Golfing

One of the most excruciating things to do is trying to explain golf to somebody who doesn't understand the sport.

The past ten years that I have been swinging clubs and hitting the balls in the process with little success could also be probably as agonizing, but wait until you meet the so-called anti-golf or simply hardheaded people, who refuse to make sense out of the game.

I've met several of them in my life and thank God I did not have my seven-iron on my hand during these conversations.

While it may be annoying to talk to people who call the game 'stupid' or 'useless' or a 'waste of time and effort' what is more annoying is meeting people, who destroy the name of the game by doing things that are considered taboo for golfers.

Those who play the game know what these taboos are and those who have done them. What makes is sadder is the fact that such acts somehow affects not just one person, but many. Let's just play the game that we love and count the strokes right.

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It was exactly two weeks before I got married that I played my first round of golf. I don't really know if it is a good combination, but winning all those things in the raffles does not always ensure that you get a welcome smile when you reach the house.

Just imagine a streak that I once held in raffles - I won a rice cooker five or six times in a row that it became a joke in our family.

There's nothing wrong with winning such, but having won such number in succession somehow made it feel a little difficult to come up the stage top receive your raffle prize. Some guys are not however as lucky as they end up going home empty handed without winning anything.

Just imagine what you can collect in ten years. How about 30 years like the case of my good friend Rolando 'Tito Rolly' Santos, who has collected over a thousand giveaway caps since the 1970s when he started playing golf.

I told him that someday I'd like to see his collection and take a picture of a wall or is it a room full of caps.

His count is very accurate and I'm sure in the coming weeks, he'll add some more to his still growing collection with two major golf events set this weekend and on the second weekend of September.

The Aznar Cup is set this Saturday and this is in honor of Matias Hipolito Aznar, the patriarch of the family that owns Southwestern University. This tournament will be played at the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club in Pardo.

On September 8 to 11, the 70th Anniversary Golf Tournament will be held at Club Filipino in Danao City. This is a four-man team event and the registration will end on Tuesday.

Entry fee is pegged at P10,000 per team or P2,500 per player if nobody sponsors the group. The amount is easily covered by the giveaways, which will include a pair of very comfortable Wilson golf shoes.

What makes this tournament big is the fact that this is to celebrate 70 years of Club Filipino. One thing, which I wished I had the chance to experience as a duffer is playing in the old course of the club, which is now the Cebu Business Park. Oh well, you can't have everything.

See you in these two tournaments and of course, the Ateneo-La Salle Golf Tournament also on September at the Cebu Country Club.