Return To Main Blog Page Golf – A Game of Hope Sun Oct 21, 2007 at 10:53 PM
Autumn always brings with it a sense of lost opportunities, thoughts of what should have but didn’t happen: breaking 100, breaking par; mastering a new driver, trying a new course; actually practicing your lesson, getting a lesson. These are small things that one looks back on as October winds down, with a sense of wistful regret.

I haven’t played one round this year and as I was experiencing more than wistful regret I stumbled on an article in the New York Times, “A Golf Course Where Water Is No Hazard.” This article actually brought tears to my eyes. Link to full article

Mohammad Abdul, an avid golfer in Afghanistan, is the director and golf pro at the Kabul Golf Club, the only golf club in that country. All of nine holes, with no grass and no delineations between fairways, rough and greens, the course is an expanse of “browns” made up of sand and oil packed down with a heavy roller. There are only 7 golf balls and an assortment of handmade flagsticks to mark the holes.

The Kabul Golf Club opened in 2004 as development aid flowed into Afghanistan. Mr. Abdul prepared ditches for an irrigation system back then with visions of “lush verdant fairways, whispering greens and a gallery of fans…”

It is now 2007 and the ditches remain empty, maybe a dozen players show up on a good week and the course’s future is mostly in Mr. Abdul’s imagination. Yet, he wouldn’t consider shutting the club down.

“I’ll be patient. People need to play golf.”

Mr. Abdul plays his course nearly every day. “Hopefully with better security, Afghanistan will improve and golf will improve,” Mr. Abdul told the reporter as he headed to the second tee.

Hope is as much a part of Mr. Abdul’s golf game as his swatch of artificial turf for hitting off the “browns.” Hope is as much a part of most golfers’ games as their clubs.

People need hope, just like they need to play golf.

It is supposed to be nice this week. I can still get nine holes in before the season ends.

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