Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD. (Isaiah 31:1, NASB)
Club fitting has been around for a long time, and I believe in it—at least enough that I dragged my old bones out of bed very early one morning and drove to the PING factory to have a free fitting done. I even changed my driver as a result of that fitting, so I suppose it wasn’t free after all. But I’ve been happy with the results, and I recommend fitting to anyone who is serious about their game. Using the right equipment can help your game.
If you want a Biblical precedent for making sure the equipment you are using is right for you, just remember that young David could have worn the armor and weapons of the king into battle with Goliath. Saul’s equipment was undoubtedly the very best available—maybe even better than the $75,000 set of clubs some movie stars have recently purchased—but David refused it because it didn’t fit him. I suppose that Goliath’s sword didn’t really fit him either, but he used it effectively more than once.
When I was in college I worked in a pool hall, and one day the famous hustler Minnesota Fats came in. I had been sweeping the floor, and he picked up my broom and used it to sink about three shots on the front table. But in real matches he used custom-made cues. In the same way, a tour player could beat most of us with just a five-iron and wedge from our set, but in real play they use custom fit clubs and they carry the maximum number allowed.
The best players in the world trust in their equipment, but ultimately the very best players trust in themselves even more. In the case of the aforementioned David, he trusted his sling, he trusted his well-honed skills more, but he only trusted these as far as he trusted God. That is, he knew that without God, his equipment and skills were next to worthless.
When I face some challenge, some bear or lion or giant or enemy king, do I trust God to deliver me? Or do I stand up to the challenge on my own, confident in myself and in my equipment, and let God know I’ll call him if I need him? The more I choose the latter, the less often I find I need God. I get out of the habit of trusting in him. That is a very bad thing, and soon I discover that I am in the camp of those who would “go down to Egypt for help,” trusting in horses and chariots.
David had long before written, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7) when Isaiah scolded the Jews for the first behavior. It had become the custom of the Jews, in fact, to go to Egypt for help. They knew it, their enemies knew it, and God knew it. And God did not approve.
In the same way today, many of us have fallen into the habit of solving problems or facing challenges by turning to our Egypt for help. That might be our bank account, it might be our network of connections, it might be some kind of guru, but it is clearly not God.
When one relies on the strength of the omnipotent God, any equipment will do. Look at a common staff in the hand of Moses (e.g., Exodus 9:23) and the jawbone of a donkey in the hand of Samson with the Spirit of the Lord (see Judges 15:12-16).
It is good to learn to trust your equipment, and it is better to learn to trust your swing, but it is best of all to learn to trust in the Lord. Whether that will help your golf game I can’t say, but there is no question that it will help your life.
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Lewis Greer
June 27, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.