Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. (Ephesians 6:18 NLT).
It is March 19, 2025 as I write this. Yesterday was my 74th birthday!
I am sore- my back is killing me, but basically I am feeling pretty good for a man who just walked and played 74 holes of golf on my 74th birthday. I wasn’t sure if I could do it or not- but I did. The first ball was hit at 7:20am. I had six friends who caddied for me. I putted out on 18 at 6:20pm. Eleven hours, 74 holes, all in honor and memory of my father, Ford Philpot, who died at age 74 in 1992. The walk was nearly thirty (30) miles. It was wonderful. I talked to my dad along the way, in between listening to the birds chirp.
Since Ford died at 74, it seems possible that this could indeed be my last birthday. So, I decided to attempt to walk the 74 holes as a benediction on life with Ford.
I was hoping for some wisdom from Ford from an eternal perspective. He has been dead now for 33 years, so he has had plenty of time to learn (face-to-face) some things from Jesus that I am still trying to figure out.
As for the golf, I played the green senior tees – less than 6,000 yards. That let me chunk several wedges instead of clunking six irons. I discovered again that golf is hard no matter which tees you play. The hole remains the same- 4.25 inches
My day with Ford proved some things about why the Bible says the Christian experience is a Walk. I have never been a physically impressive specimen. I cannot do five real pushups. I have never done one pull-up in my life. I was embarrassed in junior high to have to take off my shirt. No muscles anywhere. Most 12-year old girls would beat me arm wrestling.
But apparently I can walk.
Lesson One is that Pain does not stop you from walking.
At the half-way point, my back and hips started to hurt - a nagging pain that never really went away. But the agony did not stop me from walking and swinging the golf club. In fact, stopping to swing seemed to help. It is all about your expectations. If you know that the end is eleven hours and 74 holes, you just keep going.
One more step. One more swing. Keep going. No matter what.
Lesson Two is that the walk, even through the pain, is easier when you have a caddie to carry your burdens- known as golf clubs. Six friends caddied and gave me wise counsel and encouragement. I could NOT have done this alone.
And Lesson Three, a full day of golf brings moments of joy. Even miracles. As for the scorecard, the miracle was that an opening 80 was followed by 75 and 77 (with an asterisk since I skipped a hole to get around a slow group). This was a small miracle since I had not broken 80 in 2025. But then, as the day was winding down, something miraculous happened.
The final round was quite routine, full of bogies, even nasty sixes on two par fives. But then I birdied #14 (70th hole of the day). Then nice crisp 9-irons set up easy pars on #15 and #16. Then my only ‘two’ (2) of the day on the par three 17th when I made my longest putt of the day. And then, on #18, a reachable par five, a two-putt birdie finished off the day in spectacular fashion. I was too tired to even think about the ‘scorecard’ while playing. But after the round was over, I sat in my easy chair and added up the numbers. The final eighteen was a "74". I shot my age on the final round. Wow. How did that happen? Was Ford pulling some strings up there?
I close this story with just one of my memories during the day. It involved a lawyer named Barry Bertram, who passed away at age 95 recently. The memory was from forty-five years ago when Barry missed one of our golf trips to Florida due to cancer surgery. Ford had promised Barry that he would pray for him on the day of the surgery- but he forgot. Just like me- he forgot.
We got around to the middle of the 12th fairway when Ford remembered his friend and confessed that he had forgotten to pray. His excitement about the golf dissipated into distress about his failure to pray. He hit his second shot onto the green.
He then immediately got down on his knees in the middle of the fairway and prayed out loud for Barry. Just thirty seconds or so. But it was very loud and very visible. And he didn’t seem to care about the guys behind us wondering what was taking so long up there. I was totally embarrassed by this scene of my father holding up the golf course to pray. I walked as fast as I could to the green to get away from this crazy man kneeling in the fairway. If asked, I would have said, like Peter on a cold dark night, “I don’t know the man” (Matthew 26:72).
But here I am, forty years later, with a memory that lingers into eternity.
Time taught me the lesson that it is never too late to pray. It is okay to forget to pray. It is okay to pray when you do remember. And it is okay to pray on a golf course. In the middle of the day. In the middle of the 12th fairway.
Well, that day gave me courage many years later to pray for a man named Tom, who I had never met until we were paired in a golf tournament. Nice guy. Nice player. But during the round, he did a couple of very odd things- like pick up his ball from two inches instead of tapping in. This was a real tournament, and I was keeping his score. Perhaps you know that feeling. What do I put down for him on the scorecard? After a couple of those incidents, Tom realized his mistake and spoke up, “Sorry guys. My mind is not here. We’ve had a bad week. My wife has cancer.” The whole group expressed sympathy and moved on.
We finished on the 14th hole (shotgun start). And as we putted out, my mind heard Ford’s voice, praying for Barry in the middle of a fairway. Ford was already in heaven by then, but I could hear his voice and my heart was pounding. I heard myself say, “Guys, would it be alright if we prayed right here, right now, for Tom and his wife.” In one of the craziest moments of my golf life, we stood on the 14th green and held hands and prayed with tears for Tom and his wife, who died a few weeks later. As you might imagine, Tom and I became dear friends, and he became a regular at our Thursday morning Bible study at the golf course.
Ford showed me. It’s never too late to pray. It’s never too soon to pray. It’s never too crazy to pray.
At age 74, Ford was ready for heaven. And now, so am I.
For more about my dad, try www.fordswonderfulworld.com, published by LinksPlayers in 2013.