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!

A New Focus on Fundamentals

Until a few months ago, my time at the golf course was split between playing and practicing. I used to play 3 days a week, and also do about 3 practice sessions every week.

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As my time commitments have increased in other areas over a period of time, I now have less time available for golf. The practice sessions have, of course, become the first casualty of this paucity of time. Now I play 2-3 times a week, but have virtually stopped going to the driving range or the practice putting green. As a result my game has stagnated, and I no longer have as much fun on the course as I used to.

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As I pondered this turn of events last night, I realized that I needed to do something different to rekindle the passion for the game that I felt just a few months ago. As a result I have decided to give up the game for 3 months.

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I will not play a round on the course for the next 3-months. Instead I will use the available time to focus on the fundamentals of the game with renewed vigor. Over the last 2.5 years I have learnt a lot about golf, and about myself. This sabbatical from golf will give me an opportunity to figure out how to get better at this wonderful sport.

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My approach over the next 3 months will be based on a few guiding principles.

• Almost all good sportsmen have excellent fundamentals. Aberrations like Jim Furyk are very few and even in such cases, a single quirk in technique is highlighted and talked about endlessly without alluding to the fact that 99% of their technique is still extremely sound
• A problem with one of the "true" fundamentals is likely to hinder progress even with great commitment and hard work
• My 47 year old body has limitations - primarily around flexibility - but there are ways in which I can reduce and even overcome those limitations. It will just be more work in the gym!
• It takes some time and many repetitions to build "muscle memory"

My tools will be

• My video camera - it has already been an asset to me over the last couple of days, helping me understand a few "interesting" things about my swing
• A good set of practice balls, and few other practice aids
• Quick tips from my friend and best coach in town - Aditya Kanitkar. I intend to use him as a sounding board and expert rather than a conventional coach
• Videos and articles on the Internet - Rickert Strongert's videos on http://www.videojug.com/ will surely be a part of my schedule
• My imagination - some would argue that it never existed or is already extinct, but what the heck, let me see if I can find it and use it!

How do I improve my golf game?

Golf has been a struggle for me lately. Apart from a three-round purple patch I experienced about a month ago, I have not even been close to holding my handicap, which is currently at 21. When I had hit a handicap of 18 several months ago, it seemed like 15 was not very far away. It is.
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Given my other time commitments, I don't have much time to practice, and without regular, focused practice, it is hard to improve at anything, let alone golf which is a difficult pursuit.

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A few days ago I was chatting about my challenges with my friend Viren Ahuja. Viren lives in Mumbai and was in Pune for a few days to get his 12 year old son to play a few practice rounds in Pune to keep him sharp for the national junior ciruit. Viren is a savvy media guy, and used to run his own advertising firm in Mumbai for a long time. Like me, he has given up his former career to start a golf company. He runs a golf academy in Thane, and is looking at several other business opportunities in golf. Viren is a good golfer himself and is a very keen student of the game. While we were chatting, the subject of holding and improving our handicaps came up.

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Viren has a very interesting take on holding one's handicap, which sounds very logical once you hear it, but like many other things, it is not very obvious. He asked me which part of the game I was good at, and which part I struggle with. My short game is reasonably good and has remained stable over the last one year, while I am plagued with inconsistency off the tee and while hitting all my long clubs. He then asked me which part of my game took up the bulk of my practice time. Lately I have not been practicing much, but the little practice I do is almost exclusively on the driving range.

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"That is the bloody problem!" was Viren's response. His point is that we take for granted what we are good at. We do not work on it to keep it sharp and improve it. Instead we focus a lot of our time on what we are not good at. In my case, the day my short game is not on, I struggle mightily. It happens more often now, since I have stopped working on it!

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So here is Viren's advice. If you want to hold your handicap, spend at least 50% of your practice time on your strength. Use the remaining time to work methodically on your weakness. That will ensure that you experience a consistent improvement in your game.

Golf Strips You Naked!

Sujit Dasgupta is a regular golfer at the Poona Club Golf Course. Sujit is a tall, lanky guy, clean-shaven, with a full head of hair. Sujit loves to talk and share his experiences and is very warm and engaging in an aggressive sort of way. A few weeks ago, I was enjoying a beer with Sujit at the Golf Course clubhouse when he said something to me that was incredibly perceptive, and sums up the character building aspect of golf very well. Sujit’s exact words were “Golf strips you naked”.

