My golfing experience

I have been playing golf for more than one year now. The very first time I went to the green was somewhere in April or May last year. It was the Bandar Utama 9-hole course. I cannot remember my score but it wasn't really golf - that's for sure, but the experience really got me hooked to golf for a while. I realized the coaching lessons really helped me a lot. The iron swings was fairly easy to master but the driving was crazy. I was just using Wood 5 to practise my driving and I was stucked at that stage for a while. I thot I was going to give up then. I always felt a sense of helplessness because I cant even drive more than 100 metres. How am I going to get the ball to cross a pond (some holes have a pond right in front of the tee box)? So, am I going to give up or what? Thank God I did not. I really persevere, of course with the help of Wen Jye. The breakthrough came when I got a new Ping Driver with a 14th loft. Wow, that changes everything. The Driver was really "forgiving" - my balls were flying. I remember the first time I teed off on the green was with Wen Jye's clients (4 flights) and I was in the first flight. It was so nerve-wracking when all eyes were on me (the only lady golfer) to drive. Wow, the feeling was so "good" when my ball fly and cross the pond in hole 10 of the Monterez Golf Club. Every golf game has been really interesting - there were of course some bad times when my short game failed me, but that's part and parcel of playing golf. It is so challenging that you can be scoring so low one day and the next day, you have double pars in almost every hole.

As recommended by David Leadbetter, I just bought a wood 7 to complete my golf set. He said it is an essential club for any lady golfer due to our weakness in getting the distance when we are at the fairway. I have been practising on the driving range but has not try it out at the green yet. I hope to master it and hopefully, my score will get lower than before.

My golf experience had taught me a couple of things. Firstly, I want to say that I was really prejudiced against golfers in the past. I cannot accept that grown up men can be so obssesed with a game that involves hitting a ball across a "field" and under the sun for hours - what happened to their sanity? Now, this really sets me thinking of my other prejudices against other interests and so forth. I think its best to reserve judgement until you try and taste it yourself. Secondly, it had taught me that perseverance does pay - we are not to give up easily but I realized many people do give up easily especially when the interest was not as much at the beginning. The same principle applies with other pursuits of life - we start with passion first and if there is passion, there will be success when you persevere. People give up easily because there is no passion in the first place and naturally, perseverance is not required. The motivation in every pursuit is important. When I first started golfing, I chose to believe that I can master it like everyone else. I crave for the satisfaction of seeing my ball flying straight ahead of me. The end result makes me work hard in the process.

Perhaps we can apply the same principle to our career or business venture, or even our ministry. Do we quickly give up when we encounter the slightest challenge or do we persevere and stay on course in our pursuits? Giving up is always the easiest way out but it was never a biblical response. Therefore, it is good to always evaluate our response in every situation because it speaks so much of our character.