Why Every Catholic Should Have Their Child Golf
For some, golf “is a good walk spoiled.” For others, though, it is a lifelong passion and hobby, an activity that helps create some of the greatest memories of one’s life. One of my most vivid memories as a kid with my grandfather was hitting a great drive on the first tee right down the middle of the fairway, only for him to slice one off into the trees. He muttered that I must have hit it well because of all the practice swings I took; had he gotten the chance to take so many, his drive would have been right down the middle too. I think he still beat me that day, so all was as it should be I guess. After the round, we frequented a local bar, where he drank of a couple of beers. The strict bar tender was unwilling to serve an eight year old, so I settled for a couple of root beers. So there we were, sitting at the bar with ice cold beverages in our hand after doing battle for a couple hours on the course. I’ll never forget that.
Not only does golf often bring forth some of life’s greatest memories, but it is a game that teaches some invaluable lessons too. And it is because of these lessons, expounded upon below, that every Catholic should have their child golf.
Lesson One: Integrity
Golf is a brutal game. Extreme highs. Extreme lows. And with the exception of the professional level, it is a game that is played in relative isolation; there are no referees, no one watching your every move or counting your every swing. Even the other players in one’s foursome are often hundreds of yards away. And they’re focused on their own games. To put it plainly, it is incredibly easy to cheat at golf, and it is one of the only games a kid can play where cheating isn’t immediately noticed and called out. Such is the case that a child who golfs will almost undoubtedly be tempted to cheat. The question, then, is what will the kid do when faced with temptation? The answer is that at some point, the kid will probably cheat. “Yeah, I swung and missed, but nobody saw it, so I am not going to count it.” It is good for a child to confront this temptation in a fairly low stakes environment such as golf. And this environment is the perfect setting for a child to realize that he must own up to his actions and mistakes, and every stroke must count, regardless of whether someone else saw it or not. P.G. Woodhouse, a 20th Century writer, once wrote the following: “Golf... is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well.” Indeed, golf is a game that teaches and demands integrity. His true score, like his sins, are known to God, and golf will gradually teach the child to be honest about them.
Lesson Two: Humility
To my knowledge, golf is literally one of the only games on earth where someone can practice and practice and practice, and actually get worse. One can spend hours and hours on the practice range, but for whatever reason it does not translate to the course. One can play great by themselves, but crumble under the pressure of competition. One can be playing great for a few holes, and then everything can change in an instant. In one of my high school tournaments, I shot 38 on the front nine, felt great, and was probably in the top ten on the leaderboard. All of a sudden, I developed a terrible hook, couldn’t keep the ball in play, shot 48 on the back nine, and missed out on the state tournament. Like I said, golf is brutal. It is this brutality, however, that keeps one humble. And this is an excellent lesson for a child to learn. Golf can be a brutal and unfair game. But, life can be that way, too. Golf teaches the superb lesson that life will not always go your way, and sometimes it seems that there is nothing you can do about it. Thus, through golf, a child will not only grow in humility, but he or she will learn to truly appreciate the times when golf, or life, are going well.
Lesson Three: Etiquette
Why, when I set the table, must a knife go on the right side of the plate and the fork on the left? I’m not really sure, but that’s the way it is. Why must someone be quiet while another golfer is hitting? Again, I’m not really sure. Every other sport seems to involve quite a bit noise, after all. Nonetheless, that’s the way it is, so you better comply, lest you get thrown off the course. Like life, golf has a lot of norms and etiquette that must be learned and followed, if for no other reason than to maintain a sense of order and cohesion. Golf, though largely an individual sport, has a lot of rules concerning how you treat your fellow players. You cannot walk in their putting line; you cannot have your shadow lurking over them or their ball while they’re trying to hit. And of course it’s customary to let the person further away hit first, and the player who had a better score on the previous hole tee off first on the next hole. Why is all this the case? Again, not really certain. Perhaps there is a time and place to question these things, but like in life, sometimes there are simply rules and etiquette that we must conform our actions and desires to. Thus, through golf, a child will learn etiquette and norms and how to adapt to and obey those norms, even if he’s not entirely sure of the reason for them.
Lesson Four: Perseverance
Much of what can be said for this lesson is said above in lesson two on humility. For the same reasons that golf can be extremely humbling, it can also instill in a child an intense persistence and perseverance. Just like everything can seem to go wrong in golf for no discernible reason, things can also switch and go so wonderfully right. When played correctly, golf is a game that is played in the present. One cannot let a bad shot or a missed putt on the last hole impact how the present hole is played. If one is to become a good golfer, he or she must learn how to take their mistakes in stride, shake them off, and move on to the next hole, with a firm belief that things can and will improve. Certainly, then, golf is a good training ground for life. In life, one must keep going and keep persisting in the face of adversity, and golf instills that virtue quite well.
Lesson Five: Conversation
While golf can certainly be played alone, it is customarily played in a group of four. And playing 18 holes takes a bit of time, only a small portion of which is spent actually swinging a club. The rest of the time is spent walking or riding to your next shot. Thus, there is a lot of time for conversation. Sometimes even too much depending on who you ask. Nonetheless, in order to appropriately fill this time, a child will be forced to learn how to have a conversation, far removed from the distractions of the television or cellphone. Today, it seems so few young people actually know how to have a conversation in real life with a real person. Probably because so many of them have their heads buried in a screen. Golfers, on the other hand, have no television to watch or cell phone to scroll through on the putting green. They must hit the ball and talk. That is all. Whether the child grows up to be a professional golfer or works some other job, his bosses, colleagues, and customers will be thrilled to meet a young person who can actually converse with someone face to face.
I could go on and on about various lessons that are taught through golf, but I’ll stop there for now. In short, a child should be taught the great game of golf because it teaches integrity, humility, and persistence, and it gets them out in the sun away from the darn screens. It is through golf that a child can develop great virtue, which will form them into a great Catholic. So get the urchins out there and hit ‘em long and straight!
Liam
03/22/2025
