WELL, that’s the Olympics done and dusted for another four years. I actually got pretty used to tethering myself to the idiot box for prolonged periods of bleary-eyed, nocturnal activity and meekly allowing Clare Balding’s brainwashing omnipotence to coax me into resisting sleep in the name of ruddy handball.

In fact, Balding’s unwavering presence has been so ferocious, her face will probably be incorporated into the interlocking Olympic rings come Tokyo 2020. There’s been no escaping those five circular bands over the past few weeks has there?

Indeed, in this world of shameless, corporate profiteering by big business, those coloured rings have even popped up on the packaging of a variety of hum-drum household products.

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Electric toothbrushes, limescale remover, fabric detergent? Nothing, after all, symbolises the global unity, the moral beauty and the inspiring athletic endeavour of the Olympics quite like a box of white powder that removes stubborn stains at 30 degrees.The Herald:

When it all came out in the wash, golf and the Games seemed to get on like an athletes village on fire. Inbee Park’s victory in the women’s event at the weekend wasn’t just a fine spectacle, it was a terrific story … even if the pace of play on day one was abysmally awful and made the 100 Years War look like a hit-and-run skirmish.

Park, a former world No.1, who hadn’t broken 70 since March and had been left fearing for her career with a debilitating thumb injury? She may even have inspired a hirpling, hobbling Tiger Woods.

The global exposure the Royal & Ancient game was given over the past fortnight was huge. The final 90 minutes of a thrilling men’s shootout between Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson was second only to the Masters in terms of viewing figures for a golf event this year.

In Sweden, a nation of 9.5 million folk, it peaked at 1.5 million. Stenson being involved helped but, in comparison, his jaw-dropping duel with Phil Mickelson in the closing round of July’s Open averaged just 65,000 in his home country.The Herald:

Those charged with nurturing golf on the global stage will be keen to make sure this potential is transformed into participation.

The bronze medallist in the women’s event was China’s Shanshan Feng. The 27-year-old is a well-kent face on the female front but, despite a series of LPGA Tour wins and a major title, none of those successes will have resonated quite like an Olympic medal.

In a land of 1.4 billion, the possibility for growth is sizeable but then golf in China remains something of a ball game of contradictions. Expansion and expulsion, investment and interference; this pursuit of “western decadence” has always provoked suspicion.

Golf continues to battle with an image problem and superior, dismissive and sexist attitudes which have become entrenched within the game down the years have certainly not helped. It can be an easy target for those wanting to stick the boot in and there are not many sports which attract the level of sneering hostility from the wider public than golf.

By all hysterical accounts, your man and woman on the street are now nipping out and buying a second hand boat to emulate the coxless pairs at Hogganfield Loch or purchasing a cuddy to perform a bit of dressage in Bellahouston Park.

But golf? Oh no, no, no, it’s far too elitist. That, of course, is nonsense, certainly in this country, where a great number of clubs are good, honest, welcoming establishments.

Adapting, compromising and changing is key to a successful future and many clubs are reacting. As an equipment-intensive game, golf is never going to be the cheapest hobby on the planet, but making it financially accessible, whether through flexible membership packages or affordable green fees, is important to its well-being.

Golf has never been the quickest to embrace change and anything other than established norms are greeted with utter contempt by those fustier sections determined to cling to the past. Moves away from rigid rules and regulations regarding women, juniors, dress code and the ubiquitous mobile phone, are accompanied by hissing abhorrence.

The self-serving nature of golf at all levels was, in some ways, illustrated by the mass of high-profile withdrawals from the men’s Olympic event. A wider sense of perspective triumphed over insularity, though, and golf can benefit.

Now, let’s try for an early night. Oh for Pete’s sake, what’s Clare Balding still doing on the tele?