Theology of Golf

(Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2007 - Bill Vaughan)

During one of my countless rounds of golf this past summer, I found myself standing on the first tee waiting for the sun to warm the new day. The way the sunrays kissed the dew of the fairway and illuminated the beautiful landscape really got me thinking. For me, this was as real of a spiritual experience as one can have. My brain was immediately flooded with words, thoughts, phrases, and images to describe the experience; to describe any spiritual experience. I was amazed at how many of these easily crossed over to describe a high quality golf game. During that round I could not shake the thoughts and they have been nagging at me like a puppy with A.D.D. ever since. This blog is something I have flirted with writing for the longest time now. Finally, I am happy to offer my first attempt at putting those thoughts, feelings, and emotions into written form.

I truly believe that the sport of golf has a deep theological/spiritual connection to it. There are a number of tools required to be a successful golfer and many of them can be found in spirituality/religiosity. A few of these being: commitment, patience, unconditional confidence, focus, determination, an ability to take the good with the bad, honesty, integrity, respect for self and others, care for the course/creation, and a calm in the face of distraction, just to name a few. In no particular order at all I will aim to dissect these qualities (and others) as they relate to both spirituality and golf.

Golf is the truest of gentlemen’s games and separates itself from the rest of sports for a number of reasons. No matter if you are a 27 year-old hacker or a seasoned tour pro, you are responsible for counting your strokes and keeping your own score. This quality of the game just cries out for honesty and integrity. Will you count every stroke on the hole, or will you give yourself par when in reality you lipped-out for bogey? Unless you are playing in a highly competitive environment, nobody is watching you and keeping track of your shots. How easy it would be to fudge the score a little! But what good does that do? You are only fooling and lying to yourself. You will know if you truly are as good as your scorecard says you are. My father used to give me great lessons on character when I was growing up. He used to say that true character is “what you do when nobody else is watching.” He would also tell me, “if you can look in the mirror every morning and be happy with what you see, then you are an honest man building good character.” I think it is quite obvious how these qualities cross over into the spiritual realm. I of course am in no position to judge a person or their character, but I think we can all agree that someone with a lot of integrity and honesty has good character. We do not often associate criminals or mean-spirited people as high character individuals. After eight years of Jesuit education, it is easy for me to tell you that a truly religious or spiritual person has integrity and is honest. I’m clearly not saying that religious or spiritual people are the only ones able to obtain these characteristics, but I am saying that you will indeed find them in each religious/spiritual person.

Patience is absolutely key to a good golf game. You simply cannot pick up the clubs for the first time and expect to shoot par. Similarly, if you only play a few rounds a year, you should not expect to see much improvement in your game. I have been playing golf for twelve years now and I am finally confident in saying that I am a “moderately decent-kind of good-not terrible-ok golfer.” This game requires practice, practice, and more practice. You cannot expect to be good unless you play a lot. Practicing the same shot two hundred times in a row is not something many people would be able to do on a daily basis. I myself may not have the patience for such a feat, but the really good golfers, the ones who make any sacrifice to improve, are able to be this patient. Patience in regard to prayer is also essential. I can’t tell you how many times in my six-plus years of working in pastoral ministry I have heard “God doesn’t answer my prayers.” I like to respond to that by informing the person that God does always answer our prayers, sometimes just not to our liking. I believe that there are three simple answers to our prayers: yes, no, and not now. The “not now” answers are always the hardest to deal with. In a world where we expect everything as quick as possible, we are not accustomed to having to wait for an answer. If we do not get our answer on our timetable, we dismiss it as God not answering another prayer. But did we take the time to shut-up, slow down and listen? We are constantly bombarded with iPods, cell phones, radio, and television. When do you take the time to be still and listen? Maybe if you had the patience to do just that, you would hear your answers more often.

