The game of golf

A schoolteacher was taking her first golfing lesson. “Is the word spelt p-u-t or p-u-t-t?’’ she asked the instructor.”P-u-t-t is correct,’’ he replied. “Put means to place a thing where you want it. Putt means merely a vain attempt to do the same thing.”

Fascinating game golf is. With golf, the slow people are always in front of you, and the fast people always end up behind you.

One golf anecdote goes:

After a particularly poor game of golf, a popular club member skipped the clubhouse and started to go home. As he was walking to the parking lot to get his car, a policeman stopped him and asked, “Did you tee off on the 16th hole about 20 minutes ago?”

“Yes,” the golfer responded.

“Did you happen to hook your ball so that it went over the trees and off the course?”

“Yes, I did. How did you know?” he asked.

“Well,” said the policeman very seriously, “Your ball flew out onto the highway and crashed through a driver’s windshield. The car went out of control, crashing into five other cars and a fire truck. The fire truck couldn’t make it to the fire, and the building burned down. So, what are you going to do about it?”

The golfer thought it over carefully, then responded, “I think I’ll close my stance a little bit, tighten my grip and lower my right thumb.”

Former US President Gerald R. Ford once said, “I know I’m getting better at golf because I’m hitting fewer spectators.”

There’s something about golf that consumes a person. I saw one bumper sticker that says, “My wife told me if I leave her and go away to play golf again, she will leave me. Gosh… I’m going to miss her!” Even T. S. Eliot said, “And the wind shall say: Here were decent, godless people. Their only monument, the asphalt road. And a thousand lost golf balls.”

I had a friend who got hit by a golf ball while playing golf one day. She got a lump the size of the ball on her forehead and was rushed to the hospital. Thank God scans and exams revealed that no major damage was done.

Because she was playing golf with her boss when the accident occurred, her boss decided to put on hold all golfing activities, and their company supported her. They took real good care of her. Now the incident is just another entry in their Annals of Humorous Experiences in the Corporate Life.

Even for something as serene as a game of golf, accidents can take place – and even death. There have been cases of motorists meeting accidents because of getting hit by a stray golf ball. There have been cases of regular golfers falling down dead on the grass because of a heart attack.

When it’s time for you to go… You’d really be gone. Even if you’re out of a hospital bed or a battle field, and in a basketball or badminton court and even in the greens.

But my friend has fully recovered now. She said, “God was with me even in the midst of what happened.” I know. The moment she got hit, she immediately sent me a text message asking for prayer support. The same text message was passed on to many of our friends. She had a battalion of prayer warriors storming the heavens, imploring God to grant her healing. And our prayers were heard.

Prayers do work. Yes, even for those who are playing golf.

(I’d love to hear from you! Click on to www.franciskong.com to send me your feedback. You can also listen to my radio program “Business Matters” aired at 8:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. during weekdays over 98.7 dzFE-FM “The Master’s Touch”, the classical music station.)