Back to Golf blogging.

I cannot believe that it has been more than a year since I have blogged on golf. I was recently reminded, why admonished, by Mohan (Nagamangala) for not keeping up with my golf blog. I suppose I should take his request seriously, it is not many who read my blog and offer a comment! Also, we belong to the same '111' club. South Indians will understand what this means, we belong to the same vaishnavite iyengar clan and our trade mark, given jokingly I hope, is 111.

Probably why, I am sure Mohan does much better, I am stuck around a score of 111 per round. It is not that I am a devout iyengar but the score seems to ensure it. I have broken the magical 100 a couple of times, mostly playing alone in Eagleton. I even had an Eagle once. The caddy showed me a plaque for someone who had made the first eagle on that hole. I do not know if I am the oldest at 68+ to make an eagle on that hole.

Anyway my score hovers around 111. Considering that I am a veteran of more than five years, it is disappointing to say the least. I am surprised that my friends still tolerate me and my game! It is nice of them to encourage me to play and still make me feel that I am one of them. In addition, I suppose it is the way the game is designed that allows me to play the game at my level along with better players and still come home reasonably happy. It is also a game which I can play with my eight year old grandson. We compete and it is all serious business while we play. We cannot say this about other games.

As I thought about writing my blog again, I wondered about some of the blogs I had enjoyed reading. Two of them are shown as a link in my blog. New2golf has made great progress as I see his statistics, which he meticulously manages to keep. The other with an interesting title 'Golfchick' has converted her blog to a website and the scope of the website is quite impressive. Clear proof of what dedication can do.

As I read these golf blogs again, I realise that I have not really written to a plan, a target audience! I know that serious golfers would not be pleased with my tone, it does seem light hearted at times. If it is meant to be a blog on the 'spiritual path to golf' or should I say 'spirituality through golf', it has been wayward. I know it is my 'rambling' nature that does it!

I am reminded about the recent unscripted drama in the US Open. While we are rightly in awe with Tiger Wood and his performance, I suppose we admire Rocco Mediate for what he is. I salute him for his noble role in this epic battle. I can never forget the way he offered a hug to the victor. I suppose he proved it to us that it is best that we try to be ourselves at all times.

Golf Masters in Future

(We are constantly reminded about how Technology has overtaken Golf. Golf products seem to get obsolete as fast as the computers, mobile phones and all other gizmos. In answer to this onslaught of Technology, the golf course designers are constantly redoing the golf courses to make it as techno-proof as they can. Golf administrators are also constantly making rules and writing specifications to counter this threat of Technology to Golf.

Added to this are the many aids to golf training that get more and more sophisticated! I saw recently on TV, a Robot of German design which takes hold of you and guides you through the perfect swing path. A work out with this Robot would obviously give you a very consistent swing. It is like a dance teacher taking you through the steps.

I am sure it will be quite a while before we can hope that the driving range near your home would install one and that you can afford to pay for this work out. It is bound to be expensive and the poor us who cannot afford all this Technology can only pray!

We all know that prayer plays a big part in major sports for many. They invoke god to be with them when they play. The reason surely is the desire to win as well as the prize money that comes with winning. For others not playing, it is the pride for the team or the nation. Also, it could be that they have placed heavy bets on the outcome!

I know that in our cricketing world, priests are employed to offer prayers and many rituals are performed. I saw this news item Dec last year…‘led the rituals of rahuvu, ketuvu nagasarpadosa nivarana (a puja to ward off evil and seek divine blessings)’ … and thought it was a pity that God was not free to enjoy a game impartially! Possibly God does stay impartial and bless ‘may the better man/team on that day win’?
I had thought about writing a blog about god in sports, neither to propagate faith nor to criticize it, just to examine this human attribute. Zach Johnson after winning the Master said ‘I felt Jesus Christ with me on the golf course every step of the way’. So I suppose it is time for my blog! Enjoy!)

