March 2011 Newsletter

 

April 2011

My “2011 New Year Resolution” and my report of a cruise to “Latino Tango Countries” were posted in the web site of the Seoul National University Medical Alumni Association in the United States by the help of Steven Kim(김성수), a retired surgeon and my golf partner. The articles were presented beautifully, and I hope you would visit the sites:

http://www.snucmaa.us/snumc1965/bbs/zboard.php?id=freeboard&page=1&page_num=30&select_arrange=headnum&desc=&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&keyword=&no=5561http://www.snucmaa.us/snumc1965/bbs/zboard.php?id=freeboard&no=5912I told you in my March note that my recent book, “Destiny of a Running Horse,” was published by the createspace.com, which would sell the book. I was wrong. The on-line publishing company sells the book to the author, and distribution of the book will be handled by the Amazon.com in the near future. An E-file copy also will be available from the Amazon with color pictures. The book is listed as follow:

Destiny of a Running Horse

Authored by Dr. Won Ho Chang List Price: $10.63

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)

Black & White on White paper

256 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1453767405

ISBN-10: 1453767401

 

Please let me know if you would like to receive a copy from me at a lower cost of ten dollars including delivery in the States. I may be able to establish such a delivery system in Seoul, later.

My home partner will leave for the far eastern region next weeks for three weeks with her sisters and brothers, and I decided to visit to the Normans in Vancouver for a week just to avoid staying in an empty nest alone. April is known as aeration month, and greens of our golf course as well as other courses will be punctured in small holes and filled with sands. We, then, have rough greens for a couple of weeks, and this is the month to visit grand children for this community.

 I also wrote another column for our local paper about golf.

 

“Playing golf might be fun, I suppose, but it doesn’t do enough to give you the physical exercise you need,” sneered a friend of mine who is still an avid tennis player.

I just smiled and replied,” Playing golf offers me a great way to stay active without getting overexerted and it also provides me with incredible benefits—like a longer and healthier life.”

Steven Kim, a surgeon who retired from his practice in Kentucky before moving to the Village, recently told me some of the benefits of playing golf: stronger bones, reduced joint and muscle pain, improved mobility and balance, lower risk of falls and serious injuries (such as hip fractures), reduced loss of muscle mass, and increased intake of Vitamin D from sunlight, which is essential for strong bones and cell growth and strengthens the immune system.

That’s all well and good, of course, but the best part of playing golf for me is the walking. It takes about five hours and about 14,000 steps to play a round of golf on our Laguna Woods course—about 7,000 steps if you ride in a golf cart. I don’t carry my golf bag on my shoulder anymore since my retirement, but I still try to walk as much as I can in order to achieve my daily requirement of 10,000 steps.

To help me keep track of my progress, I was given a gift of a small belt attachment, known as “10,000 step machine,” that provides me with strong incentive to meet my daily minimum. The machine was given to me by the former speaker of the Korean National Assembly (the Korean Congress) who lived a healthy life for eighty-eight years by walking every day.

My dear friend and mentor, the late William H. Taft of the University of Missouri, also walked more than 10,000 steps every day after suffering a minor stroke at the age of sixty, and he maintained his walking as part of his healthy lifestyle program until his death last month—at ninety-five.

Golf is a wonderful game that provides me with great mental benefits as well as physical exercise. The golf course is a wonderful place to relax and spend time with family and friends, enjoying fresh air and beautiful scenery. So do I feel the need to play tennis? Absolutely not!