This was the comment Teresa Rojas made to her husband, Richard, when she joined him for a walk around the Weston Hills Country Club golf course in Florida.
Ten years later, Teresa is not only playing golf two to three times a week at Maroochy River Golf Club, but she’s playing Pennant and is a member of the Women in Golf Sub-Committee, encouraging other women to take up the sport.
Teresa’s love of golf was ignited when she retired from her position of Worldwide Director of Finance at Burson Marsteller in 2018. Born in Santiago, Chile, Teresa spent her early years in Sydney before moving to the United States.
“In one of our chats about post-retirement plans, Richard casually asked if I would be interested in learning to play golf. I think he expected I would object as only a few years prior I had made the comment about the ‘silly game’.
“Just to humour him I said, ‘Sure, why not?’. Little did I know, he took that ‘yes’ to heart and the next month, I was the proud owner of a shiny new set of golf clubs! They sat in our Florida home for over a year, collecting dust until we moved back to Australia and continued collecting dust until COVID.”
With their travel plans evaporating, Richard suggested it was a good time for Teresa to take golf lessons.
“He had read good reviews about golf coach, Di Pavich and he booked a package of five lessons. It was time to blow the dust off the new clubs,” says Teresa.
“After Di’s private lessons finished, she suggested I join Girls Into Golf (GIG), a community of women navigating the same journey, having the same golf interests, experiences and fears.”
Teresa attended GIG every Saturday for six months, alternating skills’ clinics with 9 holes on the course.
“Playing on the course was very nerve-wracking at first but I met some great ladies that I remain friends with to this day. I still pop back into Di’s GIG clinics whenever my game has fallen off the rails. She is an amazing golf coach and always makes you feel at ease.”
Teresa found the transition from GIG to playing with club members very intimidating.
“Like everyone new to the game, I felt like everyone was watching as I teed off the 1st hole or hit up onto the green at the 18th! However, members and even visitors that I played with were always so kind and supportive. Every single person told me the same thing: ‘We’ve all been there’, and now I say the same thing to the nervous newbies.”
Reflecting on her change in attitude to golf, Teresa says, “There are many things I like about golf but perhaps the one that really resonates with me is the mental challenge. Every game is so different. You can master many things in life, but golf is one of those things that you’ll be forever chasing consistency and perfection knowing it’ll never come – and that’s just OK”.