In the game of golf, the trait that we players strive for above all is consistency. To achieve consistency, we tinker with our fundamentals of technique, rhythm and mental focus. There are obvious parallels with the journey of a dad, as we too are constantly required to work on our “fatherhood fundamentals”.
Thus, we can appreciate how, for the past 10 years, DADs for Life has embodied consistency in encouraging us to become active, present fathers to our children, as well as husbands to our wives.
It was apt then, that DADs for Life would celebrate our 10th Anniversary Charity Golf Game at the site of Singapore’s most prestigious golf tournaments – The Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club. Celebrated as the venue of The Singapore Open and The HSBS Womens’ Champions marquee golf events, Serapong rewards consistency above all.
With so many committed dads out on the course for the golf game, the course provided a tough challenge to our (understandably rusty) golf skills. However, accompanied by fair weather, a fresh breeze, and plenty of scenic holes made our hours in the sun more than worth their while. We even caught sight of a pair of dutiful dad and mom hornbills feeding their chick in a nesting hole just off the 9th fairway.
After the game, the Charity Golf Dinner followed, with special guest dad-daughter musicians Mohd Ali and Silmi Afiqah entertaining our esteemed guests with familiar pop tunes.
In his opening address for the dinner, Chairman Richard Hoon expressed his appreciation for the Guest of Honour Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs. As the co-founder for DADs for Life, his presence was especially significant. Chairman traced the journey from being a government-led initiative under then MCYS, to today where the Centre for Fathering extends the movement’s work.
Mr Hoon also proudly announced the founding of MUMs for Life in May 2019, thanking co-founder Adriana Lim Escaño for her work on the initiative. With this, the support and awareness for the parenting partnership between dads for mums has been established. Chairman also announced that the Centre for Fathering would be celebrating its 20th Anniversary in the first quarter of 2020.
Guest of Honour, Dr Balakrishnan was then invited to speak. He quipped that he had been “in politics for too many years”, but the two things relating to his career that made him proud were seeing old, fading “DADs for Life” car decals displayed on car windows, as well as each time he was referred to as “the one who co-founded DADs for Life”.
On a personal front, Dr Balakrishnan shared that now, he and his wife were grandparents of three grandchildren. As they watched his daughter and son being good parents to their own children, Dr Balankrishnan and his wife felt that their modelling and efforts at being good parents had earned them at least some credit for what they were witnessing in their children.
Organising Chair Albert Lim prepared us for the next great event, which would see the ladies bringing their special touch in organising a coming golf event for MUMs for Life. CEO Bryan Tan took the stage to cap off the evening, thanking sponsors for their generous support and announcing that this memorable golf charity event had raised in excess of $200,000.
Do look out for future DADs for Life events, and come out to support this worthy cause of building strong families with strong dad and mum partnerships, in our communities, the nation, and around the world.