play a lot back in the 90sand towards the end of my runningcareer. Since I’ve retired from running,life has taken over and I’ve had to startdoing other things so over the last fewyears I’ve played less and less,” Cramexplained. “It is a goal of mine, overthe next three or four years, to get outand start playing a little bit more.”Cram did, however, find time toplay during his athletics career, whichincluded a World Championshipgold in 1983 and a silver at the 1984Olympics in Los Angeles, “I startedplaying off and on when I was 19.“When I was training a lot, gettingout for a game of golf during the day wasgreat. I played quite a bit and I was ableto get down to about 14,” he said.With a golfing CV that includes thelikes of Royal Melbourne and The Belfry,golf courses in the North East still have aspecial place in Cram’s heart. “I still havea soft spot for my old club Morpeth. It’swhere I’ve shot most of my best roundsover the years.“I tend to play a lot at Slaley, Matfen,Close House and Hexham, but I’veplayed a lot of courses in the North East.I do genuinely like Slaley. I first startedgoing there when it was set up and I’vealways enjoyed it. The Hunting course ischallenging but I really enjoy it.“I think I’ve played the 18th well once.The lineup from lastyear’s eventI seem to get there with a good roundgoing and then it all goes down hill.“The idea of joining the localclub just isn’t appealing to me at themoment. Maybe in 10 years time I’ll beable to play nine holes and then sit inthe clubhouse with a pint and enjoy it abit more,” he explained.Not a fan of the winter weather,Cram enjoys his golf most when he canplay with his shorts on: “I do really needthe sun on my back. One of my otherfavourite places is Desert Springs inSpain. I have a lot of friends there, Daley[Thompson] and Beefy [Sir Ian Botham]have places out there.“The course is just cacti and rockswith these green swathes of carpetrunning through it. If I was going to hopon a plane and go somewhere it wouldbe there,” he said.Cram has always had strongfriendships with his fellow athletesand has found firm friends in othersportspeople through golf: “I’ve playedwith some good golfers over the years.One year in our golf day we allowed thesponsors to pick who they played withand one of them picked Beefy. He’s asingle figure handicapper and a reallygood player.“The team were all highhandicappers and perhaps not the bestgolfers and when Beefy finished he wasa little frustrated. The following year Iwas at his event at Desert Springs andhe did the exact opposite to me. Heknows my level of golf and he pairedme with three ladies – one was the ladycaptain and the other two were TrishJohnson and Becky Brewerton. Theyshowed me up all the way round.Of course Beefy kept windingme up and telling me there wasa skirt waiting for me in theclubhouse,” he explained with awry smile.“The COCO golf day has gotbigger every year, which is great forus as a fundraiser but it’s also a reallygood way of letting more people,particularly in the North East, knowwhat the charity is and what we do.“What’s great for us is that thefundraising we do on the day carrieson. The people who didn’t knowabout us before become friends of thecharity, come to other events or startgiving or want to know more aboutother events.“Our aim is that people want tocome back next year and want to helpus in other things we’re doing,” he said.This year’s event is at DeVere SlaleyHall on June 19.24 Northern Golfer