TV VIEWERS were treated to an impossibly handsome male model flogging the latest expensive fragrance – followed by four blokes from West Fife hacking their way round a golf course.

Darren 'Daz' Philp, from Dunfermline, and three of his ex-rugby mates have joined the showbiz set on the small screen after being chosen to feature in a new advert.

They're starring during the breaks of the festive TV shows in a commercial for Golf Now, although they probably wish they had a say on when it would appear.

Daz laughed: "They gave us the schedule for when it was going to be on and, the first time, the Christmas ad before us was for an aftershave from Dolce and Gabbana, an Italian model with his top off and kissing the screen.

"I was like, 'Oh God, I hope we're not after Mr Hercules' but sure enough, it was us, four ex-rugby guys plodding round a golf course. It was a bit of a contrast ..."

The advert for Golf Now, an online tee booking service with more than 1,700 courses available across the UK and Ireland, was filmed at a club in Dunstanburgh, near Alnwick.

It shows the four friends getting ready and travelling to a course to enjoy some winter golf – not that you'll hear from them.

During filming they were asked if they could "try and be a little less Fife" and Daz said: "Needless to say, we all failed that challenge and none of our scripted dialogue made the final cut!"

He continued: "We had to keep it a secret, which was the hardest bit, but the reaction's been really positive.

"I get friends and family messaging, 'I think I've just seen you on the TV'.

"It's just been crazy and a lot of fun. But I don't think Hollywood is going to be calling me any time soon!"

Daz and his mates, Kris Richards, Craig Paterson and another who'd rather we didn't name him, used to play rugby for Rosyth Sharks but opted, as they were getting older, for a more gentler pursuit.

The 39-year-old, a sales account manager at Oceaneering in Rosyth, explained: "Everyone was doing it as golf was about the only thing you could do during lockdown.

"And it's a lot easier to get guys available for a round of golf than it is to play rugby!"

As for how they ended up on the TV, he said: "My mate, Jamie, has a media company in Glasgow called Enterprise Screen.

"Unbeknown to us, he was asked to do an ad for Golf Now and to pitch some ideas.

"He went on my Facebook page and got some photos of a casual golf day I'd arranged with a few friends.

"Jamie had told them, 'This is your target audience, nomadic golfers who like to rock up and see what's available using your golf app'.

"They basically said they liked the idea and said, 'Why don't you ask those guys if they want to be part of the ad?'

"It was a bit of a surprise but we thought why not? What else are we going to do in winter?"

The foursome's handicaps range from 14 to 24 – "Craig is a bandit" – and Daz said they'd honed their game with the Fife Rover, a great initiative that allows them to play seven different courses (Dunnikier Park, Glenrothes, Cowdenbeath, Scoonie, Lochore Meadows, Kinghorn and Auchterderran).

And they had some great help before their screen debuts, with assistance from Aberdour Golf Club, Wellsgreen Driving Range, Peter Whiteford, the Fife Golf Studio in Inverkeithing, Josh Anderson Golf and Dundee Golf Centre.

Daz added: "Having not done anything like this before, I thought we'd just rock up and they'd get a few shots of us playing 18 holes but it was, 'Do this, do this again, do this one more time'.

"It was a good laugh though.

"They said they were going to set some stuff up, with us duffing one off the tee, skulling it out of a bunker or getting stuck in the trees and we were like, 'We're your guys for that, there won't be any acting involved!'

"It's anywhere but the fairway!"