A birthday, and some happy memories of BK, golf guru

By Rahul Banerji

Thursday, September 26 was Colonel BK Singh’s birthday. He is no longer amongst us to help celebrate the occasion, but his gracious wife Shakun and daughter Geetika decided to call his closest mates, his golf group to observe the day. I was honoured at being included in that company.

BK the golfer we knew, some well, others not so much. But he was very much a fixture for me, with his earthy wisdom, his little shared bits of a vast storehouse of golf knowledge and lore.

What Mrs Singh gave us was a little bit of perspective from the other side, the family, and how BK — already very much a keen golfer — became such a regular, till illness began to rob him of time on the course.

She recalled, “As long as he was in service, BK rarely used to worry about how things were running at home. I would tell him what was needed, or he would occasionally ask, and that was that.

“After retirement though, he began to get involved in the house and its running. And it was always questions, ‘why this, and not that’, or ‘isn’t this too much, or too little. Or even, ‘I thought we had bought this just the other day’.

“So I decided to ask the children and my elder daughter and son suggested he could be encouraged to play more regularly. It helped,” she added, laughing.

So, for those of us who knew him on the course, a big thank you to the Singh family for getting BK to us and whatever time that was shared on the fairways and greens of the Noida Golf Course.

And on the occasion it gives me renewed pleasure to share the few lines – updated and edited just a little – I had penned soon after BK left us last August.

Memoriam to an ever-patient stalwart

Colonel Bhupendra Kumar Singh passed away on Saturday. He was 75. He was also one of my earliest golf gurus.

BK as he was universally known served in the Indian Army till his retirement. He then settled down, built his family a home, and took to golf on an almost daily basis.

Nine holes, on the back nine of the Noida Golf Course, as regularly as he could manage, building up a close circle of friends as happens so often.

In my early days on the golf course, BK was a frequent presence. Journalists keep bad hours and it was not always possible to join the early-starting group. When we did get opportunities to play together he was a fount of information, technique and tips.

BK’s great strength was his correctness. Blessed with a model swing, he enjoyed sharing his knowledge, often urging me to read Ben Hogan’s classic Modern Fundamentals of Golf and discussing the basics. At that ignorant stage of course, many discussions and ideas almost completely passed me by.

But they left an impression, and planted the roots of a shared love of the game.

Above all else, I will forever remember with gratitude the kindness and patience of BK and his group for a determined — if erratic — beginner.

Golfers by and large are a compassionate tribe. It is a harsh game and spares no one. So watching mishits, missed hits and everything in between my those struggling to learn its finer points is almost second nature for anyone who has held a club. It is how they deal with a dejected, low in spirit fellow-member that is very often the difference.

Knowing BK, he will not waste much time in seeking out Hogan, Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead in the great fairway in the sky to discuss the finer points of stance, grip, swing and snap.

And who knows, he may even get up a foursome to tee off for a round on his beloved back nine some time.

Happy swinging, BK Sir.

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