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.