The category is "theology and golf". This blog will be heavy on the "golf", and light on the "theology". If I think of something theological to add, I'll do it.
My kind and generous mother-in-law and her husband bought me a gift certificate for two rounds of golf for my birthday this past August. Yesterday I finally used it and played a round. The course is called the "Jimmie Austin Golf Course" and it is the official course of the University of Oklahoma.
Now, I've lived in a few places where the people were crazy about their local sports team. St. Louis is a baseball town - yes, they have NFL and NHL franchises, but the city really belongs to the Cardinals. Lexington, KY is home to the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Nothing is more important to Lexingtonians than UK basketball. But I've never seen anything like it here in Norman. Sooner football is just huge here. Think of how much water means to a fish. That's how important OU football is to Norman. A friend who visited in February couldn't believe that the Norman Transcript's lead sports story each day was about Sooner football. In February!
The Jimmie Austin Golf Course is a golfing monument to Sooner Football. The various tees are not "Championship" and "Men's", but "Boomer" and "Sooner." The carts are all painted crimson. Each one has the number of a former Sooner great. I drove #35, Billy Vessels. Since he was a Heisman Trophy winner, there was a little picture of the Heisman Trophy on the front of the cart. The pro shop can sell you any golf accessory you could want with on "OU" label on it. After a good shot, I half expected to hear the band start up "Boomer Sooner" and see the "Sooners Wagon" roll across the fairway!
All of which makes it a fun course to play - it's hard to imagine there are many like it. And, it is a beautiful course; I'm looking forward to redeeming the other half of the gift certificate and playing it again.
I wish I could say I shot well, but I didn't. Let's just say this - I got more than a touchdown on a few holes!