ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

A polite but quiet young man who works in the building opposite The Advocate’s Daroo Street newsroom said he’s enjoying a renewed lust for life today as he replays his only straight drive from the weekend in his mind.

One of Debit Ecosse’s senior network engineers, Ian Lau, spoke candidly to our reporter on the bus to work this morning where he spoke at length about his Saturday morning round of golf.

“The first drive of the day, I sliced it onto the 10th-hole fairway,” he said.

“But I didn’t let that faze me. Golf is all in your head. If you let the bad vibes in, you’ll play bad. And for the first few holes, I played quite bad. So take what you want out of that.”

Something magic happened, he said, on the 11th tee.

“I heard my coach’s voice in my head. Smooth is strong. Keep your head over the ball. Watch the face of the club impact the ball. Lead with your hips and smile. Visualise the ball lifting off the tee, rising and rising. Straight as an arrow,” he said.

“So I did.”

As the bus was quite crowded, the 28-year-old wasn’t able to get up in the aisle and show The Advocate how he swung but he assured our reporter that it was textbook.

“It was with a 3 iron, too,” he smiled.

“The crispest crack you’d ever hear. Like a .22 Magnum being let off. The guys I was golfing with all “ah’ed” in unison as I turned my head after the impact to see this low-flying bullet slowly lift up into the wind and begin a sharp drop,”

“I’d just hit a fucking stinger! A stinger! I couldn’t believe it. It was just like Tiger’s one. I still can’t wipe the smile off my face. I just keep playing and playing it over and over again in my mind,”

“I overshot the green by 20 yards but that’s not a salient issue.”

Ian says that just by hitting one single good shot over the weekend, he feels recharged, energised and ready for the working week.

“Honestly, if everyone did what I did on the weekend, Monday would be the most productive workday of the week.”

Our reporter smiled, nodded and went back to listening to The Joe Rogan Podcast.

More to come.