Where have you gotten all these wise sayings? Whose spirit speaks through you? (Job 26:4)
Is anything better than a golf trip to an exotic location with a best friend?
My first trip to Scotland in 1983 with my brother-in-law Steve Davis and our wives was the beginning of a life-long obsession.
Such trips are so dear to me that I have just finished writing a novel on that very subject. Player’s Progress (www.playersprogress.com) is about two golfing pilgrims who make their way to the greatest course in the world- a place where wisdom and treasures may be found.
The ideas for the book started percolating in my mind long ago when Titleist developed the revolutionary ProV1 golf ball in the early 2000’s. It was an instant success.
I wondered, “ProV1. What a great abbreviation for Proverbs, the epic book of wisdom.” My mind began to imagine Lucas Friend and Paul “ProV” Player as best friends on a journey. The older Lucas would help the younger ProV, a man who had lost his game, his family, and his senses.
I then imagined a golf course with each hole named for one of the themes in Proverbs. For example, the 14th hole is “Women”, a 780-yard par five with Folly’s Forest awaiting anyone who strays off the fairway. The pilgrims’ trip around the old Scottish links would be pedagogical, meaning an opportunity to learn.
I was also inspired by John Bunyan’s 1678 allegorical novel, Pilgrim’s Progress. Benjamin Franklin said you are not educated unless you have read this all-time best-selling classic, and I agree.
Just like Bunyan, I created fictional characters for this journey whose names reflect the reality of their personalities. People like Mrs. Doubter and Alexander Sceptic.
And then as a sign from the Almighty that I was on the right track, and just as I was finishing the final edits, a 1929 golf book by Chick Evans and Barrie Payne came across my desk, thanks to Wally Armstrong. One of the funny chapters was entitled “A Golfing Pilgrim’s Progress”, which started:
“Someday I intend to write a Golfing Pilgrim’s Progress—
Telling how the Golfing Pilgrim set out to reach the Celestial City of Par over a course called Difficulty.
Describing his trouble on the first where he dubbed his tee shot into a creek known as The Slough of Despond…”
I smiled and knew that I was not the first crazy person who decided to write “a Golfing’s Pilgrims’ Progress”.
But I knew that a study of the Proverbs was not enough for these golfing pilgrims. The great book of wisdom provides principles and quotable gems, but these ageless words are meaningless without the power of the Holy Spirit. So, any search for wisdom would include a caddie named Hollie Spiritos—indeed, the Holy Spirit.
As I have studied this idea of wisdom, I think there is one main ingredient. It seems to take Time.
Time to grow old. Time to make mistakes. Time to read. Time to learn from sages of the past. Time to heal. Time to think. Time to remember.
Wisdom takes time. I am now retired, so I had time to finally finish my novel. I hope you have time to read it. I hope you find Wisdom.
PRAYER: God, thank you for giving me Time to find Wisdom. I will seek You today. Amen.