Golf Masters in Future
Srinivas Madhav Shankar woke up at sunrise as he always did and felt that he was ready for the challenge. He had offered to take on the Golf ‘world number one’ to establish, forever, that the spiritual power is superior to technology. He was a staunch believer of the 'dharma' he had discovered from a deep study of nature. It went back to days even prior to every known religion of the world! It was the time when humans recognized the spirit in the mountains, knew trees had immense wisdom as they stood firm against all odds and every being animate and inanimate had a soul!

He offered prayers to the spirit of the earth, especially the area (Khsetra) on which the golf course was built. He had invoked and had installed the idols representing the spirit of the trees around the fairway, every single blade of grass that grew on the greens. The water and the sand that surrounded the greens, the wind that blew around the course. He prostrated before the idols and started a very austere penance. Pleased with his sincerity the gods appeared and asked him ‘why this penance and what is it you desire’?

SMS very thrilled with the appearance of the gods, explained in detail the game and requested them to help him win. The gods were amused at the request of interceding in a game that was just putting a ball in a hole! However, they agreed to help: The wind god promised to carry the ball towards the hole and drop it into it, the water spirit promised to throw the ball out of the pond in case it fell into it. The trees offered to knock the ball back to the fairway in case the ball strayed. The blades of the green would convey the ball towards the hole and would also the change color ever so slightly that the putting line would be seen. Mother earth assured that it would change direction and bounce as required by him. There was one condition though, SMS had to invoke the right god and they would be there. This was required, they said, to avoid too many gods working for him at the same time. It could lead to confusion amongst them!

Simultaneously at the other end, the super technologist of the conglomerate Ti-ke-away was looking forward to this contest with enthusiasm and amusement. He felt that it was a waste of time as it was ‘given’ that there would be a no-contest! He was positive that with the new equipment, he could pick any amateur and train him with his robots to be equal to the top Professionals within a fortnight. Soon, a birdie was the highest score one would make on any hole. Eagles would be in plenty, the rare albatross would be seen more often and the hole-in-one would become a bore to watch!

He was very keen to test in secrecy the new irons that were revolutionary. They were designed to take over when the distance to the hole fell between clubs. The club had devices that could not be detected but were effective. They would sense the swing speed and adjust so that the ball would stop nearest to the hole. The putters were so designed with new unnamed gadgets that as soon as the putting stroke was made, the putter would correct the line and the speed after reading the break and the speed of the greens. He almost thought that he would also put the new homing device in the ball to test, but felt was not really necessary.

However the contest of the century ran into a snag on the day of the contest and was called off.

SMS being a true follower of the ancient ways strode into the most exclusive club in the world and was not allowed to enter as he was dressed in a loincloth!

More on Golf Accidents!

I should first mention in passing that it has been a year since I was initiated to Blogging, thanks to Rohini. It has been a rewarding experience for 'Me'! I do hope that I shall be able to continue, probably more in my 'NidhiRamblers'.

It occurred to me that I had forgotten to include 'golf cart' as a source of accidents! I recall how I had inadvertently started the cart which was parked in a line and the caddy who was in front and between two carts was literally sandwiched between them. Luckily for me the golf cart had not picked up speed before I took my leg off the pedal, and more importantly she was a strong person and a good humored one! The Thai 'Mai pen rai' (Never mind) culture also helped.

The golf cart looks innocuous and one may be tempted to take it too easy while on it. Golf cart accidents can get very serious. As there are no seat belts, you could loose balance and fall off on a sharp turn. When we were at Melaka visiting Rama and Prasad, we learnt that Rama had a fall from a golf cart. She was hurt badly and needed stitches. I hope this has not stopped her from playing golf as they live on a golf course. I suppose one could be embarrassed talking about falling off a slow moving 'golf cart'! Not always true, as the terrain at Melaka golf club was steep and the path winding. I know I was worried while going down the path.

I thought I would research a bit more on the 'golf cart' accidents and it is much more than I imagined and it is a shocker!

