God and Golf

My son, Brian, at Blueberry Pines Golf Course


People like to make fun of golf. You know, chasing a little white ball around a pasture. Or, as Mark Twain once said, “a good walk spoiled.” Or, like my stepmother used to say (and, by the way, this is more or less true), golfers spend an hour talking about the round they plan to play, four and half hours playing it, and then two hours talking about it afterwards and planning for the next round.
One of my favorite comments came from a friend, an avid fisherman, who, when asked why he doesn’t golf anymore, said, “It takes too much time.”

So the idea that golf and one’s spiritual journey would have anything to do with each other, well . . . . I am sure that would seem a bit far-fetched to many. And yet, on my sabbatical, I brought along three books on the topic: M. Scott Peck’s (the psychiatrist who wrote the best-selling psychological book of all time, The Road Less Traveled) Golf and the Spirit, Michael Murphy’s Golf in the Kingdom, and Roland Merullo’s Golfing with God.

Peck, who took up golf as an adult, and came to love it more than any other sport, writes:

"Sooner or later golfers who stick with the game long enough
will almost always come to see it as a metaphor for life. . . .
I would go even further and say that, in its own way, golf is
life, and not only that, but “life condensed.” If we choose to
use it as such, I believe that golf, next to marriage and parent-
hood, can routinely be the greatest of life’s learning oppor-
tunities." [p. 61]

Peck designs an imaginary 18 hole golf course, each of which is a chapter in the book. His purpose, as he states on p. 311, is not to worship golf, but to use it as a way to talk about both our psychological growth and our spiritual journey. In the “course” of the book he deals with anger, fear, hazards in life, luck, humiliation, mentoring, character flaws, honesty, self-confidence, perfection, human nature, paradox, civility, competition, power, freedom, beauty, gratitude, grace and many other themes.

Murphy, in his novel set in Scotland, the home of golf, takes on many of the same themes. For example, one of his characters states,

"Gowf is a way o’ makin’ a man naked. . . . . Ye talk about yer
body language, yer style o’ projectin’, yer rationalizashin’, yer
excuses, lies, cheatin’ roonds, incredible stories, failures of
character---why, there’s no place to match it." [p. 45]

Having played golf since I was a child, along with just about every other sport, all of which can teach us about life, I have come to see the unique ways in which golf is a teacher, for better or worse. Every course is different, which brings both beauty and challenges.
In the course of a round you will likely deal with so many of the emotions of life. You will fail, and feel anger and frustration. You will hit a nearly perfect shot, and feel on top of the world. You will be challenged to find joy no matter what the result.

I learned golf from my father, and I taught it to my son when he was five. My wedding gift to my wife was a set of golf clubs, and that seems to have done the trick. She took a hiatus when our children were young, but she is now back at it full steam. I have tried over the years to interest my daughter, but have not been successful, probably because she is so sick of hearing the rest of us talk about golf.

Two years after we bought our cabin a beautiful and challenging golf course was built five miles from our place, called Blueberry Pines. When we lived in Fargo we joined each summer and played most of our golf there. It has truly been a joy to be able to play there again this summer with my son and wife, although she has now returned to her work teaching.

We all continue to learn about life, and each other, as we play.
Most painful of all is learning about yourself. There is no more humiliating teacher, and no more ecstatic athletic experience than those perfect shots we each sometimes hit.

But, best of all, is walking down the 18th fairway with my son, along the Blueberry Creek, among the beautiful Norway pines, with the sun setting orange and red behind us, making the green of the fairways and greens even deeper in hue. I love the game, but I love even more playing it with those I love.