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    With God on the Golf Course
    With God on the Golf Course
    With God on the Golf Course
    Ebook119 pages2 hours

    With God on the Golf Course

    By Phil Callaway

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    About this ebook

    Although popular author Phil Callaway offers no guarantee for a lower golf score, he does offer 40 short devotionals full of warm, humorous, and enjoyable reflections on the sport Mark Twain called "a good walk ruined."

    "This isn't a book about the mechanics of golf. Thousands of those are already available. This is a book about life. Golf is a useful game, teaching us more about life and faith than we think...if we will only listen."
    Phil Callaway

    Duffers old and young will appreciate the wisdom and grace found in this a new addition to the Outdoor Insights pocket devotional series. A great read while waiting at the tee, in the clubhouse, or during a quiet evening at home.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarvest House Publishers
    Release dateJul 1, 2002
    ISBN9780736932981
    With God on the Golf Course

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      Book preview

      With God on the Golf Course - Phil Callaway

      Canada

      Come to me with your ears wide open.

      Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake.

      Isaiah 55:3

      1

      The Lost Art of Listening

      Many times God speaks to us through the things we love to do: sports, hobbies, work, and friendships. As a professional golfer, I am often asked for tips or advice. So here it is: Listen to what God can say to you through the game of golf.

      —TOM LEHMAN

      A few people have asked how I can write a devotional book based on a cruel sport that often rewards perseverance, courage, and devotion with ulcers. One person went so far as to say that it’s tough to imagine Rembrandt or Mozart or King David being any good at this game. And he was probably right. But as I walk the course I realize that golf reflects life in a thousand ways.

      Near the small town where I live, you can golf all year around by paying a mere $270 fee. Not that you’d want to. In December it’s colder than a polar bear’s kiss here, and by January the only people on the course are ice fishermen who sit around fires shivering and dreaming of August. But for three fabulous months of summer, there’s nothing finer than an early morning walk down our narrow fairways, avoiding creeks teeming with catfish and sharing the fairway with tame deer who have been known to stroll over and check our scorecards.

      Evenings bring postcard sunsets and a magical mist that blankets the greens, tucking them in until morning. I’ve golfed some of the finest courses in America, from Oregon’s coast to Georgia’s humidity, but none quite measure up to this nine-hole marvel near home. Here I learned to golf. And in learning to golf, I am discovering something far more important than the game itself.

      I live a rather hurried life—nurturing a marriage, being a dad to three teenagers, speaking to groups 100 times a year, editing a magazine, writing books, and taking out the garbage. The golf course is one place where it’s virtually impossible for me not to slow down, to find solitude, and to listen. I’ve listened to the advice of friends here, the struggles of my children, the counsel of my wife. And best of all, I’m learning to listen to God.

      Not always. There are divots to replace, bunkers to traverse, frustrations to be taken out. I’m easily distracted. But for the most part, golf courses celebrate the virtue of silence, providing havens of stillness and solitude—welcome contradictions in a busy world. The first time I took my son golfing, he clapped as I chipped and cheered as I putted. It was tough explaining to him that stillness is rule number one in golf.

      I need such a place, don’t you? I am convinced that few things are more important today than stillness, because it is here that we learn to listen. Nothing about the world makes us want to listen, does it? We live in an increasingly noisy place where hurry and speed are the measure of a productive life. Isaiah 30:15 provides a wonderful contrast: In quietness and confidence is your strength.

      From start to finish, God’s Word emphasizes the need to listen. Adam and Eve refused God’s counsel and were banished from the Garden Golf and Country Club. Despite God’s incredible blessing, Amaziah, king of Judah, turned to idols then watched his enemies break down Jerusalem’s walls, raid the palace treasury, and take hostages. The reason? Amaziah would not listen to God’s counsel either (2 Chronicles 25:16).

      I, too, find it hard to listen. Once I golfed with a pro who, when I asked him, told me several things I was doing wrong (this took awhile). I nodded my head politely when he spoke. I smiled. But I was too proud to hear him. Listening, I have since discovered, is not the same as waiting your turn to speak or defend yourself.

      In Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in Revelation, it’s significant that He closed all seven this way: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Revelation 2–3).

      God honors those who listen. When the prophet Nathan confronted King David with his awful sins of adultery and murder, David listened. And he was called a man after God’s own heart.

      God is still looking for a few good listeners, but we must have attentive hearts to hear what He is saying. May the stillness of a golf course remind us that often it takes less courage to stand up and speak than to sit down and listen.

      Lord, help me have a heart that longs to hear Your voice.

      One that is soft and teachable. Keep me from the distractions

      of a noisy culture. Give me the wisdom to listen

      to Your words—and obey. Amen.

      Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

      Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If

      you do this, you will experience God’s peace.

      Philippians 4:6-7

      2

      Golf Light

      If there is a ball on the green and one in the bunker, mine is in the bunker.

      —VANCE NEUDORF

      You may remember the moment. Ian Woosnam sure does. He began the final round of the 2001 British Open in the lead. But after nearly acing the opening hole, the Welshman was informed by his caddie that they had 15 clubs in the bag—one more than the legal limit. Knowing the crime carried a two-stroke penalty, Woosnam almost had a stroke himself. He fired his hat to the ground, grabbed the offending driver, and hurled it from the tee box.

      I didn’t really get it out of my head all the way around, Woosnam said later. Everything seemed to be going against me. Haunted by the costly mistake, Woosnam bogeyed the next two holes and was four strokes off the mark when David Duval peeled off his sunglasses to accept the trophy.

      Reminds me of another golfer I know. Me. I’m guilty of taking along extras. I’ve got the full set, plus a driving iron. I’ve got an oversized 1-wood named Bertha and a ball retriever in case she misfires. My pockets are heavy with coins and ball markers and tees and car keys. The mosquitos where I live show up on radar screens, so I throw in a generous bottle of repellant. And sunscreen. And Band-Aids. One can’t be overprepared, so I bring along bottled water, aspirin, and a knife that doubles as a club head cleaner, a cleat tightener, a bottle-top remover, and an alarm clock. I keep an extra jacket in my bag, too. Rain pants. An umbrella. Club head covers. And a coupon book that expired last September.

      Lugging all these accessories around the course made the rounds miserable, so I bought a small pull-cart to help me. Now I have a place to carry two more pop cans, the scorecard, four tees, and some extra pencils. If this continues, I’ll have to buy another cart.

      I know what you’re thinking. He’s crazy. No one can enjoy golf with all that baggage. And you’re right. But let me ask you something. Have you done the same lately? I don’t mean on the golf course. I mean in life. When you picked up the newspaper this morning, did you also pick up a load of fear and throw it in your bag? When you tucked your children in last night, or talked to the grand-kids, did you shoulder a bag full of worries about the future? When you arrived at work, what was waiting there? Fatigue? Discouragement? Dissatisfaction?

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