“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
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The Club Championship at Glenmore Country Club in the 1990s
Yesterday, I was watching the FedEx St. Jude Golf Championship, and I started thinking about golf matches that I played in, matches that I really enjoyed. This editorial is about one of them. It stands out in my mind, because I was headed for defeat. Then suddenly, everything changed.
I don’t remember the year, but it was in the late-1990s. We were playing for the club championship at Glenmore Country Club in Keswick, Virginia. It was not the championship flight, but it must have been the flight below that. My handicap was 7 at the time. Real golfers know what that means.
I was playing Keith Frazee. He was a better golfer than me, and he played a lot more golf than I did. I didn’t know Keith well, but I had talked with him several times over beers in the 19th hole. He seemed to be a nice guy.
You never know a person until you play golf with him. Keith made me putt out on every hole. It was match play. He could have given me short putts, but he didn’t. If I was 2 feet from the hole, he made me putt it. Keep that in mind. It comes into play later in the round.
When we reached the 16th hole, Keith was 2 up with 3 to play. I could tell by his demeanor that he thought the match was over. He didn’t play with the same intensity. It was as though he believed that he just needed to play out the round to advance to the next match. I birdied the 16th hole, and Keith got a par. He was 1 up with 2 to play after 16. I could tell that losing the hole bothered Keith, but he couldn’t regain the intensity he had lost.
Number 17 at Glenmore is a long par 4 with a narrow, deep green. Both Keith and I got pars. Keith was 1 up with 1 to play on number 18.
Hole number 18 at Glenmore is a 543-yard par 5. It is not a particularly difficult hole, but it has well-positioned, deep bunkers in the fairway and deep sand traps around the green that make it challenging. My tee shot on 18 was perfect. Keith’s tee shot was good, but not as good as mine.
My second shot on 18 was perfect, too. It left me about 110 yards out. Keith’s second shot left him about 140 yards out. I had the advantage, and Keith knew it. The look in his eyes revealed doubts in his mind, and I knew that he was beatable.
Keith’s third shot on 18 left him on the green about 20 feet from the pin. I used a gap wedge for my third shot. It left me about 4 feet from the pin with a dead-straight downhill putt that I had made many times over the years. All I needed to do was get the ball rolling on the right line, and gravity would take care of the rest.
Keith’s first putt on 18 was good, but it was not good enough. He missed it by a couple of inches. My putt was perfect. It was dead center. I got a birdie and won the hole.
We were all square after 18 holes, and the match continued to the 1st hole. I could tell that Keith was rattled. He had thought the match was over on hole number 16 when he was 2 up with 3 to play. For the first time, he was looking at the possibility that he would lose the match.
During extended play on the 1st hole, I took it to Keith. It’s a 562-yard par 5. I drove first, and I hit a great drive, long and straight. Keith’s drive was mediocre at best. He yanked it to the left and ended up in the second cut of rough. My ball was lying dead center of the fairway. My second shot was perfect, too. It left me about 100 yards out. Keith’s second shot left him with a 160-yard shot to the green.
My third shot was like my first two shots. I used a sand wedge, and it was perfect. I was a couple of feet from the pin. Keith’s third shot left him at least 50 feet from the pin.
Keith’s first putt on the first hole, his fourth shot, left him farther away from the pin than my third shot. He walked up to his 5th shot and conceded the match. I could tell from his mannerisms that he was angry. He blew it, and he knew it. Candidly, I would have made Keith putt out no matter what. I could tell he knew that, too.
Normally, I don’t get angry when I play golf, but I did that day. Keith probably will never know how much it meant to me when he made me putt out obvious gimme putts early in that match. I was waiting for my opportunity to return the favor. When my opportunity came, Keith took it like a spoiled brat.
That was okay with me. I won the match, and Keith got to sit around the 19th hole and explain it to his friends. They were my friends, too.
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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
John 10: 14-18
