My involvement in motor racing has been something of a mixed blessing as far as golf is concerned. It has allowed me to meet some of the game's greatest players, but the only problem is that while I want to talk golf, all they want to talk to me about is grand prix cars.

Granted, there has been the odd exception. Like 1996 at Club de Campo in Madrid, where I played with Seve Ballesteros in the Spanish Open pro-am. Eric Peugeot, a very good one-handicapper was also in our team and we ended up being mesmerised by Seve's extraordinary short game.

Mind you, it was one of those days when he needed to be sinking putts. Off the first tee, for instance, his drive was so far left as to be almost two fairways off line. But for him, the score was all that mattered and when he finished with a 66, I learned how important it is to keep a tally of your putts.

Then there was the Murphy's Irish Open pro-am at Mount Juliet where Nigel Mansell and myself were in Greg Norman's team. Mansell, incidentally, is probably the toughest competitor I have come across in amateur golf. But that occasion became memorable because of the finest long-iron shot I have ever seen.

It came from Greg on the long 10th (546 yards), where his drive was a bit too far left for a straight shot at the green, down the right corridor. To make matters more difficult, the wind was blowing right to left.

Anyway, Greg took out this two iron and played the most glorious cut shot imaginable. The ball soared up over the trees and then held its line while fighting the wind. And, of course, he got the distance perfectly. In fact he was unlucky not to make an eagle.

But the moments I cherish most in golf resulted from an extraordinary situation at Silverstone a few years ago. Our designer, Gary Anderson, was particularly anxious to do some testing on the track so we phoned the manager, Brian Pallott, to make the necessary arrangements.

"Can't be done," he said. "The track is taken up - a private day." Intrigued, I wanted to know who was on it. "Can't say," replied Pallott. Anyway, I kept at him until eventually he told us that Nick Faldo had taken it over to put a new Porsche 959 that he'd just bought through its paces.

The upshot was that we did a deal. If Faldo would let us on the track, we'd let him drive our car. And that's what happened. We had to take the seat out to allow for his size and it meant there was room later for Anderson to have a spin and then for Chris Rea to drive it.

The pay-off for me was an invitation to play a round with Nick at Sunningdale a short while after- wards. Now, I had played quite a bit of golf with guys like Mansell, Alain Prost and the useful Jacques Laffite, but to play a private round with the winner of five major championship (at that time) would be something else.

I know that ideally, Nick likes to play with low-handicap amateurs, but he was willing to indulge me off 12. At least so I thought. Sure, he was pleasant and helpful with my game and I found it fascinating to watch the care he took with every shot.

But when it came to talking, all he seemed interested in was cars. In fact, he was just the same as Nick Price, Greg Norman and Frank Nobilo had been. Still, I'll always remember that round with Faldo, if only for the crazy circumstances through which it came about.