How Did You Get into Golf?

[Shakester]

My story. Right by my old office, there was a driving range that had a small little restaurant and bar. It was kind of the center of where all my friends worked or were, so it turned out to be a place we can all meet up after work or school to just unwind with a beer or grab a bite to eat before we go home. It turned into a daily routine for us. Then, there was that Friday night where we all had a little too much to drink and we're all just watching these guys hit golf balls at the range talking about how we can do this or do that. So we decided to rent a couple of bags of clubs and just went at it. We had fun, but returned the clubs and never really thought anything of it. The following morning, while sober, I remembered that I actually didn't hit the ball that bad so I returned that afternoon, rented clubs and started smacking away and just fell in love with the game. In fact, 3 of my friends that night ended up taking up golf because of that night and we're still at it. Started off with that starter set from the Price Club. Remember those Spaldings with the graphite shafts? Then my boss gave me an old set of his Ping Zing irons that I played with for a season, but felt it was time to get stiff shafts. Mind you, I don't think I ever played a round of golf at this point. Was just a range warrior. My first set of real irons I purchased were some Titleist 981 DCIs although I kept the crappy Spalding driver. Feeling confident enough to finally hit a golf course, I shot a 98 my very first time out at my home course, Harding Park and have been hooked since.

[CELTIC]

Typical WRXer post - 1st time out shot a 98 :taunt:

 

2nd time - an 84 - some day I'll get better

[Springsteennut]

Someone told me it was a good way to get away from the wife for 4 hours on the weekend. No really my dad played all the time so I became interested. Then I tried to get my kids play. Success with the son not so much with the daughter. A lot of my relatives play so it is kind of a family thing. Truth is I play almost exclusively on weekdays so I can spend time with the wife on weekends.

[cardoustie]

Grade 8 buddy on my hockey team invited me to play a 9 hole executive course. I think it was a par 30 and I shot around 43-45. I had been taking my dad's old 1950's 7 iron to the park and whacking it around that summer ... maybe 5 or 6 times. My Dad played twice a year if dragged out.

 

Actually made a "hole in one" that summer... we had made a hole with a soup can behind home plate and I holed out from centre field.

 

It was the summer of '79. (Almost Bryan Adams)

[augustgolf]

My older brother stsrted caddying when he was 13...I was 7. We had some old clubs in our barn - a combination of real old steel shaft irons & hickory woods.

 

Put 3 large tomato juice cans in the ground in a triangulated pattern, about 30-50 yards apart, and rigged up flags from bamboo fishing poles with old underware to mark the hole positions.

 

Whacked it around the backyard until I got to be old enough to caddy. Suddenly, I had more & better balls to play with, and got on a real course to play on Mondays (top 100 at the time).

 

Been at it ever since.

 

And wouldn't change a thing

[aarbro]

My dad played and used to watch the majors on tv - back in those days coverage of pga event was limited in Australia.

 

I remember seeing Corey Pavin win the US Open in 95 or 96 and asked if my dad could take me to play golf. Ended up going down to the local driving range and hitting some balls with some really old PGF woods he had lying around the garage.

 

Started playing from there.

[1puttTUT]

I got dragged out for the first time when I was a sophomore in college on the premise of free beer from my two buddies who were trying to coerce me. I was so bad and they totally kicked my a**. I was used to beating them in everything, so I decided to improve, mainly out of spite lol. In the process I got hooked. It's been 15 years and we only see each other once every couple years because I live in a different state, but I generally beat them by about 15-20 strokes now :)

[DBill]

I would play golf every now and again in high school and a little through college, but nothing serious, more drinking and wacking the golf ball around with no skill just trying to hit the damn thing as far as possible.

 

I played 2 years of college baseball then transfered to Texas A&M to finish my degree. I met my now wife while at A&M and she played golf in high school. It was very frustrating when I started to learn the game that my then girlfriend, could beat me on the golf course. I started working to get better at golf and we would play together about once a week as a date. I remember being so damn frustrated that I couldn't hit the ball, sitting on the ground stationary, where I wanted to, but a 90-95 mph fastball was no problem for me to hit.

 

Once I finally got the idea of not over swinging and trying to hit it as hard as possible, I started to become much better. It still took me about 2 or 3 years until I could win against my wife on the golf course.

 

Fast forward to today, about 8 years later, I play about once a week and my wife plays about once a quarter. She still hits it well and scores well but is not motivated to practice, we have 2 kids so it's understandable.