Golf Cart Safety
Because golf carts operate at relatively slow speeds, it's easy to overlook safety procedures. But golf cart accidents can cause serious injury and death.
Between 1992 and 2001, golf cart accidents caused an average of 739 nonfatal injuries annually that led to lost workdays, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. From 1994 to 2000, the Bureau reported an average of five deaths per year associated with golf carts.
http://www.thezenith.com/zenith_web/webui/employers/emp_ind_golfcourse.jsp

As more and more kids are taking up golf, cases of kids getting hurt as they were allowed to drive golf carts and also being hit by a club, as well as golf balls, are reported. I am sure a good discipline and better supervision is really required if kids are on the golf course.

I came across some sad but bizzare news as well. I had read a while ago about a Thai professor being acquitted of a murder charge! The murder weapon was a 'golf umbrella'. I just wondered about it and surfed the web and saw this piece!

'Tragically there have been occurrences of Australian drivers killed by their golf umbrella as it stabbed them through the seat from behind.' http://www.sdt.com.au/CRASHSAFETY.htm'

Please Drive carefully!

Golfing Accidents

After my return to Bangkok we were talking about my golfing accident. See my 'Fitness thoughts' regarding this accident. I still shudder thinking about how serious it could have been. At that time my caddy had told me that the Golf Club had an insurance cover. I did try to, but did not manage to collect! One reason was that the driver never came back with the receipt for the repairs made!

But it is surprising that the club did not think of raising the height of the fence instead. I suppose the premiums were cheaper than the cost of a fence. On my recent visit to the club, I saw that the fence height had gone up considerably. The club was forced to raise it as one of the balls had hit the Chief Minister's car parked across the road! I wish that the Minster's car were hit earlier to my accident. Surely then, the fence would have been up and I would have been saved the tension and the cost of repairs.

I recall that a golf club in Chennai has a busy lane passing thru the fairway. While it is fenced, it was still unnerving to hit a ball with people crossing unconcerned on foot, bicycles and scooters. I am sure most of them are so used to it that they do not even realize they are in the path of a hard ball moving at a speed!

Naturally, our talk turned towards other accidents in a golf course. I remember I ducked in time from a fast approaching ball thanks to the caddie in Bangkok. Couple of years ago they say a caddie died in Bangalore after being hit by a ball. The club then started providing helmets to the caddies. As it is a narrow crisscrossing kind of golf course, it would make sense to provide it to players as well. In any case most of the caddies did not wear the helmet!

Being hit or hitting some one is not always serious. I have seen this happen in a major tournament! Tiger Wood's drive strayed and the ball hit a spectator and fell back on the fairway. Probably saved a stroke or two for Tiger! It is one of those benign incidents and Tiger’s caddy, known for his truculence, might have even thanked the chap for a change.

But unfortunately there are many instances of lightening striking golfers, often fatally at the golf course. Our golfing partner Bobby was very fortunate to come out more or less unhurt by a lightening strike. He said it went thru his umbrella held invitingly up and thru the putter that he had luckily grounded.

Most golf courses at Bangkok have warning systems for lightening. Surprisingly I have yet to see anyone stop playing in spite of the sirens going off. The caddies, mostly girls, keep walking and so do we! We trust them as usual, whether it is the ever important putting line or our life itself!

May be it is our asian "Fatalism" in action!

Back in Bangkok

Back in Bangkok
It has been almost two months since I even thought about blogs! I have been busy with my daughter's family visiting us in Bangkok and all of us visiting family in Bangalore! We did play golf, even though Neil was equally happy playing soccer and other games with kids in the apartment complex in Bangkok.

He played golf well and had fun as he had the privilege of a golf cart and a personal caddy. He is used to his mother or father being a caddy but I believe he enjoyed being fussed over by the Bangkok lady caddies! They took very good care of him, constantly giving him liquids and making sure that he was always protected on the course. The only time he felt awkward was when a caddy hugged and kissed him on the cheek. This was when his approach shot from sixty yards dropped in for a par.

