. . .
My name is Edoardo and I'm a good guy, I always have been. Accurate. Calm. Meticulous. I know for sure that accuracy is a virtue. I was ten years old.
It's September many years ago, two of dad's friends come to dinner, ham from our land, piping hot in the broth, laughter and one gossip that leads to another. Because my father Giuliano is very nice and conquers everyone.
"Come on Giuliano, Dodi is coming with us next Saturday we'll take him to see a golf competition."
I didn't attach much importance to the proposal but contrary to my expectations my mother agreed.
So we went that gray and rainy morning to witness what I didn't know at the time would have fascinated me to the point of completely changing my life.
I remember my mother grumbled annoyed for all 6 hours of competition, she was cold and she said she didn't care at all to see where that stupid little ball ended up every time someone hit it with the iron.
Not me, I didn't feel the cold or the rain, I was fascinated by that strange sport that I had never followed until then and whose rules I still didn't know.
I felt attracted by its rituals, by its firm rules, by the precision necessary to be able to make a hole, by its origins, by the ancient flavor of the English nobility, by its traditions which smelled of large green meadows in the Sussex countryside and of breaks for enjoy a hot cup of tea, on a cold day dressed in tweed, shetland sweaters, checked trousers.
I understood that golf was important to me.
It suited my character exactly: because golf is a precision sport and I am precise, meticulous, calm, refined, restrained, polite.
I quickly understood that golf was similar to me in a way that no sport had ever practiced until then.
That day flew by, evening came quickly and I sadly walked away from those green fields.
I decided that I would go back there.
I rented an iron and a bucket of balls at the driving range, and started trying my first shots. The master saw me and noticed a certain style.
He told me that in the following days they were starting a course for beginners.
My mother was able to accompany me every day since it was September, there was no fog and neither was school. I was also fortunate that they opened an affordable driving range near my house the following spring.
Everything turned in my favor, a kind of predestination as if a golf angel had helped me.
Now I couldn't think of my life without golf, I would certainly see it sadder.
The passion for this sport has allowed me to discover a real discipline. Sporty and interior.
You should never feel the effort. You have to do the most challenging things as if they come naturally to us. In life. Like in golf. A game, a passion, a lifestyle that maintains its most authentic spirit despite the centuries, made up of sportsmanship, fair play, harmony with nature.
To bed early at night and wake up in the morning.
All this sporting routine has allowed me to take away many satisfactions: victories, youth awards, articles in local newspapers.
Everyone told me that I could become a champion and that I could be a professional but I know how much effort these results required.
How many days have I spent in the fields in the cold, under the February rain or under the terrible July sun and in the clouds of mosquitoes that annoyed me on hot summer evenings.
I know that only thanks to the enthusiasm that came from my heart for what I understood to be the great passion of my life could I face all the difficulties that I would inevitably encounter.
Of course I can say that that evening Mauro and Giovanna changed the meaning of my life at dinner at our house.
And I love them too and not just for this.
