How did you get into golf?

[DaddySwagMaster]

My Dad handed me a 7 iron at 7 years old and told me to hit it.  I whacked it about 20 yards, and he told me to hit it again, and that he'd see me on the green.  He wouldn't let me hit anything but a 7 iron for a year or more.

 

On my 9th birthday we moved to Miami, to a house on the golf course.  I had free reign of that golf course for the rest of the years I grew up.  I'd often times grab my clubs after school and walk out back and play 3, 5 or 7 holes, and no one cared or was on the golf course at the time.

 

Miami had DAGA (Dade Amateur Golf Association) and during the summers growing up my Mom would drop us off at Melreese golf course, by the airport in Miami, and Charlie Delucca would let us play Melreese all day long.

 

But I got into the game because of my Dad.  He taught me the game, and we played countless rounds of golf as he mentored me around the golf course.  Without my Dad's influence I don't know if I would have ever picked up a club.  Both of my brothers played golf as well.

[ohioglfr]

In the late 1970's a friend gave me a well used bag of clubs.  It consisted of various persimmon woods, blades (an assortment of brands and shaft flexes) and a bullseye putter.  I hacked around with these occasionally on athletic fields and a park but never got serious with them.  No one in my family played the game.  Later, while in the Navy, I hung out with guys who played, learned the game and bought my first new bag of clubs, Tommy Armour 845s.  We were often a mixed group of enlisted and officers.  Fun times.

Edited June 14, 2022 by ohioglfr

[LUMA]

My grandfather was a golf pro so there was always some golf going on on that side of the family. I just picked up a club myself around 7 and that was it. Been doing it ever since. I feel like I am the only one in the family who has taken it so serious tho. I wish I was groomed more at a young age.

Edited June 14, 2022 by LUMA

[NoTalentLefty]

Our family was lower middle class growing up. Watched golf as a 13 year old in 1972 got interested. My older brother had a set of right handed clubs that were 10 years older than him. Well started to hit them around the yard and was always wondering what a left hand club would feel like. Then my cousin and some friends got into golf. Worked the bean fields so I could by a starter set of Northwestern golf clubs at 16.  This got my dad interested at 56 years old that same year. So we had a bunch of bonding time spent over golf for the next 36 years . 

Edited June 14, 2022 by NoTalentLefty

[Captain Hook11]

Played with my dad here and there growing up, then played maybe 10 times from age 18-25. Didn't have my own clubs or even shoes until 28. Started playing with a cousin and neighbor weekly out of the blue 3 years back and got hooked. Now I have 2 kids and kick myself daily for not playing more when I had the time. 5 years ago I literally had 2 cheap courses by my old house, and my wife and I worked different schedules so I could have played 4 times a week easily, and never even thought about it. Now it's once a month if I'm lucky.

[TaderSalad]

worked at a golf course in college and got to play for free.  would punch out and go play a round every day in the summer to relax.  love the game

[Roody]

When I was a teenager, I really only liked football and basketball. Didn't give golf any consideration whatsoever. Then in the mid-90's, I met the young lady that would eventually become my wife.

 

After a couple dates, I asked her what her father likes to do for fun. I wanted to try to schmooze up to him a bit. She said "he really likes to golf". So I grabbed my brother's garage-sale set of clubs and went to an executive course to try my first 9 holes. I remember I had to keep asking the other guy that was with us "what club do I hit here?" and he kept telling me to hit the 7-iron because I "seemed to hit that ok". Didn't matter if I was 200 yards away or 20 yards, at that point I was just happy to make contact. 

I'm not sure what I even shot that day, but the first time I rocketed one down the fairway I remember thinking how cool that felt. I was hooked. 

[rblmp32]

My dad got me a starter set of clubs when I was in 6th grade or so.  I would occasionally go to the local driving range with them and hit a few balls but I never was too interested.  And then the 97 Masters happened.  I had previously heard of Tiger and knew of him.  But I watched on TV and I remember him punching a shot out of some trees up to the green and it blew my mind that someone could control the ball that much (didn't take much to impress me back then).  I was hooked from then on.  

[Double Mocha Man]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:01 PM, Roejye said:

Now I'm trying to find out ways to get my dad a new set of irons, without him finding out what's up and not spending a whole lot. 

 

Father's Day is this Sunday.

[jholz]

My grandfather introduced me to golf when I was 7. He didn't pick up the game until his 50's but loved it so much, he pretty much insisted that all the grand kids played. He and the rest of family really supported my play through high school, but it was never more than a hobby for me.

 

When my other sporting endeavors were done, golf was there for me once again, and it's been my main athletic activity for nearly 20 years now.

 

Gotta thank Grandpa for that.

 

 

[ldchristopher]

My dad gave me a 5 iron, PW and putter for my 5th birthday. He always loved the game but wasn’t much of a golfer. However, his dad was a scratch and several of my uncles were either scratch or kept a single digit handicap. I took to golf right away and we gradually started filling my bag out with a hodgepodge of clubs from Play It Again Sports. 

