Tee time

He was invited to be part of a team visiting Malaysia to play in the World Amateur Inter Team Golf Championship 2011 grand final in November at the Tiara Melaka Golf and Country Club. Poona’s Farrokh Mody was the Poona Club Golfer of the Year 2010-11 and is in the running for the same title this year as well. "My association with golf started when I was about four years old as my dad Daraius (an oral and maxillo facial surgeon by profession) was a good amateur golfer and really loved the game,” says Mody. "I started going along to the course for his games and there started my love for golf.” When he was six, his grandfather’s old set was cut and presented to him. "I pottered around the practice greens and played around till I was 11,” he continues. Thereafter the lad was sent to study at a boarding school in England. "I was there till I was 17, playing lots of sports and always loved competition but no golf!”

Farrokh Mody: Into the swing of things on the golf course and (inset) with tournament trophies

His interest in the sport, which was traditionally the preserve of the few in metros and military cantonments, was renewed after his return to India. Farrokh narrates how, all excited, he went to his dad one day and told him "let’s go and get started again.” His father turned around, went into his room and came out with a huge book by Tiger Woods titled How I play golf. "Go and read this book and then we’ll talk,” he told his son. Ten days later, Farrokh informed his father that he’d read the book. "He looked at me and told me to read it again! So I did. He taught me basics and some good fundamentals but I mostly worked by myself and was never regular. I come from a family of doctors (besides his father, Farrokh’s uncle cardiologist Sammy Mody is one of Poona’s well-known consultant physicians) but my father never pushed me into becoming a doctor.”

In 2006, Farrokh started practicing on the glorious green of the Poona Club Golf Course and worked towards getting his handicap. Swinging towards success, he won some tournaments — winner of the Centenary Cup in 2006 and 2009 and the Merchants Cup 2009 (team event), runner-up in the Poona Club quadrangular team in 2010, etc. A thrilling tournament was the McDowell Signature Club Golf Championship at Chiang Mai in Thailand in 2010 where the Poona Club team emerged winners. In July 2011, he had won the Gustad Rashid Cup 2010-11. In October he took part in the Maharashtra Open. "My handicap is four currently and I have been playing well within it. I need to hit the ball longer than I do at present and strength training is really going to help. I’m very lucky to be a Poona Club member because it gives me a great opportunity to play and practice so close to home. The course is in good shape and the practice facilities are improving all the time,” he comments. The golfer believes his strength is in his ability to "keep my head down and fight it out in tough situations.” Working on his game for several hours a day, five days a week, he says he does not have any professional coaching but "I’ve been very fortunate to have met and learnt from many seasoned players and professionals along the way.”