A candle lit dinner and a fabulous game

Saturday was Earth Hour. It meant most people in the know shut off their lights between 8:30pm and 9:30pm to save energy and to show solidarity with the energy conservation movement that's gathering momentum all across the globe.

I was pleasantly surprised to see 90% of my apartment complex go dark and stay that way for the entire hour. And since it is slap bang in the middle of dinner time for most Indians, we had a nice dinner in candle light. Not the least bit romantic, but functional nonetheless.

What followed was the match between ManU and Bolton where Berba showed all his detractors why is is worth the money paid for him. His beautiful control over the ball, a couple of amazing flicks (one which was ridiculously hard to do and was saved by Jaaskelienen) and then a couple of goals. But the highlight was the completely stupid own goal by the Bolton defender who neatly slotted the ball into the far corner of his own net.

A nice game, a return to the top of the league table and a delicious match to look forward to when we host Chelsea next week. Hope we get over the exertions of Champions League football since we are on the way to Bayern Munich on wednesday.

All the best, United. Two more cups to go!

What a round, Sirji!

Oooh babe…

So we teed off this morning for a nice round at BGC. The weather was hot, but the breezy morning promised a good round. And good it was! Oh yeah, it was!

It all started with a horrible drive and a lost ball which put a triple bogey as the very first entry on the score card. A bogey followed soon after. And I was thinking that the round was going to hell in a golf cart (and that was the only golf cart on the course, so that should tell you something about the score card and it's affordability). At this time, I had to remind myself that the two holes had passed and that there was nothing I could do but to play the next 16 holes the best I could. I promptly put in a 20 footer for birdie on the very next hole :-)

On the old Index 1 (the current Index 3), I hit a pipper of a driver to the center of the fairway and was 90 yards to the pin. And then I hit one of the best shots of the round…to 6 inches from the pin. A tap in birdie.

The very next hole brought the best of the round. A good tee shot yet again and a decent approach left me 25 feet to the pin with a double break. And the putt rolled from right to left at first and then straightened and went left to right, all this while with just the right speed to plonk into the back of the cup. Back to back birdies.

The amazing part of the round was that I had a total of FIVE birdies. On the 18th, I was left with a 15 footer downhill putt. And my partner mentioned that I should put in one more, just for the sake of the round…and I DID.

Thro the entire round, I read the line and the speed myself and that made the 5 birdies even more special. And at the end of the round, I had a score of 8 over. A decent score. I would have called it a great round, but I missed at least 6 putts by a whisker (or bad luck) for birdies, so I could have been at a lot lower score. But like every round of golf, you take what you get and you get what you take.

But I had fun…and we won…and that rhymes :-)

Epitome of inconsistency

Ok, so I'm going to talk about golf again.

I'm sorry, but I can't help myself. It's the one sport I have played (and I have played a lot, believe me) that is at the same time gratifying and frustrating. It is unlike any other sport that I have ever played and challenges you to better yourself, even when things are not going well.

Let me illustrate.

So a few people from the office and I were playing golf at the Bangalore Golf Club (BGC from now on). I had come in on the back of a few good rounds in the last couple of weeks (a 7 over, 8 over and another 8 over at KGA, which is a tougher course), so I felt pretty confident about my game. The confidence showed as I hit my first tee shot which sailed gloriously away to the fairway 250 yards away. But as I walked up to the ball, I saw it sitting in a horrible lie in a bunker with the only option for me to blast it out and then try to make something with the 3rd shot (thank the force for the Par 5). I did manage to get it out, but the next shot and the one after that left a lot to be desired and just like that, I had double bogey.

OK, I say to myself. Shit happens. Move on to the next hole…which I parred. But after a lovely drive down the fairway, I screwed up again and had double bogey yet again. And that was the story for the rest of the front 9. I came into the club house with a horrible 11 over, more in just 9 holes than my entire 18 hole scores for the past 3 consecutive rounds. Needless to say, I was cursing myself.

What changed was all of that cursing to myself made me angrier about making stupid silly mistakes and to focus more on the game. And with that, I played one under for the next 7 holes. I had a couple of pieces of bad luck on the 17th and 18th making me drop a shot each, but I had played the back 9 to just 1 over, finishing the round with a respectable 12 over (something close to my handicap).

Now while recovering on the back 9 felt really good, I was left with the feeling that I have the game in me to shoot the 1 over on both nines, maybe even shoot under. What I lack thus far is the focus thro every shot in the round.

So for the next round, I am going to try something different. I am going to take 5 seconds and just try to shut my mind even before I get to the ball. Then, once I get to the ball, I will take 5 more seconds than I usually do to visualize the shot. I do this already, but I think I need to spend more time on this to will the shot rather than just swing the club.

Let's see how it works out. You will hear about it right here. Wish me luck!