How does Draghi play golf? A serious chronicle of an exclusive game with Mr. ECB

Rome. Drop the bazooka, grab the drive. Rome in spring, the mimosas blooming (punctual, not early), just a few people on the golf course among whom no German banker or insurer, and Mario Draghi arrives without any visible aura of power surrounding him. On the contrary, [he looks like] a rather unassuming golfer, but one clearly passionate about the game: he heads to the practice field rather than to the game field. In short, he heads where one practices, improves, suffers and not where one can have fun. He stands out only because he shows up with the bag on his shoulder, and not a small one, like only sixteen year olds do by now and, by duty, the caddies of the main professional golf contests. The bag on the shoulder is such a rarity that one cannot fail to notice on whose shoulder it seats, that same person who is on all, and truly on all, the first pages of the newspapers that morning (and even on many other mornings). Practice field and there we go. Perfect clothing not to stand out. Perhaps the blue crew-necked sweater may appear vaguely Marchionne-style.

The game: there, he truly dropped the bazooka. He’s an average club player. However, there are effort and will above average. Nonetheless, the strike should be slightly corrected; inevitably it reaches the ball slightly from the exterior with the golf club face, and the strike is somewhat hollow, uncertain. The impact occurs towards the tip of the club’s face, which removes strength to the swing. Thus, it happens that all the strikes take place with that annoying slice, which is an effect from left to right that shortens and weakens the ball. The slice is the enemy of 90 per cent of the average golf players, even when will power, expressed by blocking the weight on the right and with a violent correction of the hands, turns it into its alter ego: a blunt hook (an effect from right to left).  The ECB President fights against the slice fiercely. However, just like it happens for economic growth and inflation, not all depends on the will of the central bankers, however skilled and brave they may be. The practice field’s peer, in a pre-Euro impetus that goes beyond ridiculous, offers as token of gratitude that is both Italian and European, a few suggestions to remove the slice. He even goes as far as to promise to help him reach, with a few tricks, the legendary draw, the best strike, that starts high and slightly on the right and then bends, still slightly, to the left. The central banker smiles, thanks and brings the peer back to reality, answering that he knows he will never be able to make it. However, maybe it’s all just a matter of strengthening the grip, making the left hand a little stronger and there, it would have guided on its own towards an impact more internal and more solid. No draw! It would be the last straw these days. Just a grip slightly stronger.  

(Traduzione di Sarah Marion Tuggey)