Narrow Way Series: Week 4 — Where Your Treasure Is

Matthew 6:19–24

Welcome back to Week 4 of the Narrow Way Series, and it is officially Q-School week!

My caddie and I are here in Woodland, California, and after months of preparation, practice, travel and everything else that has gone into getting here, we're ready to show up to the course prepared, not perfect. At this point we're not trying to reinvent anything. The work has been done. Now it's time to trust it, enjoy the opportunity in front of us and compete.

If you've followed along for a while, you know how much I want to play on the PGA TOUR. I'm chasing this dream with everything I've got, but one of the biggest things Jesus has been teaching me is that golf can't be the reason I do any of this. My mission is to know Him and make Him more known. Golf is what I do, Christ is why I do it, and professional golf happens to be the mission field He's placed in front of me.

Which makes this week's passage pretty timely.

Over the last few weeks we've been walking through the Sermon on the Mount and asking what it actually looks like to follow Jesus. We've talked about being salt and light, loving our enemies and, last week, prayer and the invitation to come as we are. This week Jesus goes after our treasure.

He says:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19–21

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I've been thinking about that sentence a lot because Jesus is being incredibly practical. He's talking about what we do with the things that are valuable to us. Our money, our time and our resources. Where those things continually go, our hearts have a tendency to follow.

Jesus isn't talking about treasure because He needs something from us. He's talking about treasure because He's after our hearts.

Treasure Looked Different Then

When Jesus taught this, treasure looked different than it does today. People weren't checking investment accounts on their phones. Wealth could be stored in clothing, crops, precious metals and physical possessions. Those things could also disappear pretty quickly. Moths could destroy expensive clothing, stored goods could spoil and thieves could break in and take what someone had accumulated.

So when Jesus talked about moths and thieves, the people listening knew exactly what He meant. He was pointing toward things people spent their lives accumulating and protecting and reminding them that none of it was permanent.

Thousands of years later, our treasure might look different, but I don't think our hearts are all that different. Our treasure might be a bank account, a house, a business, a career, status, followers or, in my case, maybe even a PGA TOUR card.

Where I'm Spending My Treasure

I've been thinking about this a lot recently because I mentioned in a video just how expensive professional golf actually is.

People see the tournament and the scorecard. Maybe you see some practice videos or pictures from the course. What you don't always see are the flights, hotels, rental cars, gas, entry fees, coaching, practice and everything else that comes with traveling week after week trying to play professional golf.

It adds up really fast.

The truth is, I'm only able to keep chasing this because of the incredible team the Lord has placed around me. People have believed in me, prayed for me, encouraged me and invested their own money and resources into this journey. That's something I don't take lightly.

Standing here at Q-School, I can see God's provision all around me. There are a lot of people represented in the fact that my caddie and I are even here.

And that gives me a really practical picture of what Jesus is talking about.

If I told you becoming the best golfer I can possibly be was incredibly important to me, but I never practiced, never trained, never traveled and wasn't willing to invest anything into getting better, you'd probably question how important golf actually was to me. What I said I valued wouldn't match where I was putting my time and resources.

Our faith can be the same way.

We can say Jesus is the most important thing in our lives, but where are we actually putting our treasure? Where does our money go? Where does our time go? What gets our best energy, and what gets whatever happens to be left over?

I know how easy it is for me to invest into golf. I'll get on an airplane, drive across the country, spend hours practicing, get up early, train and rearrange my schedule because I care deeply about it. That's where I have to be careful.

Golf can be something I invest my treasure into without allowing golf to become my treasure.

Stewarding the Gift

I believe God has given me the ability to play this game, and I believe He's opened doors and placed people around me that have allowed me to continue chasing the PGA TOUR. Because of that, I want to steward this opportunity as well as I possibly can.

I want to practice hard, prepare well and compete my butt off. I want to find out how far I can take the gifts He's given me.

But there's a big difference between stewarding a gift and worshiping it.

I've gotten that wrong before.

There was a time when a good score made me feel valuable and a bad score made me question who I was. Someone's opinion about my golf could stay in my head for days. Golf had way too much access to my heart because I was asking the game to give me something it was never capable of giving me.

Jesus has been changing that.

Following Him hasn't made me want the PGA TOUR less. It's changed why I'm chasing it.

If my ability, opportunities, finances and even the people God has placed around me are gifts from Him, then my responsibility is to steward those gifts faithfully. Instead of constantly asking, “What can I get out of this?” I'm learning to ask, “Lord, what do You want me to do with what You've given me?”

That applies to golf, but it also applies to our money, businesses, relationships, careers and time. We can work hard, build things, save money and chase huge dreams. We just have to remember who owns it all.

Who Gets Your Heart?

Jesus finishes this section with some incredibly direct words:

“No one can serve two masters... You cannot serve both God and money.”

Matthew 6:24

Jesus doesn't say we can't have money. He says we can't serve it.

The same thing is true for success, recognition, careers and golf. These things can be incredible gifts, but they make terrible masters.

That's something I want to remember walking onto the course this week.

I desperately want to play well. I want to advance. My caddie and I are going to show up prepared, trust the work we've put in and compete. But I don't need that golf course to give me something Jesus hasn't already given me.

I don't need a scorecard to tell me who I am, and I don't need a PGA TOUR card to give me an identity.

My mission doesn't change based on what I shoot.

Know Him and make Him more known.

Golf is what I do. Christ is why I do it.

So I'm going to chase this dream as hard as I can while holding it with open hands. I'm going to try to steward every gift, dollar, opportunity and relationship He's placed in my life well, without allowing the gift to take the place of the Giver.

That's where I want my treasure.

And that's where I want my heart.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for everything You have placed in our hands. Thank You for our abilities, opportunities, finances, relationships and the dreams You've allowed us to chase. Thank You for the people You place around us and the ways You provide that we don't always see.

Teach us to steward what You've given us without worshiping it. Show us where we're putting our treasure and where our hearts are following. Give us wisdom with our money, make us generous and help us hold the things You've given us with open hands.

When a gift starts becoming more important to us than the Giver, bring our eyes and our hearts back to You. You are our treasure.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Take It to the Tee

This week, take an honest look at where you're spending your treasure. Look at your bank statement. Look at your calendar. Think about what gets most of your attention and energy.

Then ask yourself:

If my heart follows my treasure, where am I leading my heart?

Maybe something good God has given you has slowly started taking a place in your heart it was never supposed to have. That doesn't mean you have to stop chasing the dream, building the business or pursuing the opportunity. It means we need to learn to hold those things with open hands.

