Pressure Putt.

There is something in golf we call a pressure putt. It’s the small shot (tap) you play to end the hole when on the green (the round patch of well-manicured carpet looking grass with a hole and pin somewhere near the middle of it). There are eighteen greens on an eighteen-hole golf course and nine on a nine-hole golf course. Good golf is played when you hit the ball as few times as possible. The more times you hit the ball from the start of a hole (called the tee box) to the small hole with a cup on the green, the worse your score.

When you are tied with your opponent and you are both on the green about to hole out that’s when the pressure kicks in. The putt is the stroke (shot) that requires the least effort to execute but most mentally demanding. I have missed many putts and lost many games as a result. The mental pressure moves to my hands and they stiffen leading to a golfing disease we call yips. It’s the inability to hole short distance putts because of the tension in my hands and mind. And that’s how you lose the hole and possibly the match. “Drive for show and putt for dough”, the saying goes. The trick is to relax at every shot you take and trust your swing. Simple yet elusive advice that I’m still trying to apply fifteen years later. Someone should invent a vaccine for this yips virus. End of golf 101 lesson folks. I hope it made some sense.

In life as in golf, one always seems to experience a certain pressure before a breakthrough. And the bigger the breakthrough the more intense the pressure just before. I witnessed that on Saturday at the Kipkeino classic at Kasarani stadium. The highlight event was the men’s 100m race featuring our new hero Ferdinand Omanyala racing against top world sprinters. Yaani my stomach was in knots because of the anxiety before the race. 5.55 pm was the race time and by 5.30 pm I was already chewing my fingernails anxious for Ferdinand.

The hour came and the tension was palpable. The hopes of the entire nation lay on his broad shoulders. Even the president was fixated on him. Wahh sema pressure. To make it worse there was a false start followed by nervous minutes of waiting as the footage was being reviewed. I got to learn that if the footage confirmed who was responsible for the false start the punishment would have been severe. You are disqualified from the race. What if Ferdinand was responsible? he would have been sent away. What an anticlimax that would have been for him and the entire nation. Uhuru is a good president. Imagine if it happened in a country with a dictator. Maybe the footage review guy would have been arrested on the spot and the computer reconfigured hehe.

Omanyala went ahead to win the race much to our delight. This is why I love sports. It has the power to unite and go beyond our differences and prejudices. We need more of that dose, especially in this season of hot siasa. I told the president in 2019 (yes I had my two minutes of fame addressing him hehe) that his administration has tried but more can be done. And we are here to help him. I’ll say it again. Bwana Prezzo we are here to help you unleash the power of sports and give more Kenyans a fighting chance to live off their sporting talent. We got a taste of that last Sunday with my baby sharks as we ran over the new expressway. It was quite some fun and the views were kali. Nairobi looks better the higher you are.

And that’s how life is folks. Before a major break or achievement, we have to endure the pressure that will determine if we will win or not. It is like the last test to confirm if we qualify for the victory (and responsibility) ahead. Sadly many cave in to the pressure at this crucial moment, making all the effort they have put in go to waste. How tragic is that? It gets even more tragic because many of us will not try again after that failed attempt.

But how we handle that pressure is what determines success. And chances of success increase further when we go beyond failure and try again. Jacob Thomas from Italy who was Omanyala’s top competitor skipped the race because he was taken ill suddenly. That just sucks. He’s come all this way and doesn’t get to compete. Now that will take deep resolve to rise above and start preparing for the next race. He could have decided to end his career there but how futile would that be. When he wins the next (and bigger race), missing the Kip Keino classic will fade in comparison.

And that’s how to live if we are to chill with the BIG boys in this life. To get to the top of our game and stay there we have to grow our inner muscles of will, resilience and persistence. If we can’t then we join the masses who are just spectators wandering through this life. I refuse to be a spectator. I want to be the main actor in the blockbuster that is my life. The best news is we all have a chance of making a bestseller of our lives. Don’t hold back folks. Do what you need to do because you have what it takes.

May we celebrate you in days to come just like we now do to Ferdinand, because you chose to break through the barriers of pain and disappointment and became the best version of your selves. As the Good Book says, “may we not just count our days but make our days count”. Feel the pressure and do it anyway.