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As most of you know, I dearly love golf. I never played the
game in my youth, but took it up finally...almost reluctantly...
just over 20 years ago. At the time, I was living on Hilton Head
Island, a hotbed of golf, but I played tennis, and had since I
was a boy. One day, while playing tennis, I pulled a muscle in
my leg - I could walk all right but could not run. So, a friend
of mine with whom I regularly played tennis (and who happened to
be an executive with one of the Island plantations), said he
would take me out to play golf. OK. People had been egging me
on to try the game anyway, so...
Admittedly, part of the reason I had never played golf was
that it did not look that interesting. I mean, the ball just
sits there (not even a moving target), you hit it, it goes in a
hole, you dig it out, hit it again, goes in a hole, and on and on
and on. How tough is that? Big deal!
I used to wonder about the phrase I would occasionally hear:
"golf widow." I could not fathom such appeal in any silly game.
There were wonderful stories. The fellow out playing who
suddenly stands at respectful attention with hat removed and held
over the heart as a funeral procession passes by the course. His
playing partner sees, says nothing until his friend replaces his
hat and begins to approach his next shot. "What was that all
about, Charlie? I've never seen you stop playing because a
funeral was passing by." Charlie answers, "It was the least I
could do, Bill. She was a great lady - we would have been
married 25 years next month."
People LOVE the game. You may have heard about the golfer
who was playing on a Sunday morning when he and his partner
suddenly heard the church bells in the distance summoning folks
to worship. The one says to the other, "Does it make you feel
just a teeny-weeny bit guilty about playing golf right now
instead of being in church where we belong?" The response, "Naw,
not a bit. My wife is sick today so I couldn't have gone to
church anyway."
My first tee time. Joe borrowed some clubs for me and
arranged for us to play nine holes late the next afternoon. As
we prepared to tee off, I said, "Joe, you play this game and I
don't. Give me three strokes a hole and we will play for 50-cents."
Fool that Joe was, he agreed - we played, I beat him, and I have
been hooked on golf ever since.
I found out that day that golf is an intensely mental game.
The actual contest is between you and the course. Makes no
difference how wonderfully-talented your opponent is - you can
win against Jack Nicklaus if you negotiate a sufficient handicap
(three strokes a hole is too much, by the way). The most
important six-inches in the game of golf is between your ears.
I began to play regularly. I took the game seriously. I
was intensely competitive. If I played decently, OK; if not
(which was most often), I was ready to eat the clubs. I can
identify with the golfer who had a terrible day on the links. On
the last hole he actually went into a tantrum, cursing and
swearing, and beating the ground with his club. Finally
recovering himself, he looked woefully at the caddy and muttered:
"I guess I'll have to give it up." "Give up golf?" asked the
caddy. "No, not golf," he said sorrowfully, "the ministry."
No danger there for me. As I have grown older, I am less
intense in my approach to the game. Sadly, I do not get to play
that often anymore (haven't been out for a round since last
September, but maybe this week...), and the result is, the next
time I get out there, that is how I will play...SADLY! My game
is biblical - it is defined by a text in Romans, chapter 7, verse
19. Paul must have been a golfer because he describes my game to
a tee ("to a tee," he repeated, grinning). He says, "I do not do
the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." That
is Leininger golf.
To be honest, Paul was probably not a golfer. Roman
emperors apparently played a relaxing game called PAGANICA, using
a bent stick to drive a soft, feather-stuffed ball. Over the
next 5 centuries the game developed on several continents and
eventually evolved into the popular Scottish game known as GOLFE,
the direct ancestor of the modern game. The first formal golf
club was established in Edinburgh in 1744.(1) Paul was long
gone.
But had Paul had the chance to play, I bet he would have.
He apparently loved sports and over two dozen times in his
writings uses sports metaphors to make a point. For example, the
brief passage from I Corinthians 9. It is found in the middle of
some instruction concerning self-control and notes that athletes,
if they hope to be successful, will be disciplined.
A bit of background here. A question had arisen in the
church regarding whether or not it was all right to eat meat
which had previously been offered or dedicated to a pagan idol
(and in first-century Corinth, almost all meat had). This had
become a serious issue in the church because some were concerned
that eating the meat would be offering tacit acceptance of these
false gods; others said that since those so-called gods were not
gods at all, go ahead and eat. Now Paul had been asked to play
referee, and in this case, he makes everyone happy - he agrees
with both sides. True, these idols were not gods, so no big deal
about eating their meat; also true, some might misunderstand your
eating the meat and infer a theology. Now what? The apostle
says there is no need to have personal scruples about eating the
meat, but be careful who sees you and the impression your action
might make on them. His conclusion: "if food is a cause of their
falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of
them to fall" (I Cor. 8:13).
Now he moves into this subject of personal discipline. He
notes that there are any number of things he does without to
which he should normally have every right. For example, he says
he has the right to be paid for his work in the church, but he
does not exercise his right. Beyond that, he has the right to
expect that not only he but a wife and family should be supported
as well. In fact, in the ancient world, if teachers were NOT
paid, the assumption was that their teaching was worthless. Hmm.
But Paul takes pride in not accepting any compensation. Why? To
prevent anyone from saying he does what he does for any reason
other than a burning desire to share the gospel. If this is what
it takes to help people come to know Jesus Christ, fine - it is
worth it. Listen to him:
Golf is a game that one cannot play well unless works at it.