He almost parred the next par 3 hole, but his aggressive putt took it farther away and he three putted for a double bogey. He was in control most of the time and could have scored much better if he was more conservative with his putting. The heat also took its toll during the later half of the round.

The Bangalore weather was kinder and he managed to walk at the Bangalore golf club. Due to some reason the club was full on that day and the starter at the club was hesitant when he saw Neil and wanted us to start from the 10th hole as the lady playing after us thought we would hold up play. I knew the starter well and told him to just watch Neil drive and promised that we would let the other group go ahead if we held up play. One look at Neil’s drive the starter walked away. If any one did really slow down play it was not Neil and the group was never really close to us at any time!

He did have problems with the caddies in Bangalore. They are mostly young boys who dream of making it big in the pro golf in India or at least become what we call as caddy coaches. These caddies do get involved in the game and are prone to select clubs for you and give a lot of unsought advice. This is not Neil's style and he became quite upset once and literally shouted at the caddy. Raxit cooled him down and Neil apologized later to the caddy for loosing his temper! We consider caddies as one of the hazards to be faced in any Bangalore golf course!

The high light was at the Eagleton golf resort; the head coach had heard about Neil and specially came to see him drive. He was duly impressed and wanted to know who Neil's coach was. Difficult to answer as Neil used to intently watch Tiger, Els and Goosen with me on the TV when he was just three! But Neil is sure on one thing though, that he taught me how to play golf! When I had an especially good putt, he would come and give me a High Five and tell my caddy that he taught me to play golf! I suppose he did!

There are many memories of Neil playing but unfortunately not recorded, as we did not take the camera along. There is one where he is sitting with his caddy and our caddies and is full of mirth as he waited for us to get on the green. He was already on the green and we were stuck in bunkers and roughs and struggling. I told him later it was not polite, but he is just a seven year old and it was funny!

Raxit and I relaxed and had enjoyable games of golf. There were not many at the course and hence there was no pressure on us! I also had some valuable lessons in golf from Sesh.
I enjoy playing in Bangalore, as my game with Vijay, Murali and their group is fun and also it is in all seriousness. Which in itself is a lesson on focus and concentration.
I also had a great game with Nandini one evening and she did remarkably well, considering that it was her second outing on a golf course.
The sweetest memory, however, was to walk with Neil hand in hand on the fairway. Many times he would walk straight on and I would be on the sides looking for my ball!

I have been rather quiet!

There has been a lull in my golf blogging! We have been busy after our return from India. Mainly my thought process was off course, similar to my drive! Great news is, Neil, my grand son is visiting Bangkok next week. I am looking forward to golfing with him once he settles down and gets used to the heat!

While at Bangalore, I heard this comment about my blog being too serious! Too much philosophy! I suppose we all get type cast into roles by intent or by accident! I am sure the intial comments of friends on my blog had some effect. They spoke of Bhakthi thru golf and I get back to this 'pilgrimage' theme often. I do try to keep an Indian bias in my writings! May be I should try to get humourous. It may turn out be as hilarious as Peter Sellers imitating Indians in his movie!

You might have noticed that I have links to 'golfchick' and 'New2golf'. I enjoy reading these blogs as they are also new to golf and have put in a lot of hard work at the same time are enjoying themselves! Try the links out if you have not already done. You will also get some well tried out tips and most important will help you to keep up your enthusiasm!

I saw this on the web. Especially good for us Seniors if your partners agree!

"GOLF RULE BOOK CHANGES
(only applies to Seniors) RULE 1.a. A ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and placed on the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or rolled into the rough with no penalty. The senior should not be penalized for uncontrollable mechanical phenomena.

RULE 2.d.6(b) A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree. This is simply bad luck and luck has no place in a scientific game.The player must estimate the distance the ball would have traveled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from there.

