Although I had been an avid Arnold Palmer fan in my youth, having watched and cheered him on television as he took on the likes of Billy Casper, Julius Boros, Gary Player and his nemesis, Jack Nicklaus, I drew the line at actually taking the game up. But Romy was persistent, and he actually booked an appointment with teaching pro Eddie de Leon, without my consent.

From the first embarrassing stroke with a 7-iron, I was hooked. Although my love affair with golf has been an on-again, off-again liaison, it has been quite the passionate one. Nothing beats spending hours amidst greenery and good friends. And I don’t know what it is about spending a few hours together in the golf course that makes good friends out of people who play together.

In the course of my dalliance with the sport, I have been a member of several golf clubs, the latest of which is the Sundowners of the Veterans Memorial Golf Club. We play every Wednesday and Saturday exclusively at the 40-year-old course whose design is a throw-back to the 60’s. So you might say we regularly "stroll down memory lane".

Although it is short (par 71) it is a challenging course that puts a premium on accuracy what with huge trees lining narrow fairways and undulating, postage stamp greens. Although it cannot boast of the high-tech grass and all-weather conditions of the new courses, Veterans is still one of the more popular golf courses around.

One reason of course is its accessibility. Located in the heart of Quezon City, it is one of the few golf courses that a Metro Manilan can play without having to spend an entire day, because of travel time. Most of the new courses are located either in the suburbs or really faraway places.

The other compelling reason for its popularity is Veterans’ comparatively low green fees. Whereas playing the new courses could set you back a couple of thousand pesos, plus caddy fees and food, one would spend only about a third of that amount at Veterans.

And nowadays, those who have been playing Veterans for quite some time as I have, are given even more reasons to play it regularly. The management under Col. Reynaldo A. Romero (PA, ret.) has done a splendid job in maintaining the course.

Since his assumption as General Manager in February of this year, Romero has instituted a major facelift at Veterans. Habitués are one in saying that course conditions have never been better. Construction and maintenance work are continuously being done; even cart paths have been installed! It was also amazing how felled trees and other debris were cleared in record time after typhoon Milenyo.

Col. Romero has also instilled discipline among the caddies. While he is comfortable spending time and even eating and joking around with them, infractions are handled with military precision and dispatch.

Curiously, the first to commend such a policy have been the caddies themselves who are the most vocal of their appreciation of the way things are being run at Veterans. And if the caddies are happy, all must be well at the golf course.

Lest I be accused of being a crony of the Veterans GM, let it be known that I have not exchanged more than ten words with the colonel. Although he normally greets players in his affable manner, we have not had the opportunity to break bread or socialize with each other.

I’m just an ordinary regular at Veterans who is appreciative at the positive developments at the place where I spend many hours of relaxation, camaraderie, and some wonderful frustrations (at my golf game).

Congratulations, good sir!