Beginner's Luck

Wiyono came to pay me a visit after lunch today. He was remarkably thinner than before, as I could remember when I last saw him. Having graduated from our uni last September, he has been working at a small IT firm in Braehead writing software programmes for mobile phones. His direct boss, a Singaporean, is more like a high-pressure cooker than what one could expect a reasonable manager to be. Wiyono told me that, under the scrutinizing management style of such an unreasonable team-leader, the members of his team had been quitting their jobs one after the other, some being with the company for less than a year. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Wiyono quits his job after Christmas when his annual bonus will be available, given such horrid a working atmosphere prevailing in his own team.

Anyway, I was pleased that he came. And so was he. We went together to the driving range at Drumchapel, which was at the far west end of the Great Western Road. I told Wiyono that it'd take at least 45 minutes to go there by bike. He said it was OK for him. He hadn't been riding a bike since his bicylce had a problem with the bearing in April, and I thought he must be longing for that cycling experience again.

We left my place at 2:20 pm. It was starting to rain then. By the time we got to the driving range at Drumchapel, I could see his hair was fully soaked. I had my base ball cap on all the time during the ride, but Wiyono had only the hood of his raincoat to cover his hair. Given the wind speed and the bicycle speed, there's absolutely no way to keep his hood on for the entire journey. I guessed he hadn't anticipated the rain at all.

It was 3:05 pm when we arrived at the World of Golf. And Wiyono reminded me that my forecast was right -- it took 45 minutes to ride there. I gave him a good laugh, cracking a joke that we're probably the only ones who rode a bike, without a car, to play golf on a rainy day. In fact, I could sense some wierd looks from the customers at the entrance there.

Golf was new to Wiyono (and so was to me). He confessed that he'd never played golf before. I reassured him that I was no better -- I'd just begun to practise and it was the 4th time I'd been there. In fact, I got a feeling he'd be quite natural in playing golf, given he's so good at basketball.

I paid 6.5 quid for 100 balls. Like me, Wiyono was surprised that we didn't need to become members of the club first. You just simply walk in and play, and take whatever length of time to finish the balls. They don't charge you on an hourly rate. We both liked the idea.

The golf centre runs a very effective system too. You pay for the balls at the counter. The staff will issue a receipt, on which there is a code. Then you go to the dispensing machine, hang a basket underneath the spout, and key in the code on the keypad. The machine will churn out the exact number of golf balls that you've paid for. If you are willing to buy a pre-paid card -- ranging from 20 quid to 100 quid--the machine will give you some balls extra as bonus for your faith and cash-in-advance support to the Golf centre.

We shared the 100 balls between ourselves. I showed Wiyono how to hold the grip, from what I'd just learnt from the student coaches over the past few weeks. He picked it up very quickly, and practised the swing several times without using the ball first. From the way he moved his limbs, I could tell he's just a natural at golf -- he knew how to switch his centre of gravity as he swung the club along a plane. And he knew it's important to follow through the swing with both hands, but never with the right foot. I'd made that mistake unconsciously many times, only to be told later that it would reduce my prowess in the hit and would most likely bend the ball towards the wrong direction. I guessed I must have long been under the influence of my past experience with tennis and table-tennis playing.

Then we started our practices. To my amazement, Wiyono was able to hit the balls into the nearest hole -- not once but twice! I was beginning to doubt if this was his very first lesson at golf. I told Wiyono that he should buy me a drink for such accomplishment. He laughed heartily.

I was eager to show my colour as well. But the more intending I was, the worse my hit rate became. At last, I stopped playing at all and decided to observe Wiyono's play. I just wanted to know how he managed to coordinate his movements in so graceful a manner.

After observing a few shots from him, I re-started my swing again. I told myself to relax, and let my arms swing in a most natural way towards the tee. Bingo! I hit the ball squarely and I could see it go up a parabola, then fly off straight into the sky and fall down towards the hole with a yellow flag within. Then a strange incident happened: the golf ball dropped straight into the hole, and bounced out from the hole and ran down the slope. I simply couldn't believe my eyes!

I looked at Wiyono. He was amazed too. He was smiling at me. As if he could read my mind, he said, "Yeah, that's YOUR ball. It looks like it's got zero gravity. First it fell vertically down into the hole and then bounced out straight from it."

That must be the beginner's luck to me, and hopefully not to a natural player as Wiyono. Maybe the twin rainbows that I saw when we arrived at the driving range were a good omen for that?