Thursday, July 20, 2006

How many lives did you save again?

I have a friend who works in the advertising industry in Mumbai, India.

What I get to hear every time I talk to this friend is that the client has asked for some last minute changes to the ad campaign or to the material or the artwork or some such thing. It is not uncommon in the ad industry to spend late hours on the job. In fact, it is extremely rare for someone in the ad industry to work like normal human beings.

Here is the problem I have with the frenzy.

What happens if these people just slow down a bit and live like normal people? What happens if the ad comes out a day later than it was supposed to? I know that in certain cases, the timing of the ad is of paramount importance, but that has to be the exception rather than the rule, right?

Consider the case of the financial services industry or the telecom industry. Their requirements are not advert based, but technology based these days to support the growing number of subscribers to their service.

If a system supporting their business fails, millions of people are impacted. In case of the financial services industry, it could mean that a lot of people cannot trade on the stock exchange or a lot of people cannot get access to their salaries. In the telecom space, a lot of people may not be communicable or entire organizations may not be able to talk to one another. In the healthcare industry, the normal flow of patients may be severely impacted if they have a problem with their system.

So in all these critical circumstances, there is, and rightly so, frantic activity to resolve the problem. But when things are going well, people don't always work late.

Coming back to the ad world, almost every day is a late night at the office. And a lot of people take pride in this.

But isn't advertising an implied form of generating revenue? The entire concept of advertising is to get as many eyeballs to see the product the ad is trying to hawk. Just because I see an ad does not mean that I will buy that product. Of course, I will be a little bit influenced in the direction of the product after seeing the ad, but it definitely does not make up my mind.

So when you consider the amount of money spent on advertising campaigns, billboards, multi-million-rupee endorsement contracts with celebrities, all it amounts to is the indirect implication of increased revenue.

I know that the ad industry is extremely crucial to business and that it hugely helps businesses make a lot more money than what they would have made without advertising, but the frenzy is something I cannot understand.

You cannot have chaos all the time. That speaks of a disorganized industry. Where personal lives are not cared about. Where people invest most of their time on working for someone else who does not give two shakes of a rat's ass about your life.

Unless you are someone like Bharat Dabholkar, Allyque Padamsee, Prasoon Joshi, Balki or Piyush Pandey (all of who have worked on some really brilliant campaigns), I wonder if you wake up the next day and feel a sense of achievement in the previous day's work.

Was the frenetic activity worth it? Was spending time away from family and friends, and more importantly, from yourself worth the effort you put it?

Does the ad industry consider these things? As an outsider, I may have the wrong idea, but I need someone to help correct it.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

I miss my baby

I haven't seen her for a really long time and I really miss her.

Just talking to her for a few minutes is all I have for the last few weeks, what with she being in India. I knew this was going to be the case when she was leaving, but I did not expect how much I would miss her.

Even when I talk to her, she is usually in a hurry to get off the phone. And I don't blame her. Why waste time talking to me when there are more interesting things to do and more important people to be with?

All I can say is that I cannot wait for Thursday evening. That's when I fly off to India. And that's when I get to see my baby. I can't wait.

The countdown has reached fever pitch!

Tomorrow at this time...

I will be making final checks and preparing to leave for the airport!

Tomorrow I land back home. After just one week short of a year in Singapore. God, I really miss that place. The people, the food, the warmth. I guess you learn to appreciate it when it's not around.

And more than anything, I get to meet my family and my friends. And more than anything, my baby! Haven't seen her for so long. She's the one I miss the most.

Well, just one more night and half a day to endure. And then "I'm leaving on a jet plane..." (taking just a line out of John Denver's ever green song).

Isn't that size too big for you?

As I got into the elevator this afternoon, a petite chinese woman get on as well. As I was waiting for my floor to come over, I was not particularly doing anything, just looking at my shoes.

That's when I realized this really short woman was wearing shoes at least 3 sizes bigger than her feet!

At least 3 sizes! And that's when I looked closer and saw that she had really tiny feet. Smaller than my 6 year old's. And that's when I realized.

She was actually shorter than my 6 year old!

That's a lotta coins

I have this habit of not carrying change. I don't have a change pouch in my wallet. Neither do I want one. Cause I just dont like to carry change.

So what I do is empty all the change jingling in my pocket through the day and drop it into this little porcelain dish we bought for exactly that purpose.

