Editor's note: Sometimes you're playing for more

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I stepped up to the tee and prepared to hit my first golf ball in seven years.

This couldn’t be that hard, I thought to myself as I looked at the par three first hole. I took a few practice swings and then I was ready. I lined up my club, took my backswing, and hoped that my ball would somehow land on the green.

But it didn’t. I had dubbed it, and it was such a bad shot that I decided to tee it up again. My second try wasn’t much better than my first, so I decided to stop there and let my golfing partner go ahead.

My 88-year-old friend Mr. Davis set his ball on the tee and prepared to tee off. After a couple of practice swings, he took a short backswing and hit his

first shot in a year – a beautiful drive right down the middle of the fairway. This was just the start of many rounds of golf we played together last summer.

During my time as an intern at the newspaper in Sioux Falls, S.D., last summer, Mr. Davis allowed me to live in his home. I had wanted to start playing golf again and I quickly discovered that Mr. Davis really liked to play.

We played nine holes of golf that first day, and we decided we should play again sometime. Before we knew it, we were playing two or three rounds every week. I had discovered just how much fun it was to play a round of golf and we both couldn’t wait to play again.

Although Mr. Davis hadn’t really used his clubs in a long time, I could tell that he still loved to play golf. I could see just how much joy he got out of playing nine holes and how much fun it was for him to be back out on the course.

I saw Mr. Davis play some good rounds of golf last summer. On one occasion, he teed off and landed his shot four feet from the pin.

“Where did it go?” he asked me.

“You almost hit a hole in one,” I replied.

After I finally made it to the green, Mr. Davis knocked in his putt. It was the first birdie of the summer.

Even on the days when he didn’t play as well, I could tell that Mr. Davis still had a great time.

“I think that’s the last round of golf I’ll ever play,” he would tell me, but I knew he didn’t mean it.

The next day, we were out at the course playing again.

Playing golf last summer made me realize what it means to really enjoy a sport. I did improve my golf swing, but more importantly, I discovered how

anyone, regardless of his age, can maintain his passion for a game.

It’s great to see someone who isn’t worried about anything other than playing a sport. Sometimes I can see it at a Kansas basketball game, when the team goes on a big run and all of the players are really having fun on the court.

For a moment, a group of players can forget about the score, the crowd, or anything else, and just focus on doing what they love to do.

As we approached the green of the last hole during our final round of golf last summer, I knew it would probably be the last round I would ever get to

play with Mr. Davis. It wasn’t his best hole of the day, but it really didn’t matter to him.

Mr. Davis and I putted out, and I could tell just how much he had enjoyed getting to play golf again.

Sometimes you get to see a person play a game who is not worried about anything else, and it’s really a special thing to see. When that happens, it’s no

longer just about getting better at a sport or even about winning or losing.

And that’s when you know it’s for something more. That’s when you know it’s for the love of the game.

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