PGA members share faith stories
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
On Wednesday, May 25, professional golfers Ted Schulz, Tom Lehman and Loren Roberts, who were in Louisville for the Senior PGA Tournament, spoke at a
“Night of Champions” dinner at Southeast.
The night was created with the goal of reaching golf fans with the Gospel.
Hundreds of high school golfers were in the audience to listen to a panel discussion featuring the professional golfers, and led by retired Senior Minister Bob
Russell.
Schulz, Lehman and Roberts are all men who follow Christ. Never during the discussion did they talk about great success on the tour or their finest moments.
When asked about their most memorable shots, they talked about personal faith and how that has carried them through wins and losses.
Southeast member Ted Schulz told the packed crowd of more than 600 that a shot last year at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California barely made it over an
ocean inlet and onto the green, but short of where he wanted the ball to land.
“What was memorable about that bad shot was that it didn’t devastate me,” Schulz said. “I bogeyed that hole, then went on and played good after that.”
Tom Lehman, who won the Senior PGA Championship last year, said a putt defined him.
He was playing in a tournament when he prayed, “God give me the strength to play this to the best of my ability and to accept whatever happens.” He ended up
winning that tournament.
He prayed that same prayer on the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open and hit the worst putt of his life. Lehman found a life lesson in that.
“God doesn’t do for me what I can do for myself,” he said. “But he does for me what I can’t do for myself. He gives me eternal life through his Son, Jesus
Christ.”
The following responses are excerpts from the panel discussion:
Russell: We see golfers in their glory moments. We don’t see what happens behind the scenes. What are the hard times?
Lehman: The biggest grind of golf is keeping your attitude in gear. The public doesn’t see when you’re missing cuts and playing poorly. Golf isn’t so easy
when things aren’t going great. They don’t see when you’re constantly getting knocked down and have to pick yourself up and go forward. And they don’t see
the lonely side of golf, when you’re missing birthdays and significant family events.
Russell: A lot of young golfers in the audience want to sit where you’re sitting tonight. What kind of counsel would you give them about golf and life at the same
time?
Schulz: Work hard and believe in yourself. Stay true to your moral compass.
Roberts: Finish your schooling first. Focus on the best parts of your game.
Lehman: I always tell young people not to do anything to make a strength a weakness.
Russell: Tell how you came to faith in Christ.
Roberts: I grew up in a great family that went to church all the time. But when I went away to college, I got sidetracked with other things. The first time I
understood a personal relationship with Christ was in a PGA Bible study in 1982. My wife and I had everything we owned in the back of our 1978 Oldsmobile.
I’d made about $8,000 that whole year and missed the cut in Milwaukee. I went back to our room in the Motel 6, got on my knees and said, “Lord, there has to
be a better way…” It’s been a journey ever since. Just because you’re a believer doesn’t make the ball go in the hole for you, but it does make you order your
life right.
Lehman: My vision of God when I was 15 years old was He was up there with a big hammer waiting for me to get out of line and smack me a good one. I lived
with fear and incredible guilt of never measuring up. I went to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting and listened to guys I looked up to in high school. I
learned God wanted to have a relationship with me and be intimately involved in my life. At age 15, I decided that was what I wanted.
Schulz: When my wife Diane started going to Bible studies on the PGA tour. I thought they were a bunch of Bible beaters. I thought I knew God, but I wasn’t
happy. I missed my first set of cuts and was losing my tour card. Diane’s life change attracted me to God. I decided to go to Bible studies and learned what it
meant to be a Christian. It’s been a long journey with ups and downs in my Christian walk. I have peace of mind and hope for a future. I know I’m going to
heaven some day.
Russell: What’s the toughest thing you deal with as a golfer?
Roberts: Anger. We are all driven to play well. When we hit shots we don’t like or give away a tournament, it’s easy to get angry.
Lehman: To remain humble and dependent on the Lord. Once I understood what real success is, my walk with Christ was steadier whether I won or lost,
played poorly or played well.
Schulz: My struggle was placing my self-worth in what I do.
Russell: There will come a day when everyone’s career is over. How do you want to be remembered?
Lehman: Reggie White, the great football player, said his goal in life was to be a man of God, and that fact would be so overpowering that people would forget
that he played football.
Who we are is far more significant than what we do on the golf course. I hope people say I loved God and cared more about people than trophies.
Roberts: I hope people remember integrity, humility and service to others.
Schulz: I hope people said I was a good dad and husband.