Southern Hills Golf Course in Hot Springs, South Dakota, is ranked by Golf Digest as the number one nine-hole course in America. We were in Hot Springs camping a few years ago.I heard about the course and went out to see about playing it, as it was a public course. No problem! Tee time was 7:30 the next morning. I would be playing with a coach from one of the high schools in the state.The fee was $22.00 which was very reasonable for that course.
The next morning I was out there early and met my playing partner for the morning. We were only going to play nine holes. Both of us had other plans for later in the morning.
It was foggy. Not scattered fog, but big time fog! We could not see the first hole. We couldn't even see the ball after we hit it! We helped each other in finding the balls hidden in the fog. We had hopes it would lift as we trudged through the fog, When we finished at the ninth hole there was just a little bit of clearing. Neither one of us saw this great golf course that day. It was the greatest course I never did see.
We can be told how great a course or event or experience is. We can even walk around on it a bit, but if we never really see it it means little. Experiencing God is like that. We can talk about religion and God without experiencing Him. Salvation is like that. We can talk about it and never really experience it. I played the greatest nine-hole golf course in America... but I never really experienced it. I have no memories of picturesque greens set in valleys. I have vivid memories of driving a cart through the fog, never really seeing a single shot. Life can be like that.Fore!
