Ever wondered why golfers are so adept at breaking the rules of fashion? Cliff Knuckey, the former head of Scotland Yard's anti-money laundering investigations team, explained this week that the tartan socks, canary-yellow jumpers and multi-coloured spats are merely the tip of the rule-breaking iceberg.

Apparently the game of golf, despite its emphasis on etiquette, is full of Goldfingers throwing bars of gold onto the putting green.

Mr Knuckey warned that gangsters often target solicitors and other professionals over a round.

Why? 'You have to bear in mind that criminals don't have so much to do during the day,' says Mr Knuckey, 'So lots of them play and invest in golf clubs.' He adds that golf clubs are 'a great way to park criminal cash'.

The quantity of golf clubs in southern Spain takes on a whole new, and alarmingly obvious, significance.

And it is not just Spain, apparently.

During last week's Law Society Council debate on Freemasonry (see [2004] Gazette, 4 March, page 6), declared Mason John Holder said there were plenty of other private organisations that deserved scrutiny, such as golf clubs.

'Probably more dodgy deals have been done on the golf courses of the Algarve than anywhere in the world,' he asserted.

Obiter has never been so keen to buy some eye-damaging clothes and play a round or two.

There are clearly stories to be found over a gin and tonic in the clubhouse.