Coaching my daughter’s High School girl’s golf team is for me rewarding and tiresome at the same time. I love the experiences and mentoring but a two-hour match can sometimes turn into a four-hour nightmare. One of the things we talk about is “pace of play.” After your shot you move quickly to your ball and prepare for the next shot. We play “ready golf,” where we are more concerned with pace of play than whose “out” or furthest away from the hole.
Last year in a match my daughters opponent asked if it was okay for her to “sit down” off the side of the green for a while and rest. My daughter said, “I guess so” and moved on to the next hole. Some players will take four or five practice swings before every shot. They chat and (as the other coach I work with often jokes) become “facebook friends” during the round.
The opposite extreme is also a problem though. Some players will rush through the round so quickly that they do not play to their fullest potential. They take no practice swings from awkward lies, they have no pre-shot routine, they rush putts, and they don’t slow down enough to think about what they need to be doing. We don’t have to finish in record time, but we don’t need to be out here all day either.
After practice this morning, and going over some of these things with the team, it dawned on me that the spiritual life of many Christians is approached in similar fashion to these two extremes. There are those who sit around or spend so much time taking “practice swings” that they never get anything accomplished. Yet there are also those who rush through this Christian life so fast that they cannot possible be as effective as they could be for the Lord.
Here are some “swing tips:”
- To be successful in golf and in the Christian life we need to have a positive mindset. This is where prayer comes it. It is in the time we spend with God in prayer that we pour out our hearts and find the strength and encouragement to press on. Pray often and pray with others. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
- You need to develop a good pre-shot routine to be consistent! For the Christian this is accomplished through regularly scheduled times of personal devotion and Bible study. There are many Christians who are “pulling the trigger” prematurely! Paul says this very thing when he speaks of the Hebrews who “…have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2).
- Make a swing! Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go” (Matthew 22:9; 28:19). At some point we have to move from the practice tee to the coarse and when we have made adequate preparation we need to execute with purpose.
- Once we have taken our shot we need to move on. Sure, we are going to swing and miss, we are going to slice it into the woods, and we are going to hook it into a hazard. We are going to make mistakes and we are going to get frustrated but we must keep pressing on (Philippians 3:14). On occasion we are going to stripe one right down the middle and its okay to celebrate but still realize we have to go hit it again.
- Head back to the range and keep practicing. Times of collective Bible study, personal devotion and both public and private worship are essential to being able to take our game to the course. As are times of fellowship and benevolent activities. “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
There is only so much time we have in this game of life. And as Christians we need to understand the urgency we face in bringing others to Christ. “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). Let’s all keep the pace of play. There is a great reward waiting for those who do! Be faithful.