Porto Cervo Lifestyle It’s a gorgeous morning. Nature woke up coloring the landscape with thousand shapes of blue. The chirping of birds resounds in the early morning silence
I get ready for the Pevero for Ladies. Do you remember?
One year ago I took my first steps in the world of golf and after some unsuccessful strokes (to the detriment of the green) and some skillful ones – as seen on the TV – here I am, ready and well-equipped for the challenge.
One could have hoped that one year after holding a pat for the first time, I would have now told you of my participation in the competition; but truth doesn’t always go hand in hand with our dreams.
After examining my progress, the good Marco – magnanimous director of the Pevero – decided to restrict my participation to the role of caddy.
In spite of this, I have an equally funny story in store, with a happy ending. The story of the extraordinary women whom I had the chance to meet again this year, with the wonderful Pevero as a backdrop.
I follow the group I am assigned and I am fascinated by the way in which each of them approaches the competition, waiting for the proper moment, for the ideal concentration to dance a magnificent swing and turn it into pure energy. Strength and elegance, like novel Achilles, as if the power that their body exerts on the movement did not require any effort. The flight of the ball seems to possess the elegance of those women and the precision of their goals.
And I am left with the sensation of flying off towards a harmony where this precise moment melds with what surrounds me.
Golf is this and much more.
During the transfers with the golf car (by the way, I want one right now to play in my garden) Silvia tells me there is not a proper age to start. It’s a road you can come across at every stage of your life, but if you take it once, then it will hardly be an unreciprocated love.
Silvia hadn’t seen me practicing yet.
I try to get from her how to release so much strength with such harmony; I tell her my metaphor about Achilles and golf and she laughs
“You’ll see, determination will make things easier,” she says. But I remain of my opinion: if this is the Iliad, I’ve not been invited by fate.
We reach hole 15. Here we witness to a masterpiece of landscape architecture. The starting tee stands out in a breathtaking scenery, which was also used in a 007 film; at the beginning of the course there is a plaque in remembrance.
I’d love to try a stroke, I long for that elegance, that strength, but unfortunately my Homeric passion immediately takes me back into the story and now Achilles’ heel it’s me.
Distractedly I turn to Silvia without realizing she was just about to hit a ball. She gives a start and loses the karma of that precious moment and the resulting trajectory of her stroke is an odd bow, completely unbalanced.
I see the ball ending up off the road and I realize I’ve just lost a friend. But she smiles, takes me by the arm and tells me, with an elegance which only equals her looks: “Now we only have few minutes to find it, let’s not quail”
I try to apologize but she reassures me. Maybe I just came close to the heel.
I finally see the ball and run towards Silvia to drag her along with me. I still have to adjust my enthusiasm to the regimented world of golf, because the rest of the group is looking at me and laughing.
When we approach the ball, we both notice a turtle trapped in the fencing net. We cannot figure out how she got stuck there, but it is clear that she will not be able to disentangle herself.
There are precise times in golf and Silvia decides to give up that hole.
I feel sorry, but once again she shows me that there are values that go beyond scores in this sport.
“Are you joking? I am the one to thank you, because thus we saved Bernie”
I watch her puzzled and she laughs.
“I made it up right now. I am used to giving names immediately to the animals I come across”
We free Bernie from the tangle and we fix the net.
We get on the golf car and drive back with Bernie next to us with a bowl of salad and a lot of water.
Thus the afternoon goes by. At the awards ceremony Silvia is awarded the “Fair play prize”, especially made up and given by Marco out of the public eye to honor her rescue mission. She shares it with me and I am happy for this paradox of destiny.
Once again I feel that love and respect for nature should be top values in everyone’s life.
But above all, I already know which tale to tell tonight when I put my kids to bed.
My personal paradox.
Achilles, Rita and the turtle.
