Logos Golf Ministries at Dalmahoy 2023

The GBTG (Get Back To Golf) Tour Event I attended was at Dalmahoy and I was able to secure a spot with a player I’d never met before. He was an amateur from the area and due to the nature of these events, low-handicap players are allowed to participate.

Before play, we had a good 10-minute introduction and this gave us a great chance to find out a bit about each other. He and his family had suffered a loss recently, along with difficult situations, and when I asked if he had a faith his answer was a resounding no., I didn’t press the subject but during our conversation, I was able to share my work with LGMS. This developed into a brief testimony which I continued as we played the opening hole. I thought it was important to explain how I had been away from God for such a long time and how the door was never closed to me despite what happened. At least I didn’t get shut down and I was pleased to have him listen to what I had to say.

After struggling with my game recently I again felt that I was playing ok but still not 100%. I accepted this and was happy to be out there getting to know someone new. We discussed various topics, especially the Old firm, and we both agreed the hatred in this fixture is totally unacceptable. At the end of the day, it’s simply another game of football and religious bigotry really has no place in it, especially when most of the supporters probably aren’t even religious. I emphasised the fact that most of the supporters going to these games have no understanding of the true story behind it, and like Christianity, everything gets polluted and made into something it’s not. There was an agreement there.

As we got to the back nine, he said something really interesting and it resonated with me. I had not been playing enough and he had been playing too much recently. He felt this was affecting his game and I suppose the moral of the story here is there needs to be a balance in all things. Too much is not healthy and not enough does not help. Why is it that we humans find it so difficult to find this balance and end up getting it so wrong? The answer could be we try to solve problems too much on our own and in the wrong way. The 10 O’clock News backs that up every night.

It was a lovely evening and although we weren’t going to win anything I was able to give him a few pointers on his short game as he was really struggling with a certain shot. I’ve struggled with this shot in the past so I had a couple of ideas he could identify with. He said he could feel the difference and was pleased there was a different thought to go with, and I was more than happy to help.

A really positive meeting and hopefully we can progress our friendship. As we finished, we agreed to try and play in more of these events and get others to join us. I keep praying for more meetings like this and the time to do more.

We keep going,

Vincent Brown,

PGA Professional and Logos Golf Ministries Ambassador to the Tartan Tour.