And one cannot play extremely well (as those folks competing at
Forest Oaks today) unless one commits to HARD work. Gary Player
once said that he has heard over and over from golfers how they
would LOVE to play as well as he does. But he says that not many
are willing to put in the effort to get that good - up before
dawn, beatin' balls and beatin' balls, hour after hour until your
hands bleed. Then take a break, bandage your wounds, and back at
it again.
Does the effort pay off? It does in golf. At the moment
according to PGA Tour statistics, the golfer with the lowest
scoring average is Fred Couples - thru last week's tournament on
Hilton Head, his average score per round is 69.61; his winnings
so far amount to $870,673. Not bad (probably more than today's
whole offering, he said with a grin). In contrast, go down to
number 50 on the scoring list, John Huston, and find his average
is 71.16 strokes per round. Only about one-and-a-half strokes
per eighteen holes played separate #1 from #50. But John
Huston's earnings this year are $227,417. Doing just a little
bit better, has earned Fred almost $650,000 more than John.(2)
This afternoon, someone is going to be handed a check for
$324,000 - first prize in the GGCC. Second prize, probably not
more than one or two strokes back will be worth $194,400. One or
two strokes is not much separation after four days of competition
(perhaps as little as a quarter-stroke per day) but the
difference in the rewards, WOW - almost $130,000!
Calvin Peete is a name you golfers are familiar with. He
grew up in the farm country of central Florida, where he and his
family made a living picking vegetables. Like any other youth,
Calvin had a dream. He wanted to be a professional golfer. His
friends laughed at his dream, pointing out that poor blacks just
did not become pro golfers.
In the eighth grade, Calvin found it necessary to drop out
of school and go into the fields to help his family earn a
living. But, despite his daily labor, he always felt God
intended more for him than picking vegetables. His dream of
becoming a professional golfer would not die, and Calvin took up
the game as an adult.
Calvin not only had the disadvantage of beginning golf at a
late age, but he had to play with a left arm that would not
straighten out to full extension, the result of a broken elbow
when he was a child. Golfers would say it is impossible to play
the game without an extended left arm. But Calvin compensated
for that disability, and within six months he was shooting below
80. Eighteen months later, he was shooting below par and joined
the mini-tour in Florida in 1972. In 1975, he qualified for the
PGA tour - the oldest rookie ever, at age 35. He won the Greater
Milwaukee Open in 1979, and again in 1982, when he became the
winningest golfer on the tour. Now he is a successful competitor
on the PGA Senior tour. Calvin's persistent belief that God has
a plan for his life enabled him to persevere without giving up.
"It's been a long road from the fields to the fairways,"
Calvin says. "One a lot of people said was impossible. But you
see, I knew something maybe they didn't. That God had a plan for
me -- but I HAD TO BE WILLING TO WORK AT IT. When you work hard
and pray hard, you have a combination that can take you places
you've never imagined. It's taken me from green beans to a
putting green... and far, far beyond."(3)
"I had to be willing to work at it," says Calvin. What are
you willing to work at to become the Christian disciple that the
Lord expects you to be? Regular public worship - never miss?
Regular seasons of prayer? Regular Bible study that is
intellectually demanding? Regular invitations to unchurched
friends and neighbors to join you? Regular service in the name
of Jesus? There is LOTS to work at. And, just like golf, it
will take time, dedication, discipline. The Christian equivalent
of beatin' balls and beatin' balls.
Can you succeed? Absolutely. The wonderful thing about
discipleship is that we are not all by ourselves in the effort.
We can rely on the historic teaching of the church, the love
support of brothers and sisters in the church, and we can rely on
the love and support of the one who sticks even closer than a
brother, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Golf. Bob Hope once said, "If you watch a game, it's fun. If
you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."(4)
He is right. Golf takes work, and so does Christian
discipleship.
You may have heard about the golfer who was twenty minutes
late at the first tee one Sunday morning, and the other three
members of the regular foursome were almost ready to drive off
without him. "I agreed with my wife," explained Jones, "that
this Sunday I would toss a coin to see whether I played golf or
went to church. Heads, I played golf. Tails, I went to church.
Sorry I am late, but I had to toss that coin 29 times before it
came up heads."
Well, church is over for now. NOW, it is time to check out
the golf.
Amen!
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To
those under the law I became as one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law) so that I might
win those under the law. To those outside the law I
became as one outside the law (though I am not free
from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I
might win those outside the law. To the weak I became
weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all
things to all people, that I might by all means save
some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel...
(I Cor. 9:20-23)
Now he gets into sports and this idea of discipline. Not a
new idea, of course - the Psalmist in our Old Testament reading
is utterly convinced that a disciplined approach to study of
God's word will yield a rich harvest - "I treasure your word in my
heart, so that I may not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11). Move
to the New Testament and find St. Paul saying, "Athletes exercise
self-control in all things." Runners do not run with no sense of
direction; boxers do not simply flail about in the air. If Paul
knew anything about golf, he WOULD have understood the concept of
beatin' balls and beatin' balls. If someone wants to WIN, the
effort is disciplined.
1. "Golf," Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia, CD-ROM, 1994
2. Statistics from GolfWeb on the Internet
3. Plus Magazine, May 1989, quoted in Bible Illustrator for
Windows (Hiawatha, Iowa: Parsons Technology, 1994), diskette
4. Quoted in The Reader's Digest, Oct. 1958, in The Columbia
Dictionary of Quotations (New York: Columbia University Press,
1993)
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