Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NASB)
This is not the first Links devotion to talk about putting, and I am sure it won’t be the last. I have been an average putter at best, and recently hit rock bottom. I was playing in the PGA Texas Team Championship in Marble Falls, Texas. My partner, Chuck Jennings, and I were even par for the tournament with two holes to go. We knew we were going to miss the money, but at least we could finish strong.
Something had to change. I couldn’t continue to putt like I had.Playing the Escondito Golf Club’s par-3 seventeenth hole, I hit a 9-iron four feet left of the hole. Make it and we go one under. Missed it. Go to our final hole, drive it in the fairway bunker, and end up with a makeable putt to save par and stay at even. Missed it. Plus one for the tournament. Yuck!
The problem wasn’t just missing the putts; I let my partner down in the process. Something had to change. I couldn’t continue to putt like I had. So I made drastic changes. I went back to my Ping 1/2 Craz-e putter and switched my putting grip to reverse-overlap, which I have used before and is trusted by many players.
In Proverbs, Solomon outlined three very clear directives:
1) Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Where do we place our trust in our daily living? Some big decisions come our way—whether to switch jobs, buy a new house, join the country club, or what to do for our aging parents.
2) Do not lean on your own understanding. This is where we need to be transformed by God and his Word, changing our natural instincts into God’s way of thinking. A friend or family member sends an insensitive text or email. What is your response? You read a political post on Facebook you don’t agree with. Are you going to comment or let it go?
3) In all your ways acknowledge God. Great things happen to us. Do we always remember the Giver of all things? How can we acknowledge God? Certainly we can do this in our prayer and conversations with people about what has been going on in our lives.
The result of all this is that God will make your paths straight. This doesn’t mean every day will be perfect. It means we are on the path toward eternal life while being sanctified along the way. Life as a Christian is not always rosy, but isn’t it a great comfort to know we will spend eternity with our Father in heaven?
Now before we go, let’s turn that into a putting lesson:
1) Find a good putter and stick with it.
2) Trust in a proven method of putting: reverse overlap, cross-handed, long putter, or even the claw!
3) Tell your friends what a help your PGA professional has been.
The result: You will make everything you look at!
Now, while we know that last statement isn’t true, it is nice to make a few putts during the round and know that your putting isn’t going to ruin your score. In the same way, Solomon’s advice offers us a template to live by: trust God, acknowledge God, and do not lean on our own understanding.
(Thank you to Wally Armstrong for his contribution to this devotion.)
—
Bill Euler
August 28, 2017
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.