The former Premier League midfielder admits that he is eternally grateful for the game because of the way it helped him in the months after he hung up his boots in 2012.

Bullard told bunkered magazine: "The first six months was tough. I'd come back in, Soccer Saturday was on, I'd hear all my mates' names still playing. It is quite hard.

"But golf gave me all my love back. So, that downward spiral and that upward shift, it was like, I'll get back on the conveyor belt. So, golf saved everything.

"I've always said golf has saved me. Without golf, my hobby, well, it's more than a hobby now. It's my work. It's my passion. I want to see how good I can get. It's given me everything. It's such a nice thing for me to go on."

The former Fulham player added: "People say, make sure you've got business structured after your football because it can impact your mental health. I could feel it creeping in. I was like, 'No, golf is going to help.'

"To a deeper point, it could have been my saviour without me knowing it. That downward spiral could have gone deeper, but golf was there, I noticed it and boom, it was there from the beginning. So, I owe a lot to golf. God knows where I'd be without it."

Bullard is a regular on the popular Golf Life YouTube channel – where he takes on big names from the world of sport on the course – but explained that he gets the most enjoyment by playing the game alone.

He said: "I just love it. It's therapeutic. It's sort of like a medicine. I learn quicker, because I'm in my own headspace.

"There aren't distractions, interruptions. And then I end up messing around and my character changes and I just can't do it. And then I get mixed up, so I'm just as bad.

"So, I just love my practice ground, fresh turf, bucket of balls, practicing, and then going on the course and seeing if all those bits are working. That's my heaven."