As I've said in a previous posting, I have the misfortune of being the only golfer in my family, which means a lot of shoehorning of  9 holes here, and 9 holes there and a few buckets of balls around various family activities. My daughters Michelle(9) and Angela(7) have only appeared vagely interested in the past and Gabriella our 3-month old is not quite coordinated enough to handle the driver yet :)

Anyway, for some reason Angela started asking me out of the blue to have golf lessons. I'm secretly ecstatic of course but didn't want to appear like Michelle Wie's pushy parents so I casually asked her why she wants to play golf .. and when she said "Oh because I want to play with you, Dad !", awww... tell me one father who can resist something like that ? So I discussed with my wife and started looking around for a golf coach. We were looking for a good coach who is not overbearing, patient with kids and is located not too far from where we live I recalled Mr Muhammad Ali of the Parkland Driving Range, who I've talked with a few times, seem to fit this profile, so I gave him a call and set up a half hour lesson on a Saturday afternoon.

So Saturday rolled around and Angela and me showed up at the range with our clubs. Angela has her own junior set which has not been used much to date, so looking absolutely pristine next to my scarred and mangled (and quite possibly mentally traumatised) set of clubs, the veteran of many Sunday battles against the elements and human incompetence (otherwise known as a golf round). We had a few minutes to spare so I rolled a ball to the mat and hit a few.. Angela and Michelle (who tagged along just to see what's going on) were watching and I was lucky enough to stripe my first 7 iron straight for 150m, which drew oohs and aahs from the girls... my second and third shots were a nasty hook and a shank, but still got oohs and aahs from them, bless their hearts.

 Mr Ali showed up just then, which saved me from explaining how none of my shots seem to do the same thing twice. Mr Ali started showing Angela the basic stance and grip, and how to line up to the ball, and how to do a half-swing.. took me back to my first golf lesson not that long ago. She's showing more acumen to it than I did though.  The difference between me and Mr Ali's teaching (aside from Mr Ali being a pro and me an extremely amateur golfer with a swing like a comatose squid) is that Angela listens to him quietly and does what she's told, whereas with me she usually giggles and does something random with the club.Soon she is starting to make decent contact with the ball.  When she hit a ball 50 m towards a nearby flag, she smiled and said "Hey Dad, look what I did ! !". That just made the day for me.

I signed her up for an 8x30 minutes beginner package. I hope this is the start of a lifelong hobby for Angela. Me, I'm just happy to have found a new golf kaki :) Maybe one day she will find her 'hook' moment. You know, this is the ONE moment when you know that you've found yourself hooked in golf. For me it was in one afternoon at the Executive Golf Course, when my 7 iron magically launched the ball straight to the flag, landing 1 meter away from the hole for my first lifetime birdie, to much high fiving and back slapping from my flight mates. If one day Angela can find the same moment, that would be great. And if I could be there standing next to her when it happens and she says to me "Hey Dad, look what I did !". That would be perfect. No, I'm not wishing for her to join the LPGA and be the first Singapore-born major winner, let her find her own path. All I can do is open the door and see if she likes what's inside... (hopefully a major or two :))