Ignatian Spirituality and Golf

By Dr. Michael Keirns

Ignatian spirituality and golf is a book which introduces a foundation of St. Ignatius's teachings and how they can be integrated on the golf course. Saint Ignatius of Loyola is the founder of the Jesuit order and uses his spiritual exercises to guide a golfer on how they can be mentally stronger and have joy during their time on and off the golf course. Each chapter will have perspectives on the golf game as St. Ignatius might have witnessed this blessed game.

Along with spiritual exercises, at the end of each chapter will be physical exercise tips for enriching your game from a physical therapy perspective. This includes stretching and strengthening programs to augment one's golf game. This will provide an enhancement of the game which will improve a golfer's journey physically and spiritually. Finally, one should get out of this book what golf has to offer each of us: wisdom and joy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888327951

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Ignatian Spirituality and Golf

Dr. Michael Keirns

ISBN 979-8-88832-794-4 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88832-795-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Dr. Michael Keirns

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Prologue

1

Rationalizations for Golf: Passion and Love—Falling in Love with Golf

Tips: Pilates for golf: Core stabilization

2

Are You Really in Control Playing Golf: Perfection?

Tips: Yoga for golf; How an older body can improve mobility to avoid distance loss

3

St. Ignatius Teachings Transferred to the Golf Course

Tips: Body strengthening to hit the ball further

4

Preparation: Key for Success in Golf and Life (Advent and Golf)

Tips: Preparation for playing: Best Evidence for Warm-up and Stretching

5

Integration of Golf and How Ought We to Live

Tips: Mental strength for golf enhanced by St. Ignatius's Examen

6

Use of Jesuit's Contemplative in Action in Golf

Tips: Golf swing hints: The use of posture and neutral spine with kinetic chain

7

Christian Life Modeled on the Golf Course (It's Hard)

Tips: Nutrition tips for golf

8

Is This Heaven? (Mindfulness Finding Golf and Heaven)

Tips: Aerobic exercises required for golf

9

Life Lessons from Golf

Tips: Management of common golf injuries

10

Jesus as the Ultimate Golf Teaching Professional: Leadership Skills

Tips: Developing to be the ultimate leader

About the Author

This book is dedicated to my family

Prologue

During my twenty-year tenure at Regis University, I have been blessed with many spiritual development opportunities to better understand what Ignatius spirituality means in our daily lives. The most influential part of this development happened in 2013, when I spent thirty days on a silent retreat performing the St. Ignatius's spiritual exercises. In this solitude, I was able to develop a closer relationship with Jesus and became insightful on the values of Jesuit teachings. My spiritual director, Fr. Vince Hovely, SJ, was instrumental in my personal and spiritual growth which allowed me to become a better person on and off the golf course. I learned many life-changing ideas from the exercises including how to reflect and discern, how ought I to live, and how the Jesuit values can be transferred into my golf performance. The wisdom gleaned from the exercises are integrated into this book's writings. The categories of the Ignatius exercises which are transferable as I see them are the following:

Understand yourself.

Know and trust the messages of Jesus.

Have faith.

Use the skill of examen to effectively evaluate a situation (the five-step process of the examen is found in Chapter 5: Golf Tips).

Use the mental tools of imagination and reflection.

Be humble and live a life of a servant leader.

Each chapter will have perspectives on the golf game as St. Ignatius might witness this blessed game. From this analysis, the reader will possess an improved path in the fairways and be closer to God. Although I pride myself in using research and evidence in my writing, I have elected not to burden the audience with references and footnotes. Hopefully the reader can have confidence in the information presented and embrace the teachings while enjoying a better flow to the read. Additionally, at the end of each chapter will be tips for enriching your game from a physical therapy perspective. This will provide an enhancement of the game which will improve your journey physically and spiritually. Finally, you should get out of this book what golf has to offer each of us: wisdom and joy!

1

Rationalizations for Golf: Passion and Love—Falling in Love with Golf

Tips: Pilates for golf: Core stabilization

Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.

—Pedro Arrupe, SJ

(Fr. Pedro Arrupe was the superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983)

Golf History Found in Love

This quote from Fr. Arrupe gives the insight behind the human purpose on earth to find passion and to search for love. I grew up in a large Catholic family without a great deal of money, so I was not introduced to the sport of golf until I was a physical therapy/athletic training student at the University of Michigan when I spent a summer living at the Evans Scholars House. While I considered myself an athlete who competed at many sports, I never saw the craze these boys had about playing such a funny game. When one objectively reflects on the leisure game of golf, they will usually shake their head in amazement on how many individuals engage in such a lunatic pastime. You hit a little white ball and follow it around for four and a half hours keeping track of the numerous times you stroke at the object. Just watch Robin Williams's video on the development of golf to appreciate our stupidity for falling in love with golf.

