It's a shame that we don't meet people as naturally cheerful and humorous as Rinaldo Willy more often. The 42-year-old from the Engadine appears on the golf course in Zuoz on this early and still slightly cloudy summer day and says: «I feel great.» Then he laughs. He could have just as easily said: «I'm incredibly excited.» After all, he had two bad nights of sleep before and because of this round of golf. It's not just any round. It's special because he took a long break from golf and because the author of these lines accompanies him and watches how he hits the balls and thus himself in the game. So it's about getting back into golf. And of course about himself too. What kind of man is he who makes diamonds from the ashes of deceased people and distills whisky at an altitude of 3300 meters?
Oh, look, you might say. It works. First tee shot straight towards the flag, a total of seven strokes. Three over par, that's pretty good for the course. Rinaldo Willy grins and says: «I'm completely amazed that the body has memorized the motor skills for the golf swing.» But as we know, the body can be a bit mean every now and then - and then things don't go well at all. Like on this third hole, where Rinaldo stops counting his strokes. In search of his ball, he strolls through the knee-high alpine flowers, looking down. He takes it easy. No swearing, no false explanations. «Life,» he says, «has taught me humility.» And golf teaches him humility too.
When Rinaldo Willy talks about life and humility, he can easily turn to the subject of death. He faced it very early on. He was in his mid-twenties, just finishing his studies, when Rinaldo Willy was diagnosed with cancer. During this time, he visited a cemetery several times and once saw two men trying to dig up an old grave. He says: «When they dug up the remains of a coffin that hadn't even disintegrated yet, I was horrified and decided that if I died, I should be cremated.» And when he read an article about a Russian scientist who was researching synthetic diamonds, he had an idea that he immediately shared with his lecturer: to make memorial diamonds from the ashes of deceased people. So instead of disposing of a corpse underground, the diamond made from the carbon in the cremation ashes could be passed on in the family from generation to generation - and with it the story and memory of the loved one. His teacher was a little dismayed at first. But just a few months later they founded the company Algordanza together - it produces diamonds from cremation ashes. Algordanza is the Romansh word for memory.
Rinaldo Willy grew up in Zuoz. He beat cancer and opened the business with the memorial diamonds next to the golf course in Domat/Ems. A good location, of course, to start playing golf himself. Between 6 and 8 in the morning he got his handicap with his business partner at the time, played sometimes in Italy and sometimes in Mallorca, but found that the business and the family with two small children hardly left any time for golf. So a long break from golf followed, which could be ended with this game.
We are at hole 4. Short tee shot. Around 150 meters to the green. In between there is rock, rubble, canyon. Now just don't let it irritate you. Stay relaxed, says Rinaldo. He swings, hits, the ball lands perfectly on the green. «There are some parallels between golf and running a business,» says Rinaldo, «for example, you can win a lot if you take a risk. But you can also lose a lot. The trick is in correctly assessing the risk.»
Would you describe yourself as a risk-taker? «As an entrepreneur, more so, as a golfer, no. The important thing is that you can rely on experience. You have to understand processes and mechanisms. I have a lot more experience in business, of course.»
Rinaldo Willy is dressed all in blue. He now pulls a small hip flask out of his golf bag, which he carries on his back during the game. Time to take a sip to celebrate this hole where he played a par. And of course the hip flask is not just any old booze, but the finest whisky, which he distills together with his friend Pascal Mittner at an altitude of over 3300 meters on the back of the Corvatsch mountain station. ORMA is the name of the exclusive distillery that the two visionaries officially founded on October 10, 2020. «Whisky,» says Rinaldo Willy, «fits perfectly in the Upper Engadine. We have a similar melancholy here as the Scots. And the soul of our landscape with its rivers, trees and mountains touches people in a similar way to the Scottish Highlands.»
It's now time to ask him a few insider questions.
What is a good whisky?
«A good whisky,» he says, «has no faulty notes and shouldn't smell like spirits. A good whisky makes you want to drink a second sip after the first.»
Tumbler or nosing glass?
«Nosing glass.»
Neat? With water or on the rocks?
«Neat.»
What makes a whisky lover?
«Whisky drinkers are good people. They take their time, spend a lot of money on a special distillate and consciously enjoy it in small quantities. It's not about getting drunk.»
The small amount from the flask is enough this morning to carry on playing in high spirits. Sometimes we get lost in telling anecdotes. Rinaldo Willy is great at this. As a child he once accidentally touched an electric fence. His body was really twitching and it was difficult to let go of the fence again. Sometime later he talks about his grandfather, who introduced him to the business world and also founded two companies. And was just as playful. «I ignore bad balls and enjoy the good ones,» says Rinaldo. There's no reason to get annoyed about bad balls either, because the surroundings are magnificent. The skies above Zuoz open up and the sun is shining. The flowers on the mountain meadows are brightly colored and an eagle suddenly rises from the fir trees behind hole 8 and flies away majestically. «I love this landscape,» says Rinaldo, «when I look from the top of our distillery at the Bernine Massif, the Biancograt and the lakes, I feel alive.»
Do you prefer playing in Zuoz or Samedan? He doesn't hesitate for long. «In Zuoz,» he says, «the course challenges me more in every respect. Athletically and mentally. And what would life be without challenges?»
Early bird or night owl?
«Early bird.»
No more whiskey or no more diamonds?
«No more diamonds,» he says, goes to the tee on hole 9, puts the ball on the tee and swings. The ball flies and flies and flies and lands perfectly, so that he can continue playing right towards the green on this dog leg. Shortly afterwards we reach the snack bar. It's the little wooden house for great snacks. Over a cold beer, Rinaldo Willy draws his first conclusion: «It was a lot of fun. I'm getting back into golf. Now I just have to get my wife excited about playing. I'm a family person. And it's the most fun together.» His daughter and son already started a taster course in the summer.
