Be The Ball.
The eccentric slacker and scratch golfer Ty Webb’s profound advice to young Danny Noonan in the slapstick comedy Caddyshack. It’s the tone-setting first scene.
“There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. All you have to do is get in touch with Him. Stop thinking. Let things happen. And be the ball.†Ty, played by Chevy Chase.
Then Ty takes a wedge and, wearing a blindfold, dribbles the ball onto the green leaving a short birdie putt.
I guess the writers may not have intended the parallel I found in life with being the ball.
Consider this:
The golfers. Well, these are a typical country club lot in the movie.
Let’s start with Judge Smails. The conceited and selfish co-founder of the club is played by Ted Knight. He was a bit stodgy. Plain and dull. Blah.
Then there’s the flamboyant, obnoxious misfit Al (played by Rodney Dangerfield). A real troublemaker. He and Smails are at odds the entire movie. He has a way of getting under Smails’ skin. His character is further embellished as a reprehensible power boater when he sinks Smails boat by dropping his anchor through her midship. Well, credit Smails here as at least he has had a sailboat lol.
Bishop Pickerling is retired Navy. He’s not a great golfer and while playing the round of his life (and Carl caddying – another story about that Carl…) gets struck by lightning. Afterward, the Bishop seems to give up on God. And golf.
Dr. Beeper? You guessed it, a Doctor with the beeper constantly going off on the course.
Al calls him Dr. Frankenputz. Slightly blander than Smails.
It’s an exclusive establishment. Hey, I’m not knocking them. I used to play golf and tennis on the country club circuit. And I enjoyed it.
The characters bring to mind that we all have issues. What about you?
That’s where the club comes in. It’s the instrument through which we connect.
Jesus is the club. It’s how we connect or hopeless selves with our bright future. We couldn’t have a relationship with God without Jesus. That’s why He came.
Did God invent the golf club? Scotland takes the credit here. It all started in the 1,400’s. But I’m certain the good Lord had a hand in it.
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.†John 10:27
Are you gripping the club? Are you in touch with Him?
The ball. Think of the ball as the future you. Moving forward by the force created when the club head connects. The ball isn’t moving without the club. Or the golfer, for that matter.
Remember, the Bishop gave up on God and the game of golf. Do we need to play golf to connect with God? Certainly not. It’s just my abstract metaphor for the day since I think a lot. Yes, I guess I need to follow Ty’s wisdom and stop thinking so much…
Being the ball requires that we move from our former selves to a bright, new future as a believer through the presence of Jesus in our lives. It’s pretty simple and at the same time, life changing. Think of the golfer as your former self and the ball as the new you.
This also helps us deal with the past. Dwelling on the past is a trick of the evil one to drag you down. Remember, there are only two ways to change history.
To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24
And my quote:
The secret to change is not resisting what we’re called to leave behind, it is the burning desire to build upon what is new. (Click To Tweet)
Like Ty says we want to be the ball. Will you?
