Golf's Timeless Joy: Sam Reeves' Reflection on Lessons

Segment Spotlight: Quick Hits From The Smylie Kaufman Show

Golf’s Lasting Magic and the Joyful Life of Jim Langley

Modern putting often emphasizes science, from zero-torque mallets to AimPoint. Ben Crenshaw, however, still putts well with an old-school putter and relies on feel. His approach reflects the contrast between what golf once represented and how the game is played today.

Golf can take hold of people from their first exposure to the game. During the Second World War, gathering enough children to play team sports became difficult. Golf offered an alternative because it could be played alone while still creating opportunities to meet and connect with others.

That combination makes golf both an individual and social sport. Like basketball, football, soccer and lacrosse, it is athletic, but golf also has an internal magic—an X factor that captures people.

The game has long included women and men, as well as players both young and old. Women represented 10% of golfers in Old Tom Morris’ era in the 1880s, 25% by the First World War and 30% today. It is also a lifelong game, one that can be played from childhood into a player’s later years. After starting at 9 or 10 years old, it is still possible to be playing at 92, trying as hard as ever even without getting any better.

That lifelong connection to golf also provides the setting for honoring Jim Langley. After Jim retired, Golf Week published a full story about his life. Golf writer John Steinbrenner asked for an assessment of Jim, and the answer was that he lived a life of joy.

Joy is different from happiness. It means acceptance, contentment with where you are and a life devoted to giving. Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. Jim lived with pain from ’87 onward, and pain cannot simply be willed or prayed away. He muted it through a joyful life centered on helping other people.

Jim Langley’s example offers a lesson everyone can learn: even when pain is unavoidable, a life of acceptance, generosity and service can still be filled with joy.