Mr Tappin has now been released on a $1 million (£620,000) bond to live at his
lawyer’s home in a gated community in Montgomery County near Houston, Texas.
He has been fitted with an electronic tag and his travel is limited.
The former president of the Kent Golf Union described how
he spent the first 10 days in jail in solitary confinement, which
was “absolute purgatory,” before being moving to a windowless
dormitory with a dozen other inmates.
He passed the time by improvising a golf ball and hitting it with his cane,
and held putting competitions with a group of Mescalero Apache Indians.
Mr Tappin said: “I had my walking stick and I made up a golf ball, using
tissues toughened up with soap, and played rounds of golf. I had a cup and I
putted into it. I played several golf courses in my mind.”
Those included his home course of West Kent, along with Wentworth and
Sunningdale. “I shot a 68 and a 66 and didn’t miss a fairway. That kept
my spirits up,” he said.
“The first 36 hours were the most difficult,” he said. “I
didn’t see anybody in that time. I found that very, very difficult. I had no
reading matter.”
He added: “You have no idea of what time of day it is. You go to sleep
about 6pm, then there’s a cacophony of noise about 8pm. People screaming and
shouting and hollering.”