Range Finders and a Gift

 Good afternoon, kids. Today we will be discussing driving range issues. Maybe your range doesn't bring balls fast enough, or maybe they charge too much per bucket, or maybe the guy in the hitting area next to you is too loud. Or, in the case of the Golf School at Pokhara, maybe a bunch of large bovines walk across your path, the balls are hand picked, and everyone talks all the time. As I was spending my last day teaching (for now) in this lakeside town, a large herd of cattle wandered through the gate, onto the driving range, and some drank some water meant to clean clubs, while most just ate some strewn-about cardboard and continued on their way down the range, changing in the cardboard for grass. It made me smile thinking about the difficulties that westerners have with driving ranges. The people here are happy to be able to hit balls at all, and if they have to wait a couple minutes or hit while people are enjoying each others company, it doesn't matter. Life goes on, even on driving ranges where the obstacles are a little more than noticeable than an imperfect patch of grass from which to hit.

Okay it's a sideways picture, but it's my first, and perhaps only, Christmas present of the year. Although it wasn't meant as a holiday present at all, I think I'll keep the wrapping paper to look at over a glass of wine on Christmas. This was, in fact, given to me today by one of my favorite students at the range, an extremely bright young man named Rupendra. He questioned everything I had to say. He works at a book shop and would apparently go home at night and scour the internet for anything involving golf and the golf swing. So I would tell him one thing, and he would ask about something else. Sometimes it's better to not think, I'd tell him. By the end of my time here he became one of my favorites and I would copy pages from some of my golf books for him to study. Getting this gift, which turned out to be very complete and fancy 2012 organizer, was a highlight of my time here. I especially like the (golf student) part, as if I am getting gifts from everyone in Nepal named Rupendra Shrestha!

Part of the herd, being a bit more discreet than the guy in the first picture.

The best part about the organizer-autographed, and priceless