EARLY IN THE LIFE OF LINKS PLAYERS, founders Jim Hiskey and Tom Flory traveled the country, stopping in at golf courses and driving ranges with one thing on their minds: plant fellowships of golfers who would explore the Bible together and see just who Jesus is.
This was in the 1980s, long before the Internet as we now know it made mass communication and social networking widespread and affordable. Jim and Tom often sparked a fire, but it was difficult for them to follow up and help groups gain sustainability over time. The fledging Links Letter, a newsletter sharing stories of what these fellowships were up to (along with offering testimonies from tour players and golf-loving business or political leaders), arrived every quarter or so in the “snail mail” boxes of those Jim and Tom met in their travels. But that was about as sophisticated as communication got in those days, unless you were willing to spend a lot of time and money on the phone.
By the early 2000s, however, the Internet had taken hold, the Links Daily Devotional found an avid readership, and Jeffrey Cranford was willing to meld Jim and Tom’s old vision with his fresh work in the golf-crazed Coachella Valley of California, where he was leading several weekly studies for golfers at places like La Quinta Country Club and Bermuda Dunes Country Club, courses well-known to longtime TV fans of the Bob Hope Desert Classic. Links Fellowships were cropping up in many new places, and they were supported by the free resources supplied by Links Players.
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