These guys are good!

Anyone who has played golf knows that it is a difficult sport. Others, who have never played it, think "What's the big deal?". I was one of the "What's the big deal" guys till about 4 years ago. Not any more.

Many years ago the PGA of America ran an advertisement campaign featuring some of its stars with the tagline - "These guys are good!". Serious golfers around the world know how good these touring professionals are. The videos featured some of the game's stars, doing some amazing stuff.

A few days ago I came across this fun video of some European Tour golfers taking on a weird challenge. I had a smile on my face watching it - hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Doc

I played a round of golf with Doc a couple of Sundays ago. We were playing a 4-ball match and Doc and I were partners. Doc was struggling physically due to a painful ACL and knee. We arrived on the 16th tee on a downward spiral, having lost 3 of the last 4 holes. Hole#16 at Poona Club is a difficult par-3. There is a huge banyan tree guarding the right half of the green. The green is also guarded by three bunkers. The hole requires a precise long iron or hybrid shot - high enough to carry the tree and land the ball on the green. It is a tricky par for even the best golfers, and for mid to high handicappers, a bogey is a very good score.

Doc was our back-marker at 4-handicap, and as we arrived at the tee in the middle of a slump, he told me "This is a non-stroke hole, I have got to win it". Our opponents hit decent tee shots and had decent par opportunities - one was in the left greenside bunder, and the other one was pin high, a few yards off the green on the left. I promptly topped and pulled my shot, and abdicated any chance of making par. It was Doc's turn to hit his tee shot - normally he hits an iron on this hole, but on this day he decided to tee off with a hybrid because the tee box had been placed way back. Doc hit a high shot, but pushed it right and could not carry the tree. It hit some branches and landed short and just to the right of the huge tree. He cursed himself, and limped off slowly to find his ball.

Doc went first. He was about 25-30 yards from the green in a bad lie - the ball was in thick grass with wet soil underneath. He had to hit the ball low to avoid the overhanging banyan tree branches. He could not go at the pin due to the treen trunk. To top it all, he had to carry a green side bunker. Fortunately the flag was center left, so he had some green to work with, but not much. To even get within 15-20 feet of the pin, would have needed an incredible shot, and a big heart. Doc stuck it to 7 feet.

Doc holed the putt and made par. Our opponents both made bogey, and we won the hole. This was not the first time I had seen him pull off something like this. That is Doc for you - great ability, and an unbelievable will to win.

The man we all call Doc is Dr. V.T. Date, a paediatrician. He is about 6 feet tall, but doesn't look it because he walks with a slight stoop. He talks in a heavy drawl, smiles a lot, and is a very humble man. Doc runs a children's hospital with his wife in Pune. He took up golf when he was 45 years old. He is 58 now, and has already won two national senior open titles, four "golfer of the year" honours at Poona Club Golf course and countless club tournaments. My coach once recommended that I play with Doc for a month to learn how to play, and to sharpen the mental aspects of my game. All in all, Doc is a legend in Pune golfing circles.

Interestingly Doc is almost entirely self taught. He has perfected his swing by watching good players play. But Doc's attitude can never be taught. To believe in yourself and never give up, never let up. Slug it out. Leave it all out there on the course. What an unbelievable competitor!

Thanks Doc, it is always a pleasure to play a round with you!

A New Golf Facility in Pune!

My friends Parag and Aditya started a new golf academy at Sindh Housing Society in Pune yesterday. This is a very exciting development for Pune residents for several reasons.

One of the major obstacles to golf becoming more popular in India is the availability of facilities to learn and pursue the game. As an example, Pune, a city of about 4 million people, has only 3 major golf courses accessible to the general public. Of these there is only one public course - the Poona Club Golf Course. There are no driving ranges or practice facilities outside these golf courses. In contrast, a sport like tennis has at least 25 academies around town. These tennis academies run regular programs for juniors.

The Golf Academy started by First Tee Golf (website http://www.firsttee.co.in) in Pune is a step in the right direction.

The academy has a pitching range of about 100 yards, bays with nets to practice full swing shots, a chipping and bunker practice area, and a practice putting green.

First Tee Golf plans to run regular programs at this facility which will enable many more people to learn and enjoy the game. I know several people living in the Aundh/Baner area who would be absolutely delighted to have this facility available - it will save them a lot of driving time.

For me, this is great. My son Siddharth and I can drive about 10 minutes to the First Tee academy and work on sharpening our game.

Good work Aditya and Parag!

Commercial and Vanity Handicaps

In the last few months I have come across a couple of lovely descriptions of two kinds of golf handicaps at my home club.

Like every other golf club, golfers at the Poona Club also place bets when they play. Depending on one's appetite, these bets can be of varying sizes, but the core idea behind these bets is to make the game more serious and to bring in a competitive edge. Therefore a club golfer is at an advantage if his/her handicap understates their golf ability. Stories about "fudged" handicaps - some serious, some frivolous - are not at all rare, and these stories are a major topic of discussion in the clubhouse.

In this context, a friend introduced me to the concept of a "commercial handicap". A commercial handicap is a carefully "managed" handicap that gives a golfer a cushion of a few strokes and therefore helps them win more bets. I don't want to go into the techniques of "managing" one's commercial handicap, but there are some very interesting ones that do the rounds.

