Swinging London

"Fore!" shouted a cheery builder, as I swung my nine iron and thwacked a soft leather ball up Shoreditch's Blackall Street and watched it bounce safely off the window of a printing firm.

This narrow thoroughfare will represent the sixth hole in the capital's first urban golf tournament - the Ladbrokes.com Shoreditch Open - taking place in a deserted City this Sunday.

Urban golf is the brainchild of 31-year-old Hackney-based design consultant Jeremy Feakes. "I got the idea when my dad brought my clubs up to London - I realised everyone was laughing at me for carrying a golf bag around Covent Garden," he said. "The incongruity of playing golf in an urban environment appealed to me."

More than 320 people applied to the tournament, and 63 have now been selected. It is not illegal to play golf on London's streets but Mr Feakes says there is a "cheeky, underground feel" to hitting a ball around Shoreditch. He has designed a golf ball that can be safely played on a London street - a leather orb stuffed with cotton, that travels about half the distance and speed of a normal golf ball. "I've persuaded a lot of the City pubs, that usually close at weekends, to stay open," said Mr Feakes, who expects about 5,000 spectators.

As I practised my back-swing in front of the Bank of England, a venerable, suited man approached me. Was I to be reprimanded for brandishing a club in a built-up area? "Keep your head still and your forearm straight," he said, and moved on.