As has been mentioned before, M likes to golf. A lot. And fortunately, one of the nicer things in Dhaka are the two golf courses. So when we arrived, 15 months ago, M inquired about getting his handicap recognized so that he could sign up to play in tournaments at the nicer of the two Clubs here.
Some explanation, for the non-golf inclined. Your handicap is calculated with a formula to approximate how many strokes over par you should be able to play; you need one to play in amateur tournaments. To have a handicap on record, you usually have to play a certain number of rounds of golf at a club with a member, and have your score recorded. But once you have a handicap, it’s supposed to be valid worldwide.
Back to Dhaka. M asked about getting a handicap to play in the tournaments here in Dhaka. The Club flat-out told M that they couldn’t recognize his handicap from Argentina. Sorry; only handicaps from Bangladesh. Why? Because. OK, so he’d need a Bangladeshi handicap.
This is where things got complicated. First they told M he would need to turn in 10 completed scorecards for his handicap. Later it became 20. After all the scorecards were turned in, he was told that he also had to turn in an official letter requesting the calculation of his handicap, and that his scorecards had not been counted because he had not made an official request — despite the ongoing discussions with people at various levels about the ongoing process of determining his handicap.
So he turned in the letter and waited; he continued turning in scorecards. This was maybe 3 or 4 months after we arrived. Waited and waited some more. Each time he inquired he was told it would be done “next time.”
This is a typical Bangladeshi answer that means “later,” or in this case, “never.”
As the months past we became more frustrated. Tournament season has come around again and M still has no handicap on record, so he cannot sign up to play in tournaments. This week we finally went to talk to the General Manager of the Club, after a long and heated discussion with the person in charge of the handicaps.
The General Manager told us that M could not, in fact, register his handicap with the Club at all, and that as a guest, M cannot sign up for any tournaments. The Manager will be happy to issue M a “handicap certificate” — but as this score will not be in the Club’s registry or count for tournament entry, as far as we understand, it doesn’t actually serve any purpose.
The fact that the prior year’s General Manager promised M the exact opposite bears no weight in the discussion.
Why share this long tale of frustration? Mostly, because I’m thankful that it is about something so trivial as a golf handicap. While M would, indeed, like to sign up for golf tournaments here, there are certainly worse things that could befall us. I can’t imagine what it must be like to face this kind of frustration and confusion when it relates to something like getting a water line or a telephone for your house; getting medical care; or applying for a job. At every step in this process we have been told something different, been directly lied to, or been told “next time.” It has been impossible to determine what the actual “rules” are, if such exist. The golf club is run by retired military officers, and as such is actually one of the better-run institutions in the country. Dealing with the same issues and frustrations in every aspect of your life would be, well, impossible.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