And then there are golfers who would like to look good on paper. These are the golfers who would like their golf handicap to overstate their ability. One of my friends describes such a handicap as a "vanity handicap". These golfers typically do not play bet games, and if they do, they are willing to forego some money in exchange for looking good on the handicap chart.

Two nail-biters in two days!

Graeme McDowell is short for an Irishman. He is strongly built with a full head of hair, and facial hair somewhere in-between a stubble and a full beard. He also happens to be one of the best professional golfers in the world.

McDowell methodically won his singles match against the American Hunter Mahan to complete one of the closest ever Ryder Cup wins for Europe against the USA. Those who think of golf as an individual sport would surely have changed their mind after watching this absolutely fabulous tournament.

After almost 4 days of competition Europe and America were tied with 13.5 points each. And it all came down to McDowell's match. He was calm, he was focused, and he was relentless. The putt he nailed to win the 16th hole will become part of Ryder Cup folklore. In all this euphoria, it was important to remember that it was the European team that won the cup, not McDowell the individual. McDowell was the finisher, the final blow. But it was equally important that the Molinari brothers salvaged the half point on the 18th in their four-ball match. The 46-year old Jiminez won his singles game, Luke Donald scored 3 points overall, and Colin Montgomerie marshalled his troops well.

6,500 miles away in Mohali, another nail-biter unfolded less than 24 hours later. This time it was two very good cricket teams battling it out to win a Test Match. In a match that had fluctuated like the Sensex, India were down and out on the last day at 124 for 8, with 92 more runs required for an almost impossible win. At the crease were two injured men, both on pain-killers. VVS Laxman was struggling with back-spasms, and Ishant Sharma had a bum knee. What unfolded in the next few hours will be remembered for a long, long time. Laxman and Sharma battled hard, and played smartly. They fashioned an unlikely 81 run partnership that turned the tables on Australia, and enabled India to win by one wicket. Laxman was absolutely relentless till the very end. What a match!

Again, in this hoopla, it is important to remember that the team won. Without Zaheer and Ojha's bowling and the four Indian half centuries in the first innings, Ishant Sharma's three wicket burst in the Aussie second innings, Raina's run out of Ponting, and many other such small things, India may not have won.

For me, it once again reinforces the notion that winning is not an event, it is a process. Winning is about being relentless. Someone once told me on the golf course: Never give up, and never let up.

These two nail-biting finishes in the last couple of days have only reinforced that principle.

The Unflappable South African

Watching Louis Oosthuizen play the last round of the British Open Golf tournament yesterday reminded me of the original unflappable South African - Retief Goosen.

I never saw the great South African Gary Player play golf. He is probably the greatest South African golfer ever - certainly the most famous. However the first South African golfer I became a fan of was Ernie Els. To this day, I cannot fathom how he advances the ball with that silky smooth "easy" swing.

But it was Retief who really captured my imagination in 2004. It was the US Open at Shinnecock Hills. Retief had already won the open a few years ago, and he was leading at the start of the fourth round. I have never seen such clutch golf - until yesterday.

Retief was absolutely sensational during that last round at Shinnecock Hills. He nailed approach shots when he had to. He drained putts when he had to. And not once did he show any emotion, until he won it all. To this day, I try to copy him as far as my demeanour on the golf course is concerned. Even keel. You miss a 2 footer or drain a 50 footer - same expression, same body language, same attitude. Take it in your stride. I wish I could do it half as well as the great man.

Oosthuizen was absolutely clutch yesterday. The toothy grin was on right through the day, and so were the clutch shots. As Paul Casey said, he didn't flinch at all. Louis was mentored by Ernie Els, but I am glad he has a little bit of Retief in him. The unflappable South African.

Playing Golf in the Rain

With the onset of the monsoons in Western India, I frequently play golf in the rain during July and August. One of the problems I run into during this time is playing off wet fairways. As it is I am hitting about 50-60% fairways. And if I do not hit a good second shot when I do hit the fairway, it is absolutely frustrating. Now that I am playing a lot less than I did a few months ago, I only get one opportunity every week to play well and feel good about myself!

I found this helpful video tip on playing in the rain. The key is to pick the ball clean everytime.

Rickard Strongert

A couple of years ago I discovered some of the best golf instruction videos on the Internet. Videojug - a repository of "how-to" videos - hosts these videos from Rickard Strongert, a teaching pro at Los Naranjos golf course in Spain.

Strongert's videos are good because he keeps things simple, and demonstrates the key aspects of every shot very clearly. Strongert's instruction works. After watching his video on the greenside bunker shot, I have never feared the bunker shot again. Open stance, open clubface, ball in the middle of the stance, and swing along your stance - Strongert makes it very easy to understand.

You can find his videos at this link:

http://www.videojug.com/search?keywords=rickard+strongert

Thanks Rickard, I am a big fan!

Oh Golf!

It has been a while since I wrote my last golf post. When I wrote my last post about the focus on fundamentals, I was all excited about spending a significant amount of time and effort improving my game.

And then reality struck!

I got busy with work and couldn't find the time for the practice rigor I had planned for. And out went the goals I had set! Meanwhile my life took a major turn as well. About three months ago I decided to get out of the golf company I had cofounded. It was difficult, but it is behind me now.

I have gone from playing 3 times a week to playing at most once a week now. Where I was dealing with a problem of plenty a few months ago, now I am dealing with golf-withdrawal! I can't wait to get to the course and hit some balls, or go play a round. I am so looking forward to the game on Sunday!