Keep your eye on the ball

Golf

Today after work I had the second part of my golf seminar at Harding Park in San Francisco. Golf is getting more and more fun with each seminar I attend.

I took public transportation to the park and realize how unreliable the bus system is in the city. First I took the M from downtown to Stonestown. Then from Stonestown, I waited for the number 18 for what seemed like ages to me. It definitely did not come on time. On each of the buses I was on, there were people who talked to themselves. Just a something I noticed.

When I got to the park, the director of the park talked for a bit, introduced us to the golf clubs, the grip, posture and swing. He adjusted our grip and posture and diagnosed the problems with our swings. It was a good experience. For example, at first I was missing on all of my swings. Well, the problem was that I was not looking at the ball! After that, I was able to scrape the ball around a bit.

Around 12 people showed up today. Funny thing was that a lot of them were involved in forensic accounting. I met three other people aside from me who are in that area. Weird. I was the only one from my firm though. KPMG was out in full force.

BTW, I even sustained a hand injury, albeit a minor one. That was how much I was into it. :-) So, all in all, it was a good investment of my time. Who knows, maybe I'll pursue this further.

Golf

Little blue box

Wow, I was quite impressed by the golf seminar I attended this evening. I actually learned a lot of golf basics that I did not know before. It was really worth it and the people who attended were open to networking. And then when I came home, my 5 year anniversary gift was waiting for me. It's a sterling silver necklace from Tiffany's with 2 very small silver heart pendants. You see a picture of the famous blue Tiffany's box.

So, here's an exclusive for my loyal blog readers and I know there are many of you out there following this blog religiously. ;-) I jotted down some notes from my golf seminar and will post some of them here. Maybe you'll learn something new as well and help me remember some of what I heard. Apologies if they are somewhat randomly organized.

- The maximum number of clubs golfers are allowed to have in their bags is 14.
- Proper attire for golf includes:
a) Collared shirt
b) No T-shirts
c) No jeans
d) No golf shoes with metal spikes! Only golf shoes with rubber spikes or normal shoes.
Note: Golf shoes with rubber spikes help you maintain a good grip on the grass. When it's wet and you swing your club, you might slip on the grass.
- A golf course has 18 holes
- Each hole has different pars. A par is your goal. You should strive to hit the ball into the hole in as few strokes as possible. Therefore people who are really skilled do not need as many strokes to hit the ball into the hole.
- A handicap refers to the difficulty of the holes. It also enables people of different skill levels to play together.
- A hole is composed of the tee area, the fairway and then the green.
- There are a total of 72 pars on a golf course.
- Generally it takes 5 hours to play a round of golf
- Golf etiquette:
a) Silence on the green
b) No cellphones
c) Golfer with best score tees off first
- A birdie is when someone gets a ball in the hole 1 stroke under par

Conflicted

Here I am this morning, thinking about the work day ahead of me and the networking event I signed up for after work. On one hand I am well aware that I need to expand my network outside of the office. However, on the other hand going to these events takes time and will divert valuable hours that I could be using to finish up some work or just to catch up on my sleep.

I usually end up being glad that I attended an event because it takes me out of my comfort zone and places me in an environment with new faces and ideas. Hopefully this will be the same. I'll be learning all about golf.