There’s a heck of a lot of bumf to deal with in the build to an election.  Flyers here, pamphlets there, brochures and political paraphernalia every bloomin’ where.

The other day, I peered into my vestibule – that sounds architecturally grandiose but believe me it isn’t – and was flabbergasted by the sheer volume of stuff lying around imploring me to vote for this, that or the other.

The floor looked like the aftermath of a concentrated airborne propaganda leaflet drop by a squadron of B-52s.

As all this campaigning and politicking intensifies, I’m half expecting to hear a commotion at the front door one morning and find John Swinney, Anas Sarwar, Douglas Ross and Alex Cole-Hamilton literally trying to squeeze themselves through my letterbox in a last-gasp charm offensive.

To be fair, I do occasionally give some of this junk a once over. It is, after all, marginally more readable than the clutter that arrives in my e-mail inbox from the PGA Tour.

If you want to bore yourselves to tears, then here’s a segment from the latest press release about the arduous talks involving said tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). Ready? Here we go.

“Representatives from the PGA Tour Enterprises Transaction Subcommittee and the PIF have been meeting multiple times weekly to work through potential deal terms and come to a shared vision on the future of professional golf.

"On Friday evening, an in-person session in New York City included the entire Transaction Subcommittee and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and his team, where more progress was made."

You can wipe those tears of boredom away now. In many ways, it was an update that would make a canvassing politician proud. Use a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.

There has been plenty, of course, said about Robert MacIntyre’s maiden win on the PGA Tour in the Canadian Open the other week. The number of words written about it, meanwhile, would make Marcel Proust’s epic novel ‘In Search of Lost Time’ look like one of the Mr Men books.

In this day and age, where opinions are everywhere on every subject imaginable, you’ll never please a’body.

The Oban man withdrew from the star-studded Memorial tournament to spend a few days back home – “with the people who matter” – after a six-week competitive stretch which culminated in the emotional, draining high of a breakthrough victory with a major, this week’s US Open, just around the corner.

That decision, though, drew criticism in various quarters and led to some online observers questioning his ambition. There was even a cheap-shot belittling of his victory due to the fact the Canadian Open was not an “elite” tour event. You’ll never win, eh?

Young MacIntyre, of course, wasn’t too perturbed by this harrumphing on social media. Let’s face it, if any player thinks something written about him online or in the papers might deflect him from his professional purpose, that says more about the golfer than the writer.

But Scottish negativity is a trait as auld as the hills. Even those very hills were probably riddled with pessimism and thought they’d never amount to anything other than a mere grassy knoll.

As Scotland’s football players prepare for the opening game of Euro 2024 this Friday night, the manager, Steve Clarke, made his own observation about the tartan-tinged naysayers.

"Anytime I read a little snippet from someone who wants to be a negative Norman I just dismiss it because what's to be negative about?" he said. "We're going into another major tournament and we're all determined to do as well as we can for our country. Why not just relax and enjoy it?”

That may be easier said than done when Germany go three up after 21 minutes – sorry, I’m being defeatist there – but he has a point.

Let’s enjoy MacIntyre’s journey too. Here’s a young man who has ticked every box along the way with hard work, honesty and humility.

As the men’s game tries to untangle itself from an unseemly mess of entitlement and excruciating press releases – see above – MacIntyre’s recent success brought a bit of purity back to a game that’s certainly not done itself any favours in this period pock-marked by defections, division and dollars.

In this nation’s treasured position as the cradle of the game, we certainly have no right to golfing success, particularly now in an age of frightening global strength in depth at all levels.

We were probably spoiled by the exploits of the likes of Sandy Lyle, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance, Paul Lawrie and Catriona Matthew who were all successful for different reasons.

In this very individual pursuit, there’s certainly no one-size-fits-all model. MacIntyre is pursuing his ambitions his way. And it’s working. Good on him.

AND ANOTHER THING

It was quite the weekend for women’s golf. Linn Grant came from 11 shots back to win the DP World Tour’s Scandinavian Mixed event.

Meanwhile, her fellow Swede, Linnea Strom, defied the odds and came hurtling up from last to first on the closing day of the LPGA Tour’s Shoprite Classic with a thrilling 60.

According to the statisticians, Strom had a 0.001 per cent chance of victory at the start of the final round.

I’m sure I read something similar about the Tory party’s chances of winning the election in that pile of ruddy leaflets?