How did you start playing this wonderful game?

My dad would take me sometimes when I was younger,, probably 6 or so.  Then at 12 or 13 I remember I got so mad at golf because I was bad, I threw a ball down, whipped out my 3 wood, and crushed the ball and it went left and in the woods.  AT THAT MOMENT I fell in love with the game and dedicated myself to the game.  It was pretty neat.  I don't remember anything from that round but that shot.  An important shot in my golf career.

July 1968, at the age of 9, my dad took me out with him whilst he played. He'd had a cut down club made up for me and once out of sight of the clubhouse he gave it to me.... and the rest is history. During the school holidays I played every day, all day. By the time I was 16 I'd got down to low single figures, where its stayed until a serious traffic accident 6 years ago. Since then its been on the climb, and got to 6 last weekend.

Man, I love this wonderful game!!

I had ALWAYS wanted to play golf since my toddler years, but my Dad had a weird view of me doing sports young. Couldn't play baseball, golf or soccer. My Dad always said he would cut down clubs for me when I was little....Then I grew and didn't need him to haha! I started during the summer before my Senior year of high school. My friends and I found a 7 iron and a putter in a closet, and some wiffle balls. We then played a mini game around the neighborhood from lawn to lawn, using sprinkler holes as the holes. We then went and played a round at a cheap 9 hole course, and we all used the same set of clubs, we just split them up into three bags so we could get on.

From then on, I used my Dad's clubs since he doesn't play anymore. I'm so glad I decided to start on my own, it's really my only hobby now.

I took some group lessons, back in the mid-1980s, before I retired from the USAF.  I never went too far and life got in the way for nearly 30 years.

Retired from a second carrer a few months ago and got started again almost 3 months ago.  So far, so good, with some lessons and a borrowed set

of clubs.  Lot of fun, so far.

Dad worked 6 days a week....12-14 hrs/day being a partner/GM of a restaurant....so I wanted to spend time with him.

I can't remember the exact details....it was so long ago.

Likely when I was 6 or 7....would tag along with Dad at night to the driving range.

My 1st club was a beat up driver likely from the 40's or 50's....cut down and black electrical tape was used as a grip.

1st set was a used 7 piece set...Powerbuilt for juniors.

No children's spikes back then...so Dad bought me a plain white pair of ladies spikes. 

I'm psyched to hear all these dad stories because I just had my first kid (avatar pic) and can't wait to get him out to the course and I hope he remembers the time we spend together golfing and grows up to love it.

My dad left us early, but in the summer when my mom worked there was a local course that would give a free lesson on Monday then let you play as many holes as you want afterwards.  My mom would drop a few of us from the neighborhood off there early morning, we'd get the lesson then golf the rest of the day.  Kids membership there was like $80 for the summer, so probably 2 or 3 days a week we'd get dropped off their by someone and mess around the putting greens and the course.  They let us have a locker and everything so we didn't have to haul our clubs every day.  Just wish I stuck with it all my youth.

Went on vacation with my family to visit the extended family when I was 12ish?  My whole family went golfing but they wouldn't let me play as I had never had lessons or anything.  But I did get to ride around in the cart ALL day and watch everyone else play.  Nothing worse than a 12 year old kid stuck in the cart not being able to go anywhere or do anything.  I told my parents I wanted lessons when I got home and have been playing ever since (15 years).

For me it was the 1975 Masters. I was 9 years old and no one in my family played golf but my dad watched all sports. I had been playing outside that day(probably cowboys and indians) and when I came in that afternoon my dad had fallen asleep in his chair watching the Masters. I sat down and started watching these guy's hit a little white ball what seemed like a mile compared to a baseball,lol! For whatever reason I knew right then I had to play this game. I had found a golf ball from a open field where we normally played baseball. A nieghbor use to shag balls there so we would find one every once in awhile. Before that fateful day that I watched the Masters a golf ball was just a funny looking ball that we would bounce really high on the road.