This seemly ridiculous game played over eighteen holes, originated in Scotland, but even they recognized its lack of value as in 1457 King James II prohibited golf-playing because it was considered a distraction from military training. Bans were again imposed in Acts of 1471 and 1491, with golf being described as an unprofitable sport. Even today, work has struggled, and marriages have become tempered with the time commitments and the emotional investments made to golf. Despite this history, golf has grown in its home of St. Andrews, Scotland, and throughout the world as a favorite pastime with over sixty-one million men, women, boys, and girls of all ages who enjoy the time spent on the links. This number is truly amazing when one considers the evidence that 90 percent of these golfers will get worse each year with their handicaps rising.

Love Hormone: Oxytocin

What might promote such passion in one's heart to have so many participants? There are neuroscientists and psychotherapists who would suggest that the answer can be found in the physiology of understanding the brain's neuroplasticity. Enjoyment of golf is seen to be found in our limbic system which creates an emotionally meaningful experience of love. Further research has found this feeling of love is driven by the hormone oxytocin.

Oxytocin is a molecule that is made in brain's hypothalamus. It is transported to, and secreted by, the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain. Widely referred to as the love hormone, I am sure during my walks on the green golf course fairways, this chemical is released into my blood stream giving me positive emotions. Scientists have witnessed emotional sensations including relaxation, trust, and psychological stability all come from the release of oxytocin.

These feelings of calmness are mired during my time sitting on the deck of my house gazing out on the lush green golf course of South Suburban. During these moments of relaxation, I know my soul is at rest, and I am modeling the research that demonstrated the influence of brain oxytocin on decreasing anxiety. My emotional stabilizations are enhanced through meditation and mindfulness strategies as presented in chapter 7: Is this Heaven? (Mindfulness finding Golf and Heaven).

Oxytocin has also been dubbed the hug hormone, cuddle chemical, moral molecule, and the bliss hormone due to its effects on behavior, including its role in love. This wonderful drug has been shown to behaviorally control our fear and protect against stress. These social modifications are magnified in combination of community support. Thus, there is physiological support for recognizing our ingrained socialization needs. The good feelings we get from a warmed hug from our spouse or loved ones or the needs we internally possess for meeting our friends are reinforced by understanding oxytocin's influence in our daily lives.

Oxytocin and nature

Some researchers have argued oxytocin has a general enhancing effect on all emotions especially when witnessed during nature contact. There is not a better place to enjoy the outdoors and feel this behaviorally controlled drug than on God's enlightened golf courses. While enjoying the stroll on golf's countryside environment, I know there is a general enhancing effect of oxytocin which influences my love feelings.

Our golfer's role is to embrace this positive emotion and enjoy the fairway saunter. Rather than stomping down the fairway after a miscued drive, we should clinch the beauty and allow our focused sentiments enhanced by the oxytocin give us peace. We can only magnify this inner harmony when we couple this magnificent environment with the many creatures existing on the course. My attention is warmed while witnessing the soaring red-tailed hawk hunt intently on the South Suburban Golf Course.

My senses are elevated while walking along the stream meandering through the fairways. This peaceful inner feeling is magnified as I witness the hungry rainbow trout rise to seize a dinner caddis fly. The opportunity to share and be a part of this nature walk gives another reminder to the happiness felt during the golf game. It is the oxytocin enrichment that magnifies our love of golf.

Oxytocin: Dogs and kids

One final note on oxytocin is that they are also found in other animals such as dogs. The biological mechanism of oxytocin release in the bloodstream which enhances the sensation of love is directly responsible for the human-dog relationship. Scientists have found that dog owners experienced a surge of oxytocin when their pets gazed into their eyes, a dramatic effect that was mirrored in the animals themselves.

I know when I'm walking up on the fifth fairway to my house, there is a joy sensation when Izzy, my golden doodle, perks up and comes out to greet me on our deck. I see the ecstasy and happiness in her animated eyes and wagging tail. An instant rush of exultation rages in my body when I witness her bliss. I can't wait to see her every round and am always eager to share my elation with a burst of cheers bellowed out to my eager furry friend watching me intently as we stroll to the green.

