'I played Yorkshire's heathland treasure Moortown and found a rewarding test for the Brabazon'

But the beauty of golf is that there are fleeting moments, whether that be holing a downhill putt for a rare birdie or treading the same fairways that the greats of the game have bestrode, where you feel invincible and on a par with anyone with a golf club in their hand anywhere in the world.

So it was with that fortitude and with Moortown’s hosting of the Brabazon Trophy next week, that I finally replied to that invite with a “yes, I would be honoured”.

Which is how I found myself on the first tee a fortnight ago, three weeks prior to 144 of the world’s leading amateurs tackling this opening par-5 in the Leeds club’s record-equalling sixth hosting of the Brabazon. Armed with a bag full of balls - I can lose up to a six a round if my power fade kicks in - I managed to quell the nerves long enough to launch a drive down the left side of the fairway some 220 yards away. “Got lucky,” I smiled towards the morning fourball that had let us play through.

The second shot to an inviting green 200-odd yards away was normally lay-up territory for me, but feeling calmed by that opening blow, I took out the hybrid and ripped a clean connection, pin-high but 20 yards left of the green.

And this is where Moortown surprised me. For a course as renowned throughout England and beyond, I was expecting it to be incredibly penal, unforgiving for even the slightest errant shot. But a lot of the trees have been cut down, and the heather and gorse is not as long as you would expect.

“You’ll not lose any balls around Moortown,” my eagle-eyed playing partner ventured.

“I look forward to testing that theory,” I told him before we finally gave up on a hooked tee shot into a gorse bush on the 13th.

By then I had parred that opening hole and also the fifth, an inviting risk-reward par-4 that tantalisingly offers a view from the tee box - even from the championship tees - of the green over a brook, a ditch and patch of gorse and heather so wide that a plane from the nearby Leeds Bradford Airport could land on it.

Moortown’s signature hole is the 10th, Gibraltar, an uphill par-3 so idyllic that members proudly boast it is one of the best one-shot holes in golf. Legend has it this was the first to be designed by MacKenzie who told members if they liked what they saw, he would design the rest. They did.

There was another par for me on the 14th, an uphill par-4 in the direction of the upmarket houses on the roadside beyond. While I only lost one ball, the main hazard that will test members, visitors and world-leading amateurs across four days from Thursday was the bunkers. I found eight, prompting my playing partner to give me a lesson on escaping them.

But I hadn’t disgraced myself, my game rising to the challenge of one of Yorkshire’s great courses that next week will test every facet of the world’s leading amateurs.