If they hadn't driven a motorway through the golf course at Ashford in Kent, Terry Lane might never have ended up at Hockley.

When the motorcar took precedence over the golfers at Ashford, where Lane was the club professional, he decided it was time to move on.

And this week the quiet Mancunian was looking back on 24 happy years at Hockley, which are about to come to an end.

Lane is retiring and Gary Stubbington is moving into the Hockley professional's shop in January, and Gary would be the first to tell you that he is following a tough act.

As a player and an administrator, Lane was one of the best.

His mother was the stewardess of the golf club in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, so golf was in his blood, although his first job was with the Fred Perry Sports Leisure Company.

Golf in those days was just a hobby. He'd started playing as an eight-year-old but when he joined the club at Finchley he soon realised he had a special gift for the game. He got down to scratch in three years and landed his first job in golf as the playing professional at Finchley.

He played the South African Tour and pre-qualified for several European Tour events in the 1970s. "I played in the French, German and Dutch Opens and got a top ten finish in Holland," he recalled.

"But after four years playing on the tour, I was looking for a bit more security and finished up at Ashford as the club professional. When they started building the motorway, which was going to run straight through the clubhouse, it was obviously time to move on!

"The moment I saw Hockley I liked the place. The course, the members - they have made it a very nice place to work. I shall miss the day-to-day involvement with the members."

Considering he started out as such an accomplished player, it's surprising that it was as long ago as 1981 that he won his last event on the Hampshire PGA.

"But in more recent years Lane has been more involved with the administrative side of the Hampshire PGA as captain, then chairman. The culmination of his nine-year stint in the chair was the creation of impressive new Hampshire PGA headquarters at South Winchester.

"Helping to drive that through and see it come to fruition was particularly rewarding," said Lane. "Once that was achieved there wasn't much left to do and I stood down."

What will he do when he retires? "Play a bit of golf, of course, and maybe have a decent holiday or two with my wife Shirley," he replies.

They live in the village of Chiltbolton, just down the road from another lovely golf course at Leckford. "There's just a chance that you might find me there on the odd day or two," smiled Terry.