Golf

In the corporate world they say, "As you grow older, your balls get smaller". When you are a newbie, you play basketball. After a few years you abandon basketball in favor of softball. After softball, comes tennis, and after that racketball. When you are old and higher up in the management ladder, you switch to the golf - the epitome of leisure, richness and laziness. About 2 months ago, I could not have agreed with this statement more. But after having played golf for a little more than 2 months now, I have fallen in love with the sport.

I always used to think of the game as something which balding men and CEO's would play over a casual business meeting on a sunny weekend. It only took a few trips to the local golf courses for me to realise the popularity of the sport. Infact the richest and second richest sportsmen in the world today are Tiger Woods ($97 mil in 2005) and Phil Mickelson ($67 mil in 2005) followed by Michael Schumacher (below $50 mil). Although it might still be predominantly an old man's game, there is a large chunk of youth who play it too over lazy weekends.

I always used to say to myself that even if I can't play golf, I should be able to talk golf. In the corporate environs it seems like a very handy tool for casual conversation with people from a different background and age group than you. It is also a topic of conversation, dear to many, and hence has a potential of creating a good impression in the minds of the person you are talking with.

Contrary to my assumption, it has turned out to be an extremely skillful game. It might not be physically challenging, but walking around 9 or 18 holes with a heavy golf set of clubs can drain you physically too. On the other hand if you can cough some more dough, riding a cart around the field could be a relaxing experience. There is a lot of techniques to be learnt to become a good golfer, and it goes without saying that you need long hours of practise too. It can be expensive for starters, but so is true with any sport.

But the best part of the game is just to hang out with friends (where else can you drink beer in public ?), walk on the well manicured greens and enjoy the nice weather. A lot of golf courses are well terrained with lakes and ducks, rabbits etc. The pretty ones are by the ocean or on the foothills of the mountains. But there are also the expensive ones. In Southern California, the excellent weather, has bred umpteen number of golf courses, and needless to say, tee times are hard to get on weekend !