BENGALURU: Shweta Sastri’s love for golf is evident in the way she talks about the time she played at the golf course at St Andrews, Scotland, or as she calls it, the “Mecca for golf”. The managing director, Canadian International School, Bengaluru, says, “My father and I travelled there eight years ago, just to play golf. It took us a year-and-a-half to get off the waiting list but it was a beautiful experience to play on the course where golf was invented.”
Sastri was attracted to the sport at the age of 14 after a visit to the course with her father. “Everything seemed so green and it felt like the perfect place to unwind,” says Sastri, who now plays golf every weekend. “Golf requires time. It takes four hours to complete around so that’s not always possible. I do try to complete six to eight holes at least,” adds the 36-year-old.
Ask any golfer what their bucket list consists of, and you are likely to hear the phrase ‘hole-in-one’. A slightly uncommon sight on the course, a hole-in-one occurs when a golfer manages to get his golf ball into a cup with just one stroke. Sastri calls her hole-in-one experience (which happened in January last year) a “prestigious” moment, and says, “You can’t really plan this. It’s some luck and some amount of skill. It’s one of my biggest golfing achievements.”
While many sports require teamwork and cooperation, the outcome of a game of golf is more in the hands of the individual player, which is something Sastri loves about the game. “There is no one else to blame if a game isn’t played well. I love that about this game; it’s a constant way to keep challenging yourself,” she says. Besides being a way to unwind, the sport has also taught her many life lessons, including self-discipline and humility. “If you are angry and try hitting a shot, it will never work. Then you have only yourself to blame. This is an important thing to keep in mind while running an establishment too,” she explains.
While golf helps her unwind, adventure sports help her feel more alive. “Jumping off an airplane from a height of 15,000 ft, seeing the colourful corals at the Great Barrier Reef, and ziplining across the Niagara Falls are some of the other things I have ticked off my bucket list,” says Sastri.