David & Goliath

David and Goliath - Faith, Confidence and Distances

I grew up reading fairy tales and buried myself with these mystical books of dragons and dungeons, evil crooks and beautiful Princesses borrowed from the National Library. The Prince on white horse always gets to kiss the Princess, save her life and got her hand in marriage. And yes, they lived happily ever after. Looking back, it was kind of cheesy and I soon found out that life is not a bed of roses.

The evil witches and baddies in Snow White and the likes actually looked lame in comparison to real life. There were also those from Aesop's fables and others from Hans Christian Anderson which have a moral in each story. I would also try to get hold of every Enid Blyton books on The Five Find Outers and the Famous Five buying it for $2 and returning it to redeem a dollar at the old Paramount at Serangoon Gardens. Singapore was too dry, too real and too in your face, too humdrum for such adventures you find in these books.

But nothing, absolutely nothing intrigued me more than the Bible stories. They appealed to me as they were more than adventures. There were drama, destruction, heroics, sacrifices, etc. and what I truly love was the fact that the heroes in many instances were normal regular guys like you and me. There were cowards too and those who were disobedient, hot-tempered, who did wrong. None was perfect. There were Moses, Joseph, Samson (& Delilah?) and then there was David and Goliath and many more.

David & and Goliath

I commissioned my son to draw this picture using the Bamboo Tablet where he would look at the laptop screen and draw on the tablet placed on a desk to depict David versus Goliath. Only the pro edition allows you to draw direct onto the screen.

When you watch an unknown golfer taming Tiger Woods to win or an underdog soccer team slaying a giant of a team in an upset win like Yeovil beating Man U, you are witnessing a David v Goliath situation. The story of David and Goliath is one of my personal favourites because it told of improbable, insane odds to overcome adversity. No matter how you look at it, it is impossible and everything is against you. Even before you could strike out or think, you would freeze.

Fear will seize you. A most recent comparison and example would be the World Heavy Weight Boxing where they pitted David Hayes who is no dwarf at 1.90m against the giant Nikolai Valuev who stood more than 2.10m coupled with a fearsome look where even his eye brows protrude and shout at you and his shaven pate looks like a mass of rock. His silhouette alone could immediately make you suffer incontinence but Goliath was much more than that.

There was a time where the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled and pitched camp while Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line where both occupied a hill with a valley between them. A champion named Goliath, came out of the Philistine camp and he was a giant standing over nine feet tall (in those days, giants and freaks existed as demons came to earth and co-habitated with women just like what you would see in Greek mythology like Hercules where you would find them with one-eye or even three-eyed) and came with super strength. Now picture this - a nine foot tall giant with bronze helmet and wore a coat of scaled armour weighing 5 thousand shekels (about 125 pounds or 57 kgs) and on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.

His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels with his shield bearer ahead of him. Goliath would stand and shout to taunt his enemy: "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." "This day I defy you! Give me a man and let us fight each other." On hearing the words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

I mean they haven't invented golf back them otherwise if I were there, I will surely step forward like Bruce Lee did in the Fist of Fury with fists clenched and golf clubs in hand ready to go the full 18 and even stretch myself a little over four days like they do at the PGA Tour. If instead of waging war, leaders could instead hold a golf tournament to decide who wins, wouldn't that be nice? However, in this case, do pray that you have a good leader (golfer) otherwise if your leader loses then you become a slave and have to do caddy work instead of playing golf. Do you get challenges like that in life? At work? At play? A soccer team that taunts you or golfers shouting down at you and daring you? Your manhood, family's pride, country's honour are all at stake.

This was where David came in. He was the son of Jesse who was from Bethlehem. Jesse had eight sons but he was old and well advanced in years. Jesse's three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war and David, the youngest was a shepherd boy who tended his father's sheep. For forty days Goliath came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. At this time, the old man asked David to take some roasted grain and bread for his brothers at the battle front with some cheeses to the commander. He was to see how his brothers were and to report back. Early one morning, David left the flock with another shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.

David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance which David heard. When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran away in great fear. Now the Israelites had been saying, "Do you see how this man keeps coming out? The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his father's family from taxes in Israel." Can you see it now - the tagline is like "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"

When David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle." "Now what have I done?" said David. "Can't I even speak?" He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."

