After a month of pre launch programming, on 22nd November last year the channel entered into a partnership with the Golf Channel to become the Golf Channel UK. The result ... read on?

The Golf Channel is recognised as a leading global provider of golf entertainment and had already reached more than 60 million homes across the US, Canada and Japan since its launch in 1995. Its HQ is in Orlando, Florida and its schedule already includes more live golf coverage than any other network, competition from all over the world, together with new, instruction and original features.

The agreement between Golf TV and The Golf Channel is a partnership to establish and extend its operations throughout the UK and on into Europe, with Golf TV becoming an exclusive licensee of The Golf Channel programming in the UK.

With the World golf tours not really starting until late January, the competition coverage has yet to hit the channel s schedules - available on the Golf TV web site - so for your Winter entertainment, look no further than the challenge matches that are shown several times a day. At present, these are from before the Shell colour stuff and ... they are great and some of the low scoring will have you wondering what all the fuss is about with today s records.

Some of the names of these great players will be instantly recognisable - Snead, Boros, Littler and from this week (10/01) you can add Quigley, Furgol, Souchak .... names which are still part of golf and what these guys used to do, especially on the greens, was and is very special.

OK, so shots are limited (lots of graphics about X driving up the left 260 and Y right 275) before you see a tee shot or some great approach to greens which are about 4ft on the stimp meter - you will see bigger swings of a club on some of the greens than on the tees (only joking but these greens were really slow). Some of the par fives might be short by 00s standards but you can see plenty of great mid iron approaches and at $500 for an eagle (Match winners took home $2000), the participants were well capable of some great scoring when the game was more difficult than it is today.

Other stuff includes rules and fitness instruction, as well as interviews with modern stars. Individual programmes are repeated every few hours (at the moment), then change for the following day. ISM, the management organisation for players such as Darren Clarke, Paul Casey and Lee Westwood, has also joined forces with The Golf Channel UK and these players will be prominently featured throughout 2004 in some of specials on the channel.

At the moment, it is excellent browse TV where in half an hour you could really help your game or be entertained by vintage stuff - and there isn t much of the Sell TV that really does become naff very quickly. When then Tournament coverage hits the schedules will be the acid test for a golf devotee, or for people who want to be able to watch more specialised coverage. The web site is the place for schedule browsing, so log on, and why not join the Founders Club which is free and has more to offer than discount vouchers.

One more thing - you may well catch a certain Amateur Champion, Mr G Wolstenholme, adding to his media CV after his work on the fairways for the BBC, by hosting a show ... he does a pretty good job