Most days, kicking a football across a well manicured putting green would be enough to get you banned from a golf club for life.

But the owners of the Notleys Golf Club, in Witham, are taking a more philosophical approach.

They are actively encouraging the Footgolf craze in the hope it will revitalise their membership.

For those not familiar with the hybrid sport, it is fairly easy to understand: imagine playing golf but with footballs and oversized holes.

Ex-Cambridge United leftback and Arsenal Ladies manager Vic Akers is a big fan.

Together with club owners David Bugg and Mike Jones, he is helping to roll out the sport toanumber of venues nationwide – starting with Notley.

He said: “It’s been going on for a while.

"People have been doing this sort of thing for years but not actually treating it as a sport.

“We want to promote it more asasport and a leisure activity.Ithink it will take off big time.

“I think the best thing about it is boys and girls can play together, families, people of all abilities.”

Club co-owner David Bugg said: “The average age of members is quite old and a lot of clubs are not getting the young blood coming through.

“Our hope is people willcome and play, see the golf and say ‘I’d like to give that a try as well’.

“It’s nice and quick, you don’t need the technical ability of golf, you don’t need all the equipment.

“All you need is a ball, and we provide that.”

Despite not kicking a football competitively for a decade, I decided to head out on to the course to play a nine-hole round.

Arsenal Ladies and Republic of Ireland star Yvonne Tracy was on hand to give coaching advice.

She said: “Last time I played, I wore boots but I’ve been told that’s not allowed.

“Just try not to fall on your backside, that’s my advice.”

Fortunately, I managed to stay on my feet, which is more than can be said for some of the other players.

At one point even Tracy, who has more than 40 senior caps and won the treble with Arsenal, had to fish her ball out of a water hazard.

Unfortunately, my competitive spirit got the better of me and I found myself trying to compete with ex-pro Vic and Yvonne.

Big mistake. I lost my nerve under their relentless banter and ended up badly over par.

All in all, they were scenes you do not normally encounter on a golf course.

The biggest difference to traditional golf, apart from the blindingly obvious, is the speed at which players get around the course.

Six of us played nine holes in just over an hour, which lends itself perfectly to family outings with young kids, or work parties culminating in a visit to the club bar.

Visit notleysgolfclub.co.uk/ footgolf.html