The 207 Marker
Today’s picture has an amazing history attached to it. Last week I returned to Castle Pines Country Club near Denver for the first time in over a decade. They used to play the International PGA Tour event there. On the 17th hole, there is a sprinkler head that is marked with the number 207 (today’s pic). It lets the player know that the distance to the center of the hidden green is 207 yards. All you can see from there is the very top of the flag. It took my breath away as I approached my drive that had come to rest within a few feet of it last Friday. You see, in 1996, my number one student on Tour at that time, Steve Lowery, came to the 71st hole needing a miracle to win his 1st PGA Tour event. It is a par five, and his towering drive came to rest about a foot from the 207 marker. He called his shot to his caddy and let a five-iron rip at the top of the flag. It finished two feet from the hole. He made eagle and proceeded to win his first victory because of that clutch shot. Eight years later, he was in a similar situation on the 71st hole needing a miracle on the final two holes. Once again, his drive came to rest a foot from the 207 marker. This time his precise six-iron finished in the hole for a double eagle! He barely missed birdie on the final hole to finish second by one shot. It is still considered the greatest comeback in PGA Tour history. On that day he went birdie, eagle, double eagle on three of his final five holes.
But as I was there, I also recalled one more extraordinary happening. At the event in 1996, two random men bumped into each other while in line at the concession stand. They started up a conversation. One gentleman was the Assistant General Manager for the San Antonio Spurs. The other was Vice President of Storage-Tek, a huge cutting-edge intel company. About two months before, I was the keynote speaker at their Hawaii event. When Mr. Storage-Tek learned that his new friend was with the Spurs, he told him about my keynote that tied sport psychology and business together. He also told him that I had just moved to Texas to pursue full-time consulting with professional athletes and corporations. The Assistant GM said that they had been looking for a sport psychologist in Texas for several years to no avail. Mr. Storage-Tek gave him my number on the spot. It nearly floored the Assistant GM. He said that when he had been at KU as a graduate assistant coach years before, he and I had fished together on several occasions, discussing team issues since I was their sport psychologist at that time. Within a week, I was hired as the San Antonio Spurs sport psychologist. That lasted eight years and two World Championships.
Sometimes a sprinkler head marker can bring you to your knees. Thank you, Jesus for taking me back there so I could re-live how you put together the pieces of this sacred journey called life. Is there a similar marker in your life that you need to re-visit today?
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory…"
- Ephesians 3:20-21
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