Aamir Khan supports The Golf Foundation (TGF), and during its event on Monday at The Bombay Presidency Golf Club we spoke to him about his association with them. During this interaction, a hilarious story
emerged about the first time he played golf.
When was the first time you played golf? And what is your golf handicap?
My golf handicap? My God. So it's a very funny incident. I was shooting for Raja Hindustani (1996) in Coonoor, and there's a beautiful golf course there. So while waiting for my shot to get ready, I saw some golfers passing by, and I requested them if I could try a shot, i had never played before. I've played all kinds of racket sports like tennis, table tennis, badminton and squash. So I'm a racket sport person and have a fairly good ball sense. So they were very kind and said, yes, please try.
They put the ball on the ground and I had the club in my hand and had to just whack the ball. I looked at the ball and I gave a vicious swing, thinking it must have gone really far. But it took me a second to realize I've completely missed it- I didn't make contact at all! And it was a stationary ball which I could not hit! So I tried again and I missed. And this time I was really focusing on the ball. Eyes on the ball, eyes on the ball! Missed it again. And I was shocked. How come I'm not able to hit the ball?
Then they told me, you know, don't aim at the ball, aim below the ball, then you might hit it. So I followed the instruction and tried to hit the ground below the ball. And in the third try, I managed to chip the top of the ball and it bounced a couple of times and landed a few feet away. At which point I realized this is a really tough game. It needs some other kind of intelligence that clearly I didn't have. And so that's been my experience with golf so far.
Was Karisma Kapoor there?
You mean she was distracting me? (Smiles)
I never said anything that you're saying. (We both laugh)
No, no. She was not around. It was just me and the ball and I still couldn't make contact.
Aamir’s association with The Golf Foundation
Amit Luthra, the founder, who was India number one in golf is an old friend of Aamir’s.
“He told me about the work that they're doing- picking up young talent from across the country, even from villages where there are no facilities to play golf. Golf is also an expensive game, so the idea behind this foundation is that irrespective of economic background, if the child has talent and shows aptitude for this game, they want to support that child, and so over the years, they've had some amazing experiences where they've really picked talent which has done India proud. And I've watched the work of The Golf Foundation and I've felt that, here's something I would like to support. And Amit, being a friend, I was always ready to help out,” Aamir told us.
He went on to tell us about the importance of democratizing sport in India, especially a sport like golf, which is so expensive.
“For a game like golf, if you don't have a foundation like this, then it gets restricted to a group of people who are wealthy or economically very well off, and only they can afford to play the game. So especially in games like this, you need that kind of help and support because talent can be born anywhere. And then we must nurture the talent and support them. In games like football, you just need a ball and you can start playing. I remember when I was a kid, we used to play football with a stone. But for golf you need to have facilities. It's a game that requires a certain amount of infrastructure,” Aamir said.
