How did you get started?

[Fourputt]

Now there's an entrepreneur.

[GaijinGolfer]

I watched a golf tournament on TV one day and though, "hey, that looks like fun." My neibor is an avid golfer, so I asked him to teach me how to play and, as they say, the rest is history...

[ForePutt]

I caddied for my father when I was about 8. He used to hide a few of my Junior clubs in his bag when he played at the course, and when he wasn't paired up with anyone and playing alone, he would let me chip & putt on most of the greens. I finally got old enough to carry my own set and we used to play occasioanlly. I sort of left golf for other hobbies (motorcycles, shooting) through the past 10 years, but have returned to golf now that my best friend picked it up and plays at least once a week.

[Parker0065]

For me I was 9 and it was one single tournament, the 1975 Masters won by Jack Nicklaus.

Nobody in my immediate family ever played golf. A buddy and I had found a couple golf balls in a vacant field where someone had been shagging balls, but we just thought they were cool because they bounced really high on the pavement. We really never gave "Golf" much thought.

My Dad is a big sports fan, mostly baseball and football but on a particular Saturday afternoon after work he came home, turned on the TV to CBS and fell asleep in his chair. I had been playing outside and came in that afternoon to find my Dad asleep and golf on TV.

I sat down on the couch and started watching. For the first time in my life I really looked at what golf was all about and I remember I was just so fascinated by how far these guy's could hit a ball with such laser like control. Way farther than a baseball player could hit a home run!

I was hooked for life and have loved the game ever since!

[PiKapp23]

I really must say, you guys are great. I love the stories (and I think lots of people love to read these stories). I always read all of the posts about how you got started and find them entertaining as well as interesting (and some are even downright touching). This game is so special and the stories we all have about how we got started or special moments or whatever stories are part of the fabric of what makes this game so great.

While this forum is great for sharing information, I also think it's great for telling stories and stimulating the memory as well as making us think about how we feel in regards to certain subjects/topics. Keep the stories coming. They make my otherwise boring day interesting (especially since it's too cold to actually play). While most of us have one common interest (golf, obviously), this forum has people of all ages, nationalities, backgrounds, non-golf interests and home locales. This is what makes the discussions, stories and debates interesting.

[Bump-n-MI]

My father put a hockey stick in one hand a golf club in the other when I was about 3 (now almost 37). Took lessons form our pro (he was an absolute prick) for 3 years and decided to focus on hockey. Played hockey through college but lost interest in golf for from 1990 until 1998 (too busy with school, hockey, and chasing tail). Really got the itch to play seriously in 2000. Now I try and play 3 times a week.

[Fourputt]

One added comment on my introduction to the game. When I was 12 I caddied for a summer at an exclusive yacht club in Minnesota. Although I was probably the world's worst caddie , the one thing that it did was instill in me a respect for the etiquette of the game. The first thing that the caddie master did when we started caddying was to take the whole group on a tour of the course, and show us how to tend the flagstick, repair ball marks, replace divots, and generally how to conduct ourselves on the course.

Although it was many years after that when I actually started to play, those lessons stuck, and I live by them to day. Maybe that's why I have always felt that playing by the rules is such a important part of the game for me. That caddie master must have been an inspirational teacher.

[tubbyrob]

I was introduced to this great game by my uncle who is a counsler at U.C.L.A and the first time i ever played was at a tournement hoseted by the school and George Lopez was the host i had a blast and im working on my game every chance i get.

[Par Fore]

I was 8, there was nothing to do at my Grandparents house when we visited.....and I mean nothing.......my grandfather, to keep me from bothering him, showed me some wilson blades he had from the 50's.......he had some plastic balls with holes that I could hit in the backyard....

Everytime we'd visit, I'd get bored enough to hit balls in the back yard....eventually, I developed a little bit of a swing from repeating what I saw on TV and he gave me a couple of pointers....finally, after showing more interest and doing some reading, my grandmother took me to a muni on a weekday morning when I was about 11.....we were basically first off the tee, on the back nine, and we played nine holes.....I was so nervous the night before, I hardly slept.....I made a par on a short par 3 and my grandfather said that was a big deal, so I thought it was pretty cool too....

Played the game on and off as a kid, didn't play much after high school until the last few years, been playing once a month or so.....playing more recently and glad to really enjoy the game....

