“There’s six feet left between him and the Claret Jug. A tournament he’s dreamt about winning since he started the game at the age of 10. A putt that under normal circumstances would be a walk-in gimmie on his home course.”
But this isn’t his home course, on a perfectly still Sunday afternoon with no spectators other than a troop of monkeys lying lazily just off the green picking flees off each others’ scalps. This is ‘The Open’. One of the most coveted tournaments in all of professional golf.
“He takes one last look at the line before stalking into position, like a lion ready to pounce on an unsuspecting impala.”
The silence is near deafening as he pulls his putter away from the ball with a smooth, even tempo, and with the purest of strikes sends the ball down his intended line.
“He’s made it!! In your life, have you ever seen a fighting comeback like that? The crowd has erupted, breaking the silence and confirming his incredible and historic victory. Six birdies in the closing seven holes for his first major victory is going to be a tournament remembered for decades to come.”
Every kid golfer has had this practice session. I happened to have this session at least twice or three times a month to try to prepare myself for the pressures of the future career that I dreamed of most nights of the week as a junior golfer. Little did I know how tough the pursuit of a professional playing career would be. Especially when trying to get there on a dime. My folks were not well off, but they were thankfully able to gift me this great game by moving us to a resort town with a golf course that only had traffic over Easter and Christmas, so I had a lot of time to practice and fantasise about tournament wins, whilst practicing on a near perfect playing ground.
An absolutely ideal childhood of golfing on the days when the waves weren’t great, and riding waves until sunset when the wind was blowing from the right direction. I clearly was not paying the correct amount of attention to school, and I managed to achieve the lifelong goal of many golfers; a 0 handicap. Also known as a scratch handicap, it is effectively mastering of the game enough to consider joining the professional ranks, and try to make a living from playing the game. I did this at the age of 16, and achieved the number 1 spot in our club’s league side, but the difference between a pretty good amateur golfer and playing professional golf were like night and day.
My folks pushed for me to study something with some substance, ‘just in case things didn’t work out’. So I studied for a diploma in Sports Management and qualified as a personal trainer, all the while practicing, and never giving up on the dream of playing the game full time. It was only when I enrolled with the Professional Golfers Association and commenced my apprenticeship under one of the best teaching professionals in the game, that I realised just how brutally tough it was to make it on tour. Being able to watch some of the best players our country had to offer taking lessons with my mentor, I was able to discuss with them the trials and tribulations of life on tour. I soon realised that teaching the game was going to be my bread and butter.
A successful teaching pro is still a great career, and it has certainly taken me to some incredible places. As I write this from a skyscraper condominium apartment in Kuala Lumpur, thinking of all of the adventures I’ve been on and hope to share right here, I can’t imagine another life for me. I’ve been privileged enough to travel the world, playing golf and imparting my knowledge and experience to thousands of golfers, and will continue to do so as long as people want to learn how to chase a little ball around a field.