Another hugely important element to a good golf game is unconditional confidence. You have to absolutely believe in yourself and know that you will make the shot you want. If you are standing over a five-foot putt and wondering how you will mess it up (which I have done countless times), chances are you aren’t making that putt. But if you approach that very same putt knowing you will make it, chances are very good that putt is going in. Beyond his physical abilities, it is no surprise that Tiger Woods is far and away the best golfer in the world. He is so mentally strong when he is on the golf course that nothing will knock him off track. Sure, he may be upset with himself for a moment, but he is able to shake it off and move on to the next shot, fully confident he will do exactly what he wants. Of course, this unconditional confidence can be extremely liberating in your day-to-day life as well. Once you reach a point in your life where you know are able to handle anything that comes your way, regardless of the circumstances, you have attained that confidence. I personally believe that this confidence and this ability comes directly from God. Even when I think the obstacle is far too large to ever overcome, it is comforting to me to know I have the Big Guy on my side and will always have my back. I have faith and trust in God to lead me through anything in life. Which sets up nicely for……

An ability to take the good with the bad. The cool thing about golf is that you get 18 chances to do something great. Sure, some holes you will do well on and others you will drop an 8 on your card. But if you don’t let that snowman get you down you have an immediate opportunity to do well again. This goes back to the mental aspect of the game. If you don’t let a bad shot or hole get you down, you can have good things in your future. Each hole, like every day in our lives, is a new challenge and has its own unique obstacles to overcome. If you are able to shake off a bad day at work and go into the next day with a positive attitude, you are more likely to see the good in the day. Another common thing I hear from college students is “It’s easy to see and recognize God’s presence in the good times, but not so much in the bad.” This is very understandable, and I don’t have all of the answers for them, but I do encourage them to “find the beauty in ugly.” No matter how bleak you think something may look, take another glance and find the positive. I am touching on the idea of patience again. Take your time, analyze what is really happening and find the positive. This may seem like wishful thinking to some, but to quote Nurse Roberts from Scrubs, “If I didn’t believe there was a higher purpose to all of this, I wouldn’t be able to come to this hospital every day.” There is so much negativity in this world that if I didn’t always look for the good, I would go insane. Maybe that’s just the eternal optimist in me.

You can never play enough. You can never pray enough.

Nothing drives me crazier on a golf course than missing a putt because some inconsiderate #$%! has messed up the green. Since I am a poor man, I am not able to enjoy the benefits of a country club golf course. On the public courses I play, the greens are not taken care of very well. People scuff up the greens with their spikes, do not repair marks from their ball on the green (which quickly causes that part of the green to die), do not replace divots (which quickly causes that part of the fairway to die), and they don’t rake sand traps. All of these factors cause terrible headaches and hazards for the people playing behind them, let alone the grounds crew who is on the course before the sun comes up. If people would be respectful and considerate of the course and other people, it would save a lot of time in the long run. The connection here is a care for our world in general, and I think that is pretty obvious. Obvious enough to allow me to move on to my next point.

Human beings are inherently communal creatures. While it can be quite peaceful to play a round of golf alone, it is always more fun to play with your friends (especially if you golf with some of the characters that I do). Again, I think the connection is quite obvious here. Why do you think we worship as a large community at Mass on Sundays? St. Irenaeus said “The glory of God is man fully alive.” In my mind, people are more fully alive when they are with family, friends, or even complete strangers. We are social beings, we are not meant to be alone!

Finally, a good golf game requires commitment and dedication. There were a few mornings when Joe and I teed off with sub-freezing temperatures and most normal people were still warm in their beds. But we love to play so much that we would do anything and brave any conditions to get on the course. On Saturday nights when my friends are going out and having fun, there is always a huge urge to go and party with them. But I know that if I do that, the chances of me being to work (read: church) at 8:30 the next morning are not very good. That is just a sacrifice I gladly make in my life. Just like Joe and I being so cold that we could not feel our hands. Some sacrifices need to be made to get the most out of it.

So there you have it. The Theology of Golf Part I. You don’t have to agree with all that I said, this is just my take on it. Much peace to you all.