Golf is different from other sports in a couple of significant ways. Firstly, two people with very different playing abilities can, and do compete against each other very meaningfully, often fiercely. This is enabled by the handicapping system in golf, which gives a person with lesser ability a head start. It is like me competing with Carl Lewis in a 100m sprint, with the stipulation that I start from the 60 metre mark, while Carl starts from the 0 metre mark! The handicapping system levels the playing field for everyone.

Secondly, barring professional tournaments, golf is played without any referees or umpires. It is largely a self-regulated game based on trust. The very large playing area means that playing partners/competitors are often widely separated depending on where their ball lies.

These factors create opportunities and motivation to cheat, whatever the stakes. Consider a situation where I am the competitive type and want to show my regular playing partner that I am playing better than him. The game gives me ample opportunities to cheat by kicking the ball out of a rough, count strokes incorrectly, take an illegal drop and so on. However it is not hard for a playing partner to see through this type of behavior. Therein lies the beauty of the game – it really does strip you naked.

There are other personality traits that come out loud and clear. For example:

• How do you react when you are not playing well, while your playing partner is having a good day? Are you generous enough to appreciate his good play?
• How do you react when you are playing well, while your playing partner is having a miserable round? Do you gloat about your shots, or encourage your partner?
• Do you call out the fact that you hit the ball twice when no one else saw it, and it might lose you the round?

I have learnt a lot of things about myself while playing golf – some good, some not very pleasant. However, it has given me an opportunity to become a better person. Playing with others has also given me insights into their minds and motivations in a two-hour period, things I probably won’t discover in two years of business interactions.

All in all, Sujit absolutely hit the nail on the head – Golf does strip you naked!

In the Presence of Greatness

A few days ago I went out to play a regular golf round in Pune with my friend and business partner Parag. It was Thursday, an industrial holiday in Pune, and a very busy day at the course. Poona Club requires at least a three-ball on Thursdays. Therefore, an elderly gentleman, who was by himself, joined us. This is one of the interesting aspects of playing golf – I often play with complete strangers, and have no idea how it will turn out. Well, Thursday was a lucky day for me. I didn’t play very well, but as things turned out, I was in the presence of greatness.

The person who joined us was Mr. Nandu Natekar, one of the all time greats of Indian badminton. At one point of time in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s Mr. Natekar was ranked among the top-5 badminton players in the world. He was the first person to put India on the international badminton map. He is probably in his early seventies now, and looks very fit. He walks briskly, but without hurrying, and plays a good game of golf. He out-drove us several times, and putted very well. However what impressed me more than his golf game was his humility.

Mr. Natekar played the golf round with utmost respect for his playing partners. He waited for us when we were away, appreciated our good shots, and downplayed his own good shots. He never talked about what a great badminton player he was, and refused to dwell on it too much when I brought up the subject several times.

Hemant Kanitkar is another top-level Indian sportsperson who played two cricket Test matches for India in the mid-seventies. For a cricketer, Test cricket is the highest level at which one can play, and it is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. It is like playing in the NBA or the EPL for a basketball and soccer player respectively. Mr. Kanitkar played with distinction on his debut – he made 65 in the first innings with 11 boundaries – the best innings by an Indian in the match. Mr. Kanitkar is in his early sixties now, a person who is enjoying his retirement. His son is my business partner, so I had invited the entire Kanitkar family to my home for dinner a couple of months ago.

I am in awe of great sportsmen. When Mr. Kanitkar visited my house, I asked him what it was like to play for India, and how he faced Andy Roberts and Vanburn Holder at their very best. However Mr. Kanitkar is humble to the point of being shy in talking about his achievements.

People like Hemant Kanitkar and Nandu Natekar teach us that true greatness is not only a matter of what you achieve. It is also how you handle your achievements.

Thanks for the lesson, son!

My 6 year old son Siddharth has been learning golf for about a year. He has been on the course a few times with his coach, but most of his golf sessions are lessons at the Poona Club practice facility. I went out to play a few holes with Siddharth a few days ago. This was my first golf round with him.

