Chapter 6

Nik went to the Lido for lunch and timed his going there to be a few minutes before they stopped serving. The crowd had thinned out but there still were people there and some of them greeted him. They complimented him on his presentation and said they were looking forward to his next lecture.

After eating and armed with his kindle Nik found the private area at the front of the ship. He entered it and took a seat on one of the lounge chairs that were in the shade. He noticed the two young ladies there wearing almost next to nothing working on their tans. They gave him a look but they didn’t say anything.

He started reading a story and thought next time he would bring his earphones and maybe instead of reading would listen to some music.

“Excuse me, but I don’t know you. Who are you and why are you here?”

This was one of the ladies who had been working on her tan who was asking that question.

“I am Nik Edwards, the golf pro on this cruise. Katie said I could have some privacy if I came here. And you are?”

Smiling she said, “Debbie Hankins and my friend over there is Sydney Williams. We are dancers here although they do give us side jobs to do as well.”

“It’s nice meeting you and I will try not to bother you.”

“Oh, it’s no bother, I like talking to the new people that work on this ship. Can you tell me about yourself?’

She took a seat on the lounge chair across from him and he turned to her to give her a capsule version of himself. In talking to her he also gave her a good look-see. He would guess she was in her early twenties, had long dark hair, a slim figure with not an ounce of fat on it. His first impression was that she seemed like a nice person.

Debbie told Nik she was from the mid-west and was doing this dancing on the ship to save some money as she planned to go back to school and get an MBA. She wanted to work for a large investment bank. In Nik’s mind, he thought that she was no dummy. She pointed out things to him about the ship he didn’t know as to the dos and don’ts. Saying she needed to leave to go and work at a bingo game she said it was nice meeting him.

After both of the ladies left, Nik had some thoughts about the women on this ship. It was apparent there were some single women on this ship and that if things worked out maybe he could develop a relationship with one of them. They however would need to be the ones who would indicate to Nik they were interested in him. He thought that maybe in his wanting privacy needed to be re-evaluated for that to happen.

Before going back to his cabin, Nik who had been given a key to the room where he was to give the golf lessons visited it. He familiarized himself with the video recording system that was there along with the other equipment. This wasn’t the state-of-the-art equipment but it was sufficient to record a golf lesson.

Nik had a late dinner at the Lido which wasn’t crowded since most of the people had opted for one of the dining rooms or were in the main theater watching the show. Debbie had told him it was the same food served here that was served in the two main dining rooms.

Back in his cabin, he picked up the ship’s newsletter that had been slipped under the door along with a sheet of paper that listed the times and names of the six people who had signed up for golf lessons tomorrow. It was five men and one woman who signed up for the golf lessons.

The second seminar Nik gave this time was in the main showroom was well attended. Nik started his lecture about the golf swing by having the technician put on the large screen a short video Nik had downloaded off the net which showed the three golf grips. Nik mentioned which of the pros he was aware of was using one of these grips. He followed that by a discussion of taking the stance to where you want the ball’s position to be for the shot. All this transitioned into swinging the golf club and hitting the ball.

In changing his grip on the club he demonstrated by hitting whiffle balls toward the audience, you could hook or slice the golf ball. He said you normally want a grip that causes the ball to go straight. To do that he explained the grip is where adjustments are made to have the clubface be square at impact to the golf ball.

He ended his talk by saying, “When you strike the ball and it starts going straight but then it either hooks or slices, you need to adjust your grip on the golf club, by turning it on the club which we call making it stronger or weaker. You want the face of the club to be square to the ball at impact. The ball will hook or more commonly slice if the club face isn’t square. That’s because the club face not being square to the ball puts a spin on the ball just like a baseball pitcher who throws a curve ball.”

“If you hit the ball and it starts off going to the right or left immediately, that tells you the problem is in your swing and that is what you need to correct. There could be swing problems in your stance, hips, or shoulders causing this. Unfortunately, you can have problems at the same time with both the swing and the grip. Remember, it is the flight of the golf ball that is telling you if you have problems and where the problems are that you need to correct.”

He thanked the audience and hoped they learned something which prompted them to give Nik a nice round of applause.

The individual golf lessons went well in Nik’s opinion. He had turned on the recorder and surprised each student with a CD recording of the lesson. The most common problem with these older students Nik noticed was a lack of flexibility which hindered them in making a full swing in striking the ball and finishing high. Nik told each student if they watched the CD he would be giving them on this lesson and compared it to what they see on the television with the pro-touring golfers, they will see how short their swing is in comparison. Maybe by doing some stretching exercises and making a concerted effort to finish their swing high in the follow-thru by turning their hips more they will increase the distance they hit the ball.

After the golf lessons were completed, Nik went to the front of the ship and continued to read his book. This time a tall blond young lady sat across from him and introduced herself as Elsa. She spoke with an accent and said she was from Denmark. Elsa said Debbie had told the other dancers about meeting Nik here. They had a nice conversation before Elsa left to sell some pull-tabs at the daily bingo game.

The lecture Nik gave the following day was on the theme of “Around the Green.” He discussed sand traps, pitching, and chipping. He thought it went well judging by the applause he received at the conclusion.

Nik was scheduled to give two golf lessons that afternoon, one to a man and one to a woman. There was nothing unusual in giving the lesson with the man but that couldn’t be said in doing the lesson with the woman because of what happened at the end of the lesson.

The lady whose name was Tamara Reynolds and was about Nik’s age said, “This ship will be in Hawaii in the morning. My husband has signed up to go whale watching. I don’t do small boats, I only do big boats. Because of that, I will be by myself in our suite as he does his whale watching thing. I would like to invite you to keep me company for some drinks and some snacks, say at noon?”