Issue 15:

Teeing off amidst the financial meltdown.

If you've been living anywhere on this planet for the past 2 months within reach of any communication medium be it TV, Internet or newspapers brought by pack mule, you'd have heard about the impending financial implosion that is threatening to wipe out our whole economy. When I say "wipe out" I mean we'll stop using money and will start to use leaves or maybe durian as legal tender. The talk around the watercooler has ceased to be about which investment fund is hot but what brand of mattress would be the best to stuff your money in (I recommend King Koil Pocket Spring, lots of room inside to stuff your wads of $10 notes, or leaves, depending on the state of the economy).

And yet... I still find myself looking forward to this golf marathon trip that we are planning in december, with the kind help of Wendy and the LGA team. And I still look forward to taking my second daughter Angela to her very first golf round ever at the Royal Tanglin course here in Singapore next week. (The littlest golf course ever) (Tip: Be sure to slather on loads of insect repellent).  And this morning, at 7am, yes, I find myself standing on the first tee, club in my hand...Why do I feel like Nero fiddling while Rome burns ?

Let's take a moment to think this through. Disclaimer: What follows is not a learned discussion of the subject by any stretch of the imagination. It's been ages since my last finance class, and this is but one regular guy's attempt at trying to make sense of the world.

What is causing this global crisis is basically a drastic loss of confidence on everybody's part. The bank account holders no longer trust the banks to take care of their money (and rightly so, if you've been following the stories like this ). The bankers in turn have realized that this whole crisis is caused by some smart alecks much like themselves in the US who decided that it would be a swell idea to charge higher interest on home loans for people who really couldn't afford it in the first place (read here for the real thing)

After a day being yelled at by irate customers, the bankers go home and have a hard look at the mirror and the decided that they have lost faith in the whole of humanity. Now, banks need to lend each other money called interbank loans to keep each other going. But with every banker distrusting each other, this flow of money slows, sputters, and stops. Contrary to what some people think, what makes the world economy go round is NOT everybody making oodles of cash, but them spreading the cash around by spending it on each other's products. When this spending stops, business sales go down, and people start to worry. And the thing about worry is, it spreads, and then turns to fear. Thanks to technology like email and SMS and Bloomberg updates on your iPhone, the fear spreads like wildfire, and the next thing you know, everybody and his dog is calling his broker to sell everything, and stock markets around the world went 'kaboom'. Governments from the US to China to Brazil is trying desperately to calm the masses by promising radically expensive measures to stabilize the banks. The investors paused, did a bit of quick thinking, realized that these measures will be paid out of their tax money, and resumed selling everything they got.

And now, since everybody's huddled in fear and clutching their cash in their clammy hands, pausing only to place a call to the mattress dealer, the prospect of the leaf-based economy looms ever larger. The NBA, that most profitable of sports organisations, have announced layoffs. Callaway has announced a loss for the quarter. The PGA is now looking a bit confused as some of their biggest sponsors like Wachovia and Merrill Lynch are disappearing.

How do we get out of this mess ? We need to restart the economy. How do we, as golfers, do that ? Simple. If you can still afford to (meaning if you didn't lose your shirt on Lehman Brothers): Don't stop playing. Don't stop your weekend foursome games, if only so that you will have somebody sympathetic to complain about how lousy your funds did last week. The driver you've had your eye on is on sale for $200 off ? Grab it. Don't cancel your golf lessons. Don't put off that trip to Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia or Thailand. Tip your caddies generously. And we're not just saying this because we are a golf travel site. Our whole economy depends on people like us spending and pumping money into the economy. For example, our green fee will be spent by the golf course to pay their golf pro. The golf pro will go out and buy clothes and food and new golf shoes. And the clothing company, the hawker centres and the Footjoy shoe factory will in turn spend it on 200 other things, some of which will most likely benefit the company you work in or the business you own. And slowly, but surely, things will turn around. We're all in this together people, swing away and let's keep this economy back on track.

Otherwise, better make space in your closet for 2 tons of leaves.

 PS: (Just in case you think I'm talking complete nonsense here, you could be right, but there is actually a sound economic theory behind this, called the multiplier effect )