 

We will play in a few charity events throughout the year and I always love these, because the wife gets to move up to the "ladies tees" where she never plays from, and give us short irons or wedges most par 5's.

 

I am forever grateful to my wife for getting me into this game, now I can blame her for all of my club purchases and tinkering! =)

[Petethreeput]

My friends dad wanted him to get into golf. So my buddy would get taken to the country club once a month with his dad, and his dad would encourage him to play the muni in the interim. Well he wouldn't go by himself, so we all found clubs in our garages and would go golfing with him. This started at about 13 years old.

 

We were a disaster. No etiquette, hitting balls simultaneously, 10 second rule (if you could run to your tee shot, pick it and get back to the tee box it didn't count and you got to hit again), but we played fast. Also we played in bare feet after the first tee box, well, my one friend who played at the CC had a pair of golf shoes with the flap over the laces.

I always felt bad for the adults who got paired up with us if we didn't have 4. We knew it wasn't "right" but we were teenagers and that's how it was.

 

Some of my favorite golf memories are from those summer days. Lots of laughing, funny shots, and stories. We all played other varsity sports so golf was a total goof for us.

 

I am only still playing golf regularly. The kid whose dad wanted him to play? We just played a tournament together (37 years later) and it was just like old times.

[slc247]

Little brothers wedding,1993, I was 33. He took us out to play nine holes. Never swung a club in my life and I remember hitting a 3 wood from the fairway. Perfect flight and straight up the middle. Its the only shot I remember that day. I'll never forget that shot or my brothers expression when I handed the club back to him. A combination of disgust and frustration on his face.

I was hooked. That's also the last time he beat me.

[DivinDave]

I grew up in the 60's and early 70's living a mile or so down the road from the local 9 hole golf course located a few miles outside the tiny town of Gladewater, Texas n the Piney Woods. Back in those days, there were no carts to ride in, at least not at my course. If you wanted to play golf, you walked.

 

So, myself and other neighborhood kids would ride our bikes, or walk or hitch hike to the course and caddie for the men and shag balls. The going rate was 1$ per 9 holes and if we did well, we might get a quarter tip. I caddied from about age 11 until finally got my own set of clubs for my 16 birthday.

 

When not caddying or being in anyone's way on slow days, Ms Wheeler, the lady who ran the golf course, would let some of us on and play for free every now and then.

 

Most of us didn't have much in the way of golf clubs. An odd club here and there either found in the woods or trash can or the creek. One day while on the tee box, a man hit the ball with his hosel and cracked it. He asked me if I wanted the thing so I took it home and my dad wrapped electrical tape around the cracked hosel. That was the first golf club I ever owned and I couldn't have been more proud of it. I also accumulated, a 10i chipping iron which I also putted with, and a 8 iron that another man gave to me. And as a kid, I LOVED playing golf with those clubs and practicing hitting balls in the practice area. As a note about the practice area. There was no driving range, it was just an empty area to the side of the equipment barn where you could hit balls, and you had to bring your own balls too. And for practice at home, I would tee up rocks from the driveway and hit those.

 

Rain or shine I was at the golf course every single day my mom would let me go, which was often just to get me outta her hair. I loved learning about golf from the men, how to properly rake a bunker, how to properly tend a pin and fix a ball mark, and golf etiquette. And much to my mothers embarrassment at times, the golf course is where I also learned how to properly curse. :) And I took great pride in being the best I could be at all of it.

 

I also got to be friends with the green keeper who was a one armed man named Mr Chad. He lost his arm in WW2 and he told me some hair raising stores about that. Mr Chad would hire me on occasion to help out doing odd jobs like washing the mowers, sweeping out the equipment barn and pouring old used motor oil on fire ant mounds, which I found to be fascinating. He would pay me the going rate. 1$. What he didn't know is I would have done it for free just to be around.

 

That's how I got into it, and almost 50 years later, I still enjoy it just as much today as I did then.

[Nard_S]

Channel surfing one Sunday afternoon. Started watching a guy named Jack charging from behind to win a silly looking jacket.

 

Went to the range the next day.

[CR McDivot]

My father (a blue collar union man, WWII vet) loved the game. Played every week in season @ the local muni. I would tag along, pretending to be his caddie, till about age 12 Pop set me up with a short set (D, 3, 5, 4I, 6I, 9I, P). He set myself and my brothers up with season passes, and we played all summer, each summer (when we weren't actually caddying for spending money).

