Christianity Today has a decent essay about the theology of golf. We say "decent" because it's not great. CT runs good essays, but there's always something missing. Oh well, if you like golf and religion, you'll get a kick out of this piece. Link. Excerpt:
In addition, the structure of the game harkens more to salvation history than do other sports. Baseball in this respect is more like a Greek tragedy. You play an inning, run around the bases, and the next inning you find yourself back at home plate, where you start all over again–that's history as a circle. In golf, you begin with a goal on the horizon, toward which you travel. And then when that trek ends, with the ball resting safely in the hole, you walks to the next tee to commence another journey. This is history with a telos, an eschatological goal.
CT, of course, is a Protestant publication. Perhaps the thing missing in its essays is a Catholic angle. If we had written this piece, for instance, we would have, among other things, worked in Walker Percy's fictional use of golf courses as modern substitutes for churches.