[Nels55]

My dad played a lot of golf and we played putt putt quite often when I was little.  There were a lot of mini golf courses around then and I especially remember a putt putt on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz and also on the Boardwalk. In addition I had an old wood shafted putter that putted balls on the carpet with.  We had some sort of felt covered plastic ramp holes that I practiced on.  When I  was 11 or so my dad gave me his old irons and some plastic balls to hit around the back yard.  The plastic balls were supposed to go 10% as far as a real ball so I would pace off my shots to see how far I was hitting it.  I think that I paced them off at something like 40 yards and at dinner I asked my dad if a 400 yard shot was good. He told me that was pretty good. 

 

The first time that I played was at Blackberry Farm Golf Course in Cupertino, my dad picked me up at my friends house after I stayed over night and I had absolutely no interest in playing golf that morning.  My friend had an awesome hot wheels setup and some cool GI Joes that his mom had made super hero costumes for.  Anyway I did find out that I liked the game pretty well and have played ever since.  LOL my first lesson was; "Hurry up they are waiting behind you"!  To this day I am keenly aware of not holding up the group behind.  I was really bad at golf for a long time and did not really learn to play at all until I had lessons when I was 27.  

[Moonlightgrm]

My dad took a position as head chemist at Rochester Paper Company in 1964. After sizing up Michigan, my mom decided we were staying put in Massachusetts. Dad would live in a boarding house, send money home every two weeks, and visit us every 8-weeks or so. I was the baby of the family, and I hated this arrangement. My older sisters handled it much better than I. The money was great but my dad needed to pass the time with some activities. He joined multiple bowling leagues in the fall/winter months and he took up golf for the spring/summer months. At the age of ten, my mom bought me a starter set at ZAYRE, and when my dad came home for a visit, he taught me the grip and the set up. The rest is history.

[596]

Living in Sedona, AZ in 2009 at age 54. We owned a large boutique inn.  My banker calls me on a Monday and says we have a tee time this Friday for golf.  Ok. I've never played before.  My wife and I immediately drive 2 hours to Phoenix to a Dick's Sporting Goods.  I purchase a full box set of Slazenger starter clubs with bag. 1 doz balls, golf shoes, glove and a few plastic balls to practice in the back garden of our inn till Friday.  18 months later I was a 2 handicap. 

[CoachCraigie]

Grew up in Dundee, Scotland. Lived 15mins from Carnoustie, 25 from St. Andrews but didn't care for the game at all. My Grandfather watched it constantly when he could and I just found it boring, long and far too difficult. But get me to a putting course like the Himalayas in St. Andrews and I came alive haha.

 

Fast forward a few years to now living in the States, with most work colleagues playing. I started going to the work scramble fundraiser to drive around a cart, have some food & beers and have a laugh. Finally played in it nearly 2 years ago and I've been hooked ever since.

 

Genuine regret that I didn't get in to the game sooner, especially considering where I grew up surrounded by some of the worlds famous courses.

[ANimz]

I grew up playing baseball.  I eventually enlisted in the Air Force, and played for the base softball team for fun.  My 4th year, I tried to make a throw from SS to first, and felt a pain in my elbow.  Next throw went right in the dirt.  After that game, I quit and went to golf.  😄  So glad I did.  Love this game.  

[Scooby555]

Got some used clubs and started going to range after work during Covid 2020.  Decent exercise for me.  

[NoTalentLefty]

Parents were lower middle class and had 5 boys to feed. Well I was the youngest and had a 7 year gap between me and the next brother. Started hitting my brother’s right hand set around the age of 13. Playing in our backyard using a plastic golf ball. Then as a 16 year old in 1975,  worked in the bean fields and bought my first golf clubs , a starter set of Northwestern clubs at K Mart. Used my brother’s old canvas bag he left behind , it had a hole in the bottom of it that I taped up but the tape never made it thru 9 holes. Well then my dad saw I was hooked and he took up the game. And there started our competition against each other. It was bonding time for us. By the way dad never did buy me a new bag. Did that the next year on my own. 

Edited July 24, 2022 by NoTalentLefty

[lefthack]

I needed a PE credit in college and golf sounded like a fun A. 

[bobfoster]

On 6/12/2022 at 11:50 AM, Esox said:

Weird, the software keeps editing out the road name. German surnames are offensive?

I've got a bunch of languages, most of which I speak embarrassingly badly (I have travelled a lot, but always try to learn at least a bit of the language of any nation I visit as a sign of respect - and weirdly, have found that almost universally appreciated - even by the French, and that's saying something.) Kind of like German, extremely precise. If I want to express emotion, Spanish (either Castilian or Latin American) or Italian is perfect. Want to do science, and German or Japanese gets the job done. 

 

Have a sort of affinity with German - had four years in HS, and two of my grandparents immigrated from Austria, so I grew up around the rhythms of the  language. Austrian German is different than Berlin German, but sort of in the way that the US southern accent is different than a Brooklyn accent, or Indian English is different than British English that is different from American English.