RULE 3.b.3(g) There shall be no such thing as a lost ball. The missing ball is on or near the course and will eventually be found and pocketed by someone else, making it a stolen ball. The player is not to compound the felony by charging him or herself with a penalty.

RULE 4 (7a) If a putt passes over a hole without dropping, it is deemed to have dropped. The law of gravity supersedes the law of golf.

RULE 5. Putts that stop close enough to the cup that they could be blown in, may be blown in. This does not apply to balls more than three inches from the hole. No one wants to make a travesty of the game.

RULE 6.a.9(k) There is no penalty for so-called "out of bounds." If penny-pinching golf club owners bought sufficient land, this would not occur. The golfer deserves an apology, not a penalty.

RULE 7.g.15(z) There is no penalty for a ball in a water hazard, as golf balls should float. That they do not is a technical problem that manufacturers have to correct. Senior Golfers should not be punished for manufacturer's shortcomings.

RULE 8.d.19(q) There is no penalty for a ball going into a canyon on desert courses. This is a technical problem and when the golf manufactures retire they will correct this manufacturing defect.

RULE 9.k.9(s) Advertisements claim that golf scores can be improved by purchasing new clubs, balls, shoes etc. Since this is financially impractical for the average Senior Golfer, a stroke per hole may be subtracted for using old equipment."


Link to the site for more golf humor:

www.bnl.gov/bera/activities/golf/2006/golf_humor.htm

and here is another for more jokes about us!

http://www.otgmag.com/features/Humor/humor.html.

Fitness Thoughts

While reading more and more about muscles and its ability to retain memories, this disturbing thought appeared from nowhere. 'What if I do not have some of these muscles special to golf?’ I am sure we all know a few who are blissfully ignorant that they have no sense of taal (rhythm) and go be-sur (off pitch) but insist on singing! It is a source of amusement for some but a terrible embarrassment to their near ones. There are days when this feeling of being clueless in golf and becoming a source of embarrassment to my golf group does surface! Luckily these moments are fleeting!

We hope that nature did not indeed deny us these muscles and we look for ways to enhance its performance. Fortunately for us, there are a bunch of fitness gurus who advise you on how to improve your posture, flexibility and most important of all, the core strength. I understand that there was a time before 'tiger' when fitness was not so essential for playing golf! What a pity that times have changed! Drinking beer after a game is no more the unmixed fun it used to be!


While looking at the many types of excercises available, I was thrilled to see India also contributing to the golf scene. There are teachers who teach 'golf yoga'. That was reassuring to me as I used to do yoga in India and all I have to do now is to restart! The other day I watched young Villegas lay practically flat, like he was prostrating in front of the hole before putting, praying that the ball went in. This is what we do to propiate our gods and to seek their blessing.

It was also like a yogic posture as he was keeping a gap between his chest and the greens. I believe the gap is required to comply with the rules of golf that forbade a player from lying flat on the green to read it. After watching his performance, I even wondered whether doing a yogic head stand (Shirasasana) would help as the eyes would be the closest to the green and we could get a totally different and close up view of the greens. I suppose we would be allowed to do it on the first cut!

Joking apart, I feel I should give a note of caution for those taking up Yoga. There is a method known as the Kundalini yoga. It is rather complex and esoteric. In case you are able to raise the Kundalini through various levels you may experience a sudden release of energy and those not properly trained may not be able to handle it!

I know this from experience! I was reading about it the previous night to my game and must have been subconsciously practicing it out on the course the next day. While on a par 5, I guessed that I was at a distance right for a 5 iron approach shot to the green and took a swing. I was amazed to see my ball practically shooting off my club and go zooming very much beyond the greens and through a small gap in the fence. It hit the windshield of a moving 3 wheeler. I was lucky that I did not hit the driver and was happy to pay for the broken wind shield. This happened in my home town Bangalore! I remember that while young we were always reminded by our grandmother to offer our prayers before venturing out. I am sure some one at the driver's home must have reminded him as well on that day.