On Golf

We had the opportunity to watch Jacob, a junior at Summit, in the final round of his golf tournament on Sunday. Jacob is our son's mentor and also coaches several of the younger Summit boys in golf. To walk 18 holes and watch this young man in a threesome of teens consistently strike sweet, pure shots across a course that was carved out of the local beauty, stretching forth beneath the crisp, azure October sky, was to experience poetry in motion.

I know that for many the idea of "performance art" conjures up images of people doing things on stage that no one else understands and then forcing all those confused people to call what they have seen "art," lest they be branded as rubes who do not appreciate the avant garde. What we observed today, however, was truly performative art. The Greeks are famous for having celebrated the human form in art, and not only were they right to do so, but no one did it any better than they did, and few have done it as well since. God created human beings in His own image. The human form, and especially the human form in motion, is a thing of beauty. The young men in Jacob's threesome gave ample testament to that today. They swung effortlessly and purely time after time after time, sending the ball soaring on a trajectory that, often as not, caused it to land a great distance straight in front of them.

It was the ease of their swings...energy and power expressed in fluid grace...displayed in a natural amphitheatre of God's creation that made the experience one of glory. Glory for the young men who played or glory for the course architect who so artfully crafted a course that so little violated nature it seemed as if it had existed as it was since time immemorial? No. Sharing an afternoon with Jacob while he did what God has gifted him to do, spending time with a young man who is such a wonderful influence in the life of our own son, was to turn our hearts with gratitude toward God. He it was who created this young man with such a sweet swing. He it was who gave him the kind of heart that makes him an ideal mentor and coach for other young men. He it was who set the stage for it all when He spoke creation into existence.

This was indeed a day well spent.