Do you remember the score of your very first round?

[DirtCheap]

My first round was in spring 2004..

142 on a Par 54 course, and I was cheating or it would have been higher.

I improved my lie on every stroke. I "foot wedged" back into the fairway more than once. I never took a drop penalty when I hit into water, I just dropped a ball on the other side of the water. I'm sure there was more. I was just happy to be playing.

[1NatsFan]

No clue other than it was a very high score.

My first round was Summer 1981.

How much do you remember from the Summer of 1981?

[kw purp]

I cheated so much even if I remembered my score it wouldn't be even close to a legit number. At that point I was just trying to make some contact and not take 6 hours

[DirtCheap]

  1NatsFan said:

Originally Posted by 1NatsFan

No clue other than it was a very high score.

My first round was Summer 1981.

How much do you remember from the Summer of 1981?

I was 6 years old.

[zipazoid]

July 20, 1969. I was 10 years old. Reason I remember the day was because something else quite momentous happened that day.

I shot 62 for 9 holes with my dad at Shawnee GC in Kent, Ohio. Still remember my first shot - a 100y worm burner.

[Double Bogey]

  zipazoid said:

Originally Posted by zipazoid

July 20, 1969. I was 10 years old. Reason I remember the day was because something else quite momentous happened that day.

I shot 62 for 9 holes with my dad at Shawnee GC in Kent, Ohio. Still remember my first shot - a 100y worm burner.

And little did you know that was one small step for man....

[NuclearMike]

64 for 9 holes at Inwood Golf Course in Joliet IL with my dad when I was 8 years old. I had been to the range with him a lot and had been taught the rules of golf before he took me out to the course. I don't remember where I teed the ball (but not where my dad did- the hole was 195 yards long) but I parred a par 3 with a drive, chip, and a three foot putt.  Somewhere in the house I still have the scorecard.

[sebsmash]

I decided not to keep score my first time out, it would probably have been up near 150.

[Chipless]

I am not proud to report that I shot a 92 for my first nine holes.

[trackster]

I shot a 56 on a par 35 from the most forward tees.  Not sure how much I cheated/ didn't follow or understand the rules then.

[BeRich]

107 with a few mulligans off the tee.  Easy to remember, since it was only 4 rounds and a month and a half ago.  Sadly, I haven't been able to match or break it since...

[David in FL]

I can't remember what I had for dinner last Sunday, but amazingly enough, I remember that. Playing with my dad and one of his friends. A 63 for 9 holes at a little muni dog track in Racine Wisconsin. 1968 or thereabouts. Age 10. Had my first birdie on that little course too.. Good stuff.

[Fourputt]

Good grief, no.  I'm lucky I can remember the year it happened - 1964, the year I graduated from high school.

[JetFan1983]

168 on a par 72 course, 6500 yards. Probably like 71.0, 126.

Empty course. I had been to the range 4 or 5 times at this point. May 2008. My friend took me. I told him I wanted to keep an exact score to see what a person shoots their first time on a real course. He was happy to oblige. I think he shot about a 95.

Frustrating day. But a really fun day. It was so fun I remember walking off the 18th green thinking how much more fun it must be to shoot even par for a whole round.

[Sonny217]

Summer of 2001 on Naval Weapons Station Charleston.  Shot about 130, but I cheated like hell.....throwing out of sand traps, not counting penalties, probably about a mulligan per hole, drank too many beers and crashed the cart into a tree chasing a squirrel in front of the base XO's house.  I also lost 4 clubs...luckily they were rentals.    I am much better behaved on the course these days.

[bwdial]

2,459² give or take.

[mikelegacy]

Had to be in the 60's for nine holes. My first actual game played was like 7 years ago, when I was 15, but I honestly only played golf 5 times until I was 20. Played probably 100 times in the past two years though.

[LuciusWooding]

That was back before I started keeping score... I'd guess I shot like 130-140 but not too many penalties because I didn't use my driver. Don't remember being in too many bunkers either, just didn't hit it anywhere, didn't really try too hard to putt, and couldn't hit over 150y without a wood. And that was after I had used the range a few times in the prior weeks so I had some practice with my clubs.

I don't regret not keeping score my first few rounds. I shot a 62 on nine holes and a 91 on a par 60 a few months later. That was last spring. I only really remember hitting a couple good fairway woods, I never got the hang of my irons until that summer. I'd also tend to give up on a hole; being able to reach the green from afar was just as absent in my game as accuracy. I also think I used about 5 clubs all day. I was a flipper so every iron above a 9 went about 100 yards in the air.

Now I keep score, care about my shots, have a short game, and try to putt well. I leave tons of strokes out there but usually on my bad holes only. I make bogey or better on probably 10-12 holes, usually make more pars than bogeys to be honest. But the doubles and triples add up a lot faster. And despite hitting around 20% of GIR, I never converted for a birdie whether putting or otherwise.

I get better every round though. Unfortunately I don't get to play much. Even now, I'm sitting home wondering what I might shoot next, if I could break 80 the next time out. I'm inconsistent a lot of the time but the pieces are there. Gotta stay optimistic.

Think about this: if I played myself from 1 year ago, I would beat my former self by maybe 50 strokes. That makes me think about how I'll be playing next year, perhaps a bit optimistically. But that's pretty cool and I think I'd be in awe of my current self's distance and putting. I'd also be laughing at my former swing, tell myself to fix my grip and listen to Ben Hogan, and give myself a pointer about the ball flight laws and casting the club. I'd also yank the old irons out of my hands and trade sets, that negative bounce on those old things really taught me the wrong striking technique for months before I learned otherwise. (No, seriously, hit down. It will make the ball go up, I promise!)