ACTRESS-DJ Vernetta Lopez loves golf. While she enjoys taking a good whack on the driving range, it's been years since she has been out on the course.

Why?

"I've held it off because I was terrified of playing golf with a partner -because it has not been a good experience," she said.

When asked who her previous partners were, Vernetta said: "The past is in the past - but they were generally of the male variety."

Golf, she says, is the ultimate test of a relationship.

Golfing behaviour is a "middle-sized" indication of how suitable a man is as a suitable boyfriend, she said.

The wedding planner, 33, who runs Eternally Yours, said when another person has a bad game and blames you for it, his or her true colours show.

If a man is playing with a spouse, partner or girlfriend and she plays better than he does, problems can occur.

"If a man is not mature enough, he cannot take it," she said.

It gets worse if she stays calm even when she is playing poorly and he isn't.

Vernetta said she first picked up golf when she was still married. She thinks it was "1996 or 1997" .

She was previously married to actor and radio executive Mark Richmond.

Both her and Richmond had been invited to the Celebrity Golfing Circle, where stars play to raise funds for charity.

"Once you hit that sweet shot, you're hooked," she said.

"When the ball is saying 'yes ma'am' it's an amazing feeling," said Vernetta.

She loves the movie Happy Gilmore and how Adam Sandler's character talks to the ball.

Does she do that too?

"Okay, a bit lah... but it's more of talking to myself to relax," she said.

Her handicap is a decent 30.

A handicap is a system for allowing golfers of differing abilities to play one another on equal terms.

It depends on one's proficiency at the game.

The handicap for women ranges from 0 to 36, while the handicap for men is from 0 to 24. The lower the number, the better the player.

Vernetta's favourite moment on the golf course was back in 2001 at the Emirates Golf Club where she apparently completed a hole a stroke fewer than Tiger Woods apparently did once.

But she probably didn't enjoy the time someone hit a ball that bounced off the ground and hit her in the eye quite as much.

"If it had hit me directly, I probably wouldn't be here now," she said.

But she may soon experience the rush of being out on a course soon.

She recently played with a friend's uncle who gave her hope that not all men will "bite your head off, and your shoulders, and break your club in half" after a bad game.

He was knocking the balls all over the place that day - into the bushes, the water, out of bounds - and he just laughed it off.

"I said, wow, what a cool, calm, mature man," she said.

But the main reason is that she may have finally found her partner.

She has been hitting it out with her current boyfriend on the driving range for two years, and he has been a calm presence.