Sorry, but I have to brag!

[RickK]

When we brought my son home from the hospital when he was born, there was a plastic set of golf clubs in his room and the room was decorated in Snoopy Golf.

I took him to the golf course for the first time when he was 8 months old, strapped in his car seat which was strapped down to the basked behind the seat.  He made it 9 holes before we needed to go home.

When he was 5 he was going with me on Saturday mornings with my regular group and rode with me in my cart or in any other cart because my buddies let him do whatever he wanted.  They would let him swing their clubs, hold the flag, etc.  He learned golf etiquette from being with us.  He really did not play, just putted or swung a club 4 or 5 times during the round.

When he was 7, I bought him a youth set of clubs and in the afternoons, he and I would go out and play 9 holes. He would hit a ball from my tees with me.  He would then pickup, we would drive to my ball, and he would either play from there or the 150 yard marker.  We did this till he was about 12 years old when he told me he wanted to devote all his time to baseball.  I was ok with it since he was a decent ball player.

He is now 17 years old.  He told me last year (junior year in HS)at the end of the baseball season that he was tired of baseball and did not want to play his senior year.  Multitude of reasons all of which I fully understood.  Basically, he was burned out.

In January, he went in my garage and put together a bag of clubs and announced he was going to start playing golf again.  He started going to the driving range and beating balls for hours.  In March, he announced he was going to try out for and make the high school golf team for his senior year.  RIGGGHHHHTTTTT, I said.  You can't break 100 on a good day.

Well, he kept practicing and practicing and playing and playiing.  This summer, he got a job at a country club (not ours).  He got a lot of free instruction from the pros there and also from a well known (top 10 in the world) golf instructor who was there off and on quite a bit.

Week before last, he and I went out and played a round.  On a good day, I can hit the ball about 230-240.  He was hitting drives out around 290-300 when he hit driver but mostly he just hit 3 wood on par 4s.  I noticed his chipping wasn't the best but really did not say anything to him.  He is a decent putter.  BTW, he did not beat me.  :)  I get into his head too easily.

This past week, he tried out for the golf team.  Tryouts were at our home club.  He made the team!  He had the 3rd best score.

I am so proud of this kid.  And, I am really sorry that I doubted his tenacity and capability.  He is a good athlete, always has been.

Granted, he will not be the #1 guy on their golf team but for a kid who could not break 100 first of the year to shoot the scores he is shooting today...simply amazing.

Sorry for the long post but I am really proud of my son for what he has accomplished.  Even more so maybe because his accomplishments are in the game I so dearly love...yes I'm selfish.

[David in FL]

VERY cool! Congratulations to both of you. Thanks for sharing!

[Lihu]

Cool story, I'm showing it to my son for inspiration :-)

[barbm12thtee]

Nice story belongs in "Chicken Soup for the Golfer's Soul" or something like that. You both should be proud.

[dennyjones]

Thanks for sharing.   That's amazing.

[Russtopher]

Great story! As a fellow dad, I know exactly how you are feeling right now, and don't blame you one bit for sharing this with us. Good luck to him!!

[Parker0065]

Congrats to your son and I can appreciate your feeling as a proud Father.

I've spent the last 10 years watching my son develop as a player from age 5 to 15. He also plays basketball in the winter but his main sport has always been golf. I was proud of him when he made our very competitive H.S. JV team as an 8th grader, and last year as a freshman he went out for JV but was moved to Varsity after tryouts.

In the summer we play 3-4 times a week and for me this is the Golden Age of having a child in golf. I know in a few years he will go off to college and we will still play but probably not as much so I'm enjoying this time to the fullest!

Good luck to you and your son and enjoy the moment!

[Acuna]

Most excellent, and definitely worth bragging about!

[teed off]

You are not selfish......you are a proud Papa. Best of luck to your son in his future at playing  the "best game" out there.

[AmazingWhacker]

That's awesome - thanks for sharing it.  I hope my kids will someday get the enjoyment from the game that I do - and I hope they will be a whole lot better at it than thier dad.  I can beat them easily now . . .because one is 3 years old and the other is 2 months old.  I plan to always make it fun and if they want to play . .great . .if not . .great.  I hope they do, though, because golf is truly a game that can bring enjoyment for a lifetime.