Yesterday, I decided to count how much had accumulated into the dish in the last couple of months. I was pleasantly surprised.

I had more than a hundred and ten Singapore dollars worth of jingleware lying in that dish!

So what I did was made them into bunches of ten coins (of the same type, of course) and am going to the bank to get paper in return for them.

That should help subsidize at least a round of golf when I head back to India tomorrow :-)

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

340 users, 3885 posts, 540 topics

I wish these were the stats from my blog, but no such luck.

IndiPPC, our very own Pocket PC forum, is on a roll. We now have a fairly large base of users, a lot of contribution from our members and a very healthy discussion about our handheld device of choice.

And it feels really good to see so many people, who have never met each other in person, work so hard to solve somebody's problem.

This is the spirit of participation! The spirit of the Internet!

Two days left to endure

Yesssss!!!!

I am leaving for my vacation on Thursday night. I am headed back home. And I can't wait to meet my friends and family. It's been a really long time since I have see them. It's been way too long that I have eaten the kind of food you get in India. It's been a while that I have visited my old hangouts.

I am going to do all of that. 15 days of bliss, hopefully.

I just hope God gives me a bit of respite with not too much of rain. Especially the first few days when I am going to be in Bangalore where a couple of rounds of golf have been planned.

I am already packed! Can you believe it? I am already almost completely packed. Done. Just a few last minute things that need to be stuffed in. And then I am done.

Can't wait to leave. Can't wait for Thursday to come.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Another record waylaid

Michael Schumacher made Formula 1 history again yesterday as he won the French Grand Prix for the 8th time. He is the only driver to win a GP eight times.

And boy did he do it in a convincing manner.

The fun began in qualifying when Schumi came out of the pit lane after Alonso during the final round of qualifying, but then overtook him during the warm-up lap and went on to set the fastest time and clinch pole position.

He then set the fastest lap of the race and won comfortably. Alonso, by virtue of a great 2 pit stop strategy, managed to leapfrog Filipe Massa into second place.

It was a great race to watch. And another lackluster performance from Kimi Raikonnen. He started 6th on the grid and finished 5th because of Jarno Trulli's retirement from the race. He was completely out paced in every aspect. I don't know about you, but I think the Iceman is a melted puddle right now. And he was moving as fast as a glacier.

Maybe he should think of moving to Nascar as well!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

I thought it was a bad round

We were at the Palm Springs course in Batam yesterday, me and a buddy of mine. I was playing Palm after a long time and so it was good to be back.

I thought the round started quite good. Bogey, par, bogey, par, par. Then I hit a great tee shot which took a bad bounce and landed out of bounds. So I took a 2 stroke penalty and made double bogey. Another stroke penalty on the very next hole and another double bogey. And this is not even the worst.

On the 9th hole, which is a reachable par 4, I drove a beautiful driver onto the green. Get this! I was on the green in one. All I had to do was putt the ball close to the hole and tap in for birdie. Guess what I did.

I four putted the green!

I was so furious with myself. I almost yell out loud. And I walked to the next tee in a fury. And drove a cracker of a drive over water and saw the ball land safely on the edge of the fairway. But when I grove down to that point, I could not see my ball at all. I think the group ahead of me, full of hackers, had not bothered to see if they were playing my ball, which I think they did.

So I took a stroke penalty and then hit a beautiful approach to the green and putted to make par despite the penalty. But the par did not help make my mood any better. In fact, I was even more furious at having such dasterdly luck.

The next hole was a par again. And this one was a chip to within an inch of cup. As the rest of the round came through, my mood was pretty bad and I was thinking about how bad my game was going.

Finally when we finished and returned to the club house, I noticed that I had played a round of 86!

That is a 14 over par round for me. Despite thinking that this was a pathetic round! Despite hitting really bad golf shots for half the round, despite four-putting a makeable birdie opportunity, I had shot 86.

After a really bad round, I was only 3 strokes off my best ever score.

That, I thought, was amazing. And it helped that I was not keeping track of my score and was playing one stroke at a time.

There is still hope!

Friday, July 14, 2006

Yo ho...Yo ho...I need some Rum

After a lot of hype, and some really mindnumbing collections in it's first 3 days, Pirates of the Carribean : Dead Man's Chest came to Singapore a week after it came out in the US.

My take on the movie?

