I've been playing golf for about 15 or 16 years now, and have had the full bag of emotions that are connected with this great game. I've carded mulligans, eagle's even a hole in one! I've played at some truly amazing golf courses and some suitably forgettable ones as well.
I have been lucky enough to play with some incredibly talented players, one of whom has recently made his way onto the Sunshine Tour. I have played with some players so bad at golf that it would be painful to watch if it was not for the look of satisfaction they get from merely being outside and playing the game they love with mates they enjoy being with.
I have never played a round of golf by myself, as I see half the appeal of golf is playing it with other people. As a result of having upgraded my clubs a handful of times over the years I have 3 spare set's of clubs sitting in my garage in case of a keen player wanting to join me who doesn't have his or her own shovels.
About two years ago I had a day off and had made an arrangement to play at my local course with a mate of mine who on the morning of our planned game cancelled! Having booked a tee time for two and as I mentioned I do not play alone I was still very keen to knock the ball about and quickly rang up a few buddies who one after the next had to refuse my offer as this small mischief called "work" kept cropping up as the excuse for their begrudging exclusion.
So feeling rather sorry for myself as it was about 30 minutes till my tee time and I was without a wing man I was starting to resign myself to the fact that today, my day off, was going to be one which no longer was going to feature a game of golf.
Vusi is the name of the gardener who has been working for me once a week for about 5 years, he works in different garden's every day of the week, including weekends (just to make ends meet) for various houses around my neighborhood. This particular day he was working in my garden and as it was winter, there was not a huge amount to do around the yard. So I thought to myself, he's on my watch now...I'm sitting here partnerless...So today he is going to be hacking a golf ball and not weeds.
When I posed the idea to him he was extremely apprehensiveness, but I managed to bend his arm enough and after giving him a spare golf shirt, some pants and an old pair of golf shoes we were on our way. When we arrived I asked the 2 groups scheduled behind us to play through so I could give Vusi a crash course on how to swing a club and the general rules. I tee'd off so he could get the basic idea of what we were doing and I landed about 240 meters down the right of the fairway, Vusi followed suit but hit the rough, however he was about 40 meters further than me!! He carded an 8 on the first hole a 7 there after and another 8 on the 3rd. After he had settled down a bit he started playing very decently for a guy who had before then never held a golf club in his life. Every single drive he hit was further than mine by at least 20 to 30 meters, sometimes even more.
I managed an 81 that day and he carded somewhere around 120. When we got back home he wanted to give me the clothes back that I had given him that morning which I promptly told him to keep, and just before he left I decided that I have no need of 3 sets of golf clubs and told him that I would like him to keep the clubs as well, but only on the condition that on days he works for me he spends that afternoon at the golf range with a bucket which I will pay for, so he could work on his game. This was partly for selfish reasons as I liked the idea of having a partner on call whenever I had a Wednesday off. As time went on I went with him to the range and we played 3 more times again on the course. Each time I saw him he was better than the last. Word spread amongst some of the other folk he worked for that he was a fair hand at golf and the one chap (a fairly wealthy pensioner) who had been a member at our club for 35 years organised a caddie job at our club for him, which also meant he could get free free driving range and one free round of golf a week at the club.
Anyway...I'm digressing a bit...
I saw Vusi at the club this weekend for the first time in quite a while as he no longer works for me once a week. Since starting to work at the club he has pushed his handicap down to 6 and has not shot over par on the course for 3 months. He is also going to be one of 70 development golfers taking part in a competition due to be held in Pretoria next month to which the top 5 players will all win bursaries to a golf academy in George and each will be allowed to participate in one Sunshine Tour event (as amateurs) over the year they are with the academy.
I feel like a proud parent, a truly inspiring story from a truly amazing man...The story however is not yet finished...
I know he will not be reading this post but I wish you all the best next month my friend!
Come on Vusi!