By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 11 Apr: Lt Col BM Thapa (Retd), Senior Vice President Dehradun Ex-Services League and Sangyukt Nagrik Sangthan, has reported that several golf enthusiasts gathered at ‘The Golf Hut’, here, on Sunday, to celebrate the launch of the book, ‘Keys to Excel at Golf’, written by Col KS Mann (Retd). Col Mann is expert Doonite Golfer. The book was released by Lt Gen RS Pradhan (Retd), another acclaimed golfer.
Rajeev Nangia, golfer and a friend of the author, highlighted the valuable latest techniques of golf highlighted in the book. He appreciated the 40 years of dedicated efforts put in by the author to publish such a knowledgeable book for all categories of golfers.
Col Mann explained in brief the gist of his book and stated that it would be very useful for all categories of golfers, including the upcoming generation.
This book is the product of Col Mann’s forty years of playing golf and has golfing advice for everyone, including women and children. It is a valuable guide for learners as well as for advanced golf players. As per the author, Golf is fun, recreational, and a stress buster. That is what spurred the author to take to the game. Already an accomplished hockey player, shifting from hockey stick to golf club came to him with ease. Expertise, however, required a lot of perseverance. When he started, access to advice on improving one’s game was very difficult to get. Undeterred, he chose to teach himself by observing better players, watching innumerable golf videos in the pre-YouTube era and poring over golf magazines.
Even today, his skill on the course remains enviable for men half his age. A soft-spoken gentleman, he met Col Thapa six decades ago, as both were from the same Army course. They did engineering graduation together from the College of Military Engineering where he was an outstanding hockey player of the Services level. Later on, he became an excellent Golfer with deep knowledge and used to be called Golf Guru everywhere, including in Doon Valley. He even took coaching from famous coach Jassi Grewal of National Golf Academy, Chandigarh, and others.
He was the champion of inter-services golf tournaments many times and also of many high-level golf tournaments. He had been coaching students of RIMC for nearly 10 years and also students of many other schools, colleges and institutions. For writing this knowledgeable Golf book, credit goes to all his friends and family members Ramminder Mann, Jasminder Maolankar, Jaideep and Angad. He says there’s a woman behind every successful endeavour, which is wife Ramminder Mann’s contribution.
He has nurtured numerous budding golfers to excel in this self-challenging game, including national-level players. His only regret is not being able to convince his wife to get on the greens. Kuldeep Mann may have hung up his army boots decades ago but his golf shoes remain firmly on!
Those present on the occasion were Rajeev Nangia, Lt Gens RS Pradhan, GS Negi, Vice Admiral Vinay Badhwar, Maj Gen Sanjeev Khatri, GOC, UK Sub Area, Brigs Ajay Kumar, PPS Pahwa, Cols KS Mann, VM Naithani, Arun Mamgai, SK Makin, Sunny Bakshi, BM Thapa, LS Rana, Vinod Thapliyal, RB Thapa, Jagdeep Singh, UC Kuthari, Mukul Kuthari, Capt Sanjay Gandhi, Anup Singh, D Bhora and many others.
