For many footballers, golf provides the perfect getaway from the stresses of the beautiful game. Some players even turn pro after hanging up their boots, such as former West Ham United and Liverpool hard man Julian Dicks.
Yet the defender soon discovered that 18 holes could be just as stressful as clashes with the Crazy Gang. "I started when I was 22," he tells FourFourTwo exclusively ahead the launch of his new book Hammer Time (Headline, £22), out now. "I’d done my knee with West Ham and I was out for 14 months. I felt sorry for myself. I was bordering on being an alcoholic. I was down the pub every night, drinking, so I went into the training ground and spoke to a physio. I said I had a problem and I couldn’t stop drinking.