Be a good steward of what God has placed in your hands. Use it, enjoy it and be generous with it, but don't let the gift replace the Giver.

Fix your eyes on Jesus, put your treasure where you want your heart to go and let your heart follow Him.

Narrow Road Series: Week 3 — Prayer

Matthew 6:5–13

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
— Matthew 6:6

Welcome back to Golf Church.

If this is your first time here, I'm really glad you're here. My name is Cooper, and I'm a professional golfer preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School while learning what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus one day at a time.

We're in Week 3 of the Narrow Road Series, walking through Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and looking at what it actually means to follow Him.

Last week we talked about loving your enemies, which is one of those teachings that's a lot easier to read than it is to live out.

For me, a lot of that came back to identity. For a long time I gave way too much power to what other people thought about me, especially with golf. Somebody could make a comment about my game, my swing or a bad round, and I would let it take up way too much space in my head.

Jesus has been teaching me that I don't have to carry everything people hand me. I can bring it to Him.

Which brings us right into this week. Prayer.

One Week Out

As I'm writing this, we're officially one week out from Q-School.

I'm back on the Central Coast finishing up my prep before heading to the tournament site, and I'm really enjoying this part of the process. I've worked toward this for a long time, so of course there's a lot going through my head.

On Sunday, I got away from golf for most of the day and spent some time at Morro Rock.

Morro Rock holds a pretty special place in my life. It's where I learned how to surf, it's where I was baptized as a kid, and it's also the place my dad technically illegally climbed over 40 years ago with a group of friends on Christmas night.

If you know Jim Coles, you're probably having a hard time picturing that right now. So am I.

I spent some time sitting on the beach in the Word and then went for a prayer walk up the coast. Nothing complicated. I was just walking and talking with God.

At some point I looked down and noticed all the sand covering my feet.

If you've spent any time barefoot at the beach, you know how it goes. Sand gets everywhere and you don't even notice it happening. There was no way I could tell where every grain came from. Some might have been there for the last half mile. Some probably came from the step.

And as I was walking and noticing all the sand, I started thinking about sin.

Walking through this world can look a lot like walking down the beach.

We pick things up along the way. Pride, anger, jealousy, lust, selfishness, unforgiveness, the need for approval or the desire to control everything. Sometimes we know exactly where something came from. Other times we don't even realize we've been carrying it until Jesus brings it to our attention.

Eventually I walked down toward the water and stepped into the ocean.

The sand just washed off.

I didn't have to figure out where every grain came from first. I didn't have to pick each one off before I could get into the water.

I just stepped in.

That picture stuck with me.

Come Confidently

Hebrews 4:16 says:

“Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

I love that Scripture says to come confidently.

Not because we're confident in ourselves or because we've done such a great job cleaning ourselves up. We can come confidently because of Jesus.

Sometimes I think we make prayer more complicated than it needs to be. We think we need the right words, the right place or that we need to get ourselves back on track before coming to God.

But that's backwards.

Just like I didn't have to clean the sand off my feet before stepping into the ocean, I don't have to clean myself up before coming to Jesus.

That's the Gospel.

Jesus lived the life we couldn't live, died for our sin and rose again. Because of Him, we have access to the Father.

So when I mess up, I don't have to hide from God. When I'm anxious, I don't have to pretend I'm not. When I'm struggling to forgive somebody, I can tell Him.

And when I'm one week away from Q-School with a dream I've worked toward for years sitting right in front of me, I can bring Him that too. He already knows anyway.

When You Pray

That's one of the things I love about Matthew 6.

Jesus says, “When you pray…”

He doesn't say if.

Prayer is assumed to be part of following Him. But Jesus also makes it clear that prayer isn't a performance. We don't pray so other people think we're spiritual, and we don't need impressive words to convince God to listen.

Jesus says our Father already knows what we need before we ask Him.

I'm not updating God when I pray. He already knows how badly I want Q-School. He knows the work that's gone into it, the excitement, the nerves and everything I haven't said out loud.

So why pray if He already knows?

Because prayer isn't about giving God information. It's about relationship with Him. It's learning to depend on Him instead of ourselves.

Your Will Be Done

Jesus gives us the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, and one part has been hitting me differently as Q-School gets closer:

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

That's a lot easier to say when you don't really care about the outcome.

It's different when you're praying over something you've spent years working toward.

Of course I want to play well. I want to make it through Q-School. I want to play on the PGA TOUR. Those are real desires, and I don't need to pretend otherwise when I talk to God.

But there's a difference between bringing God my desires and asking Him to bless my plans, and actually surrendering those plans to Him.

“Your will be done” means I trust His plan more than mine.

That can be hard, but it's also incredibly freeing.

I can prepare as well as I possibly can, show up, compete my butt off and trust God with everything I can't control.

A few lines later Jesus says:

“Give us today our daily bread.”

I love the word daily, especially right now.

It would be easy for me to mentally play Q-School a hundred times before I ever get there. I could start thinking about scores, cuts, the next Stage and everything that could happen afterward.

But that's not where God has me today.

Today I get to practice. Today I get to spend time with my wife. Today I get to be in the Word. Today I get another opportunity to be obedient with whatever God puts in front of me.

Tomorrow will get here when it gets here.

Prayer Is Access

That's what I walked away thinking about after that day at Morro Rock.

Obviously, Jesus doesn't need us to go to the beach to meet with Him. You don't need Morro Rock, the ocean, the perfect worship song or a quiet morning with your Bible and coffee.

Those things can be awesome, but they're not what gives us access to God.

Jesus does.

We have access to Him on the beach, in the car, at work, sitting at home, walking down a fairway or standing on the first tee at Q-School.

That's what I want this next week to look like.

I'm going to prepare as well as I possibly can. I'm going to work hard, show up ready to compete because I love competing and believe this is one of the places God has called me.

But I don't want to spend the week gripping tighter trying to control what happens next.

I want to talk with God while I'm practicing. I want to thank Him that I even get to do this. I want to bring Him the nerves when they show up and keep handing this dream back to Him.

Because prayer isn't ultimately about getting God to give me the outcome I want.

Because of Jesus, I get to know God and walk with Him.

Q-School can't give me that. The PGA TOUR can't give me that. Golf can't give me that.

Jesus already has.

Golf is what I do. Christ is why I do it.

And prayer keeps reminding me who I'm walking with.

