LAST week, I explained how I left a new golfing partner seriously doubting my status as a high-handicap golfer.

Playing with Ken Gaunt for the first time, I proceeded to shoot a personal-best round of 87, leaving him shaking his head when I said that I played off a handicap of 24.

I quickly adopted Ken as my good-luck charm and went into my next round alongside him in high spirits.

Again, we played at Weybrook Park and this time I brought my brother-in-law Steve along, hoping that playing with Ken would help arrest a slide that had seen me slip from 4-0 to just 4-3 up over the year on my main golfing rival.

Things did not get off to a great start as I sent my opening drive straight up in the air and into a bush, leaving me playing three off the tee.

A trip to a bunker and a three-putt didn’t help matters either, resulting in a quadruple-bogey nine at the first hole.

Things didn’t get much better at the next as I was forced to card a triple-bogey seven, but a fantastic tee-shot at the short third resulted in an out-of-character birdie and a par at the next had me two strokes ahead of Steve.

It was an advantage that was lost all too quickly though, as I struggled to control a massive slice and by the halfway mark I found myself five shots off the pace.

My troubles continued on the 10th, with a horrible shank sending me out of bounds, but I was able to keep the gap constant until losing another ball on the 14th, this time smashing one out of bounds to the left, when I expected a slice.

Steve made a birdie of his own on the next and his lead was up to an unassailable 10 shots.

With the pressure off, I started hitting well, especially with my short irons.

I even made a par at the last to card 102, but Steve finished on 96 to level the series at 4-4.

Ken’s short-lived reign as my lucky charm may be over, but at least he has seen the true nature of my game.

Whether he’ll want to join me out on the course again is another matter.