Golf Thoughts for Christmas
Golf Thoughts for Christmas
Owen McClain, PGA
Saturday, December 19th the morning sun was shining and the breeze felt good. Yet, walking about the complex of the PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, the ironies of the past week continued to assault the gray matter inside my skull. The primary reason for the Florida trip was successful. Yet, I was upset. Do you know that "kicked in the stomach" feeling you get when needing only a bogey on 18, your tee shot takes a bad hop and careens out of bounds? It had been that kind of week; it seemed consistent with the other events that my time at PGA Village was finished and neither beach nor golf course had been trod. Issues and weather prevented it.
But Sunday morning came and we were back in Seattle before driving home to Moses Lake, attending worship at the Mars Hill church. That worship time changed my focus. It is, after all, Christmas time. My life wish list had lots of golf dreams. Playing the tour. Or attending The Masters. What would it have been like to be in the gallery on the 16th hole on that Sunday in 1986 when Jack pulled out one last miracle? What about flying with Arnold Palmer? These have been fun dreams, but this Christmas it is good to think of better ones.
What would it have been like to have met the magi on their way to Bethlehem, to have them explain what they were doing and why? Or to have stumbled across the shepherds in the field at that very moment the angels appeared before them? To have joined with them and actually seen the newborn King? To have met Joseph, who the gospels reveal so little about? Or fast forward a few decades, and to have been with Luke when Mary explained so much about her son? To have been among the crowds Jesus fed? To have been witness to his life? To have personally known those who witnessed and chronicled the life of Christ, fulfilling the demands of integrity?
I am thankful that my golf heroes pointed the way to Christ, the reason for Christmas. Kermit Zarley was once referred to by Bob Hope as "the golfer from the moon", but he pointed the way. Larry Nelson and Larry Mize, Bernard Langer, Payne Stewart, Old Tom Morris, Wally Armstrong, Tom Lehman, Steve Jones. Paul Azinger, Rick Fehr, Bobby Clampett. Betsy King, Joe Jiminez, Gordon Jones. Byron Nelson. The list goes on.
I once wrote Gary Player, arguably the best international player in the history of the game, thanking him for sharing about faith, and got a phone call back from him. His sharing made a difference in my life; letting me know that church wasn't just something my parents made me do. Rather, faith was the most dynamic and important thing you need in life. In this day and age, we are told to separate faith from our day to day interactions. Gary would disagree strongly and sincerely tries to live it, as we all should do.
In golf and in life, everyone of us from Joe Shmoe to Tiger screw up. But nearly two thousand years ago, the Great Commissioner came. Remember that tee shot on 18 that went out of bounds? The sick feeling in your gut? The despair of failure? Angels proclaimed the Christ child, Emmanuel, God with us. That the Christ child came for one reason. To offer each and every one of us a mulligan. But to get it, you have to take it.
I accept it and hope you do as well. So Merry Christmas to all, and may God also use the great game of golf as a means to bless you as much as He has me!
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