Let’s Pray

Father,

Thank You that because of Jesus we can come to You confidently. Thank You that we don't have to clean ourselves up first or pretend to have everything together.

Search our hearts and show us what we've picked up walking through this world. Help us bring those things to You instead of hiding them.

Teach us to pray, listen and trust You enough to actually mean it when we say, “Your will be done.”

Give us what we need for today and help us stop trying to live tomorrow before it gets here.

Wherever You've placed us this week, remind us that we have access to You right there.

Thank You for Jesus, thank You for Your grace and thank You that we never have to walk alone.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Take It to the Tee

This week, keep prayer simple.

Find some time to go for a walk with God. Leave the headphones behind and put the phone away for a little while. Talk to Him about what's actually going on in your life.

Tell Him what you're thankful for, what you're worried about and what He's revealing in your heart. Then spend some time being quiet enough to listen.

You don't need to figure everything out before you come to Him. You just need to come.

Sandy feet and all.

Golf Church: The Narrow Way — Week Two: Love Your Enemies

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:44–45

Welcome back to Golf Church and week two of The Narrow Way, where we're walking through some of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and what it actually looks like to live it.

If this is your first time here, my name is Cooper. I'm a professional golfer preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School, and every week I use this space to share a little of what God is teaching me through His Word, golf and life along the way.

This week Jesus gives us one that's really easy to read and really hard to live:

Love your enemies.

Being a professional athlete is a strange thing sometimes. When you decide to pursue something publicly, people don't just watch what you're doing. A lot of them also feel pretty comfortable telling you how you should be doing it.

Everyone has an opinion.

What I should be practicing. How much I should be playing. How much I should be resting. What tournaments I should play. What my swing should look like. What I should be doing in the gym. Whether I'm good enough. Sometimes even whether I should still be chasing this at all. And heaven forbid I make a mistake during a round of golf.

Hit one bad shot and somebody knows exactly what I've been doing wrong for the last six months. Miss a short putt and somebody has the fix. Play a bad round and people who weren't there, haven't seen the work and have no idea what was happening suddenly feel comfortable telling you exactly what went wrong.

Some people genuinely want to help. Some criticism is fair. Some advice has made me better.

And some of it is just noise.

For most of my life, I wasn't very good at telling the difference.

I would replay comments over and over. Someone could say one thing about my game and I would give that person hours of my life without them even knowing it. I'd wonder if they were right, think about what I should've said back and usually think about how I was going to prove them wrong.

Meanwhile, they probably moved on with their day. I was still having the conversation six hours later in my own head. Looking back, I understand why. As I have mentioned in other posts, for a long time, golf wasn't just something I did. Golf was where I found my identity.

A bad tournament wasn't just a bad tournament. It became evidence that maybe I didn't belong. Maybe I wasn't going to make it. Maybe everybody who doubted me was right. And when you live that way, everybody gets a vote on who you are.

That's exhausting.

One of the things God has been teaching me is that following Jesus was never meant to happen alone. As Pastor Kevin Queen says "Faith is personal, but it isn't private." God uses people to shape us, encourage us, pray for us, challenge us and sometimes help us see what we can't see ourselves.

But that doesn't mean every voice gets the same weight.

I'm learning there's a big difference between having people around me and having the right people around me.

I need people who know my story. People who will tell me the truth when I need to hear it. People who will believe in me, challenge me and pray for me. People who can remind me who I am when I'm tempted to believe what a scorecard or somebody else's opinion says about me.

The book of Acts doesn't show us a bunch of isolated Christians trying harder on their own. We see people following Jesus together.

Saul encounters Jesus personally on the road to Damascus, but almost immediately God begins surrounding him with people. Ananias comes alongside him. Barnabas advocates for him. Other believers pray with him and walk with him.

His encounter with Jesus was personal. His discipleship wasn't isolated.

That's challenging for someone like me because golf can become incredibly individual.

It's my name on the scorecard. My swing. My preparation. My result.

And our culture loves the idea of being self-made.

But the more I look at my own story, the more I realize there really isn't anything self-made about it.

God has placed a wife beside me who knows me far beyond the golfer. He's given me coaches, mentors, friends, pastors and brothers in Christ who encourage me, challenge me and pray for me. He's given me people who remind me who I am when I forget.

And that's been a huge shift, because everyone doesn't get a vote anymore. My score doesn't.

The leaderboard doesn't.

The person watching from the cart doesn't.

The person who thinks I should quit doesn't.

And honestly, even the people closest to me don't ultimately get to define me.

I love them. I listen to them. I value their wisdom.

But even their wisdom sits underneath the authority of God's Word.

Jesus gets the final word.

Before I shoot 65, I belong to Him. After I shoot 75, I still belong to Him.

When everybody understands what I'm doing, I'm His.

When nobody understands it, I'm still His.

And maybe that's actually where loving our enemies starts.

Because when I don't need somebody else's approval to know who I am, I also don't need their failure to feel better about myself.

I can forgive them, pray for them and extend grace to them without giving their voice authority over my identity.

Jesus already settled that.

And that's exactly what He tells us in Matthew 5:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

My natural reaction isn't always love.

Sometimes I want to defend myself. Sometimes I want to explain everything they don't understand. And if I'm being completely truthful, there have absolutely been times when I've wanted to succeed partly because I wanted certain people to have to watch me prove them wrong.

Then I read Jesus' words.

He doesn't say, Go prove them wrong.

He says, Love them.

He doesn't say, Win the argument.

He says, Pray for them.

That's the Narrow Way.

I'm also learning that forgiveness doesn't mean pretending something didn't hurt. It doesn't mean somebody was right, and it doesn't mean you can't have boundaries.

Forgiveness is becoming more about refusing to keep carrying something Jesus is asking me to put down. 

Don't keep replaying the argument. Don't let resentment take up space in my mind. Don't secretly hope something goes wrong for somebody so you feel vindicated.

Give it to Jesus. What do we do after we give it to Jesus? Pray.

Pray for them.

It's one thing to decide I'm not going to stay angry with somebody. It's another thing to genuinely pray that God would bless them, work in their life, take care of their family and draw them closer to Him.

My coach has a saying that's become really important to me:

“Breathe in gratitude and breathe out grace.”

I love that, especially on a golf course, because golf gives you plenty of opportunities to do the exact opposite.

You hit a bad shot. Miss a putt. Get a bad bounce. Hear a comment. Get frustrated and suddenly you're carrying the last hole into the next one.

