North Carolina is the birthplace of miniature golf. Like Ohio mistakenly claims to be “first in flight,” Tennessee makes false claims on putt-putt. Don’t be fooled.
Shipping magnate James Barber built the first course in Pinehurst in 1916. But his true genius was to christen his green Thistle Dhu, which is pronounced “This’ll do.” Frustrated by the insane effort to whack a tiny dimpled ball into a hole a few hundred yards away? Put the same ball a mere 10 feet from the hole. This’ll do.
Barber not only gave us an activity to do on beach vacations but an application to other sports. After all, preseason expectations are hard. Just ask Coach Hubert Davis. So, lower the goal. It’s much easier to dunk at eight feet. Heck, make that seven.
This motto applies to other areas of your life. For instance, are your Facebook friends posting pictures of made-from-scratch recipes using all-local ingredients? You can use that same phone to order pizza that is delivered to your front door. This’ll do.
Your neighbors reorganizing their garages as part of their annual herculean spring cleaning? You can finally throw away that rusted rake that is missing half its tines. This’ll do.
Social media influencers enticing you to spend hundreds of dollars on the latest fashion trends? You just ripped your own hole in your jeans by yanking that old rake from the dark recesses of your garage. This’ll do.
Your own dearly beloved training for the Tar Heel 10-Miler race later in April? You walked your dog around the block. Twice. This’ll do.
Other dogs sit on command and then prance on the leash in perfectly syncopated steps with their owner? Your four-legged best friend uses the bathroom in the grass. Most of the time. This’ll do.
And do other parents on your 5-year-old’s soccer team already have their kids enrolled in a variety of culturally diverse, eco-friendly, soul-enriching summer camps? You have an outdoor adventure club just beyond the backyard grass that you haven’t yet mowed. It’s called the woods.
All together now: “This’ll do!”
What you need to do this spring is get out the lawn chair, (which is now more accessible since you got rid of that ugly rake). Set it up in the sun, and sit down with a notepad in your lap and pencil behind your ear. When the garage-cleaning and yard-mowing neighbors ask what you are doing, you tell them that you are working on a novel. You think best with your eyes closed.
Or, even better, say you are busy brainstorming the next recreational craze. James Barber may have been a shipping magnate, but he is remembered for what he did in the miniature. As far as legacies, Thistle Dhu, my friends, this’ll do.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church. His newly-published book is a collection of his columns for the Chatham News + Record titled “Hope Matters: Churchless Sermons.”