Fondest Memories Playing With My Father-Father's Day Reminiscing

My father introduced me to this great game when I was only 9 y,o, and being a complete sports junkie who loved anything sports and anything with a ball, golf was just a natural attraction. We played hundreds of rounds together almost every weekend until I was in my later teens and wanted to start playing with my buddies at that age. I still remember him coming to my school when I was in the 5th and 6th grade and checking me out early to play "with the men" in the Wednesday points game. I still remember my name being called out on the intercom to come to the office to check out. I was one happy youngster.

My Dad is now 78 yo and he quit playing last year as age had caught up with him and his game. But his last round was with myself and my two teenage sons all of us playing in a HS golf fundraiser scramble. He contributed with a couple of chips and putts and was a day to remember especially looking back now and realizing it was his last round.

My best golfing memory with him was the time we went to Scotland in '97 to play the week before The Open and then to watch the final rounds in person which Justin Leonard eventually won. We played several of the great courses there including Turnberry, Prestwick, Gleneagles and fortunately St. Andrews. It was at St. Andrews where his legacy was made and the story told many times. He needed a par on the famous last hole to break 80, a feat in itself but that was not how it ended. He hit his second shot to about 20 feet and needing only a two putt to break 80. As anyone who has been there knows that the 18th green is in front of the R&A headquarters and near the city street. A crowd had gathered and people were watching the players come in. And as you have probably guessed, he hit his putt and did an impeccable Nicklaus one arm step with his putter raised and drained the putt to cheers and applause from the crowd. A great 78 at the Old Course and my fondest golfing memory with my father.

I have tears in my eyes as I write this and can't wait to see him tonight as we will celebrate Father's Day at my sister's house in a couple of hours.

Happy Father's Day to all our golfing legend Dads.

You are breaking my heart. Summer of '16 my dad was to join up with my wife, me, daughters and play The New Course and The Old Course. Just so happens the first day of our golf in Dornoch about 10 days before was on Father's Day which was incredible with my immediate family. Sadly, circumstances didn't allow him to make the trip to join up with us for our reserved dates at St. Andrews. I don't see him going in the future, but that's no big deal.

For many years, Father's Day was golf with my dad and whichever of my daughters wanted to play, usually my "golfing" daughter, but we'd do other things the rest of the day as a family as well other than golf. COVID prevents that from happening this year, but in general those Father's Day outings were great.

Otherwise, best times were me and dad just playing together when he could swing it or me and my dad and his dad - that was especially fun back in the day!

Probably the first time I went with my son and him. My son was 6 or 7 and was just starting to golf and had only been to the range. My dad lived in Charlotte at the time and we were driving out there and we brought our clubs. He took us to this country club and I said “this is nice but maybe a little ambitious with my son who hadn’t been on a course before “ He said he knew of a little Par 3 and that sounded like a better idea to me. This place had 9 holes and none of them were over a hundred yards if I remember right. Half the holes had little ponds. They rented a cart and of course grandpa let him drive. No crashes fortunately. The best part of my son’s game at that point was hitting balls in the ponds which my dad fully indulged him. I made sure the balls kept coming out of his bag. It was a good time. The 3 of us would play whenever he came to visit but that was the most memorable to me.

I lol'd at " I made sure the balls kept coming out of his bag." Great story.

Sorry for the melancholy! Just thinking about Father's Day and my Dad. Actually I forgot a part of the story, On 17 he hit it into the Road hole bunker. up and down , no problem. Awesome day.

 "best times were me and dad just playing together when he could swing it or me and my dad and his dad - that was especially fun back in the day!" Somehow I never thought that anything would change and my Dad would always be playing. I'm now thankful for all of our rounds and memories together.

I play with my father twice a week, and cherish every second of it.

He broke 80 for the first time yesterday (77) and I was so proud and happy for him. We each encourage each other and praise each other's accomplishments every time. He is my absolute best friend, and we laugh so hard and have such a good time together. I feel so lucky, because I get to celebrate father's day twice a week.

