God Tries to Help a Golfer
A golfer, now into his golden years, had a lifelong ambition to play one particular
hole at Pebble Beach, California exactly the way the pros do it. The pros drive the
ball out over the water onto the green that is on a spit of land that juts out into
the Pacific Ocean.

It was something he had tried hundreds of times without success. His ball had always
fallen short, into the ocean.

Because of this, he never used a new ball on this particular hole. He always picked
out one that had a cut or a nick, as do many other "average" golfers when negotiating
very challenging holes.

Recently he went to PebbleBeachto try again. When he came to the fateful hole, he teed
up an old, cut ball as usual, and said a silent prayer.

However, before he could hit it, a powerful voice from above seemed to be booming out
from the clouds, saying, "WAIT, REPLACE THAT OLD BALL WITH A BRAND-NEW ONE."

He complied, with some slight misgiving, despite the fact that this same force seemed
to be implying that he was going to finally achieve his lifelong ambition.

As he stepped up to the tee once more, the voice came down again! Saying, "WAIT, STEP
BACK AND TAKE A PRACTICE SWING."

So he stepped back and took a practice swing, certain now that this heavenly force was
going to make his dream come true.

The voice boomed out again, "TAKE ANOTHER PRACTICE SWING."

Dutifully, he did. He stopped expectantly and waited.

A long silence followed.

Then the voice said, "USE THE OLD BALL."

category: sports  date entered: 2006-03-09