It's OK. That's about it. I liked the first installment better. This one is not bad, but I thought that it was stretched quite a bit. Quite a few times in the movie, I felt bored. However, there is one undeniable fact about the movie.

Jack is back!

Captain Jack Sparrow, aka Johnny Depp, is at his finest best. Jack makes the entire movie worthwhile.

In a scene where Keira Knightley (aka Elizabeth) meets Jack, he turns around and tells his first mate to "Hide the rum"! I laughed really hard at the reference to the first movie, but was surprised that I was the only person in the theatre who got the reference.

The plot hems and haws and eventually ends with a "To be continued" kind of state, obviously setting the stage for the third installment which is to come out next year.

All in all, my opinion about the movie is "It's OK". Not bad, but not great either. I wish it was. I wish they had made the plot a little slicker and made it into a standard length Hollywood flick rather than the 2.5 hour monster it is.

And they could have most definately cut off most of the sword fight on the giant water wheel. But then, Orlando Bloom would have no role left.

And there is an unexpected twist to the plot. Something that I don't think I should blog about just yet. Don't want to be jeered for being a spoiler. So watch the movie. It is worth one watch.

You owe it to Captain Jack!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

I am proud of you, Mumbai

Mumbai came back on its feet with her citizens back in action after bombs ripped through seven seperate trains during rush hour on Tuesday evening.

As people started realizing what had happened, the spirit of Mumbai came alive. People from the streets helped with the rescue effort. Shopkeepers pulled down their shutters to lend a hand. People were rushing to make sure that anybody who needed attention was being taken to a place where they would get some.

The blasts forced the Railways to halt all trains for security reasons. This obviously put an enormous strain on the other modes of transport in the city. The city was practically paralized with phone networks choked due to people calling to make sure their loved ones were fine and the road networks clogged as well.

I know a few friends who had decided to stay in office that night rather than risk going back home. But Mumbai rose to the challenge and there was a semblance of sanity before late in the night.

What will astonish the world is the fact that Mumbai was back on her feet the very next day. Services had resumed, people were back. Almost as if to say "We are back...it will take a lot more to stop us!"

Hats off to you, Mumbai! You are the heart and the spirit of India. And you just showed the world that it will take a lot more for Mumbai to flinch.

Mumbaikars (the native term for people of Mumbai), you deserve a pat in the back. Well done! I am really proud of you!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Rest in peace, Syd

Syd Barrett, one of the original Pink Floyd members and one of the prime movers in the creation of the phenomenon that is the band, is no more.

Syd's contributions to the world of music, both in artistic quality as well as building the mystique of the band, will always be remembered. He is also a stellar example of what NOT to do, ruining a great career with his drug habits.

The band paid tribute to him by coming out with the now legendary anthems "Shine on you crazy diamond" and "Wish you were here"

Syd, we will miss you. Your legacy lives on.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Walking barefoot

I saw two Caucasian women, a mother and a daughter, stroll past my office bare foot.

They were obviously heading back from some place where they had bought some stuff to where they stay. Both of them looked completely at ease with walking barefoot and I think the fact that it had rained this morning made it a bit easier for them to walk that way (the pavements and the sidewalks were not as hot as they would usually be at this time).

I have heard that people with diabetic conditions are told, as a suggestion, to walk barefoot. It is said to help in bettering the condition. For what reason the mother and daughter were doing it, I don't know. They just looked extremely comfortable doing it.

And I don't think they could have chosen a better place to do it. Singapore is probably the cleanest city (ooops...country) I have ever seen. It is probably the safest place to walk bare foot and not worry about something cutting into your foot.

Maybe I should try it sometime. Could be quite relaxing.

Why did you do that, Zizou?

Zinedine Zidane bid farewell to his international soccer career in dramatic fashion when he was sent out in the final minutes of extra time in the World Cup Finals against Italy this morning.

What was seen only as part of replays was Zizou head butting Marco Materazzi in the chest. The replays before that show words being exchanged between the two and Zizou walking away from Materazzi. The words continue and then Zizou suddenly turned and viciously head butted Materazzi in the chest.

Why he did it, we will hopefully find out in the next few days. All I can say is that something must have happened which was severe enough for Zizou to risk that kind of move which threatens to cloud his outstanding career.