His (and my) new goal is for him to shoot his age when he turns 75 this August. Now if I could just regularly shoot in the 80's......

First off, my father is not a golfer. He used to play maybe once a year but my love of golf was developed between my friends and myself. However, I have a few great memories of being on the course with my dad. The first was when I was in high school, probably 16 y/o. His office held an annual scramble tournament and one guy used to stack his team with ringers to win every year. My dad’s team had two guys unable to play one year so he asked me and one of my friends (future D1 golfer) to play, not knowing how good both of us were. Well, we smoked the field, including the stacked team. My dad was so happy that whole round just watching my friend and I play. He was on top of the world when we won.

My most fond memory though is a round we had at Nelles AF base in Vegas. We were down there for one of my sister’s soccer tournaments and one of the other girl’s fathers knew I played so he invited my dad and I to play. The other father spent the whole time before we played talking about how good he was and my dad didn’t want to go since he really isn’t a golfer. Ultimately he went with us and had the best front 9 of his life. He was even through 5 and shot a 42 before falling apart on the back. It was absolutely awesome to watch him drain a putt, then I’d hit a great shot, just back and forth for 5 amazing holes. At the end of the round I beat the other dad pretty handily and my father was pretty proud that I had shut him up. Not really in a mean way but more of a proud parent sort of way, glad that I was able to play that well.

Lots of great memories playing with my dad! He introduced me to the game when I was 7, fifty years ago! He's still playing three days a week at age 82, and a couple of months ago shot a career round -- 74! He'll shoot his age at least 1-2 times year these days ....

We played together in Scotland, Ireland, at Bandon, and lots of rounds together at our private clubs. Not sure what's most memorable; it might be dinner and beers overlooking the 18th hole at St. Andrew's.

The best story involves NOT playing with him! Growing up, every year, our club would have the father-son tournament on Father's Day. It was a blast, and always fun to play with the other father-son groups. Pretty low key, but one of the best events of the year. In 1980, my final year in high school, the morning of Father's Day Dad woke up sicker than a dog. He could hardly stand up, and there was no way he was playing golf that day. He felt really bad for me missing the event, so he called the club. They always had a division of "foster dads" - guys who didn't have kids that would play with juniors who had fathers that didn't play golf. He got the pro to find me a foster dad so I could play. Needless to say, both my partner and I shot lights out ... I had 70, the foster (a 9 handicapper) shot 75. I came home with the only first place trophy for the father-son event I ever won! Never heard the end of it!!

I'm lucky to be able to visiting him right now; we played yesterday at that same course, and will get to play tomorrow and several more times before I have to head back home!

Golfing with my dad was always a riot, he played maybe twice a year at work functions and was a 110 shooter ... that only hit irons ... and had 1 birdie his entire life !

he loved to stack his work scramble with me and 2 buddies and he always got razzed when we crushed the other teams and we all took big booze bottles as prizes

somehow he always made 2 or 3 big putts in these things

he is almost 81 now and needs a walker to get around, hasn’t played in 8 years or so

Oh boy, this weekend. This day.

My earliest memories of golf are playing putt-putt in Myrtle Beach when I was a super little fella on our summer vacations. Dad was a fine player and won more than a handful of local tournaments and when I was around 7 or 8, he took me along for one to just hang out in the cart and have a fun day with him. On 18 when he had the tournament wrapped up, he let me putt out his last putt - a little 2 or 3 footer; which I made. (While I'm sure this is against all sorts of rules in terms of tournament play, this was the rural south and I figure everyone was cool with this happening. And dad was a big deal in that little town so no one would have said anything to him anyway)

That drive home, I told him I wanted my own set of clubs because, dammit, I wanted to play golf.

The very next day, we drove up to SOMEWHERE in Fayetteville, NC and he bought me my first set - some MacGregor Nicklaus kids clubs. If I recall, it had a 3W, a 9 iron, a 7 iron, a 5 iron and a putter.

And it all started there. I was out banging balls around in the yard that day - I was fortunate to have a pretty huge plot of land to hack it around on.

