Post your story ... how did you get into golf ??

[Kieran123]

I was on holiday with family and friends when I was 15. Was a lazy morning and my parents friends asked if I wanted to go golfing, so a buddy and I borrowed their clubs and went and played 9 holes. Played 18 the next day and I remember playing a par 3 and hitting it to around 2 inches...addicted. Played for another 2 months then quit for some reason.

Moved to Canada in August 2009 ( I was 23 ), went down to Whitefish, Montana for a long weekend in September with friends/family and played again. Haven't stopped since! ( now 25 ) Wish every day I didn't stop playing when I was 15....I wonder where I'd be now....

[ruascott]

To be honest, I was so young when I started playing that I don't even remember. My family all golfed (dad, both grandparents, aunts, uncles, even my mom played some). My grandparents were members of the local CC, and in addition they had a timeshare at a golf resort that we went to every single labor day. That's when I first "played" at around age 3 with a plastic club. I soon graduated to a mini-set of cut down clubs and was given my first official lesson by one of the assist pros at around age 5. From then on, everything in my family's rec time was absorbed in golf. I would play mostly with my dad and his friends, but every family vacation included at least some golf, and some vacations were nothing but golf for 4-5 straight days. My parents joined the same CC when I was about 11 or so, and then I really played all the time, probably 4-5 times/week. Started playing in state-wide junior tour events around age 12-13, and then of course played in high school. Maxed out my game at around age 16 or so, getting down to around a 3 hdcp.

Then I discovered friends, cars, girls and eventually beer and determined there was more to life than golf :-) After realizing I wasn't going to play at a high collegiate level by my senior year in HS, golf became a lot less about competition, and a lot more about just having fun. Being a broke college kid, then a somewhat less broke college grad, I didn't play much more than about 15-20 times a year from age 19-26. Since then I've started playing in work leagues, etc...then started playing more and more on the weekends, and just now at age 30 am trying to get serious about my game again.

[xxsoultonesxx]

My first taste of golf was at around age 11-12, my uncle gave me a driver that he'd received in some promotion for a computer hard drive (Buy a drive, get a driver). I couldn't really hit anything straight, and maybe used it twice.

Fast forward to age 23, working at a ski resort, a roommate from Texas another co-worker talked me in to driving to town to play golf. I play my first 9 holes and got hooked immediately. Since then I've gone through about 5 sets of clubs, played over 350 rounds of golf and I'm breaking 90 regularly and really enjoying myself on the golf course. I'm 26 now and have no intentions of ever quitting the game.

I generally play at least once a week, and practice almost every day.

Now I'm the one trying to drag all my friends to the golf course all the time.

[NuclearMike]

My dad was a regular average golfer with a regular Sunday game but I badgered him as a kid to take me to the range, and then to the course.  When I was 8 he took me out to play 9.  I played from the front tees and kept score counting every swing.  I shot 64 with a par on the par 3 5th hole (Driver, 9 iron chip, and a three foot putt).  My clubs were endorsed by a guy who won a major in 1935 (Sam Parks Jr.).  This was in 1964 and I was hooked that day.  When I was 12 I bought a set of Sam Snead Blue Ridge irons at a garage sale for $3 of my lawn mowing money and started to beat dad when I was 14.  That got me into his Sunday game (first tee time was 6am and we were always first by getting to the course by 4:30).  His last job before he passed away in 1998 was as a marshal at a local upscale public course. He worked 8 hours a week for minimum wage and played all of the free golf that he wanted.  I sure do miss him even today and think of him almost every time I'm out on the course or range.  He was an inspiration to me with his work ethic, sense of humor, and love of life.  I try to model myself after him.  If I ever retire I think that I'll be a marshal too.

[Fozcycle]

IIn 1959, the city of Frankfort, KY opened a new 18 hole gc...called Juniper Hills gc. My Grandfather and his Buds started playing every Saturday so he commandeered me at age 8 to be his caddy(indentured servant).....I had to pull his PowerBilt clubs on a BagBoy golf cart over the hilly terrain....Well, I wasn,t much bigger than the cart and had trouble on the 2nd hole.....very hilly. I would get about halfway up the hill when he would reach back and grab the cart to get it up the hill to the second hole.....after that I had no trouble .....So every Saturday morning, I pulled the BagBoy over 18 holes, learning the game and more importantly, learning the Etiquette of the game called Golf. He gave me some of his old clubs with a golf bag that he had taken to Africa in the late 40,s when he went to build a sawmill to harvest mahogany for shipment to the US. The company he was an engineer for built office furniture. After 2 years I had my own golf shoes.....and when I walked around the clubhouse sidewalk, the sound of the metal spikes on the concrete made me feel like I was a golfer......As long as my parents were living, I used to go back every year and play at Juniper Hills.....wonderful little course. Now, at age 60, I live in FL where I play every week and run a game for 30 players every week. Every 6 months, I do a two day tourney. Let me pay tribute to my Grandfather......there isn,t a day that goes by when I am playing, that I don,t have fond memories of my Grandfather....He taught me a lifetime of enjoyment.....GOLF.

