A heart of Golf

 

They say Golf is a game “fast catching up with Indians”.  Some of us know that this game had caught up with a lot of us decades back. Those familiar with this game may recall mats and engine oil that drove the game in grassless cantonments. For the uninitiated, the engine oil was not used to propel the ball. It was mixed with sand, ferried from far away river beds, and evenly spread over a flat surface usually round in shape; somewhere in this brown area was a 4 inch diameter hole dug into the ground, into which the golf ball is required to be hit / putted. These days there are many near proper golf courses in most cantonments and all class A cities in India.

Be that it may, you may wonder what has golf to do with heart. A heart of golf is the best heart ever. On reflection we find that a ‘heart of gold’ in reality will be inanimate and hence devoid of any feelings which would be very uncharacteristic for a good heart. A big heart is something which is difficult to hide and soon will become a small heart with dwindling resources. A heart of golf, on the other hand, is forever and always throbbing with varying emotions. If you know a person’s golf you know his heart or vice versa. To understand this you will have you take a walk with a keen golfer on his round of nineteen holes, no less.

I will take you though a round of golf with a keen golfer. Golf courses are very eco friendly places. In there you will find a lot of grass (manicured and wild), woods and glens, waterways, sand (like in the beaches) and a lot of undergrowth sometimes with snakes slithering about. A lucky golfer in a rare moment of brilliance will find himself on a fairly open grassy area evenly cut and stretching a fair way known as fairway. But to most golfers intend on pursuing the perpetually errant ball, a round of golf will resemble a walk through a rain forest. To some it will be like a walk on the beach (with a lot of time spend in sand traps known as bunkers). May be to the same person it will be varied experiences on different days. All this within a walk of about seven thousand meters measured tee to hole. Actually most golfers will zigzag their way from tee to hole and the total distance covered at the end of a round is more likely to be close to 10000 meters.

In that space of 10000 meters, a golfer experiences myriad emotions –joy, despair, despondency, loss, elation, ecstasy and much more.  The cardiologist will tell you that varying emotions are better for the heart than a monotonous feeling. All these emotions will come naturally to a golfer on the course during a game, without involving another person including your playing partner or opponent.

Then there is that part of the game on the nineteenth hole – which is nothing but the familiar bar, the watering hole. That is where all the fun is. Of the hundred odd strokes taken in the round the only one talked about will be the five footer putt on the sixth for the only par score for a hole, you would have had in the round. That is enough to raise your spirits (and the spirits) and pump up your heart.

So if you have a heart of golf, you got it.