Unveiling David Mark, the golfer

Former Senate President, David Mark has got a long standing history with the game of golf. Anywhere he goes, he simply crosses paths with the game. Not only in Nigeria, but elsewhere across the globe, especially in Ghana where he frequently plays with the revered Ashanti.
They call David Mark the Okpokpowulu K’Idoma, meaning leader of war, even at peace time, or the bulldozer.
David Mark, the bulldozer? It could be yes and it could be no.
On the golf course, David Mark is not anything close to a bull not to mention of a dozer. The man’s mien on the course is like that of a dove. He’s so quiet that you could hardly hear him when he talks. And yes, he has got the same quiet smile for everyone on course, be you a Billionaire or a Caddie.
The first time I saw David Mark play golf was at the Abeokuta Golf Club. The course was newly built at the time and it was hell playing on it. The grass on the course had not yet grown and there were rocky spots in many areas.
Beside this, you would still have to climb several steps just to announce your arrival at the Clubhouse which at the time looked like a Shelter that could only wade off rains and sun. You would think what the hell, but the man loved it. He was coming back again and again. And he sponsored tournaments on behalf of the communications ministry.
I indeed got close to David Mark and his golf when he was newly voted to represent Benue South in the Senate. It was at the pavilion of the IBB Golf Club in Abuja. I told him I wanted an interview and he simply offered that easy smile that wouldn’t tell you a thing. He said some other time. He gave a date. On the day, it rained. I told myself the man would dare not enter the course under such terrible weather. I was wrong.
When I arrived the club, the Senator was already playing. He was not alone, his wife, Helen was playing with him. When they arrived the 18th green, both hubby and wife were completely drenched. I felt for them. I wanted to put off the interview, but he merely smiled and said: “Tony I will just change and join you”.
Moments later, he did. We talked about golf. Then we talked little politics. Then he showed a little sign of pity when he mentioned a dirty operation where soldiers under General Sani Abacha were ordered to burn down his ranch which was home to some 15,000 grass-cutters. All burnt down. Again, showing this sign of pity, he added: “At the time, I had the largest grass-cutter farm in West Africa. They burnt everything. And I was in exile. So, I wouldn’t know why they did this”.
Well, the burnt ranch is now home to a full-blown 18 hole course know as St. Marks Golf and Country Club, Akpegede, Otukpo.
The minute the St. Mark course came into place, David Mark came up with a new mission… that of taking the game of golf to the youths. An academy was quickly put in a place with a Ghanaian golf teacher in town.
Kids from age 8 were quickly admitted to the game on the condition that they don’t miss school. And it could be too good to be true. They were still placed on scholarship, and the whole thing is in place today. And there is a bountiful harvest to reap here.  Till date, Benue produces the best golfers in the country. From age 14, you could see the young lads swinging it smooth like Tiger Woods would do before his game went awry.
The former Senate President used to be an 8-handicapper. That was before soft spikes. No titanium, no matched graphite, no range of flexes. Today, fully equipped with the latest technology, you can’t really pick his handicap. Some say the Senator loves to keep his handicap in hiding just in case a ‘jamming-jamming’ could be on the way.
The truth is David Mark could hit the ball fat, he could get out of sand traps and he hardly three-putt.
Practice could be his problem, he must hate it. He must be allergic. Through the years I have followed his golf, I have never seen him on the range, yet he plays beautifully so well.
Then I saw the Bulldozer in a fit of anger once. His Otukpo team, close to 100 headed to Accra for an International Matchplay with Achimota Golf Club. We arrived Accra after midnight, with little sleep, the team was prepared to carry out all programmes. First on the list was a sight-seeing across Accra. The golfers were already loaded in three buses when a call came through. It was from Abuja residence of the Senator. He simply ordered that the Sight-seeing be cancelled and all players should head for the course for a rigorous practice session. He gave his reasons. He said he just got some security reports that the Achimota team was fully prepared to ridicule the Otukpo team. The Senator would not want any of this.
Alas the worst happened. Achimota won. But the Senator Mark won his game against the Great Ashanti. As were several youngsters from Otukpo. So where was the soft middle that led to the ridiculous defeat?
Hear the Senator: “Tony, the big men at IBB Golf Club that I took to Ghana let us down. Rather than focus on the match at hand, they took the whole thing as a joke. It wasn’t meant to be a joke”.
This time, the Senator did not offer his trademark smile. I saw flashes in his eyes and I did a rethink. Could the bulldozer thing be real?  
Bet if you could catch a glimpse of the Senator doing his thing at the lush course of the IBB Club? I doubt this very much. The Senator is presently engrossed in preparations for the Benue South re-run election already fixed for February 20.