'...and it makes a fiery ring, bound by wild desire, I fell into a ring of fire.
I fell into a burnin' ring of fire, I went down, down, down and the flames went higher And it burns, burns, burns the ring of fire, the ring of fire...'
And as the first couple of bars of this Jonny Cash classic played at Wealden Crematorium,100 mourners and 'celebrants' chuckled and wept in equal measure.
Typical 'Tatts'.
He never knowingly missed an opportunity to inject 'punnery' and humour into a situation.
So why not his own funeral.
RIP Peter Thomas Tattum.
Most of you reading this wont ever have met Tatts.
Just think of the loud, generous, quick witted, story teller amongst your circle of family and friends and you'll be somewhere in the right ball park.
One of those rare 'larger than life' chaps.
Taken too early by a cancer diagnosis that tragically came too late.
And he would have been in good company at the Pearly Gates this week too.
I'm sure he and Dame Deborah James wouldn't have wasted any time trading poo and testicle jokes whilst waiting at the celestial baggage reclaim.
So why I am starting with a short tribute to someone you don't know at the start of this week's blog?
Tatts wasn't a golfer.
But he was very much a character.
The consensus amongst those that knew him was that he was a 'one off'.
Now a very wise man who reads this blog (although of dubious taste with his footballing allegiance) will rightly say that we are all 'one offs'.
And on that theme, he (unknowingly) put me onto a favourite book of his this week.
And you know I likes a book...(The Power of the Book. (Are we on the same page?) (golf101.co.uk).
So thanks to Butty, I can now heartily recommend 'The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse' by Charlie Mackesy.
It's good for all ages, swing thoughts and handicaps.
And no, it's not a golf book.
Where am I going with all of this...(if truth be known I'm not always sure myself).
But let's go from one 'one off' to another.
Congratulations to Padraig Harrington for his triumph at last weekend's Seniors US Open.
Harrington won 'from the front' last Sunday at Saucon Valley Country Club in Pennsylvania (Home - Saucon Valley Country Club (sauconvalleycc.org)).
His first Senior major title, and on debut too.
And as we know, Harrington is his own man when it comes to practice.
Both in terms of the hours he commits, and his seemingly insatiable appetite for breaking down the swing and honing key elements of his technique.
Here's a drill of PH's with a tennis ball that resonated with me:
I kind of think it works.
But whether it's for you or not, I'll finish with this.
Tennis balls, golf balls whatever balls you're playing with - 'check 'em regularly' would be Tatts message.
And I'm sure Dame James would have liked me to remind you to check your poo too.
Done Bowel Babe.
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