Tiger's Par 3

I can't jump into a bikram class as if it were a tread mill workout. I need to arrive early, prepare mentally. Find the zone. Pre-relax before the relaxation! When I circuit train at U-Energy, I sit outside, in the DIFC village, take in the magnificient view of Emirates Towers and tell myself I must give my all for the session.


In the same way, and even more so, a golf competition requires its own preparation. We practised the day before, and woke up early the day of the event even though the T time was 10am. Haste is the friend of stress. So we took our time, went on the range, shot a few balls, warmed up with some chipping and then practised the putting.

Here we were at the Emirates Golf Club par 3 course, the one I fondly remember watching Tiger Woods play on last year. That experience transformed my game of golf. First, I noticed how he used a pitching wedge on every hole (when I use a driver!) From that day onwards, I elected the pitching wedge as my best friend and practised it for most of the shorter distances.

Second, I was bewildered by the fact that Tiger Woods was playing a course I was all too familiar with. This is the par3 course with the silhouettes of JBR and JLT as a backdrop: a forest of skyscrapers!

On this competition, my eleven year old son, who is exponentially better than me at golf, and I were a team, playing the alternate "better balls". I focused at every hole. I had practised. I played my very best. And we did very well. We came in 3rd!

Here I was playing Tiger's Par3!