Mark Twain once famously said of playing golf that "it was a good walk spoiled." Maybe it just depends on your company.
I've been playing on Mondays with one of our Deacons, Danny Baker. We've been meeting a a nine hole course in Glendale. We both have troublesome backs so nine holes played in about an hour and a half or so works great.
I took up golf to have a hobby, something to offer some relief from the daily stress of ministry. We lived on a golf course in Hilton Head Island so I had the chance to play a lot of golf. It just added to my frustration.
At the end of a round, I would often come home about as up tight as a cornered raccoon. I'd replay in my mind all my bad shots - those I could remember. And the guys I played with were very competitive. They would treat every round as if we were playing on the PGA tour. Not much fun.
When we moved to Peoria, I put the clubs away, only occasionally taking them out for a round or two. But this spring I got the itch to play again and so did Danny. He had been seriously ill last summer and the Lord has blessed him in his recovery. So Danny wanted to get out and knock the ball around a little bit. We seemed like a good match.
And we are. Our skill level is about the same; we mix in some very good shots with some we'd rather not talk about. Our rounds are not about competition. We want to relax. We want to have fun. And we do.
We've both got some commitments this summer so we probably aren't going to be able to play regularly. But I look forward to Mondays and playing golf with Danny. At the end of each round I say to myself, "It was a good walk after all."
