I owe my golf to two OP's.
In 1978 I was serving Felda as the "Area Controller" for NS(State Boss lah !), and the late OP Dato' Ismail Mansor was the State Secretary. The SS's and the MB's offices were then in the old pre-War Colonial building that was later turned into the state library. Felda had its own building close by. Ismail personally phoned me one morning. Nowadays it's always the PA or something.
"Zam, come to my office now" he ordered.
He handed to me the Seremban International Golf Club membership application form. By virtue of being the SS, he was SIGC's V.P.
"Sign" he ordered, again.
"You pay the entrance fee (RM 500, at that time. It's 6,000 now) in 2 instalments." Another order.
That's how I became SIGC Member Z 18. I was 34 and knew nothing about golf. Tiger Woods was 2 at that time, but he was already showing-off on tv his precocious golfing talents. So I was a non-playing, non-handicap member for 8 years, paying the club's dues of RM 20 every month, without ever stepping into the club's premises.
Hank, another OP, was my housemate during my first year at the university (there was only one solitary unversity in the country at that time). In 1986, some 18 years after our graduation, Hank suggested we take our handicap tests. He was a member of KGNS. So we practiced together at his club's driving range, because I was back in Felda HQ in KL by then. Hank took his test in KGNS, I took mine in SIGC. Like Hank, that's how I got handicap 24 at 43. But unlike Hank, I've not stop playing since.
When I was in Felda, I was one of the few who played then. In fact I played so much that it was 36 holes on weekends, and many leaves taken for golf. So much so, the Chairman ruled (verbally, but his word was Law) "don't take leave for golfing !". So I didn't. I mean, I still played, but this time without taking leave. Fortunately I was never caught.
When I was with MISC, we had Japanese clients who would perhaps give us 5 minutes when we visited them in their offices to talk business. But when we agreed to play golf together (and you know the Japanese are c-r-a-z-y about golf !) they would be more than happy to spend 5 hours talking busines and playing golf.
There's something about golf that caught my fancy. Maybe because I was "a mature beginner". Maybe because of Tiger. I'd been following his amateur career from 1990's including his US Amateur Championships that were shown on local tv.
Along the way, I've held membership cards of other golf clubs, but none I cherish more than the one that says "OPA Golf Section membership no. Z 036 member since 28 / 06 / 89". Now I hear the tragic news that this course, located next to the Mines, next to the old Sg. Besi RMC campus, is going to be closed. I plead that the powers that be spare this site. It's a real "commando" course and leaving it to golf is no loss to the area's development. Let's keep this bit of green patch for nostalgia.
Over the years I've played with other OP's, by design or accident. Shah, Nor Shaari, Md. Nor, Shukdarshan, Khairuddin, the late Yahya, and of course Hank, to name some. By design, when there were arranged games; by accident, when we bumped into each other, usually at KGNS or RSGC. There are a few OP's in Seremban, too. But sadly, one by one they're hanging up their clubs. Hank is one.
Being self-taught, I'd wanted to acquire the skills in this wonderful game. Over time I'd come to realise the philosophy, the mental part of golf that can be learned. It's one game where your main opponent is yourself. It's one game where the learning never stops. In fact a new perspective to many facets of the game would appear again and again, as you play it, as you watch others play it, as you read about it, even as you reflect on your always very varied daily rounds.
In 32 years of playing the game, I'd learned that a round of golf would reveal a person's true character. An earnest attitude about improving builds character. To learn more, I'd collected 111 books and bought countless magazines. The oldest book was printed in 1901. To help apply the theories from the books, I'd collected 121 clubs. Putters alone I have 12. I'd brought my handicap down from 24 at age 43, to 6 at age 63. That's about 18 strokes in 20 years. It doesn't seem much, but it's entirely self-taught. And right now at 74, my handicap card says "11". That's not too bad, if I may say so myself.
Looking at the sport as a national game, it's one where size doesn't matter. And as I play and observe, prodigous length off the tee is not the deciding factor. It's the ideal sport for our dimunitive sportsmen to excel in. Just look at the Thais, the South Koreans, the Japanese, the Taiwanese, the Bangladeshis and the Filipinos. 40% of all shots are in putting, using the shortest club of all.
Looking at the sport as life-long past-time, well, I'm available as an example, I think. I took it up late. I taught myself. And I'm healthy enough to play 9 holes 5 days a week, and with a small wager to sweeten the walk, still managed for the last 15 years to make an average of RM 386 per month. Not Tiger-ish, but I'm not a pro. And it pays for lost balls.
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