Snow leads to sunnier climes for coach walker

White golf balls that are blasted from driving range booths are being gobbled up by the expanse of snow that has covered the usual lush grand landing zones.

To counter such an unproductive scenario, Danny Willett is flying his coach Graham Walker out to South Africa with him.

"This weather's put a bit of a dampener on practice but you can still do bits and bobs," said Willett. "I've not been able to go up to see Graham over last couple of weeks because of the roads so he's coming out to Joburg with me."

Walker, who is based at The Oaks, in York, helped Willett straighten out his driving last summer as the Rotherham Golf Club member recorded four top-10 finishes in six tournaments.

Willett said: "We've been working on everything really just to try and get me in as good a shape as we can for the year ahead.

"I'm looking forward to getting out to Johannesburg and getting a t-shirt on my back again."