Golf teaches that we all have handicaps … and that hardly anybody knows what they really are.

Golf teaches that the best courses are the ones that hardly change at all what God put there to begin with.

Golf teaches that although there are a few people who are honest in golf but cheat in life, everybody who cheats in golf cheats in life.

Golf teaches that even though we need strict rules, we also need a leaf rule.

Golf teaches that even people who wear green pants deserve some place where they can go, get a little exercise and not be laughed at.

Golf teaches that even though you probably don’t have a shot at being the best, you do have a good shot at being the best you can be.

Golf teaches that both success and failure are temporary.

Golf teaches that success is a lot more temporary.

Golf teaches that although practice does not always make us perfect, no practice always makes us imperfect.

Golf teaches that no matter how good you are, there is always someone better and that person will usually find you and tell you.

Golf teaches that when you are good you can tell people, but when you are great they will tell you.

Golf teaches that although patience is a virtue, slow play is not.

Golf teaches that even though the best golfers have the most chances to win, the other golfers have the most chances to improve.

Golf teaches that, on some dewy morning or some golden afternoon, with the sun warming the world, we can find ourselves walking through an improvised meadow and realise we are not searching for the little white ball, but for a moment where the world of nature and the world of play are one. And then in the dew and sunshine we can understand that even though we can make a ball perfectly white, only God can make a meadow perfectly green.

By Rabbi Marc Gellman, Ph.D., and Monsignor Tom Hartman