After retiring from first class cricket in 2007, former West Indies captain BRIAN LARA has swapped his bat for a driver after being bitten by the golf bug
My first holiday was to…Maracas Bay in Trinidad. I spent a lot of time as a kid hiking over the hills into Maracas Bay, which is on the north coast of the island. Me and my six brothers and four sisters used to climb those mountains from our home in Santa Cruz and then spend the entire day on the beach. I still do that now, maybe more for fitness and taking friends and showing them, but these days I’d rather drive my Mercedes round than walk, but it’s still a lot of fun, and I can take my daughter too.
I first picked up a golf club in…. 1994. I had three days to kill after a match I was playing in against the Leeward Islands ended a few days early. We played this beautiful course in Montserrat and I caught the golf bug straight away. As cricketeers we often had a lot of time off between matches and I found golf a great way to get away from it and switch off for a few hours.
I play off a five handicap, but I’ve only shot under par once for 18 holes. I have had four hole-in-ones though, so I’m probably more lucky than good. Although I was a left-handed batsman, I play golf right-handed. Maybe I would have been better golfer if I’d stuck to my natural handedness.
Whenever I’m on holiday I always take….my golf clubs. I love golf, so if I’m on holiday often play a lot during the day, away from the shops. I tend to lose less money playing golf than I do when I go shopping!
My favourite golf course…is a toss up between the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland and the course at St Andrews Golf Club in Port of Spain, which is my home club! I’m also a big fan of Sentosa in Singapore, Sunningdale and Sandy Lane. All the S’s.
My favourite holiday meal….is sushi. I’ve become a huge sushi fan over the last five years or so, so I tend to visit a lot of sushi bars wherever I travel. I’ve not been to Japan yet, but I have been to Hong Kong, which was great.
My worst experience on holiday was…when someone bought a car using my credit card while I was in South Africa. My bank called and asked me if I had bought it, and I said, ‘No’. So they had to write off the debt. It was about £10,000, which I know is a lot of money in South Africa.
Whenever I’m on holiday…I always try to meet and interact with local people and local cultures and try and appreciate what happens in each and every single country.
On my holiday bucket list is…Iraq. It might sound surprising, but I would like to touch down there, if only just for a day or two. It’s a country that nobody wants to go to, and I’ve been almost everywhere, so I’d like to experience something new and see what it would be like.
My favourite favourite city is…London. I really love Sydney and Cape Town, but London just edges it – the nightlife there is fantastic. Back in the day, we’d go to Tramp nightclub and China Whites and all those trendy places. And there are some great restaurants too – Zuma and Nobu are personal favourite.
My most recent holiday was to… the Hideaway Beach Resort and Spa in the Maldives with my family. We stayed in a 4-bed villa directly overlooking the ocean and the reef. It was very relaxing trip, and although there wasn’t a golf course, they did have an indoor golf simulator and a practice putting green, so I did managing to swing a club!
My most memorable holiday was to…Las Vegas. I was there for my friend Dwight Yorke’s 40th birthday in 2011. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas but let me tell you though we were hurting on a few occasions. We stayed at the Wynn Hotel, which is beautiful.
My favourite hotel…is any five-star hotel in India. There are lovely hotels all around the world, but the ones that left a mark on me are the beautiful hotels in India. You’d walk off a street full of poverty and you’d go into an oasis of marble and mahogany. These structures and their locations are amazing; you look out of your window on the 40th floor and you are surrounded by poverty. The juxtaposition is hard to get your head around.