So finally the World Cup has come to an end. The frenzy has died down. And Italy are crowned Champions for the 4th time in the history of the tournament. Now they are alone in second place behind Brazil for the most victories. Brazil of course has five of them.

I only feel that it was a sad end to a great finals game. A penalty in the first few minutes of the game, a cheeky Zizou chip from the spot which hit the bar and bounced into goal to give France the lead, a Materazzi header to level the score in the first half itself and then just great soccer from both sides.

Italy just showed the resolve and the discipline during the penalty shoot-out where they put all five balls in the back of the net. David Trezeguet, continuing his miserable performance through this tournament, hit the bar with his shot which bounced back out. He will remember that shot for the rest of his life.

So another month comes to a close. And we will not experience the frenzy for another four years. And that will be in South Africa.

Hopefully I will be able to go there to watch the matches rather than just watch them on TV.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

You have to, have to, try this dish

We decided to have a couple of beers in the evening as a warm-up (or should I say cool down?) for the World Cup Finals tonight.

So we headed out to Black Angus on Orchard Road (quite close to the Hard Rock Cafe) for a drink and a bite. We ended up ordering a jug of Tiger (my favourite beer here in Singapore) and a portion of the "Wild Wild West Onion" which is a HUGE onion which is cut open to look like a lotus blossom and batter fried.

I have to tell you, it was delectable.

Firstly, the description of the dish on the menu card is spot on. The onion IS "colossul" as described. Secondly, and more importantly, it had great taste and went famously well along with beer.

I would highly recommend you try it. I know I am going to....again!

Two 15 year olds

A friend of mine intorduced me to two 15 year olds yesterday.

Identical twins! Identical to the last detail (as much as the naked eye can see, that is). And absolutely gorgeous. Dark complexion, well rounded figure and an aroma to thrill the senses. It was an exhilarating experience to meet them.

Was this the time to get more friendly with them? Should I get them to "open up"? Should I get together with them and have a good time?

I would have probably said yes to all of the above, but for the world cup finals tonight. After all, the finals happen only once every four years. I can spend time with these babies anytime.

So I took a rain check on the rendezvous with the promise that I will savour the taste of the next meeting with at least one of them.






Before you start thinking in a completely different direction (which I know you will, thanks to the filthy mind of yours), let me clarify.

This friend of mine got me two bottles of the Glenfiddich Solera Reserva 15 year old scotch!!!!!!

Ha Ha! Fooled you, didn't I?

Saturday, July 08, 2006

A bad round with a surprising aspect

I was at Tering Bay in Batam today for another round. Ths time, I had my brother-in-law with me.

He landed this morning from Mumbai, India and I picked him up from the airport. We drove straight to the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and just like that, my BIL had left the country of Singapore within 2 hours of landing here.

Me and my golf buddy started with an attrocious set of scores after a chink in my swing refused to go away no matter what I did.

I eventually wound up with a 92 and my golf buddy finished with a fairly undignified 113.

The most startling thing of the round was the 32 putts it took me to put the ball in. The reason I think this is startling is because I had two disasterous holes, one where I four putted -- yes you heard me right! Four putted! -- after being on the green in two on a par 4 and another where again, I was green in regulation, but missed a short four footer for par. Despite taking 3 more strokes than the average 2-per-hole, I still made a total of 32 putts.

That makes 7 single putts for the round. Not bad, huh?

There were some which were absolutely fantastic. Like the 40 footer from the edge of the green to a foot from pin for a tap-in par.

But all in all, my woes continue on the tee where my driver (my faithful turned brutal R5) refuses to co-operate with me. So when I stand on the tee, I have no clue where I am going. Iron play is still very strong and approach shots are looking good. Chipping and putting have greatly improved. The problem is, I am loosing too many strokes because of my tee shots.

So it's back to the range for me.

Friday, July 07, 2006

I've never seen an Onion Uttappam like this

There's this Indian restaurant near my office where I sometimes go for a bite during lunch hour.

Most of the times, I have ordered the Chicken Biryani, which I find a bit too heavy on the spices. Not hot, but spicy. So the mouth feels like it is the source of too many spicy fragrances after lunch. I decided not to go the Biryani way today and so opted for the Onion Uttappam.

If you have had Onion Uttappam in India, you would know that it comes on a Dosa type dough with onion sprinkled on it and fried both ways.

Unfortunately, the guys here did not have a clue that the Uttappam is supposed to be that way.