I needed a club so I took a 2x2 block of wood about 4 inches long and a old croquet handle and mounted them together, got out the mower and cut a small area a little shorter than the rest of the yard and put in a tin cup. I came up with a couple different tee areas from all over the yard and I played to that hole all summer long. Every waking moment I would be out there playing my version of golf,lol! Initially my parents just thought this was a passing phase and I'll get tired of it but as that summer went on I spent more and more time at it. I found out years later at the end of that summer my mother went to my father and told him "you have to get that kid a set of golf clubs because this is more than just a passing phase". My dad found a used set of Jackie Burke's in the local newspaper and the following summer he got me my first junior season pass at a 9 hole course. Three years later my father and younger brother started playing and we had a family membership at a bigger course.

Golf has been a part of my life and my entire families lives ever since that fatefull Masters Sunday in 1975.

(And you wonder why I'm such a big Nicklaus Fan!!!!!!!) 

My dad started me around the age of 5.  We would go to the local Par 3 where kids under 12 played free.  So my dad would carry his 3 clubs that he needed and I would haul around my golf bag which I thought was heavy at the time.  I think it had a driver, 5,7,9 iron, SW and a putter.  I thought it was so heavy at the time.  I just remember how much fun it was to watch my dad hit every green with his wedges as I could barely get it there with my driver.  My dad taught me all of the golf rules and how to play like a gentleman.  Which I never understood at the time but now I'm glad he taught me, because I see alot of younger golfers like myself (22) making themselves look like a fool and just embarrasing themselves on the course with others. 

I never played golf. In fact, I disliked it a lot. None of my family or friends ever played golf. Never watched it on television. Then a few years ago, there was a company Golf Afternoon and I tagged along. One of the guys asked me if I'd like to try hitting a drive. Bam! 220 yards down the middle. A spark took hold somewhere and by last year, flames were to be seen. Now I watch tons of golf on T.V., practice on my back forty, play whenever I can and am essentially one of those total bores that talks about golf all the time.

I shouldn't have waited until I was 53 to start "this wonderful game"!

My cousin and uncle always talked about golf and I had only been to a driving range before. Then in high school my junior year I decided to quit baseball and play golf. My first time ever on a course was when I tried out for the high school team, and since we barely had enough people for a team I made the cut haha. I wish I would have stuck with it out of high school but I was too busy drinking and going to school. I didn't get serious about it until last year and now its hard to get me not to play when I have a day off.

From 19 to 25 I played only a handful of times a year and shot in the 100's. 2 years ago I started playing a little more and got into the high 90's. Last year I got really serious and played 60 or so rounds and went from low 100's/high 90's to averaging in the mid to high 80's. Even more dedicated this year with even high goals.

Hi my name is goodfella, and I'm a golf-a-holic...

My mother and father didn't play golf.  Started playing when I was 12 when some of my friends picked up the game.  Mainly played on some par 3 courses.  That first year I played my first full size course and played absolutely horribly.  The 18th hole was this very short par 4...like 240 or something.  I hit my driver in the fairway and had a 9 iron in.  Hit a pretty good shot to the right side of the green.  The green sloped down to the left which is where the pin was....the ball rolled 25 feet and  into the cup.  Had an eagle before a birdie.  And after that I fell in love with the game and have been playing ever since.  

One day when the surf was flat I tagged along  with some friends. I couldn't get the ball in the air. Then somehow I nailed an old blade on the sweet spot - hard!

I caught the disease before that ball landed.

My dad got me into it around 4. He would take me to the course as his "caddy" and let me hit some custom clubs he got for me.

Buddy of mine at work would talk about golf all the time and finally talked me into going out.  I was 25 and thought golf was for the rich and old and never had any interest in the game.  I actually hit the ball pretty well for my first time out and don't think I ever wiffed one.  Became addicted after my first round which was 30 degrees on some goat track with my beginner set of whippy clubs.

I was vacationing with a friend and his family at the beach. We stopped at a mini golf place, played a round, and decided to try out the driving range. Hit my first couple golf balls with something besides a putter, and hit them pretty well actually. Came home and went to Play it again sports to find some used clubs, went right from the store, across the street to a 9hole course and played my first round. Thats how I started, but it took me several years to really get hooked.