"HEY, they hit it a long way, don't they?"

The male spectator's voice from behind the first tee at Pleasington sounded surprised - but it really shouldn't have been.

Because the women out on the sun-coated course yesterday were good. Very good.

So good, in fact, that when they head back to whichever corner of Europe they're from, whether it be Lytham or Lisbon, they will all return home with the same boast.

That they've played in the biggest golf event in the history of East Lancashire.

The 25th European Senior Ladies Team Championship teed off at Pleasington yesterday, overlooked by 12 flags representing each competing nation.

They rested proudly at the top of their poles, their eerie lack of movement perfectly reflecting the absence of any breeze on a baking hot day.

Summer must have known this tournament was on its way and decided to extend itself into September - even if it did oversleep at the start of the day.

Fog so heavy that it obscured the bunker on the first fariway actually delayed the start by 10 minutes, but once the greyness lifted it was colour all the way.

Even host nation England don't settle for the country's traditional white uniform in this sport, as their ladies stepped out in brilliant pink, reflecting the English rose the nation's Ladies Golf Association use as their logo.

Other countries are more instantly recognisable and you only need to be a follower of international football to locate the orange of Holland, the blue of Italy and the yellow of Sweden.

But it's not just when the girls are out on the golf course that Pleasington has experienced the full flavour of the cosmopolitan cultures circling the club.

A selection of lady members have taken on the role of hostesses for the week, one being affiliated to each team.

They do the caddying, carrying and fetching, eventually becoming such an integral part of the team, the players often adop them as their own personal mascots - they even led the teams out to the strains of their national anthems at Monday's opening ceremony.

Of course it helps when you have members such as Jenny Lamb, who happens to be Swedish and is therefore fully aware of the quirks of the countrywomen she has been assigned to look after.

"The Scandinavians insist on us getting them brown bread, they won't eat anything else," said chief hostess Chris Ashton who is Pleasington's treasuser.

"As well as diet needs, some ladies need to go to the bank, others to the chemist and some to the hairdressers as we have a dinner on the Wednesday night.

"So the hostesses know where to go for them and sort it all out.

"There's quite a few ladies here who are quite good at conversing with the French, Spanish and Italians in their own language.

"Most of the other ladies just want to be help, but it is a big commiment, all day every day."

And it's a 24-hour responsibility as the hostesses even have to take the batteries for the players' motorised trolleys home and charge them up overnight.

But it's the little touches like that which help the event run so smoothly, while the ESLGA rely on much wider support to get this prestigious compeition off the ground.

The trolley manufacturers Hillbilly provided 150 motorised electronic bag carriers for the event, and all are stored in two lorry cabins that have been shipped into the Pleasington car park specially for the week.

The association is also grateful for sponsorship from Bowker, who have provided a fleet of BMWs, and even two buses, to transport the teams back and to the course from their base at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel in Clayton.

It's the fact that all players can be accommodated in the one place, as well as the proximity to Manchester Airport, that played a major part in Pleasington winning the right to host this.

As for the sport itself, senior ladies golf can hardly be considered a minority.

Indeed, of all the female golfers in England, 60 per cent are over the age of 62 - and you only have to be 50 to qualify at this level.

If you're looking for a local legend, former Great Harwood member Hilary Green was chosen to be the chairman of the competition committee after her heroics in past events.

She was in the winning England teams of 1992, on the prevous time it was held in this country in Sutton Coldfield, and 1994, and captained her country to victory in Arila, Sweden, in 1997.

However, wherever you looked yesterday there was golfing excellence striding over every mound of the course.

Whether it was stick thin Spaniards showing frightening accuracy to pepper the pins, or the powerful drives of the Germans that had the spectators straining their eyes as the white dot disappeared ino the distance, the signs were that this will be a spectacle well worth witnessing as it builds towards the climax on Friday.

And any doubts of the quality on show will soon be dispelled by taking heed of the words said in reply to the gentleman quoted at the beginning of this piece.

"I wouldn't like to play with them," quipped his mate sat beside him. "I don't like being out-driven by a woman!"

nsmith@the-let.co.uk