When I breathe in gratitude, I'm reminding myself: Thank You, Jesus, that I get to be here. Thank You that I get to play this game. Thank You for another shot. Thank You that my identity isn't riding on where this golf ball goes. Thank You that I'm Yours.

Then I breathe out grace.

Grace for myself when I make a mistake. Grace for my caddie. Grace for my playing partners. Grace for the person watching. Grace for the person who made the comment. Grace for the person I'd really like to prove wrong.

Because how can I spend my life celebrating the grace Jesus has given me while refusing to extend grace to somebody else?

For years, I think there were times I was playing golf against people who weren't even on the golf course.

Trying to prove something.

To critics. To people who doubted. Probably to myself more than anybody.

That's a heavy golf bag to carry.

Jesus is teaching us to put it down.

I'm not going to Q-School to prove somebody wrong. I'm going because I believe this is the mission God has called me to.

I'm going to prepare as well as I possibly can, show up and compete my butt off. I want to beat the guys I'm playing against. That's competition, and I love competition.

Following Jesus doesn't mean I suddenly stop wanting to compete or stop wanting to win. It means the person standing across from me doesn't have to become my enemy just because we're both trying to beat each other. I can want to win with everything I have and still want good for them. I can compete hard without carrying hatred, jealousy or resentment in my heart.

And I think that's where Jesus' teaching really starts to challenge us, because loving people who are for us isn't all that difficult. What about the person competing against us? The person criticizing us? The person who has hurt us or who we know doesn't really want to see us succeed?

Toward the end of this passage, Jesus asks:

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?”

It's easy to love people who love you back.

Jesus says His followers should look different.

Love the difficult person. Pray for the person talking about you. Forgive the person who hurt you. Give grace to the person who doesn't deserve it.

Not because they earned it.

Because neither did I.

Jesus didn't wait for me to get my life together before He loved me. Romans 5:8 tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So when Jesus asks me to love somebody who doesn't deserve my love, He's not asking me to give something I haven't already received. And remember that the "somebody" Jesus is asking you to love, is EVERYONE. 

He's asking us to live from what He's already given us.

I definitely haven't mastered that.

But He's teaching me.

Listen closely to the people God has intentionally placed around you.

Hold their wisdom underneath His Word.

Let the noise be noise.

Forgive quickly.

Pray for the people we'd rather prove wrong.

And give people something they may not deserve, something Jesus has freely given:

Grace.

Prayer

Jesus,

Thank You that my identity isn't found in what people say about me, what I accomplish or what number I write on a scorecard. Thank You that because of You, I know who I am and Whose I am.

Thank You for the people You've intentionally placed around me. Give me humility to listen when You're using someone to challenge me, wisdom to know which voices deserve weight and discernment to let go of the noise.

Teach me to forgive quickly and help me stop carrying conversations You never asked me to carry.

Help me love the people who are difficult for me to love and pray for the people I'd rather prove wrong. Remind me of the grace You've given me so freely and teach me to give that same grace away.

Let the way I compete, speak, forgive and love point people back to You.

Breathe in gratitude.

Breathe out grace.

Amen.

Take It to the Tee

This week, pay attention to whose voice you're allowing to shape you.

Do you have people around you who actually know you, pray for you, challenge you and continually point you back to Jesus?

Then think about the person whose words still take up space in your head.

Maybe they criticized you. Maybe they betrayed you. Maybe they embarrassed you, doubted you or simply got under your skin.

You don't have to pretend it didn't hurt.

But you also don't have to keep carrying it.

So this week, actually do what Jesus said.

Pray for them. Ask God to bless them. Ask Him to work in their life. Ask Him to help you forgive them. Then remember who gets the final word over your life.

Jesus.

So take a breath.

Breathe in gratitude. Breathe out grace.

Narrow Way: Week One — Salt & Light

“You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”
Matthew 5:13–14

Welcome back to Golf Church.

If this is your first time here, my name is Cooper. I’m a professional golfer preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School, but more importantly, I’m a follower of Jesus learning what it looks like to say yes to Him wherever He leads me.

This week we're starting something new. For the next several weeks, we're going to walk through parts of the Sermon on the Mount together. I'm calling it The Narrow Way Series.

Jesus says later in this sermon:

“Enter through the narrow gate… small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life.”
Matthew 7:13–14

The Narrow Way isn't about trying harder, cleaning ourselves up, or proving we're good Christians.

The Narrow Way begins and ends with Jesus.

And that's important before we talk about being salt and light.

You Are

Something stood out to me reading Matthew 5.

Jesus doesn't say, “Try really hard to become the light of the world.”

For most of my life I thought that if I tried hard enough, put in the hours and achieved something notable then I would finally be enough. But Jesus says the opposite. 

He says:

“You are the light of the world.”

We don't become light because we're good people, go to church, know Scripture, or serve enough.

It's only because of Jesus.

Jesus says in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.”

So when He calls us the light of the world, He's not telling us to create our own light.

He's telling us to carry His.

That takes so much pressure off.

My job isn't to walk onto a golf course and convince everyone I have it figured out. I don't.

My job is to stay close to Jesus and allow His light to shine through the life He's given me.

Why Are You Here?

I've been thinking about this question:

Why are you wherever God has placed you?

For me, one of those places is golf.

I believe God has called me to pursue professional golf. I'm preparing for Q-School and working my butt off to become the best golfer I can possibly become.

But I'm realizing this calling isn't only about golf.

There are people all along this road. Players. Caddies. Coaches. Volunteers. Sponsors. People working at the course. Someone sitting next to me on an airplane.

I've spent most of my life looking at golf courses thinking about scores.

Now I'm learning to look around and see people.

God has me standing on a particular driving range or playing with a particular person for a reason that has absolutely nothing to do with golf.

Golf Means Something Different Now

For a long time, golf carried way too much weight in my life.

How I played could determine how I felt about myself.

Then came an injury and a season of pain where the things I thought I could control suddenly weren't in my control anymore. There was a point where I couldn't even walk, let alone chase professional golf.

Then Jesus changed my life.

He didn't just give me golf back.

He gave golf a different purpose.

I still want to make the PGA TOUR. Probably more than I ever have.

But I don't want to become so focused on where I'm trying to go that I miss why God has me where I am today.

Making the PGA TOUR doesn't make my light brighter.

Winning doesn't make my light brighter.

Having a great testimony doesn't make my light brighter. 

Only Jesus does.

