When did you get into Golf?

[woodzie264]

At what time in your life did you get into golf? While the pole relates to this question only, please indicate your handicap in your written response as well...just curious as to correlation (if any) to starting age and skill level...

I started picking up a club at age 22 , after college, started playing regularly (couple times a month) at 28, and have just started keeping a handicap last year - 14

[brn14me]

The first time I ever played was about 2 years ago when I was 30 or 31.

I played off and on with a couple stints of weekly play and range practice. Mostly I would play a couple times a month......sometimes I would go months without playing.

This past month I started taking some lessons and I really, really wish I had started earlier in my life. But I'm enjoying it now for sure.

[Gioguy21]

My grandfather got me into the game when I was 6..but apparently when I was in the hospital the first few weeks he brought in a shortened Ping Anser and gave me my first putting lesson lol...I got my first birdie on a regulation par 4 at the age of 8, broke 100 at 11, broke 90 at 12 and then took 4 years off in college b/c I was a pitcher (coach was a Nazi and wouldn't let us play). After that I got back into it about a year ago seriously again, and now I'm down to around a 8-9 handi :) Hopefully this year with some lessons and practicing harder I'll be consistently in 70's.

[murphmjm]

i got into golf before i could remember, probably 4 or 5ish. I've never really played enough to be any good but enjoy it quite a lot.

[RCF]

I was about 16 or over 40 years ago when a neighbor gave me a set of Wilson Tour Blades that he was about to through away. Four about the first ten years all I did was go to a driving range and par 3 courses.

[Saig55]

I was 22, early 80's. Bought a set of "Signature" clubs for $35. When I found out I loved playing, I bought a set of Golden Bear clubs. I played 4 or 5 times a week then. A 12 handicap. Work and kids and I stopped playing until last year. Almost 20 years off. I'm hoping to go rom a 20 hc to a 12 this year. It is coming back slowly. I've lost about 10 to 15 yards per club I'm trying to get back.

[MSDOGS1976]

First time I picked up a club was around 9. But didn't play at a club. My parents had a 7 acre weekend retreat in the country and my brother and I, bought a wedge and hit the ball around the property. Those were the days. We made a little course and enjoyed learning how to play that way. On my 13th b'day, my dad bought me a set and introduced me to the local municipal course. He couldn't play as he had rheumatoid arthritis, but he got me started. Who knows......if he hadn't bought me that first set, I might not be playing today.

[TidePride50]

I started after I graduated from college and started coaching football. The offseason clinics we play a lot of golf. I still don't have enough time to play and be any good at it, but I do enjoy the fellowship with friends and other coaches.

[FHopper]

When I was 10 or 11.
My dad told my mother to take me to a public course and teach me the rules. After a few rounds with mom dad took me out at the club to teach me the game. When young I spent far more time putting than anything else. I still play at the course where my dad taught me, it is now public.

[James_Black]

Since I was 6.
The local driving range used to do lessons for free for ages 4-8 .
Then I stopped playing when I was 10.

Then last year I picked it up again.
I play off 21

[msd3075]

I've had a club in my hand basically since I could walk. I would go to the driving range with my dad every Sunday morning. When I was really young (I really don't remember it all that much) most of the time it'd be me, my dad, and Steve Elkington out on the range; all I do remember is that I'd get a peanut butter sandwich and a grape soda after we were done. I gave up the game when I was in high school because I was playing ice hockey and didn't relaly have time for it. I picked it back up again the last couple years of college and took it seriously the last few years.

[Fourputt]

Didn't have the money growing up to even think about golf. It was all my brother and I could do just to find enough cash to get a cheap baseball or bat when absolutely needed (usually by scouring the roadside ditches for pop bottles to turn in for 3 cents each). Golf wasn't even a consideration. I didn't even start playing until the mid 70's (I was about 28 or 29), and then only for a couple of years. Then my buddy joined the Air Force and I got into other recreational sports like kayaking and backpacking.

Golf came back into my life in the mid 80's, and that is when I really got hooked (age 38). Played a lot for a few years, then joined the Men's Club at my home course in 1989... 21 years and I'm still playing with the same club. Handicap started that first year in the club at 18, dropped to 12 by the end of the season, and I've mostly stayed between 10 and 13 for the entire time since then.

[jurban05]

When I was 20 my buddy invited me out. I was always into sports and since I watched golf on TV all the time and never played I decided I would give it a shot. Best decision ever. Have so much more respect for the game now. Im addicted its official.

[B-Con]

When I was 19 I needed a PE course for my general education at college. I had a friend who had played some golf and thought taking the golf class would be fun. Figuring that a) I would probably enjoy the class, and b) golf skills would probably come in handy sooner or later if for none other than social/business outings, I took the class with him.

I definitely enjoyed it, but unfortunately only made the very occasional driving range trip and played the occasional round. It wasn't until I was 21 (last year) that I actually had a couple months of consistent range visits and rounds played. That helped get a consistent baseline for me that made going out to the range after a couple months off not feel horrendous.

My handicap, which I only even bothered to calculate starting about 5 games ago, is 29.2. Unfortunately, 5 games ago is also about 8 months ago.

[sean_miller]

Hdcp 10.0 ish.

I always seem to find a way turn a sub 80 round into an 83, but it has to be awful weather for me to shot 90+.

Watching golf on TV as a kid, I thought the game was pretty cool. Nobody in the family actually played golf – or so we thought – and the game was never a reality for us since we lived on a farm with no golf course nearby.

One day my dad came home from an auction with a bunch of useless junk, and an old ½ set of Spalding Kro Flites (D, 3W, 3, 5, 7, and 9-iron), in a little carry bag. Including a pail of balls, he probably spent about $11. We had no putter – didn’t need one at the time (wonder if that’s why putting has always been my nemesis?!?!). A neighbour kid used his grandpa’s old set (ca. 1940s – and antique balls) and together, the three of us learned to golf that summer.

We set up a 4-hole course that used the shorter patches of grass in the pasture – the horses always managed to keep a few spots here and there fairly short. We played to a posts in the ground. You had to chip to it to “hole out” without actually holing out (hitting your ball into a gopher hole). We learned to hit the driver, 3w, and 3 iron from any lie, we hit the ball high or low as we needed, and everything was by feel – we never considered pacing anything off or gauging distances very accurately. My brother could control that 5 iron like nobody I’ve ever seen. To this day, he only carries a few clubs. I’ve seen him hit his 9-iron 180 yards over trees and then hit the same club 100 yard to the pin. His 5-iron is his 150 to 220 club. I consistently get lower scores, but he’s a better player, hands down.

When I started “golfing”: ~ 1984
First 9-hole round: 1985
First 18-hole round: 1986
First time I broke 80: 1989
Last time I broke 80: I actually don’t remember

[meenman]

I started when I was 38 - I just woke up one morning and decided that I was taking up golf.

My wife feared never seeing me like she never saw her father so she took it up too.

2.5 years later I am finally taking lessons - I feel like I am worse than when I first started but I know it will pay off in the end. My teacher will not let me fail - if he sees me doing something wrong on the driving range he has no fear of embarrassing me and will run right out to correct me.

[DaSportsGuy]

Took up golf about eight months ago.

My friends were playing at the course right down the street from my house and I tagged along with them and watched. Absolutely loved it and the next day I sold my PS3 and got a set of clubs.

[senorchipotle]

started playing when i was about 13, so that makes 14 years. i was playing scratch golf back in college, but since then put down my clubs for a couple years and picked them back up about 3 years ago.