[hacker23]

At about 24 years old (7 years ago), my brother and I would go out to the range and try to SMACK the living hell out of the golf ball to see who can hit it further. Thinking back, the ball probably went no further than 180 yards.

Distance competition turned into accuracy competitions, then into chipping and putting competitions (yes we are quite competitive).

Soon after, we took what we learned onto the golf course. Till this day we still try to up one another playing a round almost every weekend w/ most ending w/ the last hole deciding the victor.

[FowlPlay]

My dad was a casual golfer and he would always take me out to the practice green at varying golf courses in the Central Iowa area. I guess I got hooked there and got a junior set at about 9 years old and played my own tournaments in this huge park behind my house, with 4 balls playing as each pro I wanted to play. I stopped at about 12 because we moved, lost my golf set somehow, and just started playing again a month ago (21 years old).

I honestly feel like I really wanna play as much as I did as a kid.

[greatishten]

It was actually early this year: I needed a unit of Physical Education for my University and Golf sounded like something I could try. I had no idea really how the game worked (other than playing Tiger Woods on my iPhone) and I thought it would be the hardest thing in the world.

After the second lesson I was absolutely hooked. Bought my first putter and a sand wedge the next day.

Hitting a tee shot 260 yards in the early morning is absolute magic. How does the ball go so far?! (Might be the Superfast 2.0, lol)

[JetFan1983]

For me it started when I got a Wii. I enjoyed Wii Golf so much that after a couple days I went out and bought Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008. After about a month of enjoying that game, my father and I were driving on the highway one day when we passed a driving range. We rented some clubs, bought a large bucket, and had a wonderful Saturday afternoon making fools of ourselves. That was in early May of 2008, and I had just turned 25. The rest as they say is history. I'm a total convert: I take lessons, I love oogling over equipment, I love watching it in HD, I love practicing, and I love playing. Greatest game ever invented.

[kevin.chan]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

For me it started when I got a Wii. I enjoyed Wii Golf so much that after a couple days I went out and bought Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008. After about a month of enjoying that game, my father and I were driving on the highway one day when we passed a driving range. We rented some clubs, bought a large bucket, and had a wonderful Saturday afternoon making fools of ourselves. That was in early May of 2008, and I had just turned 25. The rest as they say is history. I'm a total convert: I take lessons, I love oogling over equipment, I love watching it in HD, I love practicing, and I love playing. Greatest game ever invented.

From Wii ? Awesome !

[GJBenn85]

Agreed.  I couldn't care less about every other sport but for some reason golf is different.  I now look forward to Thursdays simply so I can watch a new tournament on TV.

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

. Greatest game ever invented.

[MbolicGolf]

I played 9 with my girlfriends father and her brother. I did reasonably well for never swinging an iron and that was pretty much all she wrote. I paid for lessons and built my first set to destroy. Now, I'm looking for options during the winter.

[inthehole]

Thanks guys for the great stories - really enjoyed reading all of them !!      I wish I started earlier in life, but am thankful that I started at all ...

[mymizunosrock]

I grew up just 300m from my golf course. Our house also backed onto council parkland, so it was kinda the natural thing to do. I was not really pushed by anyone. Played soccer for many years as a kid, but gave that up when golf started colliding with soccer. I liked the fact that it was an individual sport. I controlled the results of the game I played, not anyone else.

[LeftyTrevor]

I work in the oil industry. At the time I started golf I was a mud engineer. My boss at the time was fixing to send me on a long term job and called me in the office. He asked if I was a golfer. When I responded that I never played before he told me I better start. The drilling supervisor I was to be working with was a scratch golfer. He sent me to a golf shop, bought me a nice set of clubs and a lesson. Three weeks later I had already played about 6 times with the guy and absolutely hated it. We go out on a Friday to play at Avila Beach. I'm up on a par three about 180 to the flag. The guy tells me to stop thinking so much as I am completely frustrated as usual. " just turn and turn" he said. I hit the most perfect 5 iron to about 6" and was hooked. Fast forward 4 years. My wife and I belong to a nice club here in Bakersfield. We both play about 3-5 times a week. Nice thing about California is we can play year round. All our vacations revolve around some type of golf trip. Our 8 yr old boy plays with us. This sport has changed our lives for the better. Good topic.