Without Him, I have nothing to shine.

Don't Hide It

Jesus continues:

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16

That's the whole point.

They glorify the Father. Not us.

The goal isn't for someone to walk away thinking, Cooper is such a great guy.

I want them wondering:

What is different about him?

And I want the answer to be Jesus.

The joy isn't mine. The peace isn't mine. The hope isn't mine.

The light isn't mine. It's Jesus.

Anything good coming through me is evidence of what He has done and is doing in me.

As You Go

Following Jesus doesn't require a stage or a microphone.

It's lived out as you go.

As you go to work. As you raise your kids. As you walk onto the golf course. As you travel. As you chase whatever calling God has placed on your life.

You need Jesus, and then you faithfully walk the road He's put in front of you.

For me, that road includes golf. So yes, I'm going to practice. I'm going to compete. I'm going to prepare for Q-School with everything I've got.

But I don't want to walk past the people God puts directly in front of me because I'm too busy looking at where I'm trying to get.

God didn't put us where we are only to succeed there.

A Prayer

Jesus,

Thank You that we don't have to create our own light. You are the Light of the world.

Help us stay close to You and open our eyes to the people You've placed around us. Wherever You have us today, help us remember we're there for a reason.

Let our lives point away from ourselves and toward You.

Amen.

Take It to the Tee

Before you walk into work, onto the golf course, into school, or wherever God has placed you this week, pray:

“Jesus, show me why You have me here today.”

Then look up and pay attention to the people around you.

You don't have to create the light. You just have to stay close to the One who is.

Golf Church: Week Four — The Dream Is Not the Destination

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
Proverbs 16:9

Welcome back to Golf Church.

If this is your first time here, my name is Cooper. I'm a professional golfer preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School, and every week I use this space to share a little of what God is teaching me through golf and life.

Similar to last week this didn't come to me on a golf course. I've been traveling a lot lately, which means I've had a lot of time to think. 

About golf. Q-School. My family. The people God keeps putting in my life. My testimony. Where I've been and where I believe God is taking me. And I've been thinking a lot about dreams.

For basically my entire life, I've had one really big one.

I started playing golf when I was two years old, and for as long as I can remember, I wanted to play professional golf at the highest level. I wanted the PGA TOUR. And I still do.

I'm preparing for Q-School right now with every intention of making it. I'm practicing, training, studying the course, preparing my body and my mind and doing everything I know how to do to show up ready.

I believe God has called me to this road to know Him and to make Him more known.

But here's what's different now.

For most of my life, golf wasn't just something I wanted.

Golf was everything.

If I played well, everything was right with the world. If I played badly, I could and would be miserable.

The score had the ability to tell me whether I was good enough.

Success meant I was going somewhere.

Failure felt like I wasn't.

And if I'm really being truthful, I think there was a time when I believed that if I could just make it far enough in golf, everything else would somehow fall into place.

Make the TOUR. Make the money. Prove I belonged. Then I'd be happy. Then I'd have made it. Then all the sacrifice would have been worth it. I didn't have the language for it then, but golf wasn't just my dream.

It was my god.

And then Jesus completely changed my life.

God Was There Before I Knew It

When I look back at my testimony now, one of the craziest things is realizing how present God was in seasons when I wasn't really looking for Him.

There are parts of my story I would never have chosen, decisions I'm not proud of and situations I should never have put myself in.

There were relationships, disappointments, missed opportunities and closed doors that I couldn't understand at the time. There were times I thought I knew exactly what my life was supposed to look like. And when it didn't happen that way, I thought something had gone wrong.

Now I look back and see something completely different.

I see protection, I see grace, and I see all the people God placed in my life at just the right time. I see doors He closed that I would’ve probably run straight through, and moments where He was pulling me toward Him long before I even had language for it. In August of 2024 Jesus stopped being someone I just knew about and became the center of my life. I got baptized, and then I had the privilege of baptizing my wife. I started serving instead of seeking to be served, started actually opening the Bible because I wanted to know Him more, and started having conversations about Jesus that I never would’ve pictured myself in. And somehow, the same golf career I spent so long trying to use to make my name known started turning into something I want to use to make His name known.

God will either restore you dreams or redirect them.

A Dream Became a Calling

I've talked before about the difference between a dream and a calling.

A dream says:

This is where I want to go.

A calling says:

God, where do You want me to go?

Sometimes those roads might look exactly the same from the outside.

I'm still practicing, competing, training to get better on a daily basis. 

But what's happening on the inside is completely different.

That's why Proverbs 16:9 has been on my mind:

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

As a golfer, I love that.

Because planning the course is basically what I do. Especially right now.

I'm preparing for Q-School. I'm studying where I'm playing. I'm thinking about the grass, the greens, where I can miss it, what shots I'm going to need. I'm working on my body. I'm working on my mind. I'm practicing putting, wedges, ball striking and everything else that is under my control. As the John Wooden Quote still rings true today - "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail".

I don't believe surrender means sitting around doing nothing and saying, “Well, whatever God wants.”

God gave me something to steward.

So I'm going to work my butt off stewarding it.

I'm going to plan the course.

But God establishes the steps.

And that's the part I'm learning.

Standing on the First Tee

I've pictured standing on the first tee at Q-School a lot.

I can see it.

The bag.

My caddie.

The nerves.

The first target.

One rehearsal.

Commit.

Hit it.

And I hope when that moment actually comes, I can look around for a second and remember the truth.

God has already been and is faithful.

Before I hit the first shot. Before I turn in my scorecard. Before I know whether I advance. Before I know what happens next.

He's already been faithful. That's freedom. Not freedom from caring. I might care more about this tournament than any tournament I've ever played. But It's freedom from needing the tournament to tell me who I am. I can stand on that tee and give everything I have because my identity isn't waiting for me behind the 18th green. Jesus already gave me that.

Prayer

Jesus,

Thank You for never giving up on me, even in the years when I was chasing things I thought would give me what only You could.

Thank You for every open door and every closed one.

Thank You for the people You've put in my life, for the protection I didn't recognize at the time, and for Your grace through all of it.

You know the work that's gone into this. You know the prayers, the sacrifice, the disappointment and the dreams.

And I thank You that I don’t have to carry this mission in my own strength. Jesus, You are the One who opens the doors, You are the One who gives me the courage to walk through them, and You are the One who sustains me when I feel weak or uncertain.

I’m asking You to take this golf journey wherever You want it to go, and to use it for Your purpose and Your glory.