 

About age 16 I discovered the "fair sex" and by 18 the sweeties out ranked the links. :swoon:

 

Two wives, and four grown children later I returned to the game. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks Pop, for introducing me to a game that can indeed be pursued a lifetime!

[bullie76]

My parents had a 7 acre weekend country place that our family would go to a lot during the summers. My Dad bought me a PW when I was 9 or 10 and I would bang balls around the property. We watched golf together on TV whenever it was on(during the 60's). On my 13th b'day he bought me a set of clubs and I started playing at the local muni course. Looking back on it today that course was a goat ranch compared to today's courses, but it didn't seem that way to me at the time. I am forever grateful he got me into the game. He couldn't play due to health reasons but he loved the game. Actually one reason he got me into the game was because I was learning to play the drums and he couldn't stand the noise so he diverted my interest from the drums to golf. :derisive:

[TapIn4Dbl]

Thanksgiving 2011. Wife, kids and I went to Scottsdale with my in laws and a couple of their friends. All of them play regurlary. Played every day. I don't remember any of the scores, 100+ I'm sure, but remember some of the great beginners luck shots. I was hooked. A few weeks later mentioned to my mother in law I was shopping for clubs. Her response was "go buy whatever you want, don't be a cheap a** and let her know how much it cost." She said we'd consider it my birthday present. Have been addicted since then. I'm still terrible but love every minute of it.

[andrue]

A mate was going through a bad patch in his marriage six or seven years ago. He decided he needed to get out more with a friend (which unfortunately was what his wife was already doing). He only lasted a couple of lessons then lost interest. In the end he got divorced and I got hooked on golf.

 

Pretty sure I got the best result there. He found another woman and I continue the bachelor life. For sure it's not cost me as much :)

[HatsForBats]

When I was 4.5 years old my family moved to a home that backed up to the second hole of a 9-hole goat track. Got hooked quickly.

 

My company recently moved to a new location and as I am driving there the first day at the new office I am pretty sure I pass the apartments where we first lived. I called my father and confirmed those were definitely the apartments. Apparently the high school right next to the apartments used to maintain a single hole as a teaching aide back when they encouraged kids going into trades. I will have to ask my father if I ever played that with him.

[Tcann32]

When I was really young, my grandpa used to take me to the driving range. I was a good hockey and baseball player, and the golf swing fit somewhere in between the two. Outside of that, I didn't pick up the game till I was 21 and didn't consider it as anything "serious" till the next season (27 now).

 

A good friend's dad had a corporate membership at a local private club, and they didn't use it enough, so he used to send it out there to meet the play and drink/food requirements. I'd tag along on occasion and hack around with some right handed clubs. Finally, I got my own set of LH clubs, and I beat my friends my first time out with a set of LH clubs, but still was focused on power lifting. I know it's a WRX cliche', but I was a strong kid and could hit the ball a mile, if I didn't miss it all together lol. That summer I blew my shoulder out and had to wait a couple months for the right surgeon to repair it, so motivated by boredom and with the help of "aspirin", I found golf was something I could do that didn't kill my shoulder (as it was my trail arm and didn't involve a ton of movement) and just started practicing. I found it a decent substitute for my current passion of lifting, as there are really no boundaries of self improvement, and if you can get the mental side of practicing down, and understand what it takes to get better, results were imminent. I understood body mechanics before I started golfing, so to me, the understanding of one of the most technical parts of the game was a big step up, and once I learned how to apply it to golf in the proper ways, practice paid off quickly. Fixing a slice is more simple when you understand what causes it, and what you have to do to change it. That's all relative obviously, as it's not like I'm scratch or anything and I have plenty of swing flaws, but the fact that I knew enough to keep progressing in some way or another is what kept me going with it. I had to take 8-9 months off after the surgery, and I just studied golf during that time since I couldn't play it. I quit hitting the weights, (and it shows ;) ), and now I just golf.

 

It's really the goals that keep me interested. I have ADHD, so if something interests me, there's very little chance that I'll do anything but take it as far as I can. On the contrary, if I didn't find golf as engaging as I do, I wouldn't pick up a club ever again. Kinda brings on a whole new meaning to the mental side of the game.. lol. For me, goals create focus, and IF (big if for me) I can create focus, it's hard to break it.

 

I also enjoy the outdoors and the quiet, it helps me relieve stress, even though it creates more stress in itself. lol.

