The shadows were growing long by the time we reached the 14th green the other day.
Indeed, my 5’10” frame produced the image of a 25’ giant, splayed across the bentgrass. The silhouette of a superman – which (to my mind in that moment) was fitting … because I’d just chipped-in from a distance of at least twice that far away.
Standing over the ball moments before … on a scruffy ridge about a dozen paces shy of the putting surface … my goal was rather modest: Let’s see if we can get this thing close.”
But then: a crisp, clean strike. A solid ball speed. An excellent alignment. “Oh, my gosh … it might actually go in!” I thought to myself.
And you do have time to think … when a chip shot starts out 50+ feet away from the cup. It takes a few seconds for the whole thing to unfold: “the thrill of victory,” pretty much playing out in slo-mo.
Now if I’m being perfectly honest, that glorious shot settled into the cup bearing just a bit of tarnish: It garnered me only a par, not a birdie … so I have to acknowledge that several quite-mediocre shots had preceded it on the 14th. And there were plenty of mediocre shots before it … and after it … on other holes during the round.
A great golfer I am not. No one watching me play would ever mistake me for a superman, my lengthy shadow notwithstanding.
So why even try? Why do I keep hacking away at golf … if I’ve never come close to parring a course – any course – after nearly 60 years of attempts? I think it has a lot to do with shots like the one I holed on Thursday. That unlikely chip-in gave me a glimpse of perfection. I managed in the moment to take a sip of the Godhead, just like the Psalmist sings in today’s Communion Antiphon:
“Like the deer that years for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God; my soul is thirsting for God, the living God.” (Psalm 42)
I am drawn (addicted?) to golf precisely because the game provides – for me, anyway – such liminal spaces on occasion: a chance to see and feel God’s “perfect presence” in an otherwise often-frustrating everyday reality. No doubt we have all discovered similar oases in our lives. Our Loving God finds many fun and curious ways to make Her presence known.
So then maybe our job boils down to something like this:
If today you hear [God’s] voice, harden not your hearts.
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 
Within the last 4 weeks I’ve now had 2 friends use golf as an opportunity to strengthen efforts of the faithful among us to strive for perfection in faith-filled endeavors. His conclusion, which he shared at the end of a nine hole putt-putt course that he set up at his church for a men’s group Saturday get together, was poignant:
“Golf teaches sanctification. It’s slow. It’s frustrating. It exposes your heart. It rewards discipline. It humbles pride. It requires patience. It demands integrity. It builds perseverance. In other words-golf is discipleship in disguise.”
All of life is an effort to achieve something, in my opinion. It’s what we hold dear in our hearts that keeps us striving to reach that little reward which is important. Is the reward we seek, though, cultural in nature, or spiritual?
How tiny that little white hole is in golf reminds me of scriptural wisdom: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”– Matthew 7:13-14.
Practice helps us hit those shots that lead us closer to the end goal we all dream of reaching. Sometimes, in my own experience, I realize I rely a little too much on being the ‘blind squirrel who finds a nut sometimes.
Perhaps there’s something we can all do to get closer to ending our day on the golf course of life in a place that is even better than the nineteenth hole…
Lord, I’m taking my swings,
with good intentions from the start,
but when they fail to flourish
my game can fall apart.
I’m prone to poor decisions.
If I’d asked for Your help,
I’d not be here in the rough
silently cursing myself.
Though the target is hard to hit,
that’s where I want to be.
Lord, help me practice better…
With You there’s hope for me.
“With You, Lord, there’s hope for me!”
Amen, amen! Love it!