How did you start???

[Indian Sensation]

***DIDNT SEE IF THIS WAS ASKED BEFORE****

I was just wondering what/why/how everybody started playing golf. I am curious what made you go to the driving range/course for the first time. I will tell you my story later on, but would love to hear everyone elses story!!!!

[Thrash13]

I'm pretty sure I know how you got started boy.

I actually started watching golf on TV first and really became interested in the game. I have to admit, I'm not a big Tiger fan, but I'm guilty of being one of the many that took up the game of golf after his debut on the PGA Tour in late-1996.

Then, I got some old clubs from my best friend in high school. I just started hitting some balls in the pasture behind my house (yeah, I'm a country boy), and then I was hooked! Eventually, I got the courage up to go play a round, and I shot a 113. I'm pretty sure I might have had a few mulligans though along the way, so who knows what I really shot.

I mostly went to the driving range and putting green as a new golfer. I am thankful I was poor then because that time really made me a better golfer. Playing is good, but practice is the best for a new golfer in my opinion. It's all about getting that repetition.

Ok, that's enough about me.

[iacas]

I was visiting my grandma for a week in the summertime and my cousin, three years younger than me, went to a weekly golf came on Wednesday. Half the kids chipped and putted and the other half hit drivers and 3W and such, then they switched. I went with him and got hooked pretty quickly.

But if people ask, I sometimes tell them it was to get away from my family for long stretches of time. Whether that was a reason or not, it was a truth my last three summers in high school - I averaged 36 holes per day one summer, including days with rain (no golf), some weekends, etc. And I walked all of it, of course.

[kklick]

Didn't start playing until about 6 years ago. I started working at a lumber yard and some buddies talked me into palying in the company golf league. Got hooked and try to play as much as possible now.

[muskegman]

My grandfather was a single digit handicap before old age and a stroke sidelined him. It wasn't until he was gone that I really got hooked. I had played on vacation from time to time and once played with grandpa when I was really young. I'm glad I have that memory.

I started playing seriously when I moved from Ketchikan, Alaska in June of 2004. It was the first time that I could play regularly and actually learn what a swing feels like. I've been pretty much addicted since I showed up here in Olympia, Washington.

[jeffgladchun]

I grew up around the golf course, so I've been exposed to the game for most of my life. My parents have home videos of me putting with the mini-flags on the putting green, using them as putters. I guess my childhood interest peaked when I was 10 and went to an overnight golf camp. Then I became much too interested in skateboarding to think golf was cool. I re-embraced the game about a year ago and it has occupied nearly 100% of my thoughts.

I really regret those years I didn't lift a club... oh the strokes I would have been saved!

[flap]

A buddy of mine's father played and his mom wanted to learn and she was lefthanded as were both of us.So the 2 of us used lefthanded wood shafted {i kid you not}5 iron.This was 1960 and then I started to caddy for spending cash.Did not pick up a club again till I got married { the first one} in 1971.I got my Northwestern starter set and played after work.Put it down in 1975 for softball and then got serious after divorce in 1984 and have been addicted ever since.1 week of Pinehurst golf school in early 1990"s only lessons I ever took.

[FoosIason]

I started when I was about 4 using my sweet plastic clubs and such... then I moved up to some real clubs when I was about 5... of course they were all cut down... but my grandpa and my mom got me started... but mainly because my grandpa is a teaching pro... which helped a lot

but I really havent taken golf seriously at all until about last year... so yeah lots of wasted years

[NM Golf]

I was introduced to golf as a kid by my golf fanatic father and grandfather but never took to the game. I was into baseball. While in college on a baseball scholarship I destroyed my shoulder. Having been a three sport athlete in high school and having spent a great deal of my life competing in some type of sport I looked for else something to do. Again my father was there with a free set of clubs and a quick lesson to help. That was about 10 years ago and I have been hooked ever since. Baseball paid for my education but it was never as big of an obsession as golf has become.

[Ben]

My older half-brother used to play. I started at about 11. 19 years later...

[670forged]

Mine started on xmas day 1990 when wife and I came to Arizona to visit her parents for xmas. Father-in-law said let's go and I asked where? He said we are going to play golf. I said what!! I never played before and wasn't sure about chasing a little white ball around on the grass. Well, we played 18 holes on xmas day and 36 holes each day for the next 5 days. 8 months later moved to Arizona from Chicago so I could play year round. He is turning 80 years old next month and we still play every week. For his birthday I am taking him to the TPC Sottsdale for 18 and a surprise B-day party after golf. He still shoots around 80 from the white tee's at his age and uses the same clubs he bought back in 1959. Damn, sure hope I live long enough to shoot my age. Thanks for the post as I can now reflect back on the last 15 best years of my life.