[wkndhack]

I went on a trip with my then girlfriend now wife and her college friends to Florida. They had rented a house near Disney for a week. All the guys played and took me out. Bought clubs as soon as I got back. Been hooked ever since.

[SixtySomePing]

Baseball was the game I was really good at, but probably around 1962 or 3 I started watching golf on TV. That's when there was still just one announcer wearing a suit and saying serious things like "And next to hit the ball will be Arnold Palmer, and there goes his shot, high into the air, and yes, it has landed on the green, safe and secure, he'll have a chance for another birdie with that fine display his skills" ... you know, stuff like that.

 

So golf became exciting to me, and I got an iron and probably one ball at what we would now call a Big Lots or even thrift shop. They also sold old combat jackets, dish towels, ice cube trays with the crackley handle in the middle, assorted types of cigarette trays and living room lamps to name a few other items. Then I went out in the back yard after setting the mower to it's lowest setting and ground down some different circular areas to what I figured would turn out just like the greens I saw (in black and white) on TV. This of course drove my step-father crazy, especially after they turned brown pretty quickly, but heck what did I know about building golf courses. I would hit the ball at them, usually into the neighbors yard instead which at first I figured was a penalty stroke until I cancelled that rule due to high scores. Besides the greens were pretty bumpy, more than what they seemed on TV.

 

So I fooled around with that for a couple of summers, having to take my club and ball to the park instead. However when I turned 15, a couple of friends and I were able to muster up enough money to get our first real (unmatched) "set" of 3-5-7 and 9 irons along with a 'driver' and a putter, some golf balls (ones we hadn't cut up for the big rubber band and squishy little ball in the center) our golf shoes (Keds) and we were off to a real golf course for the first time. We weren't smart enough to be nervous about it, we just hit the ball, played out of turn, didn't fix divots or ball marks, peed behind trees, and talked when others were putting-much like adults do now... so, that's how I got into golf :)

[Shakester]

Typical WRXer post - 1st time out shot a 98 :taunt:

 

2nd time - an 84 - some day I'll get better

 

Didn't say I got better after that. I consistently shot in the 100s after that and gradually got better.

[Roadking_6]

My grandfather bought me clubs and took me to the club for lessons around 10 years old. I played semi regularly during the summer at our Youth League (holes set up on Driving range once a week).

 

Started getting serious summer before 8th grade, I was shooting around 100-110, but told myself I would play Varsity as a freshman.

 

Summer between 8th grade and 9th grade, my dad would drop me off at the club before work and pick me up after. I spent at least 8 hours a day there (yes sometimes I would sneak off to the pool or tennis courts) But I would pound balls, work short game, and walk 18 every day.

 

Helps that I hit a growth spurt that summer and went into high school at 6'3 and could now get some distance, but went into Freshman year not just making varsity, but playing 1 man with a 37 avg for the season.

 

Now, after an almost 10 year layoff after high school, I am playing serious again and it has been a struggle to get the consistency back. 73 one round 103 the next. So far this season, I have avoided the big blow ups that plagued the last 2 keeping me from that breakthrough.

[Ayoung19]

Got my dad to thank for this addiction, although he's never been very good he taught me a respect for the game and helped me improve with lessons and a junior membership, for which I'll always be thankful.

[Tcann32]

My grandfather bought me clubs and took me to the club for lessons around 10 years old. I played semi regularly during the summer at our Youth League (holes set up on Driving range once a week).

 

Started getting serious summer before 8th grade, I was shooting around 100-110, but told myself I would play Varsity as a freshman.

 

Summer between 8th grade and 9th grade, my dad would drop me off at the club before work and pick me up after. I spent at least 8 hours a day there (yes sometimes I would sneak off to the pool or tennis courts) But I would pound balls, work short game, and walk 18 every day.

 

Helps that I hit a growth spurt that summer and went into high school at 6'3 and could now get some distance, but went into Freshman year not just making varsity, but playing 1 man with a 37 avg for the season.

 

Now, after an almost 10 year layoff after high school, I am playing serious again and it has been a struggle to get the consistency back. 73 one round 103 the next. So far this season, I have avoided the big blow ups that plagued the last 2 keeping me from that breakthrough.

 

Sounds like our current games aren't so dissimilar lol. It makes it exciting though.. never knowing what I'm going to shoot, or if I'll remember how to swing a club lol. I think that consistency is hands down the hardest thing, and it only comes with time. I've been building it slowly, but surely, in different aspects of the game, but I think you have to play a lot of golf, for a long time, to have a good swing that you can fall back on when your best swing isn't quite there. Right now, if my good swing isn't there, there's not much there at all.. ha.

