I Love 'Cheap Golf'
By Whittie Lai

"I am not rich but I can play 'golf'," a 19-year-old girl said.

Viviane Wong is a Senior Three Hou Kong Middle School student who has played woodball for three years.

Woodball, invented in 1990 by two businessmen, Ming-Hui Weng and Kuang-Chu Young in Taipei, is a good lawn game for all ages. The swinging method of woodball is the same as golf, but with a larger and heavier ball. There is no space limitation. You can play woodball on grass, on the beach, park, yard, or school lawns, etc. Since the playing style is almost like golf, woodball is named the "Cheap Golf" in Taiwan.

Wong expressed that she would like to learn to play golf. However, golf is an expensive sport and ordinary people can hardly afford it. She doesn't come from a rich family and her family could not support her hobby of playing golf. This situation had made her felt disappointed for a period of time until three years ago when one of her friends who loved sports introduced woodball to her. She found out that playing woodball is just like playing golf but is much cheaper. In fact, this sport is very popular in Taiwan and it is getting trendy as an after-school activity in Macau. Wong was one of the first who started playing the 'Cheap Golf'.

Before playing this game, she needs to prepare the equipment which includes three pieces: the ball, the mallet, and the gate. Wong said, "In Macau, the price of a ball is MOP60, and a mallet costs about MOP160. I think they are acceptable prices for me."

Since she is still studying, every week she can only spend about six hours to practice in the Macau Playground. Her exercise time is usually on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday noon.

Wong has joined many local competitions and the Asian Championship Competition. Starting last year, she has been one of the representatives of the Macau China Woodball Association which was founded on September 21, 2001. It has 45 members so far. Now she is the second runner-up woodball player on the Macau team. On March 6, she won the first round of the Macau Woodball Competition 2005. Her hard work and family support attributed to her achievement. "I think it's a pity that woodball still hasn't become a game in the East Asian Event," Wong said.

"It is easy to learn woodball, but hard to master the skill," she described. "You always need to pay good attention when you exercise. Otherwise, you won't succeed," she added. On the other hand, Wong thought playing woodball has some advantages: it not only can allay her bad temper, but also train her to be more patient. "I am willing to go on playing the 'Cheap Golf' because I am proud of it," she said happily.

It is known that golf is just a sport event for the upper-class. However, now with woodball, Wong's dream of playing golf has come true.

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