For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)
It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of the basics in developing a proper golf swing. What we often refer to as “the fundamentals” are indispensable if we are to go forward with a functional and even beautiful swing. Said another way, if we are to develop as golfers—having mechanically sound and consistent swings—then knowing and rehearsing the fundamentals is essential.
What are those basic building blocks that make up the golf swing? For starters, a proper grip is required. It might be a strong one like Freddie or a weak one like Jose Maria, but in the end, failure to get this right will inevitably wreak havoc in your golfing life.
Ignoring proper alignment is yet another “transgression” often committed by beginners, neophytes, and even those who’ve been at it a long time. Not a few great “range players” can never figure out why they can’t “take it to the course.”
One obvious reason is the failure to choose targets while practicing. Yet another is failing to ask a friend to check to see that you are aimed correctly. After all, virtually anyone can hit a hundred-yard-wide landing zone. Although, we’ve all seen those tormented souls who should, as I once heard a golf instructor gently suggest to a friend, “take up tennis.”
Fundamentals, by definition, are essential. They are not something we learn and leave behind. Rather, fundamentals are those things that we constantly monitor in order to go onto deeper matters.
Ignorance or negligence regarding the basics is so unnecessary in the “information age.” The internet is saturated with free instructional videos regarding everything we ever would want to know about the swing, especially the fundamentals. Sometimes, of course, our ignorance is culpable ignorance. That is, we don’t know them because we either ignore them or fail to make the effort to discover them.
In today’s text, the writer of Hebrews lovingly admonishes his hearers for their failure to know and practice the “basics.” Their stunted growth is a direct consequence of failing to know “the basic principles of the oracles of God” (i.e., God’s word).
In forty years of walking with Christ, it still never ceases to surprise me how many men and women can point to that time “fifty years ago when Jesus changed my heart,” yet find themselves stunted in spiritual adolescence.
Sadly, I can certainly recall seasons of stunted growth in my personal journey. More times than not, I was neglecting the fundamentals—study and meditation in his word, prayer, confession, and repentance of specific sin(s).
If we are to go forward in maturity as golfers and, infinitely more importantly, as followers of Christ, we must attend to the fundamentals.
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Dennis Darville
December 31, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at Links Players