An 18 month Golf journey with Golf4Fun – Spring 2012 to Autumn 2013

In the last year and a half Golf4fun has enriched my life in several ways: Be it technical (Shot and material) or personal (Getting to know many nice people along the way). From the very start I was very happy about knowing somebody who was getting active in organising Golf events. Nora (O’Sullivan) is doing this not only with helvetic precision but with passion and big success, as indicated by the long list of growing sponsors.

Tim together with 2013 King Tiger Jay Gilbert during the season final Apéro, Sept 20th 2013

The whole journey started at Bad Schinznach while enjoying a Par 3 Event. Although – or maybe because – I had not gone into this event in a competitive mood it helped me very much because the short holes point out the necessity of paying attention and doing things right. More than a year later I am still very thankful for having participated there.

Tim together with Myriam and Peter at the monthly Par 3 event at Bad Schinznach Pitch and Putt course Summer 2012

The next kind of event which I attended was the monthly Members Apero, mostly taking place at the McGees irish pub close to Zurich’s Bahnhof Wiedikon. Especially nice about these events were two things: on one hand there was the free welcome drink and on the other hand it wasn’t strictly restricted to Golfers but open to internationally oriented persons, having a good time when united. The fact that these event were organised/executed by a Golfers organisation made it even more colourful.

Tim enjoying a few beers with the other Golf4Fun’ers at one of the monthly Members Apéros during Autumn 2012.

Who would have thought that the next turf I entered would not turn out to be a classical Golf Course: next point on the list was the Short Game Championship in combination with a very nice Raclette at the Golfpoint Urdorf, the home base of Golf4fun, carefully and professionally lead by Daniel Meier and Pro Brian Murphy.

Tim together with his flight at Round 1 of the 2012 Short Game Championship

Indeed the first proper Golf round had to wait for quite a while. Before that a few virtual rounds took place in the region of Rapperswil during the winter. The location was a very nice and quite impressive/ modern facility in whose 5 “boxes” one can choose between exercising on a Driving Range and playing real, famous courses like Valderrama. The long shots in particular were really good to train whereas the transferability of the short game was rather doubtful at times. All in all they were very good and interesting rounds which we absolved in this indoor facility.

Tim relaxing together with Brian and some of the other players on the day at Golfnow, Spring 2013.

The first real Golf Course I played with Golf4fun was a real classic indeed, curiously not even in Switzerland: the Golf Course “Le Betulle” in Biella, northern Italy, playing host for a Golf4Fun weekend at the start of May. A dream of a Golf Course with hotel: beautifully embedded with magnificent view to the piemontese Alps, generously architected holes, almost no rough but plenty of space under the birches and the other beautiful trees.

Enjoying dinner with the other Golf4Fun’ers at Biella, May 2013

After Biella the tournament season started for me: Gruyére (partly under the influence of hale), Bad Bellingen (a whole Golf weekend / 2 tournaments), Steisslingen (where umbrellas became parasols), Emmental and lastly Waldkirch were all added to my list, with a few friendly rounds in between. As the arguable highlight of the season – my “Monster-drive” from Bad Bellingen’s Sunday tournament stands out. The balls I won were about as “easy come, easy go” as one can imagine but the Book token I got as one of the lucky losers in Steisslingen will provide long time benefit surely.

Tim celebrating his “monster” drive on the fairway at Bad Bellingen, June 2013

And although I still struggle to improve my handicap since about 6 years now, I would like to point out that I have had many very good times – which is what matters in the end.

18 months of Golf4fun: it really is fun after all. My advice – Worth participating.

Golf4fun’er Timothy Sperisen “The Monster”