Finally, it should be noted that along with my four-legged companion, this same hormone can duplicate parental love. Oxytocin has been shown to spike in mothers' brains when they look into their children's eyes. The physiological response drives maternal caring and strengthens the bond between parents and their babies. This connection is why we love playing with our offspring. My son is one of my most enjoyable playing partners as we both connect in many levels during our time together. I will always remember when I had the chance to play golf on Father's Day 2022 with my son Sean and his father-in-law Mike Kelly.

Father's Day 2022: Mike Kelly (father-in-law), Sean Keirns (son), Mike Keirns (dad)

Golf and Types of Love

But I think there may be more to my personal feeling of love for the game of golf than an interpretation described in my brain. I know when the winters are long and I cannot play for a few weeks (yes, in Colorado, we do play all year long but may miss a few weeks!). I have a missing part of me that cannot be substituted mentally. I tend to believe that my heart where my soul resides is sending the spiritual messages of love of the game in addition to neurotransmitters found in my brain. In the next section, I will reflect on the types of love and how golf facilitates us in our loving passion. There are many types of love that may be involved with golf such as agape love, monolithic love, phileo love, and even Eros love.

Agape (divine) love

Agape love is the deepest of loves that we may find reminiscing in our heart during our meditative times on the course. While our other emotions are calmed, we may encounter this type of love during our reflections of past experiences. An example of this occurs often for me as I play a few holes in the evening by myself and reflect on my life. It is during this time that I have learned how to enjoy my time on the golf course and appreciate God's gifts. While it is humbling (a great lesson of life), the walk with Jesus during these times can be enhanced when we put ourselves in the moment. As Parker Palmer speaks in his essay Let Your Life Speak, we must seize these moments to let our hearts become less cluttered so our innermost feelings can be felt. One of the problems in letting our hearts be silent is that we as cannot let things go: We must be in control. St. Ignatius encourages us to find time for feeling agape love with practices such as reflections and meditations.

Agape love has been mentioned by many authors including C. S. Lewis in his reflections describing The Four Loves. Lewis describes agape as the highest level of love known to humanity and as ingrained in all of us as a gift from God. It would be described as divine love and witnessed during remembrance of how much God loves us. The calming of my heart during meditations allows me to remember how many blessings God has given me through His agape love for me. I am blessed to be present in God's graces and appreciate His love for me when I reflect on my love for the life I have here on earth. These blessings are many and begin with my wonderful family including a loving and forgiving wife, a spiritual and kindhearted son, and a passionate and lovely daughter. I am also sanctified with my physical therapy vocation which has allowed the touching of many lives. As with all vocations, God chose me to be a physical therapist rather than me choosing this career. I am grateful for His providing me the tools to excel in this profession and embrace the many opportunities it has provided me.

This uncontrolled emotional demonstration was the agape love which is the deepest of loves that God our Father showed for giving us His only begotten Son as described in the Gospel of John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This unselfish and unconditional love such as parental interpersonal love is found in my memory when witnessed my father's breakdown as he wept fiercely at the casket of my older sister who passed away from lung cancer. I know that the true agape love will be capitalized when I meet my Creator in heaven at the end of this journey.

Monolithic (impersonal) love

Other types of love such as monolithic love are also given to us as gifts from God. Monolithic love of golf is not the interpersonal love described above but an impersonal love coupled with strong spiritual convictions. The type of love I am calling monolithic love is very large and difficult to describe; however, it is felt passionately and runs deep emotionally. It is also a one-on-one love between the player and the golf course as a relationship every golfer strives to master. Perhaps C. S. Lewis would refer to it as another type of love that is natural and ingrained in our soul as a human response to something that is found to be delightful. C. S. Lewis uses terminology of storge love or affection love to emphasize the strong emotions associated with monolithic love. He contends that this storge entails a good feeling arising from our soul when the object of our love is embraced or held up.

This monolithic love is further appreciated during sharing. An example is when the pleasant emotions about the golf game is shared by another such as when my good friend Tom Coates proclaims his passion for playing golf while we stride down the fairways of the Burb. As he talks about his positive sentiments, my shared love for golf is embellished. My heart always beats a little faster, and my smile occurs during this shared love.

