EVERYTHING these days is just a bit of a wearisome hassle isn’t it? The other night, for instance, I trudged down the dark, damp garden path in my baffies to trundle and dunt the green and blue wheelie bins into the back lane.

Heaving them out the gate, like some doleful ancient Egyptian slave dragging an impossibly vast slab of Pyramid rock along the sand under the withering lashes of a whip, I was informed by a neighbour that the bloomin’ strike by the collectors was on again.

And so, with a deflating sense of sighing, crotchety futility, I hauled the bins back in while delivering a head-shaking, harrumphing, expletive-ridden mutter which really should’ve led to my mouth being hosed down by the city council’s cleansing department. Well, if they weren’t on ruddy strike.

All of this, of course, has nothing to do with golf. But when has this column ever cut to the chase? While mere mortals like ourselves worry about wheelie bin areas developing into the kind of mountainous piles you used to get at a Lanarkshire slag heap, Greg Norman and his merry band of Saudi Arabian investors have announced plans for a multi-million pound series of events on the Asian Tour starting next season.

Last week, Norman was unveiled as the chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, a company bankrolled by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, in a cock-a-hoop press release which trumpeted triumphant phrases like “momentous”, “ground-breaking” and “holistically improving the health of professional golf on a truly global scale.”

Norman himself jubilantly declared that this latest Saudi statement of intent was “only the beginning” as yet more talk of a global golf Super League reared its head. The 66-year-old Norman, of course, doesn’t shy away from making bold proclamations.

Only a couple of years ago, The Great White Shark, who still boasts the kind of shimmering teeth, tan and tone that would make Adonis look like Les Dawson, said that he would like to be “the longest living Norman” and “hit 108, 110”. You never know. That Super League malarkey may finally be underway in 40 years time as old Greg wheezes along as a bronzed centenarian.

Let’s face it, the Saudi focus is not simply on hosting a few events on the Asian Tour. This development at least gives them a strong foothold on a recognised circuit but the Super League is where the real Saudi ambitions lie. Observers like yourself may not give two hoots about all of this, of course.

Talk of Premier Leagues or Super Leagues has been swilling around for ages and you’d be forgiven for greeting each announcement, which always promises more announcements on vague things yet to be announced, with a nonchalant, dismissive shrug. The wads of cash being offered by a reprehensible regime, meanwhile, may add to your contemptuous air.

The Saudi money continues to talk, though. Yet, for all the press release driven bravado, which in turn leads to wild speculation, rumour and tales of clandestine meetings which conjure up images of agents and managers with turned up collars gathering in dimly lit alleys, we are still left with more questions than answers.

The who, what, where and when of any Super League continues to float about in the air and, given that the PGA Tour and European Tour have both pulled rank and warned their members about jumping to any cash-sodden ship that sails along, this proposed Norman conquest will no doubt be seen as more combative than co-operative. Norman himself has something of an historical axe to grind too. His own vision for an elite world circuit back in the 1990s was stamped out by the PGA Tour.

As always, discussions concerning golf’s future highlights the game’s place in the wider scheme of sport. We are often told that golf needs to evolve and experiment in order to thrive amid an ever-changing and competitive market in which consumers demand fast paced, easily digestible, engaging fare.

By and large, golf essentially takes the same 72-hole strokeplay formula to every corner of the globe most weeks of the year and expects it to succeed. Outside of, say, major championships or the matchplay tumult of Ryder Cups, there can be a distinct lack of prominence and sense of occasion to the regular calendar.

Some form of Super League, with new formats and whatever additional razzmatazz organisers fancy, could have a galvanising effect. Golf is a game rooted in history and tradition but it can’t afford to stand still.

On the other side of the ball marker, one of professional golf’s most alluring qualities is its wonderful unpredictability and strength in depth. Anybody can beat anybody else on any given week while zeros can become heroes and underdogs can rise to be top dogs.

A Super League, with a closed shop of rich, elite players going up against other rich, elite players, takes away a lot of what makes the game special. Rather like watching the bloated excesses of football’s Champions League, the same old faces can become all rather tiresome.

Norman, meanwhile, is the new face of the latest Saudi push for global expansion. Will it fall flat on its face or change the face of the professional game? Watch this space…