The Masters - 04/2018
When I was very young, my father gave me a golf club. I've always viewed the game as a hobby over the years. My swing has always been hook-oriented. That means, if I didn't swing round, the balls usually drifted to the left immediately. Plannable but not constant. Especially not when the railway dictates that a straight ball should be hit from time to time. Well, the momentum over the years was such a thing, but I managed it consistently under hcp-10. So with a standard 18-hole course (72) I put in 82 gross most of the time. Since golf is never the same, chess reminds me strategically, brings great humility and is never boring (every shot is different or the ball is different, ergo a shot is always different), the sport has always accompanied me over the years.
You need a certain mental strength but also a strategy to hold out 18 holes or an average of 4.5 hours. So hold on in your head. Ok, then it's mostly 12 km that you have to walk. Mostly when the heart rate is low. Last statistic: around 1000 kcal are consumed per lap. The wheat afterwards tastes twice as good if you have survived the last putt or the round completely well. And yes, golf fills me, it fills me with a certain amount of commitment. Either completely or not at all, always
highly concentrated.
The score or what the other games (or even better: what the other players do in real life, i.e. their professional life) never interested me. An unwritten law says that one round is not about business. This is especially true for Asia. The important thing is that the teammate or business partner wins without it looking like it happened on purpose. There are many golfers to whom the rules of golf are sacred. Whole books have been written about it. There are actually only 40 rules, but these can also be interpreted. I was never particularly interested in the costs either. I think that a week of skiing, including equipment and accommodation, costs as much as an annual membership. However, I think that you learn to ski faster. But once you've got it, you don't want to miss golf.
Even if I played a good round in terms of the number of strokes, I would be asked how many 100% shots I made, then my personal number is very thin. There are very few strokes, putts during a round that have turned out exactly, but exactly as I imagined them beforehand through a PreShot routine. Most of the time I scrape my score down because the feeling for the ball is simply not that great due to a lack of training.
Nevertheless, and that is exactly what is incredibly beautiful about golfing, to have the feeling of walking over freshly mown lawn, the smell of freshly cut grass, a light pinch, blue sky, nature and you and then that one shot, that, which is implanted in your emotional world. That feeling of having delivered a perfect punch. These are feelings that are incredibly difficult to describe. For me they make golf, embedded in the cosmos, one with you, with your club, with your ball, with nature. You are then a unit, body, mind and soul. And for this feeling (which admittedly does not arise every day) it is worth golfing, it is worthwhile to take on all the emotional deprivations, all the frustration, all the incomprehension, all the waiting, in deep humility, is levered out , through the strong awareness that you have done exactly the right thing!
Early on, I was proud to be part of the youth team and later also the men's team for the club. Even if I never got the best score for the team on foreign pitches, it was always very important to me to have done everything for a good placement. Even if the frustration was great sometimes, there was always a next season, a next training session, lost balls and tees off. Similar to the way life plays. After working abroad in Singapore, I was even offered a position on the board of directors, sports manager or captain. From sponsoring, budget, training, tournaments, golf rules and other processing, a job that takes a lot of time and nerves. Sometimes ungrateful because you can't always please anyone. In Singapore, I first got into watching golf TV. This is not so pronounced in Germany. Bernhard Langer, Martin Kaymer - great players in German golf history have of course also generated a boom and increased demand here in Germany. However, you could almost not watch golf tournaments on television. It's not that much fun either, you have to identify with the golfers or be familiar with the golf rules. The topography of a course, hole or green can only be seen on the screen in rudiments or can guess what challenge a professional golfer has with his strokes. And sometimes a short putt goes by even with the pros. Somehow comforting, nobody is perfect.
There are four major international golf events, the so-called majors: the Masters, PGA open, British open, US open. The only tournament that always takes place on the same court is the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, USA.
In Pebble Beach, California, seventeen miles drive, I was allowed to drive by a few times, but I never played there. St. Andrews in Scotland, the cradle of golf, didn't really turn me on. On the contrary, I consider our small golf course (Hechingen Hohenzollern) with the castle and the eaves in the background to be the most beautiful in the world. There are no tee times, almost a private space, and great views.
The Masters and the course in Augusta are a different house number here. This course is a golfer's holy grail. You don't just get a ticket like that. Either through relationships or then for tens of thousands of dollars.
And I was lucky enough to get tickets through a new business partner, Jerry Smith. For Friday and Saturday. So the 2nd and 3rd matchday. Perfectly prepared by Jerry, we met at the airport in Atlanta and drove the 2 hours to Augusta together. He was looking for a special ticket for us where the car can be parked and you can get breakfast or all kinds of drinks for free.
Jerry knew the place inside and out. He knew exactly where to stand to see the players in action, get as close as possible.
It was unbelievable, everything was so orderly and decent. So organized, all spectators were calm at the stroke. A great atmosphere. Etiquette prevailed here.
Each track has its own name, the course was built in the 30s of the last century. The topography cannot be captured on television, as it goes up and down here, the layout of the greens (every blade of grass is sprayed green), the bunkers, the tees, everything, has been well-maintained for over a century and has been specially designed for this annual event prepared.
Three holes - 11/12/13 - mark the legendary Amen Corner. Dramas have already taken place here. To be there live and in person for the first time, I still get goose bumps. This is the place, the holes that you've seen so many times on TV. You're in. How cool is that? In these two days we ran about 30 km, from hole to hole, from player to player, from beer stand to beer stand. You weren't allowed to take a cell phone with you. It was like being in another world, like in a time bubble, without being available. Just the place, the players and you. Where else can you find something like that? To have the feeling, yes, you are in the right place without feeling this inner restlessness, actually you should be available now - as always, by the way. No, with or without beer, the condition is just great, similar to weekend music festivals (where you shouldn't make a phone call in such circumstances anyway).
It was a life of freedom beyond compare. And yes, of course the privileged thought also came up. Man, great, what I can experience here, only very few are allowed to see it, or those who are really rich. My cost was around $ 1500 for the two days. I was able to settle the flight and the overnight stays through the company under the socializing aspect. I've been really lucky with my manager.
And of course my biggest thanks go to Jerry for taking me with him. A fantastic journey full of special moments such as having made the 9 high five with Bernhard Langer after playing a birdie there. An icon and legend! Or spoke briefly to Martin Kaymer. Super.
Ryder Cup vs. Masters? There is no festival atmosphere, everything is more subtle, more original, more traditional, even if it is a huge show to play the best of the USA against the best of Europe. I was able to see Paris 2018 with my father for a day (day ticket € 750 / person), what a spectacle.
