Goofing with golf

Learning golf later in life can be both challenging and humorous, as beginners often face missteps and seasoned opponents, yet golf's unique solitude and small victories provide lasting satisfaction

- SIDDHARTH DEV VERMAN

PG Wodehouse famously wrote that "Golf like measles should be caught young." Once infected, I presume it becomes a lifetime affliction without an antidote. Fortunately, I did not catch golf young and waited till the eve of my retirement. Had I started Golfing at a young age, life would have derailed from its path and one would have either idled away an otherwise promising youth shouting inanities on warm balmy afternoons at small pimpled white balls or progressed quickly to insanity and qualify for an early bird discount for admission to a mental institution.

As retirement loomed, I drew up plans to spend the golden years of my life. The list was not too long. Cruise vacations, ticking off must-visit but never-visited destinations and generally goofing around. The bucket list was small but compact. There was one small problem though. I soon realised that post-retirement I would be on a subsistence allowance, often referred to by its more generous name- pension. A drastic 50 per cent cut in the monthly pay packet accompanied by additional expenditures hitherto taken care of by the office like phone bills, driver, car, travel expenses etc. awaited like a cyclone on its way. A few quick calculations and all travels including cruises were scratched off the list. That left me with the goofing around option, though aimless meanderings would not be too different from what I had been doing all these years.