Now this is like watching a comedy by now. It's like you or me asking to face up something worse than Mike Tyson on a cold dark street.

Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied us. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you." When someone wish you that, you could be facing an arduous task or a disaster ahead.

Battle-hardened war-machine, a giant with super power and highly equipped weaponry versus a shepherd boy with a sling. ...then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armour on him and a bronze helmet on his head and David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around but he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, so he took them off then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from a stream and put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in hand he approached the Philistine. Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.

He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" probably laughing away and he cursed David by his gods. "Come here," he taunted, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God.

All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine's sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put the Philistine's weapons in his own tent. As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine's head. "Whose son are you, young man?" Saul asked him. David said, "I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem." David the shepherd boy went on to be become King David one day.

Whether it is your work, business, career, health, golf, soccer or just minding your own business in life, it is inevitable for each of us to come into such David v Goliath situation. It can get so overwhelming that we crumble under the burden, fear or stress and expectations.

It takes faith and confidence to subdue your Goliath, your monsters and come with guns blazing! Sometimes, all you need is a simple slingshot or a catapult. "Okay, you said about faith and confidence but what have distances got to do with it?" Plenty. David knew his distance. "David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet Goliath. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead." David got his hole-in-one so to speak by knowing his distance. He knew exactly how far he needed to hit that pure shot with the sling and the trajectory to reach the target therefore, he ran forward towards the battle line. If he had slung it lower or over or play it short, it could have been disastrous. Knowing your distance is very important! It could mean the difference between life and death!

It also meant that standing on the side of "light", never shall you fear. Swords, spears and javelin can be pointed at you but you will prevail.

From your television sets probably LCD TVs on cable, you get to see your sports and golfing stars strutting their stuffs. We are guessing most times how far they have really hit their shots with each different club. Even with help from indexes and statistics showing you everything, you will not get a complete sense of how strong the winds were, how dense is the air and exactly how their clubs were tweaked.

Quite often, we may have overestimated their distances just like how most of us may overestimate our own shots and distances. By knowing what actual distances the star pros are doing gives us an insight as to whether we are doing too badly in comparison or that we are truly not that far behind. The fact is most of us overestimates our own distances. Slower swingers achieve about 180-200m, average ones get 210-230m, better hitters get 230-250 and the really very strong hitters can go up to 270m (pro standard) from the tee with your driver. Today Tiger is not hitting as long as he used to and he's going with a 10 degree driver too at that. Let us see the below for comparison:

Sean O'Hair

Driver: TaylorMade R9 (10.5 degrees) - 291 yards (266m). 3-Wood: TaylorMade Burner (15 degrees) - 270 yards (247m). Irons: TaylorMade Tour Preferred: 4 - 220 yds (201m), 5 - 203 yds (186m), 6 - 192 yds (176m), 7 - 177 yds (162m), 8 - 162 yds (148m), 9 - 148 yds (135m). Wedges: TaylorMade rac TP (48 d) - 133 yds (122m), (50 d) - 122 yds (112m), Cleveland CG12 (60 d) - 94 yds (86m).

Angel Cabrera

Driver: Ping Rapture (7.5 degrees) - 300 yards (274m). 3-Wood: Ping TiSi (14 degrees) - 270 yds (247m). Irons: 2 (Ping Rapture 18.5degrees) - 240 yds (219m), 3 - 225 yds (205m), 4 - 215 (197m), 5 - 205 yds (187m), 6 - 195 yds (178m), 7 - 185 yds (169m), 8 - 175 yds (160m), 9 - 165 yds (151m), PW - 145 yds (133m), SW - 120 yds (110m), LW - 100 yds (91m).

 

Ernie Els

Driver: Callaway FT-9 - 295 yds (270m). 3-Wood: Callaway X Tour (14 degrees) - 260 yds (238m). 5-Wood: Callaway X Tour (19 degrees) - 240 yds (219m). Irons: Callaway Tour Prototypes - 3 - 222 yds (203m), 4 - 212 yds (194m), 5 - 202 yds (185m), 6 - 192 yds (176m), 7 - 180 yds (165m), 8 - 165 yds (151m), 9 - 152 yds (139m), PW - 134 uds (123m), SW - 118 yds (108m), LW - 84 yds (77m).