But more than that, keep me close to You.

Don’t let the assignment ever become more important than the One who sent me.

I’ll trust You with the course.

You establish my steps.

Amen.

Take It to the Tee

What's your thing?

The dream you've been thinking about for years. The relationship you desperately want. The career. The business. The opportunity. The prayer you've been asking God to answer. Don't stop wanting it. Don't stop working. Don't stop praying boldly. Don't stop knocking.

But ask yourself something I've had to ask myself:

If I get everything I've been praying for but it pulls me away from Jesus, was it really worth getting?

And on the other side:

If the road looks different than I planned but it brings me closer to Jesus, did I really lose?

I'm going to Q-School believing I can make it. I'm preparing like I can make it. I'm praying that I make it. But before a single shot is hit, I want this settled:

The dream isn't the destination.

Jesus is.

Golf Church: Week Three — Nothing Is Impossible

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Luke 1:37

Welcome back to Golf Church.

And if this is your first time here, I’m really glad you’re here. My name is Cooper, and I’m a professional golfer preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School while learning what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus one day at a time.

Golf Church started because I've realized that some of the greatest lessons God has taught me have come through this game. Sometimes it's walking down a fairway after a bad hole. Sometimes it's standing over a putt with everything on the line. Other times it's on the drive home after a tournament when things didn't go the way I wanted. Golf has a way of revealing what's going on in my heart, and more often than not, those moments point me back to Scripture.

That's really what Golf Church is. It's a place where I can share what God is teaching me through golf, life, and His Word in hopes that maybe He'll use something He's teaching me to encourage you too.

But this week's message didn't come to me standing over a putt, walking down a fairway, or even sitting down with my Bible.

It came while I was doing the dishes.

I had just finished a practice round and some short-game work, and my wife and I made it home and started doing the normal things that come with life. There was laundry to fold, dishes to wash, and a kitchen that needed to be cleaned. I'm not exactly the guy you want folding the laundry, so my wife took that job and I headed for the kitchen.

I know this isn't really the point of this week's message, but I couldn't help thinking about what a blessing it is to have my wife as my teammate in all of this. She's there cheering me on during tournament rounds, but she's also there for all the ordinary moments nobody sees. The travel days, the practice days, the long weeks, and making sure I actually have clean clothes when it's time to tee it up again. There's a lot that goes into professional golf that will never show up on a scorecard, and I couldn't do it without her.

While she was folding laundry, I was standing at the sink working my way through the dishes when I picked up one of our spatulas. Written on it was Luke 1:37:

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

I've probably used that spatula a hundred times, but for whatever reason, this time those words stopped me.

I immediately started asking myself, Do I really believe that? Do I really believe that nothing is impossible with God?

Because it's one thing to know that verse. It's another thing to build your life around it.

It reminded me that when the Holy Spirit wants to get our attention, it doesn't matter where we are. We sometimes expect God to speak during worship, while we're praying, or when we have our Bibles open in front of us. But sometimes He meets you at the kitchen sink. If we're paying attention, God can use some pretty ordinary moments to point us back to extraordinary truth.

As I stood there thinking about that verse, I started looking back over my own life. I can think of plenty of things in front of me right now that seem impossible, but when I look backward, I see a God who has done impossible things over and over again.

I see moments where He protected me when I didn't even know I needed protecting. I see situations He pulled me out of that I couldn't have escaped on my own. I see doors He closed that I desperately wanted open and people He placed in my life at exactly the right time. I see prayers answered in ways I never could have planned and grace I never could have earned.

The fact that I'm even still here is one of the many reminders in my testimony that God has already done things I once would have thought were impossible.

And that left me with another question: Why am I so quick to believe God for the impossible He's already done, but struggle to trust Him with the impossible thing still in front of me?

That's when Luke 1:37 started hitting differently.

When we read the verse in context, Mary has just been given news that isn't simply unlikely. It's humanly impossible. The angel Gabriel tells her she's going to give birth to Jesus. Mary is a virgin, so naturally she asks, “How will this be?”

Gabriel explains what God is going to do and then points her toward another seemingly impossible situation. Her relative Elizabeth, who had been unable to have children and was well beyond the age anyone expected her to have one, was already six months pregnant.

Then Gabriel says, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

There's something important about the context of that verse. It doesn't mean anything we want is guaranteed to happen if we believe hard enough. It doesn't mean God owes me a PGA TOUR card, and it doesn't mean every dream we have is automatically a promise from God.

The power of Luke 1:37 isn't that Mary had a really big dream. It's that God had spoken.

Mary didn't understand how it was all going to happen, but she trusted the God who did. That's a different kind of faith than simply believing God will give me whatever outcome I want. It's believing that nothing God purposes to do is impossible for Him.

That's the kind of faith I want.

I believe God has called me to walk down this road in professional golf and faithfully steward the ability, opportunities, relationships, and platform He's given me. But I don't know how every tournament will go. I don't know where every dollar will come from, what doors will open, or how long the road will take.

And I don't have to.

Faith doesn't require me to know everything that's coming. It requires me to trust the One who does.

Golf actually gives us a pretty good picture of that. You can stand on a tee box, calculate the yardage, feel the wind, choose the club, pick your target, go through your routine, and make the most committed swing you possibly can. But once the ball leaves the clubface, you can't chase it through the air and steer it. Or, as my coach likes to say, “You can't control the outcome.”

Your responsibility was to make the swing.

I think faith can look a lot like that. Maybe my responsibility isn't to figure out how God is going to accomplish everything. Maybe it's simply to be faithful with what He's put in front of me today. Hit the next shot. Do the next practice session. Have the next conversation. Love the person standing in front of me. Say yes when God asks me to say yes, and leave the outcome with Him.

That's what I see in Mary's response too. She couldn't see Bethlehem, the miracles Jesus would perform, the cross, or the empty tomb. She didn't have the entire plan in front of her.

She simply responded:

“I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Luke 1:38

She got the next step, and she said yes.

Maybe some of us are waiting for God to explain step ten before we're willing to take step one. We want the entire yardage book before we're willing to walk onto the first tee. But following Jesus has never required knowing the entire route. It requires trusting the One leading us.

Let's Pray

Father, thank You for reminding us that nothing is impossible for You. Forgive us for the times we've looked at our circumstances, calculated the odds, and decided what You can or cannot do based on what we can see.

Help us remember Your faithfulness. When we're facing something that feels impossible, remind us of all the ways You've already provided, protected, rescued, and carried us. Give us the faith to trust You even when we don't understand what You're doing or where You're leading.

