No time like the present
By Timothy Low
Covid-19 has been a massive pain in the neck, no two ways about it. Sure it gets rather depressing when you’re inundated with countless daily reports of new cases and clusters but let’s be honest, apart from staying home and masking up when we go out - what can we do about it? The answer sadly, is nothing.
We can’t stop the pandemic, can’t hit a magic “reset” button that reverts everything back to normal and we would be ignorant to think that as an individual we could really do anything but sit tight and wait for this to blow over. Unless of course you’ve been sitting on the cure for Covid-19 all this while, in which case now would be a brilliant time to share that information!
In all seriousness though, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect over the past couple of weeks of the Circuit Breaker measures in Singapore and came to a rather zen conclusion - why not view this whole period as a cosmic “pause” button?
For the first time ever we suddenly have an obscene, extravagant amount of spare time on our hands. Why not make the most of it?
Personally I’ve taken the opportunity to learn a couple of new skills (the ukulele to be exact, but don’t expect any live performances anytime soon) and get reconnected with some old ones - cooking and meditating for example. It’s been rather refreshing I have to say. Suddenly we have the freedom to do things or learn things we’ve been putting off for ages, hiding behind the facade of “being too busy” as we get caught up in the whirlwind of everyday life. So let’s not squander this once in a lifetime chance to make some time for ourselves and come out the other end of this period better for it!
On the golfing front things have obviously ground to a frustrating halt with no access to facilities until at least the 1st of June. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to improve aspects of your game in the meantime (and from the safety & comfort of your own home!).
The internet is a treasure trove of helpful tips and tricks to set up your own practice space at home. We’ve got some videos on the Compass Instagram page from our friends at Future Clubs Singapore that you can enjoy (will upload them to the website soon for our members who don’t have instagram). Also, tour professional and golf instructor at another one of our partner academies - The Golfing Lab’s Quincy Quek has some wonderful drills you can practice at home with some household items. Will put a link to those at the end of this post.
So get creative and explore ways you can practice at home and hopefully that will keep your game sharp for when we all get back on a golf course again! Just a word of caution though - I’d highly recommend working on fundamentals and simple actions like chipping or putting with the aid of internet content, but try to avoid working on your full swing as there really is no “one swing fits all” secret sauce. Your best bet for effective improvement with a full swing is to see a qualified golf instructor when the Circuit Breaker ends and have him/her take it from there.
Good luck, enjoy the process and whether it’s putting, cooking, working out at home or learning to play a ridiculously tiny ukulele…get up and do something that’s gonna make you a little better at the end of the day. There really is no time like the present.
Take care,
Timothy Low, Compass Club Founder
