80th Golf Metaphor
This year, the Partners of Holy Cross are celebrating the 80th Anniversary of its founding in 1946. As a fellow Partner (Phil Amt) who just celebrated his own 80th birthday, I am a bit obsessed with that number.
So, here goes my effort at celebrating through this Metaphor:
I have noticed three varieties of eighty.
First, there is the word, EIGHTY.
Secondly, there is the number, 80.
Finally, there is that seemingly insignificant tool in the game of golf, A TEE.
For the purpose of this article, I want you to consider the TEE as a symbol for our history.
A Golf Metaphor
The ball placed on it represents our future.
As you know, golfers have a “future” in mind for their ball before they hit it.
They carry at least 14 different clubs in their bag to help them reach their goal.
Sometimes the ball goes exactly where they want it to go.
Many times it goes places they didn’t intend it to go.
It may go in the woods…or in the sand…or in the deep grass.
So they have to use clubs that will help them get out of woods…or the sand…or the deep grass…and if they hit it in the water, they have to take a penalty, back up, and hit again.
We have a strong TEE in the history of Holy Cross.
But HISTORY is not something you rest on, it is something you learn from.
As our former pastor, Richard Koehneke once said, “The past is not a couch on which to lounge, but a trampoline from which to launch.”
So we place our future goals on this “history”, much like a golfer places the ball on the TEE.
We have a goal for this future, much like the golfer has a goal for his shot.
However, we are prepared for things that may come up along the way.
We have “clubs”, or in this case “a variety of people”, who will help us achieve those goals.
Some of those people are “long-hitters”, some are “medium-hitters”, and some are “short-hitters”.
But they all have the same goal.
The “medium-hitters” are not quite right when we get close to the goal. That’s when we call on the “short-hitters”, to gently push the ball into the cup.
It takes all the “clubs”, to successfully reach the goal in as few steps as possible.
So it is with us at Holy Cross.
THE TEE is meant to hold the golf ball securely before it is launched by the club for it’s new goals…so the PAST history of Holy Cross is meant to support the goals securely before they are launched by the people for the upcoming future.
~ Phil Amt ~
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