Lord, teach us to be faithful with what's in front of us today. Give us the courage to take the next step when You call us forward and the humility to leave the outcome in Your hands. Like Mary, let our response be, “I am the Lord's servant.” Whatever You have for us, help us trust that Your plans are better than ours and that nothing You purpose to do is impossible for You.

Above all, keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Let our confidence come not from ourselves, our circumstances, or the odds in front of us, but from who You are.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Take It to the Tee

So here's what I want us to take to the tee this week: What would change if we actually believed Luke 1:37?

Not just quoted it. Not just highlighted it in our Bible. Actually believed it.

Whatever your impossible thing is right now, take it to God. Remember what He's already done and look back at His faithfulness. Then take the next step He's put in front of you.

The obstacle might still be there. The odds might not have changed. But God hasn't changed either.

For me, that means stepping onto the first tee confidently. Not because God owes me a certain score or outcome, but because my confidence was never supposed to come from believing I'm capable of accomplishing the impossible. My confidence comes from knowing the God who can.

So pray the prayer. Have the conversation. Walk through the door. Make the swing. Be faithful with what's in front of you and trust God with what happens next.

My responsibility is faithfulness. God is responsible for the outcome.

The golfer sees the odds. The world sees what's possible. Faith sees the God for whom nothing is impossible.

Take that with you to the tee this week. And maybe the next time God wants to remind you of it, don't be surprised if He does it somewhere as ordinary as the kitchen sink.

I'll see you next week.

Golf Church: Week Two - Deeper Roots

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."
John 15:1–2

Welcome back to Golf Church.

And if this is your first time here, I'm really glad you're here. My name is Cooper, and I'm a professional golfer preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School while learning what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus one day at a time.

One of the reasons I started writing these weekly messages is because I've realized golf has a funny way of exposing what's really going on beneath the surface.

I've walked off the course after a bad round and realized I wasn't just frustrated with my swing. Sometimes my frustration had nothing to do with golf at all. It exposed impatience. Pride. Control. Other times I've played well and caught myself placing too much value in a score instead of remembering who I already am in Christ.

Golf has a way of revealing what's already there.

The more I've followed Jesus, the more I've noticed that some of the greatest lessons He has taught me have come while walking fairways, standing over putts, or driving home after a tournament.

That's really why Golf Church exists.

My hope is simple. Whether you've been playing golf for forty years or you're just learning the game, I hope these few minutes each week encourage you to know Jesus a little more and enjoy golf a little differently. Last week we talked about something golf can never give us—our identity.

Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we don't have to earn our worth through our performance anymore. We don't play to become enough. We play knowing we already belong to Him. That truth has changed the way I look at golf.

But after thinking about that all week, another question kept coming to mind. If our identity is secure in Christ, how does God continue shaping us into the people He's calling us to become?

Ironically, I think the answer has been sitting in front of golfers for years.

If you've played golf for any length of time, you've probably shown up one morning, looked at the greens, and immediately known they had just been aerified.

As golfers, we usually have the same reaction.

"Seriously? This week?"

The greens are covered with little holes. Sand is everywhere. Putts bounce when they shouldn't. The smooth surface you were hoping for is suddenly gone. From our perspective, it feels like someone made the golf course worse. But the superintendent isn't looking at the greens the way we are.

He knows that even the healthiest greens eventually become compacted. Air doesn't move through the soil as easily. Water doesn't reach the roots the way it should. Nutrients stay near the surface instead of getting where they're needed most.

So for a short season, he intentionally disrupts the surface to strengthen what no one can see. It looks like damage.

But it's actually preparation.

The more I thought about that this week, the more I realized that the greatest golf courses in the world don't become great because they avoid aerification. They become great because they faithfully go through it.

Every single year. Augusta National. Pine Valley. Oakmont. Cypress Point.

Some of the most beautiful golf courses on earth willingly endure a season where they look worse because the people caring for them understand something every golfer eventually learns.

Long-term health is always more important than short-term appearance.

As I was thinking about that, Jesus' words in John 15 came to mind.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

One thing I love about this passage is what Jesus doesn't say.

He doesn't say the Father only prunes branches that aren't producing fruit. He prunes the fruitful ones.

Not because He's disappointed in them, but because He loves them too much to leave them where they are.

That's encouraging to me.

Because I think it's easy to assume that when life gets difficult, God must be distant. I've certainly thought that before.

This past year hasn't looked the way I imagined it would. There was the wrist injury that kept me from competing when all I wanted to do was play. There was driving home after missing a qualifier by one shot, replaying every swing and wondering what could have been different.

In those moments, it was easy to ask why.

Looking back now, I don't think God had stepped away. I think He was inviting me closer. He was teaching me to trust Him when I couldn't see what He was doing. He was reminding me that His greatest priority isn't simply helping me become a better golfer. It's making me look more like Jesus.

That's a much bigger goal than shooting lower scores. One thing I've continued to come back to in John 15 is that Jesus never tells the branch to work harder. He tells it to remain.

As golfers, we're wired to believe everything depends on us.

Practice more.

Stay longer.

Find another swing thought.

Fix another flaw.

And don't get me wrong—I believe hard work honors God. I'll keep working as hard as I can to become the best golfer I'm capable of becoming.

But spiritual growth doesn't happen because we strive harder.

It happens because we stay connected to Jesus. The branch doesn't force itself to produce fruit. It simply remains connected to the Vine. Fruit is the natural result.

I don't know what season you're walking through right now.

Maybe life feels a little like an aerified green. Plans changed. A door closes. A prayer still hasn't been answered.

You're wondering why things feel unsettled when you thought they were finally coming together. If that's you, can I encourage you with something God has been reminding me of? Don't judge what He's doing only by what you can currently see.

When the superintendent aerifies a green, the golfer only sees holes. The superintendent sees healthier greens.

Our Heavenly Father sees something even deeper. He sees the roots. One day the holes disappear. The sand settles. The roots grow stronger. The green becomes healthier than it was before—not because it avoided the process, but because it went through it.

I wonder if one day we'll look back on the seasons we begged God to remove and realize they were the very seasons He used to make us more like His Son. If you're in an aerification season today, don't lose heart. Stay close to the Vine. Trust the Gardener. The One who gave His life for you isn't finished with you yet.

Let's Pray

Father,

Thank You for being a good Gardener.

