Look up the term 'hattered' in the dictionary and there's a fair chance that the description next to it will read 'golf writer in the peak season'.
As one event blends into the next, the basic logistics of life on the road begin to cause considerable anguish. It's not the championships themselves that are the problem, but the far more pressing issue of actually getting the burgeoning pile of socks, semmits and serks washed and dried amid the huffing and puffing in preparation for another fraught spell at the grim coalface.
The turnaround from Scottish Open to Open Championship happens at such a breathless rate that this correspondent ended up hurtling east to Muirfield in a lather with a variety of garments billowing perilously from the car window in a futile attempt to rid them of their dampness. If anyone sees a pair of boxer shorts lying forlornly on the hard shoulder at Harthill services, please feel free to send them back to Herald HQ.
On Sunday night at Castle Stuart, Phil Mickelson finally got himself home and dry with his enthralling play-off victory in the Scottish showpiece. The organisers couldn't have hoped for a better champion and, with the event being broadcast live to a potentially vast American audience, the Highlands venue could not have been showcased any more on the other side of the pond had it been lifted up and plonked in the middle of Times Square.
For all the problems with the weather that marred its first outing on the international stage in 2011, Castle Stuart has proved to be a popular, worthy venue. Despite early concerns of a downturn in ticket sales, more than 65,000 spectators basked in the sunshine and savoured Castle Stuart's shimmering, majestic beauty. Given its isolated location, it more than held its own.
The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, which broke the 100,000 barrier for the first time this season, and the Irish Open, which drew in some 81,000, are two big lures as far as regular European Tour events are concerned but they have the major advantage of being held near the densely populated and easily accessible cities of London and Dublin respectively.
The Inverness area was a welcoming host and embraced the championship with open arms. The thirst for top-level competition in this neck of the woods remains as unquenchable as the drooth of some of the golf scribblers in the city's Glenalbyn Bar, and the fact that the Scottish Open will return to Castle Stuart within the next three years is proof of that popularity.
This new buoyancy for the national championship is in stark contrast to a couple of years ago when long-term backers Barclays withdrew their significant sponsorship. There were genuine fears for the future of the championship and the vultures, eager to snatch that much sought-after slot the week before the Open itself, were hovering. The announcement at the weekend that the Scottish Open will continue to be bankrolled by Aberdeen Asset Management and the Scottish Government through to 2017, in a deal that will increase the overall prize pot to £3.5m, speaks volumes for the commitment to the game in this country. Flag-waving First Minister Alex Salmond may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there is no denying his passion for gowf. Likewise Martin Gilbert, the man in charge at the Aberdeen group, is a dab hand with the sticks.
What would happen to the funding if these two head figures were replaced by folk in power who preferred archery to golf is open to debate but, for the time being, support for the Scottish game in the current climate continues to attract envious glances from afar.
The Ryder Cup at Gleneagles next year has helped to drive this, of course, but when the biennial battle is done and dusted, the real work will begin. Both Ireland and Wales, the Celtic nations that hosted the Ryder Cup in 2006 and 2010, have suffered lingering hangovers, with dwindling finances and a withering of tournaments.
Ian Woosnam, the former Masters champion, recently warned that Welsh golf "is fading away". Of the other projects in Scotland, the Women's British Open has backing through to 2019, and will be played here four times in that period; the Ladies Scottish Open has support to 2018; and ClubGolf, the junior initiative, has a guarantee through to 2018 as well. "These are just the guaranteed dates," noted Salmond. "This is not stopping the day after we celebrate the next European Ryder Cup win at Gleneagles."
There are plenty of reasons for optimism. All we need now is for Martin Laird to follow up his fifth-place finish at Castle Stuart on Sunday by lifting the Claret Jug this weekend.
And perhaps Muirfield could give honorary membership to Catriona Matthew? Then everybody would be happy.
AND ANOTHER THING: There were growing fears that not a single Scot would make the Great Britain & Ireland team for this year's Walker Cup. The country's leading amateurs have hardly covered themselves in glory on the international stage this season but Scotland's runners-up finish in the European Team Championship at the weekend may have just salvaged something.
Graeme Robertson won five of his six ties in Denmark and, with a six-out-of-six record in last year's home internationals, the Glenbervie man's matchplay credentials cannot be denied. The selectors will surely have taken notice.
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