So what I got instead looked like a local "Roti Prata" version with onion stuffed inside it. It's the wierdest serving of Onion Uttappam I have ever had.

And to top it, the guy gave me a fork and spoon. I could almost hear Allanis Morissette saying "It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife (from her song "Ironic")". And so I tried cutting and eating this version to the best of my abilities. I don't think I was very successful.

But I am still feeling quite filled with the little lunch I had.

Two weeks to go

Yep! This time week after next, I will be hopefully in the middle of a golf round at the Bangalore Golf Club along with my long time golf buddies.

This will be my first visit to India since I moved to Singapore and I am really looking forward to it.

The itenary includes a 5 day stop in Bangalore, my home town for almost the last decade and the only place in the world where I actually own my own house, where I will stay with a few friends and spend (hopefully) every single day playing at least one round of golf at all the courses where I started playing the game. Even my golf buddies are looking forward to my arrival.

Then it's to my parent's place to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. And luckily for me, my parents-in-law are also in the same city, so I get to meet everyone in one place.

Then it's back to the city of Mumbai where I have the most number of really close friends. A few days with them and then it's back to the grind.

Now that I look at it, a two week vacation feels like it will zip by so fast that it will hardly feel like a one.

The only thing that can play a spoiler is the weather. If you were keeping track of the rains in the western part of India, you will know that it has really been pouring there and has almost brought the city of Mumbai to a state of standstill. I hope the weather improves when I am down there. I hope Bangalore weather is as it always is round the year...mainly great for a round of golf in the morning.

Fingers crossed!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

I hate it when people read between the lines

Especially when there is nothing there to read.

It's like, you're having a normal conversation and then, all of a sudden, you get "What's bothering you?" or "What's the matter?". Even when you vehemantly deny that there is nothing wrong, people keep pestering you about something that is not actually a problem.

For once, can people stop trying to second guess what's in my mind and take a straight answer at face value? No! How else can they make my day any more miserable than it already is?

It almost feels like "I wasn't mad up until now, but am getting there because of all these questions".

Inconsiderate drivers

It rained this morning. Quite heavily, too. In fact, it's still raining outside.

And in Singapore, it's quite difficult getting a cab in the rain, much less if it is peak hour traffic. And if you want to call a cab, you get a $4 call fee in addition to the $1 peak time surcharge. So even before the cab has started moving, you are down $7.40.

That's a fairly expensive, and unnecessary, start to the day.

So after waiting for fifteen minutes for a cab, I started walking down to the bus stop near my place. I noticed that a small puddle had formed by the side of the road, thanks to the rain. I tried to walk as far away from the puddle and the road as possible, but that did not help.

A completely inconsiderate driver sped right through the puddle and splashed water all over my trousers!

How completely idiotic can someone be? Can't they see the puddle? And can they not see that there is someone walking by that side of the road? Will it kill them to slow down just a bit so that they dont make a pig's breakfast of someone's morning?

I tell you, it takes all sorts to make this world.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Let him be

It's bad enough being red carded out of the quarter finals, it's even worse for the entire press in your country to villify you and blame you for the loss.

I am, of course, talking about Wayne Rooney.

Personally, I think Ricardo Carvalho should have been yellow carded for kicking Rooney repeatedly on the shins as they fought for control of the ball. But when Rooney turned and stepped backwards, he had no idea his foot was going to land on Carvalho's privates. And while I admit it must have been really painful for Carvalho, I think it was completely unintentional from Rooney's point of view.

I think Rooney should be given a break. He has put his heart out, first in getting fit for the world cup and then playing every game to the fullest. The strategy designed by the England coach was not the most favourable, leaving Rooney alone up front with no support whatsoever. But with whatever was available, I think Rooney did a good job.

The press in England should focus on the fact that three stalwart penalty takers (Lampard...who is England's main penalty taker, Gerrard and Carragher) missed their shots. That was the reason England lost. Not because Rooney was red carded. England managed to hold stalemate even with 10 men and still managed to put pressure on Portugal with a lot more possession. The missed penalties lost us the game. Not Rooney.

Leave him alone.

He has had to live with a lot, especially the red card which will play on his mind for a long time to come. Let's make life a little easier for him.

After all, he's only human!

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

A hole in my pocket

That's what it feels like. Every single day of my life here in Singapore.

