On Friday, I ventured out to Desert Lakes Golf Course in Alamogordo, NM to play golf. Surrounded by the Sacramento Mountains to our east and White Sands National Monument to our west, the sky was a cloudless blue and the breeze was blowing just right. I haven’t picked up my clubs in two years, but I finally took the time to play a round of golf. And what do you know, I shot a 60! Now, before you start questioning my fantastic number, you would do well to remember that Baptist pastors (and attorneys) are famous for “fudging” numbers, whether our golf score, our Sunday attendance records, or our annual church profile.
Our fearsome foursome — Chuck, Vern, our new Student Pastor Jon, and myself — all shot within six strokes of each other. Not too shabby. Except when you realize that a round of golf for us is nine holes and shooting par would be 36. If you do the math, you soon discover that our play was not quite up to par, although I think Chuck or Vern did shoot at least one par on the front (and our only) nine holes. And, while there are only small “lakes” (actually just water hazards), only one ball between the four of us went in the water. Quite an accomplishment. I won’t tell you who hit it, but it was
n’t one of the other three guys.
Why spend three hours on a Friday morning chasing around a little white ball? Even though we didn’t play all that well, Chuck usually reminds us of the answer to that question, usually before we tee off on the first hole. There are four reasons, he says, why folks like us golf: Good weather, Good friends, Good exercise, and Good golf . Indeed, we had great weather (although still a bit warm for October in NM), good friends — including our newest addition, Jon — good exercise (although we rode in carts instead of walking, which we usually do), and good decent okay not too great golf. There’s one more part to Chuck’s question that puts our “golfing” into proper perspective. “Don’t forget,” he says, “that 3 out of 4 ain’t bad!” Putting things in perspective is pretty good advice, whether you’re golfing or blogging or commenting or preaching. Thanks, Chuck!
A 3 on a par 4 ain’t bad either! I like to golf with friends. We have good natured competition and enjoy time together. There’s just something about guys getting together to play golf and the good talk that goes with it. But I don’t really think using a cart counts as exercise, at least not in my book. I’ve also had a good time in very bad weather.
I hope the next time you get out, you and your friends can keep them in the fairways and have a good time.