Pilgrimage Begins!

It was fun to get a few reactions to 'Why do we play golf!':

“I wonder if anyone in India has a golf magazine published. Will make an excellent article. I was not too sure if the author was Nidhi. It must be! Keep up the golf yoga and your ruminations about this wonderful sport. I hope Tara is ready to join you in a couple of years to do Dampati puja at various golf courses (I mean temples.). Fondly, Rama”

“Thanks for sharing an interesting thought. Rangaraj”

“Nidhi: Very interesting point of view. This is good material for your book: 'Practical lessons in Bhakti thru Golf' or ' Golf your way to Moksha' and other relevant essays. Ram”

“Read through your train of thoughts on the choice of golf as the obsession for the mature years. The major aim for the twilight years is to keep the 'little neurones' (a la Hercule Poirot) active. There are a number of ways this can be achieved, each one to his own poison! So long as one likes the chosen activity there would be peace. Raghu”

Younger generation was represented by Nanda 'who enjoyed it' and Priya 'who loved it' and as I was going to press there was one from Aditi!

"Hi! Nidhi uncle, I just had to tell you that was such a well written piece! I was discussing with aparna what a good time we had reading it! I really think you should consider writing more, maybe a whole book even! It was so nice to read it-perfect mix of humor and philosophy, and written from a point of view that I think lots of people can relate to. I'm looking forward to meeting you all here in Bangalore soon. Take care, and keep writing!-aditi rao-"

It was encouraging to get such positive responses from friends and relatives who are golfers or potential ones!

I view golf as a pilgrimage and hope those who choose to go with me will have some fun! It definitely is not a ‘one more path to salvation’! I am more comfortable trying some dry and deadpan humour. I write mostly to keep busy and started as my way of communicating with children! Now that Rohini has made it into a ‘blog’, I suppose I can dream of a wider audience!


The first lesson:
Initial reaction by newcomers to golf is similar to all those pulp romances where the hero (could be the heroine!) starts with disdain and later falls in love irrevocably! We do hear typical comments: Golf is like playing marbles, gilli danda or to quote Mark Twain ‘an expensive walk’. I am sure we can unearth many more negative descriptions of golf if we tried. With such a frame of mind, the first lesson usually turns out to be a disaster!

When Neil, my golfing grandson visited Bangkok, I arranged a few lessons for him with a golf coach! He did not look too happy and being a 5 year old boy, he was frank and blunt. He told me in front of the coach ‘Tata, I don’t have to learn from HIM, I know golf!’ He just wanted to hit balls and at a breakneck speed! While you cannot be so blunt, a similar thought would be lurking in your mind about taking lessons. You have seen golf on TV and have concluded it is quite an easy game! The situation is similar to Cricket where every armchair expert is better than the chosen eleven!

The driving range in Bangalore is part of the palace grounds,which is actually a maidan (poorly maintained grounds!). You are in a portion where there is no grass. Anyway, after dreaming the whole night about your smooth style and the soaring balls, you are impatient to get going! Your Guru begins with a warm up exercise lesson. Fair enough! He marks the sand with lines similar to the way a pujari marks a Mandala. You are then twisted in various unnatural angles! You are being taught how to hold the clubs, getting the right grip, posture and so on. You soon learn that you have to go through this practice ritual for the first two days before the coach even lets you hit the ball! As you pay by the hour, you feel it is just a waste of time and suspect that he is slowing you down on purpose. Not the best way to start learning!

In much less than the alloted hour you are aching all over and are also fuming! You want to tell him, come on man; 'I have been playing sports since donkey’s years and play a reasonable game of tennis!' I suppose the coach is used to oldies like me, he did tell me not to get angry and try to relax. Finally, he relents and lets you hit a few balls and you come home totally disillusioned as you have hacked the ball around or totally missed connecting. You and your ego are both bruised! You would have probably given up if you had not advertised the news about your golf lessons and could find an honorable way out!

Actually the guru you choose is very important! If you begin in Bangalore like I did, you can get lessons from senior caddies who play golf. They are not expensive to start with. My first one was good in teaching fundamentals, but he was always in need of money! Soon it becomes a game and you are occupied more with resisting paying the extras he perpetually tries to collect. It starts with paying his helper boy who joins him the next day, buying old golf balls, second hand clubs and gloves. He will also want sponsorships to play in tournaments!

I am certain that others would have a more benign experience! As you get more into golf you discover that you need a lot of excuses in your repertoire as to why you are not able to achieve lower scores. My traumatic initiation to golf seems to be a good one to use! Deepak Chopra in his book advises us to love the ball we hit. Finding a guru whom you can Respect is equally valid!