Full Swing

OMEGA'S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOLF HAS BEEN A MASTERCLASS IN CONSISTENCY, UNLIKE MY SWING.

- WORDS FARHAN SHAH PHOTOS OMEGA

I REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME my friend told me I'd like golf. It was about four years ago. I laughed at him. “Golf? Really? It doesn’t seem engaging. What can be so difficult about hitting a stationary ball into a hole?”

Four years later, every time I stand at the tee box with my driver in hand, I chuckle at the memory and prepare to send yet another ball into the rough or the water—anywhere but the fairway where it's supposed to be. I've eaten humble pie many times and the same friend will always rub it in my face. Turns out that hitting a stationary ball can be the most difficult thing in the world.

The reason is maddeningly simple. A single deviated degree or difference of a few millimetres can mean a beautifully flighted golf ball travelling several hundred metres or one that skims off the grass and embeds itself into the grass three metres ahead. It's one reason Omega has formed a relationship with golf since 2001 when it first became the title sponsor for the Omega Masters tournament, held annually in Crans-Montana Switzerland. Timing, after all, is everything.