Thank You for caring more about the condition of our hearts than the comfort of our circumstances. When life feels confusing and we can't understand what You're doing, help us trust that You're working beneath the surface in ways we can't yet see.

Teach us to remain close to Jesus, the true Vine. Grow our faith deeper than our feelings, our character stronger than our circumstances, and our love for You greater than our love for comfort.

May every season—even the difficult ones—produce fruit that brings You glory.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Take It to the Tee

The next time you walk onto an aerified green, don't complain about the holes. Instead, let them remind you that God often does His deepest work beneath the surface. And when this week doesn't go according to your plans, pause for a moment and ask:

"Lord, what are You growing in me?"

Last week we remembered that our identity is found in Christ. This week we're reminded that the Gardener is committed to growing everyone who belongs to Him. The golfer sees the holes. The superintendent sees healthier greens. The Gardener sees deeper roots.

Golf Church: Week One - What Golf Can Never Give You

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."
Hebrews 12:2

If we've never met before, Hi! My name is Cooper, and I'm a professional golfer who is learning what it looks like to simply say "yes" to the calling God has placed on my life.

For as long as I can remember, golf has been part of my story. I picked up a club as a two year old, and over the years that passion has grown into a profession. Today, I'm preparing for PGA TOUR Q-School, but somewhere along the journey God changed the way I viewed the game.

What I once called a dream, I now recognize as a calling.

That shift has changed everything.

I still work relentlessly to become the best golfer I can be. I still want to compete against the best players in the world. I still hope to play on the PGA TOUR one day. But my motivation has changed. I'm no longer chasing a destination so I can say I made it. I'm simply trying to be faithful with the opportunities God places in front of me today.

Because I've come to believe that professional golf isn't just my career.

It's my mission field.

This past year has reminded me of that over and over again. I've battled a wrist injury that forced me to step away from competition for a season. I've watched God provide at exactly the right time when I wasn't sure how the next tournament would happen. I've stood one shot away from qualifying for tournaments and driven home wondering what could have been.

As competitors, we hate losing by one shot. We replay every decision, every missed putt, every swing, wondering where things could have been different.

But somewhere in the middle of all of that, God reminded me of something I desperately needed to hear.

He has never measured my life by one shot and neither should I.

The more I've pursued professional golf, the more I've realized that one of the greatest lies this game tells us is that our next score has the power to change who we are. We convince ourselves that if we could just break 80, break par, make the cut, or earn a TOUR card, then we'd finally feel like we've arrived. I've believed that lie before. Maybe you have too.

The problem is that golf is an incredible game, but it was never designed to tell us our value. That's a question it simply can't answer.

I've played enough golf to know that every round eventually ends. The trophies collect dust. The scorecards get thrown away. Even our best rounds slowly become stories we tell. But the identity we have in Christ doesn't fade with time. Before I ever teed it up professionally, before I ever signed a scorecard, before I ever missed a cut, Jesus settled the most important score in my life.

The Cross is enough.

Because of that, I no longer play to earn my identity. I play from it.

That realization has changed the way I compete more than any swing lesson ever has.

Don't misunderstand me, I still want to win. I want to make the PGA TOUR. I want to compete against the best players in the world, and I work every day to become better because I believe excellence honors God.

But over the years, the Lord has gently reshaped my understanding of why I play. Professional golf isn't my purpose. It's my mission field.

Every driving range conversation, every practice round, every volunteer, every caddie, every sponsor, every competitor, every airport, every rain delay, every missed cut, and every victory is another opportunity to reflect Jesus. If God gives me a platform on the PGA TOUR one day, I pray He receives every ounce of the glory. And if He leads me somewhere different, I pray people still remember that I loved them well and pointed them toward Christ.

Because that's the mission.

Sometimes I wonder how differently we'd all play if we truly believed our identity couldn't rise with a birdie or fall with a double bogey. What if we walked to the first tee already convinced that we were fully known, fully loved, and fully accepted because of Jesus? What if success wasn't measured only by what we wrote on the scorecard, but by how faithfully we represented Christ while we filled it out?

I think we'd swing a little freer. I think we'd smile a little more. I think we'd recover from mistakes a little quicker.

And I think we'd enjoy this incredible game the way God intended us to.

So before your next round, I'd like to challenge you to do something simple. When you step onto the first tee, don't rush. Take a deep breath. Look all the way to your target. Then quietly remind yourself of something that no scorecard will ever have the power to change:

Golf is what I do.

Making Christ known is why I do it.

Your score may change before you reach the eighteenth green.

Your identity never will.

Let's Pray

Father, thank You for this game. Thank You for the beauty of creation, for friendships built over eighteen holes, and for the privilege of competing. Forgive us for the times we've allowed our score to determine our worth or our performance to become our identity.

Help us pursue excellence because You deserve our best, not because we're trying to earn Your love. Whether we shoot our career low or struggle to keep the ball in play, remind us that our identity was settled at the cross. Teach us to compete with joy, recover with grace, love people well, and leave every golf course looking a little more like Jesus than when we arrived.

May every round become an opportunity to glorify You.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

This Week's Challenge

Before every round this week, write Hebrews 12:2 somewhere you'll see it—on your yardage book, your scorecard, or even a small piece of tape on your rangefinder.

Then ask yourself one question before you hit your opening tee shot:

"Am I playing to prove something, or am I playing because I'm already loved?"

I'll see you back here next week.

Until then, keep your eyes on Jesus... and enjoy the walk.

We're Back Baby!!! Preparing for Egypt and the 2026 Season!

After some time away from the game, I’m incredibly grateful to share that my first professional golf tournament back is officially set—Egypt, 2025. God is faithful, and here we are. The countdown has begun, and I’m stepping forward with trust in Him.

Right now, my focus is simple: stewarding what God has placed in my hands. That means showing up every day and putting in the work—not just on the course, but in every area of my life. I’m committing to growth physically, mentally, and spiritually, knowing that golf—like life—requires patience, persistence, and perspective.

This season, I’m being intentional about deepening my relationship with God, because He is my foundation and peace in a sport that can change in an instant. I’m also investing in the relationships He’s blessed me with—family, close friends, and mentors who have supported and prayed for me through every chapter.

I know the road ahead won’t always be easy, but I also know I won’t walk it alone. God goes before me, and He’s with me through every high and every low. Egypt is just the beginning, and I’m stepping into 2026 with gratitude, faith, and the joy of being able to play this great game again.

To God be all the glory, honor, and praise.