Get a Grip on Life – Grab a Golf Club by Larry Stout (edited by Debbie Stout)
Get a Grip on Life – Grab a Golf Club by Larry Stout (edited by Debbie Stout)
One of the more humorous moments I had during my tenure in Latvia was a visit to a driving range with my friend Ungars. It was sometime in the mid 1990s, and a group was trying to generate interest in golf with the idea of eventually building a golf course outside of Riga. They placed a big net up and sold a bucket of balls to hit into the net, and I thought it might be fun to try my hand again at a game I played as a teenager. Ungars agreed to go with me and he paid the vendor and we received our clubs. I was anxious to get started and quickly teed up the ball and hit it. The vendor walked over to me and said to me in English, "You are an American, aren't you?" I was quite surprised because everything I was wearing was from Latvia, and I had not spoken a single word. I acknowledged that, indeed, I was American, but how did he know? "I could tell by the way you hit the ball." I was shocked – Americans even golf different than the rest of the world.
Golf is one of the most international games in the world. There are some 32,000 golf courses all over the world. When the Berlin Wall came crashing down, golf courses started going up. Even the People's Republic of China is currently building golf courses now, something like thirty new ones a year. What is more of interest to me is that one of the area's best public golf courses is only one mile away from my new home in Montgomery, Pennsylvania.
I was far too busy when we first returned in October to even think about reviving my interest in golf, but by April, I was determined to break out the old clubs and see if I could shake off the rust on them as well as on my game. I worked a full summer at a caddy camp in the nearby mountain resort area of Eagles Mere when I was just fourteen years of age. I did not know the first thing about golf, but after accompanying golfers around eighteen and sometimes thirty-six holes a day for about ten weeks straight, I began to pick up a few things. I especially liked the idea it was something that men and women could do together, even into their evening years. While Debbie and I were still dating, I bought a set of clubs for her and told her we would be doing this for the rest of our lives and when we retire (probably the reason she agreed to marry me).
Well, little things got in the way of that great idea of being golfing companions – like jobs, a mortgage, raising four children, going abroad for a decade and a half and things like that. Yet I never lost the dream. Finally, three weeks ago, I was brave enough to make the three-minute drive down the road to the White Deer Golf Course. Though I still have not got up enough nerve to take on the regular course, I have found the smaller Par-3 (known as the Executive Course) quite challenging and interesting. Not only have I found it fun and relaxing, it is also a great place to get together with others. I already have been able to golf several times with my new pastor Jerry and my brother Tom.
I see the game very different now than when I was a teenager. I realize that we can take our faith anywhere, and the golf course is certainly a wonderful place for it. It is a place to interact with people, and the analogies to life are so great, there is even The Golfer's Bible that Holman Publishers just came out with April of this year, that has Bible commentary tied to various aspects of the game of golf. There is a Christian organization known as the In His Grip Golf Association, started by Scott Lehman, which holds training workshops for churches and shows them how to encourage men to talk about their faith on the golf course. I know of one church in my area, Westshore Evangelical Free Church in Harrisburg, PA, which has a golf ministry director. (It is a tough job, but someone has to do it…)
I do not intend to go on the PGA circuit any time soon, that is for sure, but I am thankful that my health is good enough and I have been blessed with the good fortune to live so close to a nice place to play. Even more, I am looking forward to meeting with others in an environment that encourages integrity, sportsmanship, and friendship...and lots of prayer!
One of the more humorous moments I had during my tenure in Latvia was a visit to a driving range with my friend Ungars. It was sometime in the mid 1990s, and a group was trying to generate interest in golf with the idea of eventually building a golf course outside of Riga. They placed a big net up and sold a bucket of balls to hit into the net, and I thought it might be fun to try my hand again at a game I played as a teenager. Ungars agreed to go with me and he paid the vendor and we received our clubs. I was anxious to get started and quickly teed up the ball and hit it. The vendor walked over to me and said to me in English, "You are an American, aren't you?" I was quite surprised because everything I was wearing was from Latvia, and I had not spoken a single word. I acknowledged that, indeed, I was American, but how did he know? "I could tell by the way you hit the ball." I was shocked – Americans even golf different than the rest of the world.
Golf is one of the most international games in the world. There are some 32,000 golf courses all over the world. When the Berlin Wall came crashing down, golf courses started going up. Even the People's Republic of China is currently building golf courses now, something like thirty new ones a year. What is more of interest to me is that one of the area's best public golf courses is only one mile away from my new home in Montgomery, Pennsylvania.
I was far too busy when we first returned in October to even think about reviving my interest in golf, but by April, I was determined to break out the old clubs and see if I could shake off the rust on them as well as on my game. I worked a full summer at a caddy camp in the nearby mountain resort area of Eagles Mere when I was just fourteen years of age. I did not know the first thing about golf, but after accompanying golfers around eighteen and sometimes thirty-six holes a day for about ten weeks straight, I began to pick up a few things. I especially liked the idea it was something that men and women could do together, even into their evening years. While Debbie and I were still dating, I bought a set of clubs for her and told her we would be doing this for the rest of our lives and when we retire (probably the reason she agreed to marry me).
Well, little things got in the way of that great idea of being golfing companions – like jobs, a mortgage, raising four children, going abroad for a decade and a half and things like that. Yet I never lost the dream. Finally, three weeks ago, I was brave enough to make the three-minute drive down the road to the White Deer Golf Course. Though I still have not got up enough nerve to take on the regular course, I have found the smaller Par-3 (known as the Executive Course) quite challenging and interesting. Not only have I found it fun and relaxing, it is also a great place to get together with others. I already have been able to golf several times with my new pastor Jerry and my brother Tom.
I see the game very different now than when I was a teenager. I realize that we can take our faith anywhere, and the golf course is certainly a wonderful place for it. It is a place to interact with people, and the analogies to life are so great, there is even The Golfer's Bible that Holman Publishers just came out with April of this year, that has Bible commentary tied to various aspects of the game of golf. There is a Christian organization known as the In His Grip Golf Association, started by Scott Lehman, which holds training workshops for churches and shows them how to encourage men to talk about their faith on the golf course. I know of one church in my area, Westshore Evangelical Free Church in Harrisburg, PA, which has a golf ministry director. (It is a tough job, but someone has to do it…)
I do not intend to go on the PGA circuit any time soon, that is for sure, but I am thankful that my health is good enough and I have been blessed with the good fortune to live so close to a nice place to play. Even more, I am looking forward to meeting with others in an environment that encourages integrity, sportsmanship, and friendship...and lots of prayer!
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