You have to play against yourself – Karan Mohta

Tariq Engineer

June 03, 2016: Golf has long been seen as old man’s game and there’s some truth to that claim. Since golf is a sport people can play well into their dotage, many golfers have only turned to it only after giving up a different sport they played as young men.

But that image obscures the many, many young people who also play the game and revel in its uniqueness. Golf is a sport where there is no team-mate to lean on, and no opponent to battle against.

“It is one of the few games where you play against yourself,” says Karan Mohta, the 3o-year-old co-founder of Its Dog’s Life, an online pet store that he set up last year with his wife.

Mohta is one of a number of young entrepreneurs who enjoy both the solitude of the game and its ability to forge friendships and build networks. Golf takes them out of their homes and their office (and yes, gyms too) and gives them the chance to spend time outdoors with their friends minus the many distractions that populate our lives these days

And they can play well into their dotage too.
What’s not to love?

Karan Mohta comes from a golfing family – his father is an Asian Games gold medallist – and so his taking up the game as six or seven-year old kid was only natural.

“It kind of mimics life because you are playing for yourself,” Mohta says. “You have to look out for yourself. You have to just do what’s best for you and try and improve yourself.”

A former lawyer, Mohta gave up golf while in college and law school but was drawn back into it by one of his bosses at the law firm where he worked who wanted to take up golf too. “He knew that I came from a golfing family so he said ‘Why don’t you also start?’

Currently Mohta, who has a handicap of 11, plays at least once on the weekends at the Willingdon Club in Mumbai and also plays nine holes twice a week with his father-in-law at the U.S Club.

“Golf has taught me a lot of things,” Mohta says. “It has given me a whole lot of patience, [taught me] how to deal with pressure, how to network. I have also got a lot of good friends that I can rely on, you know, whether it’s just getting a review of my website and asking them what I can improve. I find I have a good bunch of people on the golf course who are brutally honest at times with me, which is very helpful.”

Mohta quit working as a lawyer full time in January 2015 and It’s a Dog’s Life was launched in October the same. Originally a store in Colaba run by his wife that closed in 2013, it was repacked as a website when Mota realised he didn’t want to be a lawyer for the rest of his life.
“It boiled down to wanting to work with my wife, to spend more time with my wife and be at home with the dogs on a Tuesday for lunch.”

As it turns out, his golfing buddies haven’t just been good sounding boards, some of golfers he has met have are also among his repeat customers. “Funnily enough, people who like playing golf and like open green spaces, somehow also love dogs,” he says.

Then move from a regular job to working for himself as also freed up Mohta’s schedule to allow more time for golf too. “I used to have to give walkovers in knock-out tournaments (typically played during the work week) but this year I played every single round.

“You want to spend as much time with your family. Also you want to play golf and hang out with your friends. So finding that balance working a corporate job was much more difficult.

“Now it’s a breeze.”