Mike

[StreakyPete]

I grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland. We lived about 3 miles away from the 'Braid Hills' golf courses. I discovered this heaven on earth when I was about six when I had gone out riding on my bike. I fell in love with the place immediately - the smells; the views (you could see all over the City of Edinburgh and far beyond), but most of all the sound of a well struck wood sending the ball whistling through the air.
I spent most of my summers there until we moved away when I was 13 (age, not handicap)

Then I discovered sex.

20 years after that I took up golf again, although found it difficult to spend much time on the course due to work and family commitments.
Now, I've got loads of time, and I'm loving it. I'm semi-retired and play about 25 'Seniors Open Competitions' a year, in addition to as many club games as I can fit in.
Regrets? well yeah, I let life get in the way of golf for a while, but I'm getting over it now ;)

[James-]

Sorry if this has already been posted you type in golf and every thing comes up!
Well Ime 14 and I have started golf again ( I started around 5 but I stopped at about 7 because of other sports) So I was wondering what age most of you started at? Also how long did it take you to become confident to take your game onto a corse?
Thanks.

[yeis20]

First time I ever went "real" golfing was when I was 8 or so with my dad, I used his putter the whole day as I did not have any clubs, just wanted to tag along.

I did not really start to golf until I went to college. I was probably 17 when I played my first real round and started out right as no one I knew played lefty.

I got into golf for a few years in the 90's and was playing pretty well as a right when I played 2-3 times a week. Then another sport took over and I only played 1-2 rounds a year from about 95 until last year. I actually had the wierdest bag make up.

Righty driver, righty 3 and 5 wood, lefty 2-pw, righty putter

The club bag disappear around 2002 so I was back to borrowing righty sets from friends for golf outings... until last year.

I played about 10 rounds last year and decided to get back into this year, full lefty except for the putter. Having a blast and can still grab a friends righty club from time to time as a joke or if challenged

happened a few weeks ago on a 150yd par 3; I grabbed his righty 8 iron and knocked it up there beautifully within 15 ft, made the par

[James-]

First time I ever went "real" golfing was when I was 8 or so with my dad, I used his putter the whole day as I did not have any clubs, just wanted to tag along.

I am sort of the same, I dont no what hand I am!

When I went for lessons when I was around 5 or 6 I started left handed, but my trainer gave me a right handed club and say you might as well play with this (bigger club range) So I dont no wether to try start with left or carry on with right I dont no if I will play better as a lefty (Ime left for every thing else!)

[shortgame85]

I started playing six years ago at the tender age of 44.

One summer, when I was about 10, our club began offering group lessons for boys. Since my friends decided to take the lessons, I followed suit. My parents dutifully purchased for me a child's golf set, probably from the club pro. I am sure it was a standard set for the time. I recall the the irons were very small blades. The shafts were steel and they seemed very heavy to me. I struggled mightily all summer to play. I had a pull cart and frequently made the effort to get around the course. The sweltering heat insured that by the time I finished our 9 hole course I was completely exhausted, drenched with sweat, chaffed and frustrated by my lack of understanding of the fundamentals of the swing, as well as my inability to execute anything even resembling a golf swing.

I remember a few things about playing golf that one and only summer. My bag was an elegant green and beige. My clubs were so heavy ( or I was so small ) that I was never able to hit a ball any farther than 2 or 3 feet off the ground. The Pro Shop seemed dark, smokey and very mysterious to me. The men who gathered there regularly and who seemed to be talking very enthusiastically as I entered the shop, on seeing me suddenly seemed to become more subdued. I wondered about what they could be talking with such verve. I was to learn much later it was what all men talk about with such energy ( and it wasn't golf ).

After that futile attempt to embrace the sport, I gave up golf for the next 34 years. Finally, technology caught up with my meager ability. When desire and technology intersected, I was smitten.

[FortAsel]

Well, I've started hitting golf balls at the age of 8, started playing some holes at the age of 11 and I've only started playing golf since my coach is the one I have now. I've been with him for 4 years now and I'm nearly 17. I've dropped about 20 strokes on my handicap since I started working with him.

[chipper2]

Chase a ball with a stick? No way. I was 57 first time on a golf course in 2000. I got not only the hook, but the line and the sinker also. Since then I have played in 32 states and 8 countries.