“The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” (Mark 9:26).
ALAN GRAY, Starter at Gullane #1.
My first trip to the golf haven of Gullane in Scotland was in 1984.
Last month, Sue and I returned to Gullane. We had three days inside the holy (for golfers) and musty walls of Greywalls, the small hotel inside the gates of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, commonly known as Muirfield. Lisa and Mike O’Keefe and son Ryan joined us for three days full of memories and golf.
It was two rounds of golf, first at Muirfield on a perfect sunny afternoon, and then at Gullane #1. Greeting us on the first tee at Gullane #1 was Alan Gray, the starter charged with making sure that riff-raff visitors know the rules and keep play moving. Alan saw my University of Kentucky golf bag (which has my name on it) and quickly said, “I know you. I read the Links Players devotionals every day. You wrote about Troon this week.” I was dumbfounded. Somebody actually reads these words that are sent out over the internet!
He then honored me with a picture and gently chastised me for writing about St Andrews and Royal Troon and Royal Dornoch, but why not Gullane??? I said, “OK Alan, in fact, I have the perfect story to tell.” As we waited on the fairway to clear, I told him the story which I now tell you! It’s a story I have told a thousand times.
It’s about 12-year-old Douglas, who was my caddie at Gullane in 1984 on that first adventure to East Lothian. His mother, Heather, was the only female caddie at Gullane. When my brother-in-law and I arrived late in the day, she was the only caddie available, so she called her son Douglas for perhaps his first caddie job ever. Such kids are called “bag carriers” until they get proper training as a real caddie. As forty years of life have unfolded, Douglas is one of my most vivid golf memories.
He was smaller than my bag. There was serious doubt that he could carry my too-big bag. I was in Scotland to try to qualify for the British Open, so I had a larger bag worthy of such a participant. We survived the first hole, but then Gullane’s second hole goes straight uphill. It is called “Windygate” because the prevailing wind is in your face, less than 400 yards but so extremely uphill you can barely get there in two good shots. Indeed, last week, we played the shorter old man tees at 340 yards. My best drive and my best three woods were woefully short. I had ‘a buck-eighty’ to the pin after my perfect drive in the fairway. I will let you do the math on how far my drive traveled. I refuse to type the number.
In 1984, ‘wee’ Douglas was dragging along, many yards behind, struggling to carry my behemoth bag. I was seriously worried that I might be killing the kid. He finally arrived at the green, threw down the bag, and gasped. I asked, “Douglas, are you OK?” His countenance immediately changed from pain to a smile as he looked up at me and said, “Fine, sir. Everything is fine.” Several times throughout the day I asked the lad if he was OK. The answer was always the same with a smile. “Fine, sir. Everything is fine.”
Aerial view of GULLANE #1.
When I returned home, I realized I had found my illustration for life. Click here for the Mobile Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, where I tell the story at Minute 42..
What a great picture of how business and professional people fake it all day, every day. We spend the day telling people we are fine when in fact we are usually quite not fine. Financial issues and marriage problems. Children in crisis and work emergencies. In fact, the first step to God is to admit that we are not “fine.” We have a long way to go from fine. But we keep playing the game hoping no one will find out.
Actually, golf is good for you because the game will expose you. There is a scorecard that tells the truth. No way to say you played well but shot 108. Ask a golfer how he’s playing and the answer will never be “fine.” There is a number at the end of the card that tells us everything we want to know. No excuses. It is what it is. A number that defines your day. In fact, a handicap, if honest, is a number that fully explains who you are as a golfer. Who am I? According to GHIN, right now I am a 6.6 and trending upward.
Now, instead of leaving you hopeless, let me simply say that the story about Douglas is just setting the stage for the grace of God in your life. It is okay to not be fine.
The doors of heaven open for men and women who start with “I’m not fine” and end with “Jesus, save me.” Have you done this?