Why women golfers go for the game
Ruma Kat

Golf is the most popular method of beating around the bush, literally. That could be one major reason why so many women in India are taking to golf with such vigour and dedication. But on a more serious note if as a lady you fancy being in pristine environment, away from the din and cacophony of everyday chaos, then all you need to do is to pay some green fees and enter the world of fairways and tees.

Even in India, golf today is becoming a big sport for women, just like it is for men. That much was crystal clear at the Usha Ladies Amateur Golf Championships that was held at the Chandigarh Golf Club recently, where 75 women golfers from across the country fought hard with each other trying to gain a podium finish. They had come to Chandigarh from places as far away as Coimbatore, Bangalore and Mumbai. And the youngest among the 75 contestants was a six-year-old while there were many fifty plus ladies in the fray as well.

Almost every golfer present at the tournament had her own story to narrate about how she first got acquainted with the game. Winner of the championship, 13-year-old Aditi Ashok started playing golf as a family game. "One day, my parents and I walked inside our home golf club in Bangalore, just because we wanted play a game in which we all could participate and enjoy together," said Aditi recalling that she was six at that time. "From there on, I started developing a lot of interest for this game. And my parents have since encouraged me to play more and more golf." But just developing a liking for the game is not enough quips 17-year-old Vani Kapoor, the runners-up of this tournament. "I love playing golf but this game undoubtedly demands a lot of your time and practice. After this tournament, I'll have to quit the game for around four months to take my Class XII Board exams."

When asked how she manages to cope with her studies while she has to practise for three hours daily, Gurgaon girl Vani said, "Indeed, it becomes very difficult and I don't know how I just manage to study because even that is important. Frankly, I care to open my books only before my exams so that I clear them with good marks."

Ankita Kedlaya (13) treats golf as more than just a game and feels that it has become a part of her life and she cannot quit it at any time. "Golf is a game of 18 holes. If you've lost in one, you have a hope to catch up in the next or the next. There's always hope and that is what it teaches me in life as well -- never to lose hope."

While these youngsters are completely engrossed in the sport and take it very seriously, their parents want them to balance things out. "After all, golf is just a game and that's what I keep reminding my daughter," says Ankita's mother who was accompanying her to Chandigarh for the championship. "I'm really happy to see her do so well in golf but then she has to balance this with her studies right now. Later, if she wants to take up golf as a career, she can do it."

Now, if you thought golf is largely a man's game because of their strength and long-hitting abilities, then 16-year-old Millie Saroha from Delhi differs with that line of thought. "More than the physical strength, golf requires mental focus. You need to focus more and more on every shot you play and it keeps growing through the 18 holes. That steels your mind and that is more important than physical strength. But this is what I like about the game and I give my best in every shot I play," says Millie who reached the semifinals of this championship.

While golf teaches grit, resolve, determination etc. there is just one downside to it that probably makes this sport unsuitable for women - you have to stay quiet on the course. Now, is that asking for too much?

Age no barrier

Apart from the usual stuff on fashion and fitness related to women's golf, there is a lot more to this sport as well. If there is this young lot coming in to play the tournaments, then many sporty women of diverse age groups are also in the fray to learn the sport of golf. According to Manjit Kochar, professional coach at the Chandigarh Golf Club, a number of female students are coming for golf lessons these days. "Personally, my approach to teaching does not depend upon age, but besides physical strength and other things, there is a lot more that adds to the difficulty in teaching golf to women," shares Kochar narrating some personal experiences. "If you ask one girl to come at 3 pm, then her mother-in-law is coming at the same time and she cannot attend the class. Call the other one at 2 pm, then her kids are scheduled to come at the same time from school and she is busy serving them lunch. Schedule the class for 9am or 5pm, the ladies either have to go and drop their kids to school or to the tuition or have to send their husbands to the office."

"Now you cannot say anything in these circumstances but simply agree to hold the class at whatever time suits them. Yet one thing is consistent and that is their longing to play and learn even when they do not find time to do so," says Kochar with a wry smile.

SO, WHAT’S your 
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION?
It’s a universally accepted fact that most promises to oneself are made to be broken
Nutan Sehgal

Why is it so tough to keep promises that are made with so much conviction and enthusiasm? The answer is simple. Most of us over-resolve. We make promises that are sometimes too tough to achieve.

“I’ll stop smoking—or drinking. I’ll lose 20 kilos in one year.” That’s a recipe for disaster. Quitting smoking and drinking together and on top of it losing 20 kilos in a year? Perish the thought! The resolution is likely to be dumped in the first week of January! It would be better to have resolved to do something more doable—doing one thing at a time.

Resolutions are made to concentrate upon areas in our lives that need urgent improvement. And yet, how many people actually stick to them? Even if they are made after a great deal of thought they are most likely to be broken. You may feel guilty for sometime but eventually even the guilt fades away.