[Boricua Golf]

I was stationed in Fort Carson, CO, 1992, we had a unit Golf Tournament, they stated "if you are not playing, you have to go to work", sssooooo, I went to the PX and bought the old Wilson Staff bag with everything for $99 (sale), a bag of 50 used golf balls, tees and a cheap pair of golf shoes, went to play, didn't know what I was doing, but I was not at work, I was struggling all day, then it happened, par3 148y, I took my 6i hit it, the ball hit the pin and stopped next to the hole, my first birdie and almost hole in one, I was bit by the bug, by 1994 I was on the All Army Golf Team (2hcp) by 1996 I was scratch and played in local tournaments, fast forward to today and 5 deployments later, one bad accident in Baghdad (I was out for 17 months) and life in general, I am a solid 4hcp, play only on the weekends and maybe practice once a week, and I have enjoyed it more than ever, the game allowed me to caddy for PGA, LPGA and Champions Tour Pros, golf really was an important part in my life, but it is not the most important anymore, family is always first and golf is a game and I treat is as such (now)...sorry for the long thread, but that is my .02 on how I got started...

[Roadking_6]

My grandfather bought me clubs and took me to the club for lessons around 10 years old. I played semi regularly during the summer at our Youth League (holes set up on Driving range once a week).

 

Started getting serious summer before 8th grade, I was shooting around 100-110, but told myself I would play Varsity as a freshman.

 

Summer between 8th grade and 9th grade, my dad would drop me off at the club before work and pick me up after. I spent at least 8 hours a day there (yes sometimes I would sneak off to the pool or tennis courts) But I would pound balls, work short game, and walk 18 every day.

 

Helps that I hit a growth spurt that summer and went into high school at 6'3 and could now get some distance, but went into Freshman year not just making varsity, but playing 1 man with a 37 avg for the season.

 

Now, after an almost 10 year layoff after high school, I am playing serious again and it has been a struggle to get the consistency back. 73 one round 103 the next. So far this season, I have avoided the big blow ups that plagued the last 2 keeping me from that breakthrough.

 

Sounds like our current games aren't so dissimilar lol. It makes it exciting though.. never knowing what I'm going to shoot, or if I'll remember how to swing a club lol. I think that consistency is hands down the hardest thing, and it only comes with time. I've been building it slowly, but surely, in different aspects of the game, but I think you have to play a lot of golf, for a long time, to have a good swing that you can fall back on when your best swing isn't quite there. Right now, if my good swing isn't there, there's not much there at all.. ha.

Ha for sure....when my good swing isn't there, I refuse to put the driver away. Then I look back after the round like wow, I literally hit 7 shots OB today. That sir was impressive.

 

I wish I had the time to practice like when I was young but with 3 small children, it's not happening soon. So I just try to get as good as I possibly can with the limited time I have to play, and try to enjoy it and not have blow up rounds. If I consistently shoot 73-78 for the next 5 years until my kids can start to get out with me and really enjoy the game, I will be thrilled. Just gotta get rid of the really really bad days.

[naval2006]

My dad started playing and took me to the course to find out by myself. We went to the practice area and I took a club and started hitting some shattered balls. I hit a couple of shots so flush that at night I still remembered the feeling of it. That was all it took to get me hooked up. I was 11, and it was 1986.

 

A few weeks later I met my golf pal and we started sneaking on the course with a few old clubs and balls to "play golf" while our old men played their round or until the adult golfers kicked us out of the course.

 

We play together to this day and have won a few Fourball Club Championships through the years. Our parents still play with us sometimes. My buddy's oldest kid has joined us already. There's absolutely nothing I regret about the whole experience.

[miami ant]

tiger. woods.

 

1996, dad must've been following him. one weekend we head out Randall's Island to play mini golf. they had a driving range. dad rented a club, we all took a few swipes, and we've been playing ever since.

[nix]

Saw a course from the road, found an old 3w in a bin, hit it 330 from the deck, shot an easy 71 using just that club. Was hooked from then on.

[thug the bunny]

Saw a course from the road, found an old 3w in a bin, hit it 330 from the deck, shot an easy 71 using just that club. Was hooked from then on.

 

And thus we see a glimpse into the genesis of TMIWITW