[flopdarock]

my dad would play golf with his buddies but never brought us along... ( i have 2 younger brothers)... i was about 8 or 9 and his buddy's kids were the same age... well during a party at his buddies house... his kids were putting around in the back yard with their kid sized clubs and they let me hang out with them hitting a ball into a can... it was fun...

after that i would sneak in putting around the house every chance i got using my dads putter when he was at work...

we've lived around golf courses all our lives and until jr hs i never really played a "real" round when a neighborhood friend of mine invited me... i was shocked... the golf course was for grownups and off limits to kids or so i thought... once again i had fun

hs came around and golf was for dorks and snobs... partying/girls was were its at... chicks dug surfers and ive been surfing since i can remember so golf was on the back burner till college...

college was on an off again... play a round here an there nothing too serious plus studying an working got in the way...

after college is when i really considered myself "starting" to become an avid hardcore golfer... everyone in the office played... my brothers had been serious for a few years and were ahead of the curve... my competitive nature was coming full swing and it was a good means to brown nosing the big wigs without overtly kissing behind... plus i had a lot more time to play/practice and the bug really hit when i discovered golf "outtings"

[Fourputt]

hs came around and golf was for dorks and snobs... partying/girls was were its at... chicks dug surfers and ive been surfing since i can remember so golf was on the back burner till college...

This is funny... different perceptions I guess. There are some really fine looking girls who play on the local high school teams here. I work as a starter at the course and there are at least 6 local high school teams, guys and gals, that play there regularly. If I was a high school boy looking for love, the golf team would seem to be a good place to start.

[flopdarock]

This is funny... different perceptions I guess. There are some really fine looking girls who play on the local high school teams here. I work as a starter at the course and there are at least 6 local high school teams, guys and gals, that play there regularly. If I was a high school boy looking for love, the golf team would seem to be a good place to start.

sheesh i wish they were around when i was younger... id be a scratch golfer by now if my interests didnt wane... heck if i saw paula/lorena/natalie or any number of those women anywhere near the courses ive played when younger i might have changed my mind... but then again i had that spoiled rich kid bad boy wannabe mentality in hs and only the 'good' kids played lol... if only i knew then what i know now

[PiKapp23]

It's amazing how many people first played the game when they were younger, then gave it up for a considerable time before coming back to it (like I did). I wish I had kept playing all those years...

[lumpuckeroo]

I did the same thing, but it was expensive and time consuming when I was in college and I had other things to pursue. Then I got married and had children, but with the children grown, I'm back......

[cdriver]

About 8 yrs ago, one of my customers (who was also my best friend) invited me to play golf. I told him I didn't play golf and he said, "You do now." I rented a set of clubs and played with him twice over the next couple of weeks. He then invited me to be his partner in a scramble and I made the fatal mistake of buying a set of clubs. Worst mistake and best decision I ever made all rolled up into one. Before I knew it, I had given up everything else in my life and was a totally addicted golfer. I still feel the same way about the game I did then. My friend passed away 3 years later, I still miss him terribly. We used to play at least 2 or 3 times a week.

[Brendan]

i watched it on the tv and really wanted to start so now i have an amazing 3 handicap

[bunkerputt]

When I was 13 my mom said I had the body of a golfer, so she got my uncle to give me his old Spalding blades. Then by sheer luck I won the 8th grade whiffle-ball based long-drive competition with a 4-iron (14 yards) and thought I was pretty good. So in 10th grade I joined the high-school golf team and actually played for the first time. I think I shot 150-something. Then I got mad and gave it up until 7 years later when I figured I would just take it up again after graduating from college. I bought a set of irons (the blades were long gone) and went to the local country club dressed like a hippie. Heads turned as I opened the door...and then...complete silence. "Do you guys have, like, a driving range or something?", I said. The gentleman at the counter whispered, "Ummm, Sir, this is a private establishment?" I walked out and gave it up for another 7 years. My brother picked it up and challenged me to a match. By this time, I realized I must be terrible and should at least try to follow some advice I'd heard: "Keep your head still and swing easy". I shot a 118. Every shot was complete crap, but one of them flew perfectly and landed in the fairway. This time I figured I was up to the challenge of actually developing a golf swing and have been playing ever since.