Monolithic love is the humblest of the loves and may be referred to as the jacket that clothes the other loves that we may enjoy them. It is associated with the pleasure one receives while walking down the manicured fairways lined with natures beauties. The intense enjoyment of the walk on a golf course is a witness to how we can bolster our earthly paradise for observation of God's will. Each geographical location has a special emotional touch of where the golf course is located. For example, I feel a soulful gift from God during my family's yearly visit to the paradise course in Northern Michigan called A-ga-ming. This majestic track is carved out of the pine-oak forest with an overlooking view of the stunning, beautiful Torch Lake. Torch Lake offers a piece of the Caribbean in Michigan with an incredibly clear water that blends a green to fiery gold to deep turquoise color. Additionally, the gorgeous sunsets and stunning views across the lake are a sight to behold. The combination of water, hills, and forestry gives a sense of belonging to the Northern Michigan lifestyle. As my wife and I walk the fairways, it is important for us to take a breath to enjoy the glamour of the area and embrace God's gift of this majestic scenery.

Monolithic love is also the compassion you feel from making a birdie on the eighteenth hole to win your local club championship. There is an instantaneous joy that overcomes our emotions coupled with a coinciding smile as our soul is moved by elation by watching the ball guide into the hole. Conversely, we all know how a golf experience can break your heart when you miss a straight uphill three-foot putt. These impersonal love experiences I am portraying for golf are valued greatly and missed deeply when taken away. A golfer is intensely committed to it and longs to make sacrifices for obtaining the sensations received from participating with this beloved game. Golf is a game we invest ourselves in and bonding or otherwise identifying great emotional sensations that give us pleasure.

Monolithic love is magnified in our soul with outward expressions. So convey your love of the golf game with a huge smile on and off the course. You will notice that the love you feel will be boosted with this happy face, and it will be contagious. Enjoyment of an activity is amplified when we beam with joy. Everyone recognizes God shining through an individual when they smile. Not to mention that there are also the physiological markers that enhance our sensation of joy as endorphins, serotonins, dopamine, and other positive hormones are released to increase the body's nervous system to feel enjoyment. Remind your friend with a simple encouragement to Can I help you change your lip?

Phileo (friendship) love

Along with these two types of love, golf is also a tremendous sport for facilitating the development of phileo love. This is the second type of love C.S. Lewis refers to as the friendship love. This is the love between friends and is the strongest bond existing between people who share common interest or activity. Lewis describes this friendship love as a natural, instinctive, and necessary love. I know the fellowship love that I have developed with my golf buddies emulates this strong phileo love. I possess this love with many of my golf associates but none as strong as my Sunday morning associates.

Every Sunday morning for the past five years, Tom, Bob, Randy, and I played a gentleman's game of golf at the Burb. (It is great to be Catholic and submit to our Sabbath duties on Sunday.) Each of the golfers are rival high school golf coaches, so the knowledge and shared love of the game was present. The stakes were high, a dollar to the loser, and the relationship and love developed was immeasurable! While playing, we solved all the political, religious, and sporting problems of the week along with learning the correct use of the English language. (Tom was an English teacher and was always correcting my grammar abuse. Did you know that it's I played badly, not I played bad.) I really appreciated how strong this love was when it was taken away as Tom passed away from losing his battle with lung cancer.

Tom's death was the strongest hurt I have ever felt and left a tremendous void. He left our world to be with God one week after my father passed away. His loss was every bit as painful as my father's passing away. I wept intensely at his going-away party and knew this love developed on the course was a deep love that will last forever. To keep Tom's lessons in my daily life, I spearheaded a bench on the sixth tee box outside my house where memories and reminders of Tom's love can be kept. (I sure hope Tom doesn't practice too much on heaven's greens before I get there.) Lewis goes on to say about this phileo love that Friendship, or phileo love, seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. It is great to have the game of golf to make sure this companionship and appreciative love exists in our lives.

Eros (romantic) love

Eros is sexual or passionate love and is the type most akin to our modern construct of romantic love. In Greek myth, it is a form of madness brought about by one of Cupid's arrows. The arrow breaches us, and we are in love. This is also the love that creates the hottest of fires in our emotions. It can be a wonderful light or a scorching fire. Lewis calls romantic or erotic love the ultimate interpersonal love. Now there is a difference in being in love and falling in love. You can control being in love, but there are higher forces at work with falling in love. It is the love that is least thought about but most felt. Eros love may be sexual, but most importantly, it is shared with one and only one person.

This Eros love should not be over analyzed but just enjoyed. An example is the destroying of the majestic Colorado mountain view when you locate it in the retina and investigate the mechanics of how it is brought to the brain. The beauty and passion given by the Rocky Mountains should be accepted and loved versus trying to pick apart its beauty to understand why it is worshipped.

Eros love does not aim at happiness but requires you to keep focus on a particular person at all cost. It is better to be miserable with the one you fall in love than attempt to be happy without them. Lewis writes, "When two people discover that they are on the same secret