How we are Linking Golf and Prayer in the Summer of 2014

Good golf can parallel a good life, according to a project to be staged in the “golfers’ church” of St Hildeburgh's, next door to the venue of this year’s Open Championship.

The venture will be held at St Hildeburgh's, Hoylake’s parish church, which borders the Royal Liverpool golf course, in Wirral by the River Dee, where the world’s top players will compete for the famous Claret Jug at the Open in July.

A ‘prayer labyrinth’ in the form of a nine-hole golf course – complete with greens, water, rain and wind – will be laid out in the church. It will represent a spiritual journey based on themes familiar in golf as in life, including Facing the Challenge, Fear of Failure, Anger and Frustration, Friendship, Patience, and Achievement. Actual golf incidents will feature on the church’s audio-visual screen.

Anger and Frustration is typified by Doug Sanders taking a two-foot putt at St Andrew’s to win the 1970 Open – and missing. Friendship is evoked by memories of the 1969 Ryder Cup, when the entire competition depended on the match between Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin. On the 17th Jacklin drew level with a 35-foot putt then, at the 18th, Nicklaus controversially conceded Jacklin's putt, ensuring that the match ended in a tie.

The vicar at St Hildeburgh's, Rev Paul Rossiter, said: “We decided to set up the prayer labyrinth to coincide with the Open because in golf you face many challenges and, as Christians, we also face challenges. Golf is accessible and engaging and so is prayer. Both involve self-discovery – you find out a lot about yourself and your true feelings.”

People entering the labyrinth will be given a booklet suggesting ways to approach the theme of each hole.

They will take a yellow practice ball and walk the fairways to the first four greens unburdening various negative emotions, reflecting on their life and what they have read in the booklet, with the aim of developing a sense of forgiveness. They will drop the practice ball into the fifth hole, discarding negative thoughts along with it, and pick up a white match ball which they will carry along the final four fairways, focusing on four points at which Christ may have touched their lives. There are no ‘right answers’. Each person will have different thoughts and experiences.

Mr Rossiter explained: “A reflective journey such as this tends to trigger thoughts – regrets, desires, resolutions, enlightenment or moments of well-being. As people reflect as each stage of the journey, they can record their thoughts on a card.

“At similar events, people have been surprised at their own self-discovery – their thoughts and realisations. Some might need sympathetic counselling to help them to think things through. Support for them will be on hand and by phone.”

St Hildeburgh's has been regarded as the golfers’ church since members of the Royal Liverpool paid for the great stained-glass east window to commemorate fellow-members who lost their lives in World War I. Plaques commemorating the club’s fallen in both world wars are displayed in the building. The church also has a back door, installed in 1916, which shortens the walk to the golf course.

The prayer labyrinth has the support of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. A spokesman said: “The club applauds the parish of Hoylake for marking the playing of the Open Championship over the Hoylake links with an imaginative initiative at the parish church. The game of golf and life have so much in common.”

The prayer labyrinth will be open from every day from Monday, July 14, to Sunday, July 20 at the following times:

Monday 14 July: 10.00am to 4.00pm
Tuesday 15 July: 10.00am to 4.00pm
Wednesday 16 July: 10.00am to 8.00pm
Thursday 17 July: 10.00am to 8.00pm
Friday 18 July: 10.00am to 4.00pm
Saturday 19 July: 10.00am to 4.00pm
Sunday 20 July: 10.00am to 4.00pm (Service of Holy Communion from 10.00am to 11.00am)