Here I go again Thursday blogging evening for me. OK, so I tell a white lie its Wednesday evening and I’m on the ball well I’ll be talking about a ball, a little white ball. You know that game that is described as a “good walk spoiled” yes, its Golf. My Dad has played golf for as long as I remember. You know as a cyclist on an icy or dark winter evening the turbo trainer is put to good use, a runner might trip the light fandango of the treadmill, well my Dad’s equivalent would be putting a golf ball across the carpet in the front room. Golf balls lined up, putt after putt into a drinking glass not the Waterford crystal tumblers you understand but maybe a plastic beaker. The latter being replaced by a little gadget that returned the ball when you hit the jackpot and when the batteries ran out the beaker resurfaced.

Putters and drivers in houses brings to mind the saying “people in glass-houses shouldn’t throw stones” or “like a bull in a China shop” or even  “12 year old girls shouldn’t swing golf clubs near lovely light fittings in neighbours’ houses”, that one is self-explanatory unfortunately to my shame:(

Anyway, when it comes to sport my Dad is pretty competitive, I guess I inherited those genes! He’s a great golfer, often playing 4 rounds a week and more.  My Dad is clever, I’ve yet to beat him in Scrabble, he nails those Sudoku in no time. Yet, when it comes to taking the number 1 from the number 10 he has a mental block. What I’m saying is, his ambition to get his handicap down to single figures has eluded him. His head is his only handicap! Because, I know and he knows he can do this. So, if you’re reading this Philip, I hope I have spurred you on and not hindered your golfing ambitions. Just remember Dad 9 is the magic number and we all know you can do it.

When my Dad turned the big 7-0 (not too long ago…ahem) my Mam organised a party for him and invites had to be made. Suffice to say it didn’t take too long to decide on the theme. My brother Greg had previously taken a lovely action photo of Dad during one of their outings. In the photo he is about to chip a shot into the hole (of course;)). This was the perfect image for the drawing on the party Invites. I began the drawing with a 2H pencil and continued with coloured pencils, and graphic pens. The coloured pencil being a favourite of mine because as a medium it is so versatile and when you want to get that minute detail in, there is nothing like a freshly sharpened nib to complete the task. In the drawing, his stance is suspended in time. This makes me wonder what goes through a golfers’ head, as he swings the club, hoping to make sweet contact with the ball, propelling it the desired distance and direction. It is split second timing, potential energy converting to kinetic energy as the ball receives the full impact of the club head. Yet, a fraction out and the perfect physics lesson can be turned into a (choice) language lesson at times! So peeps, if you’re a golfer, before you make that swing don’t forget to keep the head down and hopefully the handicap will follow suit and go down too! Thanks for reading. Rachel

If you would like to contact me about a painting or drawing my email address is rachohara@gmail.com  You can view more work on my facebook page called Drawn to sport and my Etsy shop of the same name, finally my mobile number is +353 (0) 87 6397210