Siddharth is big for his age - a tall child with a big face and large chubby cheeks. He plays the violin, plays tennis, and golfs (among other things). However, his defining characteristic is that he suffers from extreme curiosity - I make it sound like a medical condition for a good reason. In my lifetime I have not seen another person with the level of curiousity Siddharth has. He notices things no one else around him does, and he drops everthing else to go check out anything that seems interesting. We have many funny stories around this, but that will probably be a different blog post.

During our 1.5 hour, 4 hole-round, Siddharth took several detours to check out butterflies, poke his 6-iron at tree trunks, retrieve a ball from a pond, and so on. He would hit a shot, and then just take off across the fairway to check out the next interesting thing on the golf course. At first I was at my wits' end to get him to play faster since we were holding up the groups behind us. After a while, I just asked those groups to go ahead of us, and started enjoying what Siddharth was doing. Retrieving Siddharth's ball from the water body on hole#6 was so much fun!

At the end of our adventure, I asked him what he enjoyed the most during the round? Retrieving the ball from the pond - pat came the reply.

At some stage of our lives, many of us have been told by others to stop obsessing about our goals and enjoy the journey. The 4-hole golf round with Siddharth was an incredibly forceful demonstration of just that. Thanks Siddharth!

Hurray! I am a bogey golfer now!

The USGA handicapping system defines a male bogey golfer as "a player who has a Course Handicap of approximately 20 on a course of standard difficulty.". After playing golf regularly for two years, I am now a bogey golfer!

Taking the word "approximately" in the definition to mean plus/minus 2, a handicap range of 18-22 makes up the world of bogey golfers. This is an interesting world, from where a golfer can look at beginners patronizingly, and secret dreams of becoming a single digit handicapper are no longer of the pipe variety. However this is also a brutal place. Progress is a lot harder and slower. There is the potential to play a very good round, but it is not uncommon to play a really bad one, and embarass yourself! A few weeks ago, at the Poona Club Golf course, I played the front-nine 6-over followed by 23-over on the back nine!

Hopefully the world of the single digit handicapper is a much better place, because that is where I want to go. However I have a sneaking suspicion that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!

Ouch!

Today was not a good day for me at the golf course. The weather was marvelous, the company was good, and I wasn’t playing that badly. However the round left me feeling very disappointed with myself because I abandoned my friend and playing partner Parag just when he needed me the most during the round.

I started playing golf about 2 years ago. As my game has evolved, so has my appreciation for the game as a great teacher. One huge difference between golf and the other sports I have played is that Golf Etiquette embodies one of my biggest core values – “Respect for the individual”. Respecting another’s right or Honor to tee-off first, waiting for your turn to play, staying close to the green until the last person in your group finishes, and other such principles are a necessary part of the game. Adhering to this etiquette is in no way meant to diminish one’s competitive instinct, but is a way to establish the ground rules to treat your competitors and playing partners in a way that you would want to be treated yourself. Isn’t this just the way one would want to live life? Play hard, do your best, but be humble and respect those around you.

Well, this morning Parag and I were playing in a four-ball that included another friend who I will refer to as Speedy Joe. Speedy Joe loves to play like he is the only person in the group. He always tees off first even if he made the worst score on the previous hole. Often he tees off even before the others have arrived at the tee. He loves to hit a practice ball when he doesn’t like how he hit the first one – off the tee, in the fairway, or on the green. He doesn’t usually wait for his turn to play. He often walks off to the next tee after having finished his putt, while others are still lining up their putts. It is not unusual for him to hit a practice chip or putt while another person in the group is about to hit his/her chip or putt. Speedy Joe plays in this fashion because “playing slower or waiting upsets his rhythm”.

After two holes, I got carried away and started sub-consciously imitating Speedy Joe’s behavior. On the par-5 12th hole, Parag lost his second shot in the thick rough on the left. As we were looking for the ball, the group behind us had teed off. Speedy Joe was by now within chipping distance, oblivious of what was going on behind him. Meanwhile Parag took a lost ball penalty and hit another ball into the rough on the right! While Parag was looking for his ball, the rest of us, including me, had given up on him and finished the hole. Parag joined us on the 13th tee, fuming and disappointed. Obviously we should have waited for him, and let the group behind us go through if required.

We did not treat Parag with respect. I should have known better.