Over the years from Nagpur (2009-13), IIM Indore (2013-2020), NMIMS (2020-22), and Prestige University (2022-24), I taught Golf basics to a wide variety of students including MDP participants from industry, MBA/BBA/Ph.D. students or alumni, and faculty members. Staff too. Some pictorial reminders-
Below- Radha Ladkani, prof., IIM Indore
If AI could hire people, train them, and do all the paperwork, we wouldn't need H.R.
If AI could manage creatives, media, and brand strategy, we wouldn't need Brand Managers.
If AI could handle distribution and other operations, we would not need other Sales Managers.
If AI could manufacture for us, we wouldn't need Production managers/workers.
If AI could do accounting and budgets, we wouldn't need Finance Managers
If AI could invest for people or organisations, we wouldn't need investment advisers.
And if AI could play Golf, we wouldn't need CEOs.
Sport teaches you many things. Football and Cricket thrive on teamwork. Basketball on shooting ability to score. Defence too, in some of the team games. What about Golf? It can teach you a few things.
1. Planning a shot. You have choices, starting with what Club to use. Where you want to reach.
2. Concentration. While hitting the shot, all energy is focused on the ball and the swing of the club, or the Putt, on the green.
3. Visualising. On a green, particularly, it's tricky because of slopes-up or down, the behaviour of the ball, because the green can be fast or slow depending on the moisture, grass length and so on.
4. Execution. For all the planning, and the right grip, stance etc., how you play the shot matters the most.
5. Consistency matters more than genius in one or two shots. It's a long haul.
6. Practice on a given course matters, in addition to generic practice. Understanding the course you are playing on is important.
Translate these into life learnings, or work.
I played Golf starting from my days at Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies in Harihar, around 1996. My colleagues Dhanapal and Vijayakumar, and YK Gaur, were my partners. Occasionally, got to play in Bangalore with friends- Ravi at BGC, or Muthu at KGA. But in later years, I found opportunities to start training students and faculty in playing Golf, when I was at IMT Nagpur. We actually created a Green and played in the evenings, and trained our students and colleagues.
At IIM Indore, I used the cricket ground to play a few shots, and trained some students and faculty in the basics. Also a few MDP participants from various companies.
At NMIMS Bangalore just after the COVID pandemic, we started playing on a green patch in campus, and many faculty or staff picked up the basic drive and Putt. It was great fun and the institute bought a kit subsequently.
I think schools or institutions should, where they have some space, try and teach this unique sport - it's not very expensive to do just a couple of shots and some putting. And the bragging rights for students are priceless!
My golf student, Ph.D. from IIM Indore, prof. at Roorkee IIT, and good friend Prachi Jain was in town for admission interviews.
We went restaurant hopping on Park Street. Some pics. Her old colleague Umang, now teaching at IIMC, and new ones from IIT Roorkee were in the vicinity. Met some of them too.
NMIMS Bangalore was where I was Director for two years, just when COVID had struck.. 2020 November till around 2022 October. It took a while to open the campus to physical classes. But once we did, we also started Golf training. Quite a few faculty (ladies and gents), along with students, got this training in the basics. I had also done this at IIM Indore and IMT Nagpur before. At Nagpur, Prof. Gadgil and I got a Green constructed, flag included, and played for half an hour at the end of the day with colleagues. Introduced students to it through a structured process in their induction week too. Some pics from NMIMS Bangalore-
Did not expect to write this so soon. But then, that's life. I lost another Golfer friend- the second this year. He was a part of the Fabulous Four who toured Kodaikanal with me, and was witness to my first Hole-in-one there, in 2014. Prof. Ravi Gadgil, a genial soul who stayed Single, but was friends with many, passed away on December 5, today at Nagpur. He had worked in B to B Marketing in the U.S. and India, and taught Sales with great aplomb at IMT Nagpur to several batches.
Pics are a great way to remember our good times.
Putting, and posing.. Munnar
A larger group of alumni, Hyderabad. Shuchi Bhatnagar is third from left.