Geoff Ogilvy

Driver: Cobra S9-1 Pro D (9.5 degrees) - 300 yds (274m). 3-Wood: Cobra XGB (15 degrees) - 265 yds (242m). Irons: Cobra Pro MB - 3 - 225 yds (206m), 4 - 205 yds (187m), 5 - 195 yds (178m), 6 - 183 yds (167m), 7 - 172 yds (157m), 8 - 159 yds (145m), 9 - 146 yds (134m), PW - 130 yds (119m), SW - 115 yds (105m), LW - 90 yds (82m).

GuruGeoff

Driver: Ping G10 (10.5 degrees) - 240-250 yds (220-230m), can reach 260-270 yds (240-250m with mulligans or when all the stars in outer space come together in alignment). Hee hee. Fairway 3-Wood: Tour Edge Exotics (15 degrees) - 230 yds (210m) - "if hit correctly". Haha. Hybrids no. 2 Cleveland HiBore XLS (19 degrees) - 208 yds (190m), TaylorMade Burner (22 degrees) - 197 yds (180m), no. 4 Cleveland HiBore XLS (25 degrees) - 185 yds (170m). Irons: Taylormade r7 - no. 5 - 180 yds (165m), 6 - 170 yds (155m), 7 - 159 yds (145-150m), 8 - 148 yds (135m), 9 - 137 yds (125m), PW - 126 yds (115m), AW - 115 yds (105m), SW (56 d) - 77-87 yds (70-80m), LW (60 degrees) - 55-66 yds (50-60m).

Phil Mickelson

Driver: Callaway - 318 yds (291m)

Tiger Woods

Driver: Nike Dymo (10 degrees) - 298 yds (272m) (Used to be much longer with a 8.5 degrees). Fairway Hit: 64% (Rank: 83) (Previously: 93) Total Driving: (Rank: 8) (Previously: 9) Distance Rank: 26, Accuracy Rank: 83 Ball Striking: (Rank: 7) (Previously: 6) Totla Driving Rank: 8, GIR: 14 (Greens In Regulation) Total Putts Per Round: 31 Average Score: 68 Par 3: minus 7, Par 4: minus 14, Par 5: minus 94 Birdie Par 3: 17%, Birdie Par 4: 17%, Birdie Par 5: 55%. Poor Tiger's career money = only USD92 million and in 2009 only close to USD10 million. But money from advertisement is much much more. He is the first billionaire sportsman now. His worst score ever is a 81 in 2002 British Open and the Best score is 61 twice in 1999, once each in 2000 and 2002.

So, here's looking at you kid. What distance are you doing with each club? Know your distance and play to your strength. Assuming that you can play every club well, knowing your distance will make a big difference in your game. What distance in life have you been travelling?

Like what Sun Tze has said: "Know your enemy, know your terrain. A thousand battles, a thousand victories." Often times, the enemy could be yourself. How is it that Tiger can come from behind to win even down to the last putt or shot where he could chip it straight into the hole from outside the green or the bunker? He mastered the art of belief, the ability to block out every negatives and focus on that very one positive. Forget about those irritating spectators who are always shouting "in the hole!' as if the ball would listen and just treat them as minor distractions. If I were the pro, I'll walk up to the bloke, make him hand over his camera and stuff it into his mouth if it didn't get in the hole. Haha, just kidding I would never do a thing like that. I would actually go up to him, give him an autograph on the shirt on his back and at the end of the signature, I'll give a powerful full stop with the pen! Ouch!! Ok this is a joke, don't do this at home and don't try it at the course.

However, this is a true story of King David as the Star of David aka the Shield of David is engrafted on the Israeli flag today. Now "Faith" is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You got to have faith then belief and confidence will kick in. In whatever situation you are in, you need to have faith in the results that you hoped for even when there is no evidence to suggest that as it has not been seen and has not happened...yet. You have to will it. You don't stand over a 7-foot putt and mull over a dozen reasons or ways you can't hole it. My friends, go forth and slay your giants, monsters and Goliath! You can't cure a vice - that's your Goliath. You can't cure a slice, that's also your Goliath. In whatever you have to overcome, let this be your inspiration! Slay all the negative beasts and the dark forces away! You can be King too! Remember, David was only a shepherd boy.