When my paycheck comes into my account and how the money disappears is beyond me. I mean, I know exactly where it is going and where I am spending my money. But there is no way I can stop it.

At the end of the week when I get my pay check, I am already looking forward to the next month's pay check.

Man, I gotta change the way things are here. And how I am going about my life. This sort of helpless and headless behaviour is not going to get me anywhere.

I think I am going to make a change in my life. This post marks the beginning of that change.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

"You're a loser"

Now that is a faux paus worth listening to.

After I finished watching "Superman Returns" last night, I was standing on the corner of Orchard and Scotts at the Shaw Center, right opposite the Mastercard booth.

The lady at the booth was inviting people who had spent just about any amount on their Mastercard to come and play a game which, if they won, they would get a $500 Mastercard free.

It was quite funny to hear her go "You are a loser" whenever anyone lost. Instead of saying "You have lost this game", she would invarialbly say "You are a loser".

I know it's just sematics, but the meanings of both sentences is hugely different.

I waited for a while for someone to respond to her saying "You are a loser" with a "And you look like a bucket of shit!"

But I guess people here a lot more polite!

Superman returned

Yep...caught up with the latest offering of Superman this evening.

Not that I was planning to. Woke up late after the disasterous match result between England and Portugal and went to Orchard Road for some breakfast. Then a coffee at The Coffee Bean (incidentally my favorite place to spend time) and then into Borders for some book reading (again, one of my favorite things to do on a day off).

After I was done, a few hours later, I was unsure what to do. So I stepped across the street to the iSetan where they usually have a sale. They very frequently have Ashworth T-shirts on sale at ridiculous prices. So it is worth a trip there just to check it out. Well, they didn't have Ashworths on sale, but that got me to Shaw Center.

So the next thing I did was to ride up the escalator and see what movies were playing.

And Superman Returns was playing in 20 minutes! So I bought myself a ticket, some popcorn and coke and then went in to enjoy latest Superman.

To be honest, the new guy playing Superman (Brandon Routh) does a decent job of filling the shoes left vacant by Christopher Reeve. Yes, he does look the part and does a good job. This time around, Lois Lane is a lot prettier (Thank God!). Of course Kevin Spacey does a fantastic job of recreating Lex Luther. And there is a surprise in the movie. Wierd one, but still a surprise.

But all in all, the movie is quite slow. Not a big deal. Wish the storyline was better and a bit more gripping, but not really. I was quite disappointed.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

A pair of 87s

My company had an offsite meeting planned at Batam on Friday and Saturday. As part of the activities, there was a golf tournament at the Tering Bay Golf Course as well. Of course I participated.

After a horrific few holes and absolutely no co-operation from my driver, but a few great recoveries, I finished the round with an 87, which with my 17 handicap meant 2 under par. Not bad considering how bad I played the whole day.

The next day, four of us decided to play another round at the same course. This time we decided to play off the blue tee (Friday was a white tee tournament). Also, the wind had significantly picked up, so much so that I was hitting a 5 iron to where I would normally hit an 8 iron.

Still no co-operation from my driver, but some really fabulous recoveries resulted in another 87 for the round. Not bad considering both the influence of the blue tee and the wind.

A couple of the holes I must tell you about. The 5th hole at Tering Bay has woods on both sides of the tee and a moat that runs thro the middle of the fairway and goes on to the right side of the green. I promptly put my tee shot into the water. So I took my drop before the water and was about 120 yards from the pin. I was already playing my third shot and had to make this count.

I hit a controlled pitching wedge to within a couple of feet of the pin!

A tap in for par on a hole where I took a penalty. It could have been a birdie!

Then again, on another par 4, I hit my approach shot way right. As I looked up from my ball, there were a couple of palm treen in my line to the green. So I would have to play under the branches to get somewhere.

A punched chip shot with a 9 iron and the ball was taking the roll of the green and again stopped a few feet from pin. Another single putt and I had saved par from a ridiculous place.

Then came the birdie at 13, which is a par 3. My tee shot with a pitching wedge stopped a foot from the pin. The ball actually carried enough spin to stop an inch behind it's pitch mark! A very nice tap in for the bird.

All in all, I am quite happy with the way I recovered. Not happy at all with my driver, but very happy with my iron approaches and definately with my Scotty Cameron putter.

Now it's back to the range to pratice the long clubs.