I remember watching Jack win at Augusta in '86 and immediately going out and hitting balls with my JACK NICKLAUS MASTERS CHAMPION clubs all ... hell yeah, that's gonna be me.

FINALLY beat dad straight up when I was around 12 or 13. In my teens, ALL in the world I cared about was golf. And every Sunday we could - and that was most of them - we were out playing. Every vacation became an excuse to go play golf somewhere; sometimes to mom's dismay.

Went on to have a pretty good record in Jr. High and High School. I was usually somewhere around par, broke it a few times. I started playing music in my teens as well - much to his dismay - and some golf practice fell off a bit. Had a solid senior year and was working on trying to get on at NCSU where I was already accepted into the engineering school but ... just didn't really happen.

Dad was a bit bummed, I'm sure. Kinda felt like he'd been putting me through the ropes to get REALLY good - he supported all my efforts but I, in fact, kinda slacked off. Playing drums in a band got me a lot more babes than playing golf. But I hung on pretty well and was still playing well.

Then June 18, 1999 happened. Some ... person ... ran a stop sign and crashed into his Ford Explorer, sending it rolling.

He died about 24 hours later from sustained injuries. The day before Father's Day. The day before Payne Stewart won at Pinehurst. We had a tee time that Sunday at his favorite course; Hyland Hills just outside of Pinehurst. He figured it'd be pretty empty due to the whole US Open thing going on. (And it's also a super fun course that - back then - was always in tremendous condition)

Two of my high school teammates dragged me out to the course anyway and I somehow managed a 75 - a score I'll never forget - as well as my one lifetime double eagle. Without going into THAT story, suffice to say I'm certain dad kicked that little 4 iron into the cup for me. I still have the scorecard.

After that ... I didn't play another round for about 5 years. And that was just a couple one-offs. Over the nearly 20 years following, I played precisely 7 rounds. I'd hit up the range every so often just to see if I could still hit a ball ... but didn't go much further till a chance encounter with a co-worker back in 2018 that wound up kicking off the obsession redux. And here we are.

I've told friends who've lost parents suddenly ... the hurt never goes away. But over time, the anger and sadness subsides into a feeling of love and appreciation. I was extraordinarily lucky to have had such an amazing man as a father, though I only had him for a little over 21 years. My trip to St Andrews last year was a tribute to him - marking 20 years. We talked about one day doing that trip back when I was a kid ... so it felt right to do it since, thanks to him and everything he supported me through - not just golf but my love of technology that's made my career that allowed me such a luxury.

The last round we ever played together was the first time he beat me in 8 years.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads. And for those that still have them - make sure they know how much you love and appreciate them.

My father always talked about golf. Apart from one short trip to a driving range when I was younger, he never did take up the game. In his late sixties, he ended up working for Wilson Sporting Goods. The company threw him a party and golf outing in honor of his contributions to the company. They gave him clubs, balls, a glove... he was the focus--he was finally playing a round of golf. He had a stroke and died on the golf course that day. Perhaps his life was finally complete. That was in 1992. Now, I'm his age. I think about him every time I tee it up, all the more grateful for the game and the strong memories. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Amen. I never got to play with my dad. I wish wish wish I could walk 9 holes with him. I play alone, this weekend feels a bit more alone. Happy Father’s Day to all, definitely do not take it for granted. Miss him lots

if it is allowed lol, playing with my grandad is what got me started on this obsession. playing with him is still so much fun, I love how angry any non-golfing family get when he is rushing them through a round. Truest form of comedy, I laugh out loud just writing this.

wow. Tears and laughs in one GolfWRX post. I might need to take a break lmfao.

What a wonderful game, Thanks papa.

It was just too perfect of a plan to come off, and I know he was disappointed not to make it but something more important needed him at home. Good news is at 83 he can still play and we’ll figure out a way to play soon, but right now too many COVID concerns. All my best golf memories are with family since the first time my dad took me out at age 10.

In ‘06 we went to Scotland. We hit all the courses we could. At Royal Troon we teed off in the morning. We were paired up with a very serious young Japanese man who wasn’t very talkative. Understandable since not one of us spoke Japanese.