[Kieran123]

I work in the oil industry. At the time I started golf I was a mud engineer. My boss at the time was fixing to send me on a long term job and called me in the office. He asked if I was a golfer. When I responded that I never played before he told me I better start. The drilling supervisor I was to be working with was a scratch golfer. He sent me to a golf shop, bought me a nice set of clubs and a lesson. Three weeks later I had already played about 6 times with the guy and absolutely hated it. We go out on a Friday to play at Avila Beach. I'm up on a par three about 180 to the flag. The guy tells me to stop thinking so much as I am completely frustrated as usual. " just turn and turn" he said. I hit the most perfect 5 iron to about 6" and was hooked. Fast forward 4 years. My wife and I belong to a nice club here in Bakersfield. We both play about 3-5 times a week. Nice thing about California is we can play year round. All our vacations revolve around some type of golf trip. Our 8 yr old boy plays with us. This sport has changed our lives for the better. Good topic.

Nice boss.

[glock35ipsc]

At the time, my Dad had been playing for a couple years already, and my brother had been playing since the mid-90's.  I had mentioned several times that "one of these days I'll go play with you two."  So right around this time last year, I had called my Dad from work for some reason I can't remember (but I do remember that it was a Thursday), and he mentioned that he was going to the range later that afternoon.  I mentioned, again , that I would go with him someday.  So he told me to meet him at the golf course that is like 1/4 mile away from my shop after work, and he would bring his extra set of clubs, and we would go to the range.

So at age 41, I swung a golf club for the first time in my life.  I hit about 2 out of 10 balls, and not very good either!  After we were done Dad said that he was meeting a friend of his here on Saturday to play and that I should come.  OK, I'll be there.  I had a blast, even though I pretty much sucked, but I was hooked!  After talking to my company owner that following Monday (who is a 4 HC) that I had tried to play and really liked it, he gave me the name of one of the pros at his country club, and said to call him for lessons.  The following Saturday I was at the club for my first lesson.  My boss has been the biggest help ever since, and my regular "coach" since I started.  When he realized that I didn't have a fairway club, he showed up at the shop one day with 8 practically new woods and said "here, see if you like any of these."  I still have them all, he told me to keep them, and wont take them back!  He also let me try a ton of different wedges the same way.  That's how I came to love the Bobby Jones/Dave Pelz wedges, as I liked those the best out of all the Vokey/Cleveland/Callaway wedges that he loaned me!

Now I play no less than once a week, and play with the boss at his country club at least once a month.  I also play together with my Dad and brother a lot, which is really cool because due to our different lives and past hobbies we never really spent a lot of time together, but we sure do now.  My kiddos became interested in the game too (8 y/o girl. 11 y/o son), so they both got clubs for Christmas, and my son has taken lessons this past spring.  They both will be in lessons again the fall.  My wife has one more NPC Figure competition to do this fall, then she wants to start playing too.

One other thing that really hooked me into the sport was the chance to build and tinker with clubs.  I am a hot rodder at heart, and do all my own paint, fabrication and machine work in my home shop.  So building, adjusting and tinkering with my own clubs came naturally.  I have built up a pretty nice club work shop in my basement hobby room (also tinker with and build my own firearms), and have since built quite a few sets of clubs for others, and do a lot of regripping, shaft swaps and loft/lie adjustments too.

[BuckeyeNut]

Originally Posted by inthehole

Figured it would be interesting to hear how everybody got into golf, and how old you were when you started playing.      My dad never golfed (we spent all our weekends & after school time together bass fishing and I got into serious tournament fishing for many years after).     Was always told you couldn't seriously fish and play golf ... there's truth to this, but more on that later.

As for me - I'm 47 and  was guilted into playing a company golf outing (didn't even want to go - was pretty much pressured into it)  last year about this time & thats all it took -  got the bug BAD !!   Since last September, I joined a club, conservatively estimate I've played 70-80 times to the present (I"m playing at least 4x a week - about as much as humanly possible and still hold down a job), with alot of range sessions mixed in.     Spent alot of time reading books & magazines, watching the golf channel, and online resources like this forum have helped me learn the fundamentals of the game.     I've come a long ways in 1 year (I ususally shoot much better through 9 holes than the approximated handicap I've listed).

For the last 35 years or so, I've fished most every weekend and a night or two during the week ... this year I've fished twice.     Golf has taken over.

Lets have your story ...

Hahaha...I can relate!!  I'm 44 and started playing 20yrs ago much like you did.   I was newly married and just out of college when a few co-workers talked me into playing!!  I was hooked from the beginning.....

I had similar fishing habits as you and pretty much gave it up cold turkey when the golf bug took hold.  My wife was happy that I took up golf because I spent more time fishing.  (not to mention night fishing)......I'd be out all night sometimes and come home in the morning.

I've averaged over 100 rounds/yr for the past 20yrs.  I play at the crack of dawn on the weekends + 2 evenings a week during daylight savings time.  I've had a golf membership of one kind or another for the past 15yrs (both public and private) because when you play as much as I do......a membership with unlimited golf is a must.