Back in the day I had the briefest glimpse of what it felt like to be a professional golfer: A five-footer for birdie, but more importantly to take the cash.

It was a slippery downhill putt made extra difficult because of nearly a thousand rand on the line. The moment was amplified even more because one of the playing partners who would be handing over cash to me would be Nick Price, the headline act of a charity golf day in Johannesburg.

And, for someone earning two thousand rand a month, it was a lot of money.

As the expression goes, the hole, only five feet away, swelled up to the size of a disprin. I missed, picked up my ball and we went to the next tee. I didn’t win one cent that day, but had so much fun. I had a five-footer to beat a future world No1 – a player who had finished runner-up to Seve Ballesteros, and ahead of Sir Nick Faldo, at that year’s Open Championship.

Putting from five feet for half your month’s salary when you dont have money is a different kind of pressure than putting for a thousand rand when you have a million in the bank. I choked. Could’ve, should’ve, didn’t – it's a choke.

This day was a Skins format, which was all the rage in the 1980s. Pre-internet, pre mobile phones, the public would get its information on the major Skins events around the world via radio or TV, or the next day’s newspaper.

Skins, typically played by a fourball where money rolls over if one golfer doesn’t win the hole outright, was televised for the first time in late November 1983, with Gary Player, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer taking part. Player won the $170,000 jackpot on that occasion.

Then, in moments captured live on TV, Lee Trevino earned $175,000 in 1987 with a hole-in-one at the PGA’s West Stadium Course, in 2003 Anika Sorenstam made an eagle from a greenside bunker, and in 2009 TIger Woods chipped in from the rough to take the cash.

In terms of scooping the pool, Greg Norman took home $1m in 2001, while 49-year-old Fred Funk beat home Tiger and ‘Mr Skins’ Fred Couples in 2005, becoming the oldest winner in the official Skins Game history.

Skins was particularly popular in South Africa, probably driven by the presence and success of Gary Player. It was apt that the first televised hole-in-one in the country came at CCJ Woodmead in 1986, when he aced the 4th hole. It was one of three Nissan Skins Games that Player won in South Africa, also striking it rich in 1988 and 1991.

Professional golf evolved and the calendars and schedules became crammed with events whereby players could compete for a million dollars every week, and the gaps to have high-profile Skins events closed up like the Springbok defence.

And even those Springbok backline players got in on some Skins action: Springbok rugby legend Bryan Habana got a taste of the excitement at the 2019 Japan Skins Challenge when Hideki Matsuyama sunk a long putt and Habana sprinted across to hug his partner (pictured).

As amateurs and occasional golfers we still love the format and play it often, but I can’t help but believe that if Skins found its way back into the professional game, it would do wonders to attract new golfers to the sport. It had that effect in the 80s, so why not now?

So, I was pleasantly surprised that Skins made a, perhaps one-off, return to the pro ranks at the end of November when Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Keegan Bradley teed up for a ‘reverse’ $1m game. This time they each started with $1m and that value was adjusted based on winning or losing a hole.

The time is ripe for the occasional high-profile Skins game to return. With mic'd-up players and caddies, more crowd interaction, and a bit of fun mixed with the serious issue of making money for charities.

Gary Lemke