Every New Year—and even on birthday or special occasions—-people make a serious resolution to do or not to do something. But even if the resolution is not difficult to stick to, chances are that it will be forgotten in a few days time despite all the good intentions while making it.

Familiar  resolutions… n I will quit smoking n I will give up booze n I will lose weight n I will join a gym n I will study harder n I will spend more time with the family n I will go slow on impulsive shopping n I will not lose my temper n I will become more sociable n I will find a better job/ make more money

Ways to reach your goal Remember, as a toddler when you started walking you kept falling often. Soon you learnt to stand up and start again. Gradually walking became an ingrained movement in you. So start by taking those baby steps. That’s the only way you will reach your goal. Otherwise you will be like the guy who wrote the following in his diary on New Year eve….”Cigarettes…New record. I resolved to kick the habit at 11:58 p.m. I managed to break the resolution in five minutes. I lit one at 12.03 p.m. Happy New Year!” —NF

Fitness mantra
Set realistic goals 
Dorene Internicola

Have you already begun to fret over keeping that looming New Year’s resolution to shape up in the coming months? Experts say while wishing will not make it so, visualising your trimmer, fitter self can help to set you on the right path.

“Visualise your success,” advises fitness and wellness instructor Shirley Archer. “Imagine a perfect day where you are at the fitness level that you want. How would you look and feel and what would you be able to do easily if you enjoyed your ideal fitness?”

“Then”, said Archer, the author of Fitness 9 to 5, “get to work on specific goals”.

“The typical mistake is being too vague and too large,” she said. “Instead of ‘I want to lose weight,’ say, ‘I will walk 10 minutes Monday through Friday.’ And don’t make those goals harder until you’ve achieved the easier ones.” Big goals are fine, Archer believes, as long as you break them down, and learn from, and forgive, your inevitable backslides.

“Ask yourself why you did that but be emotionally neutral,” said Archer. “Get rid of that self-critic.” She calls it training from the inside out, and admits it’s easier said than done.

“Studies show it typically takes about eight weeks to make a new habit stick,” she said. “So you have to work hard to change that mindset.”

January is the busiest month for new and returning clients at Equinox, the national chain of fitness centers, said Geralyn Coopersmith, who oversees the education of the training staff. “It’s the same conversation: I need to lose some weight and I need to tone up,” she said. “We encourage them to project themselves a year from now: what would the transformation look like?”

Then, she says, she reminds them that Rome wasn’t built  in a day.

“Coming in on January third with guns blazing is not a good strategy. Slow and steady wins in fitness,” she said. “It’s not as sexy as ‘get into shape in 30 days’, but you didn’t get out of shape in 30 days.”

Instead, Coopersmith favours a customised approach. “Fitness is not one-size-fits-all,” she said, “We want people to have an assessment even if they aren’t seeing a trainer regularly.”

She said clients left entirely to their own devices can make ineffective choices.

“It is human nature for people to gravitate to things they’re most efficient at, what they need the least,” she said. “Sometimes you have to go against the grain.” Kevin Burns, spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, urges swapping those grandiose dreams of enormous changes for two or three smart, specific and measurable goals. Then write them down.

“Instead of saying ‘I’ll exercise every single day in 2012,’ set a schedule, set a time line, and be flexible but specific,” said Burns, a Minnesota-based fitness trainer for over 20 years. “A New Year’s resolution is a marathon, not a sprint.”

He also suggests looking back at your resolutions for the passing year, at what worked, what didn’t, and why. “If it failed last year it will likely fail again,” he said. “Why start another year with failed resolutions?” Whatever your path to fitness, Coopersmith said, realise that it’s going to take a little time. “The difference between success and failure is keeping your promise to yourself,” she said, “and making a promise you can keep.” —Reuters

Multi-vitamins confer zero benefits

Popping multi-vitamin pills doesn't seem to confer any real health benefits, according to a new study. A team led by Nancy University researchers in France tracked 8,112 volunteers who took either a placebo or one containing vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc, daily for over six years. The study, one of the most exhaustive to date, suggests that millions may be throwing their money away without deriving any real benefits. They were just as likely to develop cancer or heart disease as those who took an identical-looking dummy pill. It found that pills containing vitamin E, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc increased the risk of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, four-fold, according to a Daily Mail report.

Many users fall into the category of healthy adults who believe the pills will act to insure them against deadly illnesses, said Catherine Collins, chief dietician at St George's Hospital in London. “But they are wasting their money. This was a large study following people up for a long period of time assessing everything from their mobility and blood pressure to whether they were happy or felt pain,” she added.

It also discovered that women on a daily multi-vitamin pill increased their risk of breast cancer by up to 20 per cent.

While the evidence that vitamins can do harm is still limited, the latest study seems to confirm that many people are at the very least taking them unnecessarily. — IANS