Lent 2026 - Day 24: Like Golf - Keep Going, One Shot at a Time

Happy Day After St. Patrick’s Day!!☘️

If you were out celebrating with green beer and corned beef, hopefully you enjoyed it. It was also Taco Tuesday, and instead of going to a crowded bar for corned beef, I decided to do something a little different, something more on brand for me. I went and had tacos and a margarita, which is also why this is a bit late… I fell asleep. 😂

Which, somehow, leads me right back to golf.

The snowstorm really put a damper on my hopes for an early season. The weekend looks promising for melting snow, but not so much for courses opening.

I have a bucket list. It changes as I get older. I add things once I’ve checked others off. One of those things was learning how to play golf. I figured it would be a good sport to pick up when I turned 40. Because when you’re in your 30s, you think 40 is old, and old people play golf.

I thought it would be a great activity for my later years, when I retire… which will probably be never.

When I turned 41, I finally decided it was time. Learn how to golf, Vangie.

Because that’s how I do most things in life. Thoughtful delay, followed by full commitment.

I didn’t grow up playing golf. My athletic background was tennis, basketball, track, and a brief but meaningful era of intramural softball in my 20s. I’ve always been someone who can pick up a sport and figure it out.

Golf humbled that assumption almost immediately.

Hitting a tiny ball with a stick sounds simple until you’re standing over it, overthinking everything, and then watching it fly directly into the woods, the water, or a sand trap. That’s where most of my balls ended up when I first started playing.

And honestly, at the start of every season? Still happens.

But because of that, I got really good at getting out of trouble.

In the sand. Under a tree. Behind a bush. I think I even hit a ball out of a pond once. Because you play the ball where it lies.

When I decided to learn, I bought a cheap set of clubs because I wasn’t even sure I’d like it. My friend Amy Monson took me out to Lewiston Golf & Country Club (now Heartland Country Club), a small nine-hole course surrounded by cornfields.

There’s something about that place that feels grounded. Unpretentious. A good place to be bad at something new.

A lot of people assume golf is only for wealthy folks. And it is… and it isn’t. It’s not cheap, but it’s also not as expensive as people think. Private country clubs with $3,000 memberships? Sure. But I think I paid maybe $30 for nine holes and a cart at Lewiston, including a chicken sandwich for lunch.

Public and municipal courses make it more accessible. Like anything, there are rules and etiquette. Some places require proper shoes and a collared shirt. Others are more relaxed. You just have to check.

A lot of that comes from tradition. Golf has always been considered a “gentleman’s sport.” It started in 15th-century Scotland, with people hitting pebbles over sand dunes. It was even banned for a while because it distracted from archery before gaining royal approval. Eventually, it became the 18-hole game we know today.

Back to Amy teaching me how to golf.

She showed me the basics, and I mean really basic, and then, without much ceremony, we just… played. Because she said the easiest way to learn is to play.

I wasn’t good. Not even a little bit. I was terrible. I could barely hit the ball 50 yards. I think I was taking 10 or 11 strokes per hole.

I was definitely getting my money’s worth.

But I was hooked.

Golf works with how my brain works. I like seeing improvement based on practice and effort. It’s a game of physics. You hit the ground before you hit the ball, which I still find both fascinating and slightly confusing.

It’s also a game of feedback. The smallest adjustment can send your ball 100 yards to the right with a beautiful banana slice.

After about ten years of playing, I’m what most people would call a bogey golfer, which is actually pretty solid.

There’s something peaceful about being on a golf course. The focus. The quiet. The sound of my club hitting bushes and branches while I search for my ball.

One of the pros at the golf store once told me, “Every shot is a new shot.”

You have to forget the last one, even if you shanked it straight into a tree.

My body knows what it needs to do to hit a good shot, straight, 180 yards off the tee. But if I have too many swing thoughts, if I’m having a bad day, or if my mind is somewhere else, it shows up in my game.

Over time, golf became more than just a hobby. It became one of the few places where my mind actually slows down.

When everything in my life feels loud, law school, relationships, the constant internal analysis I can’t seem to turn off, golf gives me somewhere to put all of that energy.

It asks for one thing: focus on this shot.

Not the last one. Not the next five. Just this one.

And that’s rare.

Because most of my life isn’t lived one shot at a time. I tend to think a few steps ahead, considering choices, understanding consequences, figuring out what actually matters. And if it doesn’t, I don’t hold onto it.

Golf doesn’t care about any of that.

It doesn’t care who you are, what you do for a living, or how many followers you have on TikTok. It’s just you and the course.

And there’s something really honest about that.

Over the years, I’ve upgraded my clubs a few times. The first time was after a breakup, a gift to myself, because why not?

I even convinced my friend Brandy to love golf. She’s one of the few people willing to golf with me when the ponds are still frozen.

Brandy: “Why are we doing this?”

Me: “Because we love golf. And we’re Minnesotan.”

I love to golf with friends, but I’ve realized I also love golfing alone. It’s one of the few times my mind is completely quiet. I’m not thinking about work or stress. I’m just thinking about that little ball and trying to keep it out of the big pond.

But golf has also given me something I didn’t expect... community.

When I decided to join league, I wasn’t sure what it would be like. I just knew I wanted to play more consistently. What I didn’t realize was how many incredible women I would meet because of it.

Golf has this way of bringing people together. You spend a few hours walking or riding alongside someone, talking between shots, laughing at the bad ones, celebrating the good ones. There’s time. There’s space. You actually get to know people.

Some of the friendships I’ve built through golf have been real, solid, and unexpected. The kind where you show up for each other on and off the course.

And I think that’s part of why I keep coming back to it.

It’s not just the game.

It’s the people I get to share it with.

Golf is a lot like life.

One moment, you hit an absolutely terrible shot. The next, you hit something surprisingly beautiful.

It takes persistence. Patience. Practice.

Three things that make us better at anything.

I’m good at a lot of things because I love to learn, and I’m tenacious. I’m never going to go pro, but every season, I get a little better.

Golf even helped rehabilitate my back after my 2017 injury. I told my physical therapist if anything I want to still be able to golf. She said, "we can make that happen." My back isn't perfect, but it feels better than it did 7 years ago. And if you’ve ever herniated a disc (try 3), you know… it’s awful. Zero stars don't recommend.

Lenten Reflection: Keep Going, One Shot at a Time

Lent is a season that reminds us growth is rarely clean.

Romans 5:3-4 tells us: "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

But perseverance isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it looks like quiet consistency. Like choosing to show up again, even when you’re tired. Even when you’re unsure. Even when the last attempt didn’t go the way you wanted.

Where in your life are you trying to play the entire course at once instead of focusing on the next shot?

Where are you being asked to slow down, to trust the process, to stay with something long enough to see what it can become?

This season isn’t about getting everything right.

It’s about staying in it.

Taking the next step.

Making the next swing.

Trusting that even imperfect progress is still progress.

The fairway might be long. The course unpredictable.

But you don’t get there all at once.

You get there one shot at a time.

☘️ Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! May your shots be a little straighter, your patience a little deeper, and your faith steady enough to keep going.

#Lent2026 #KeepGoing #Perseverance #GolfIsLife #SpiritualGrowth #OneShotAtATime