On the 18th green, it started to rain like it can only rain Scotland. We were soaked in seconds and it started to pool up on parts of the green. This young man traveled thousands of miles and he wasn’t going to quit before he holed out his putt.

My caddie says to me, get your dad out of this rain, as I headed to the porch behind the green to wait. An “ugly American” says to me, “What idiot would wait for someone to putt out in this (meaning the downpour)?”

Well, it was my 75 year old dad. He shook the young mans hand in the rain. A true gentleman. He doesn’t play much anymore, but that’s dad, and that’s my #1 memory of golfing with dad. Afterward I asked dad about it. “He came a long way. He deserved it.” And that was the last he has ever said about it.

I can't remember exactly what year this was but I am guessing around 2005-2007 timeframe. My dad and I were playing Malibu Golf Club that is unfortunately now closed. The course had several elevated tee boxes and on one just as I hit my tee shot this guy popped up in a golf cart right at the front of the forward tee box seemingly just out for a drive! A couple WTHs and throwing our arms up and he quickly waves and hightails it out of there. Fast forward to the end of the round and we come in the pro shop and Dan, the head pro, is all excited. He is going "Did you see him? Did you him?" and we of course have no clue who the heck he is talking about. Well, the place had new ownership and Jack Nicklaus was supposedly there that day to consult on a possible redesign. We did not mention anything to Dan about him disrupting my tee shot...

Ya know my dad was never really a golfer, it just didn’t fill his cup the way it does mine. Nevertheless, any time we could get him out on the course it was great and we got to just spend quality time together. For him to come and join me in a hobby of mine that he really doesn’t have much skill in always meant a little more. Spending time together that wasn’t work related (we work together in a family business) is always a breath of fresh air and we can reconnect as just father and son. I’ll cherish all the times out there together no matter what we shoot!

I think it's very special moment.

Your story touched my heart, thanks for sharing. My dad never played golf or any other sport. My son played baseball year round for years, he stopped in high school, got burned out. He started playing golf several months ago. I started golf about 24 years ago, played for about 2 years straight, my wife and I moved, and I stopped playing. Since my son picked it up, I am now back on the course learning to swing again, I forgot how much I enjoyed the game, love it even more playing with my son. I can only hope, one day he reminisces about us playing and has fond memories like so many of you all have shared.

Thanks for the kind words and I'm sure you will be building lifetime memories with your son in this great game.

On 7/7/2020 at 11:10 PM, Atocha said:

Your story touched my heart, thanks for sharing. My dad never played golf or any other sport. My son played baseball year round for years, he stopped in high school, got burned out. He started playing golf several months ago. I started golf about 24 years ago, played for about 2 years straight, my wife and I moved, and I stopped playing. Since my son picked it up, I am now back on the course learning to swing again, I forgot how much I enjoyed the game, love it even more playing with my son. I can only hope, one day he reminisces about us playing and has fond memories like so many of you all have shared.

Thanks for the kind words and I'm sure you will be building lifetime memories with your son in this great game.

On 6/19/2020 at 4:12 PM, Murphy76 said:

I play with my father twice a week, and cherish every second of it.

He broke 80 for the first time yesterday (77) and I was so proud and happy for him. We each encourage each other and praise each other's accomplishments every time. He is my absolute best friend, and we laugh so hard and have such a good time together. I feel so lucky, because I get to celebrate father's day twice a week.

 

His (and my) new goal is for him to shoot his age when he turns 75 this August. Now if I could just regularly shoot in the 80's......

Just as an update, My dad shot his age (75) for the first time last week. 

Talk about a beautiful and happy milestone and accomplishment.  I'm overflowing with pride!

11 hours ago, Murphy76 said:

 

Just as an update, My dad shot his age (75) for the first time last week. 

Talk about a beautiful and happy milestone and accomplishment.  I'm overflowing with pride!

 

 

Wow!. As well you should be, that is the ultimate golfing accomplishment imo.