 

But German is quite guttural. Odd and weirdly unfortunate (IMO). Is actually an elegant language capable of expressing delicate nuances of the human experience, all of which make you inexplicably sound like you are cursing. (Dave Barry said it best: I love Wagner, but every time I listen to him I am filled with the inexplicable urge to invade Poland 🤣.)

 

But Esox? Have navigated around, and discovered how to get around internet filters that don't get German. I'm pretty certain that you can say what I'm about to say to anyone you want to without getting filtered:

 

"You can Farfegnugen your Umlaut".

 

Sorry folks, actually have some friends here from Norway tonight, and they are totally hammered and making me write these things. I'm going to take them out to my back yard and hit a driver into the woods behind my house. But things are a little weird. Sven (yes, his name is Sven) wants to do clay pigeon sort of stuff. I don't shoot guns (actually, I hate guns), but have a couple at my house 'cause my business partner is a hunter that moved to Puerto Rico so I have a bunch of guns in my house. So Jürgen is about to go try to drive golf balls, and Sven is going to try to shoot them down with buckshot. 

 

Ordinarily, I'd be worried about my neighbors calling the cops. Except one of my neighbors is here, and a local cop has one of my guns and will be trying to hit the golf balls with buckshot. 

 

Live in joy. 

 

 

[rd1959]

10 minutes ago, bobfoster said:

I've got a bunch of languages, most of which I speak embarrassingly badly (I have travelled a lot, but always try to learn at least a bit of the language of any nation I visit as a sign of respect - and weirdly, have found that almost universally appreciated - even by the French, and that's saying something.) Kind of like German, extremely precise. If I want to express emotion, Spanish (either Castilian or Latin American) or Italian is perfect. Want to do science, and German or Japanese gets the job done. 

 

Have a sort of affinity with German - had four years in HS, and two of my grandparents immigrated from Austria, so I grew up around the rhythms of the  language. Austrian German is different than Berlin German, but sort of in the way that the US southern accent is different than a Brooklyn accent, or Indian English is different than British English that is different from American English.

 

But German is quite guttural. Odd and weirdly unfortunate (IMO). Is actually an elegant language capable of expressing delicate nuances of the human experience, all of which make you inexplicably sound like you are cursing. (Dave Barry said it best: I love Wagner, but every time I listen to him I am filled with the inexplicable urge to invade Poland 🤣.)

 

But Esox? Have navigated around, and discovered how to get around internet filters that don't get German. I'm pretty certain that you can say what I'm about to say to anyone you want to without getting filtered:

 

"You can Farfegnugen your Umlaut".

 

Sorry folks, actually have some friends here from Norway tonight, and they are totally hammered and making me write these things. I'm going to take them out to my back yard and hit a driver into the woods behind my house. But things are a little weird. Sven (yes, his name is Sven) wants to do clay pigeon sort of stuff. I don't shoot guns (actually, I hate guns), but have a couple at my house 'cause my business partner is a hunter that moved to Puerto Rico so I have a bunch of guns in my house. So Jürgen is about to go try to drive golf balls, and Sven is going to try to shoot them down with buckshot. 

 

Ordinarily, I'd be worried about my neighbors calling the cops. Except one of my neighbors is here, and a local cop has one of my guns and will be trying to hit the golf balls with buckshot. 

 

Live in joy. 

 

 

Sounds like a typical Saturday night here in the South.🤪

[bekgolf]

On 6/12/2022 at 8:07 PM, cgasucks said:

In the summer of 2000 the company I worked for at the time had a golf outing in a scramble format.  Back then I was totally clueless about golf and Tiger was the only golfer I heard about and didn't know what was meant by scramble.  I thought we were having scrambled eggs over over there.  

 

I cough a bad flu bug at the end of that day but got totally hooked at the time.  

 

Yep, in 2005 my employer decided to reward our crew with 9 holes of golf on the clock.  It was an alternate shot format.  I hit all of two good shots and that was it, hooked for life.

 

It's amazing how the game can be fairly easy one day and a struggle the next.  If I have a really good round I can't wait to get back out and improve on it.  If I have a bad round I can't wait to get back out and get it out of my system.

[mark174ace]

Went to the driving range with my Dad when I was probably 10 and the rest is history. He died December 28th, 2021 and he was a good dude.

[bobfoster]

On 7/24/2022 at 1:32 AM, rd1959 said:

On 7/24/2022 at 1:19 AM, bobfoster said:

I've got a bunch of languages, most of which I speak embarrassingly badly (I have travelled a lot, but always try to learn at least a bit of the language of any nation I visit as a sign of respect - and weirdly, have found that almost universally appreciated - even by the French, and that's saying something.) Kind of like German, extremely precise. If I want to express emotion, Spanish (either Castilian or Latin American) or Italian is perfect. Want to do science, and German or Japanese gets the job done. 

 

Have a sort of affinity with German - had four years in HS, and two of my grandparents immigrated from Austria, so I grew up around the rhythms of the  language. Austrian German is different than Berlin German, but sort of in the way that the US southern accent is different than a Brooklyn accent, or Indian English is different than British English that is different from American English.

 

But German is quite guttural. Odd and weirdly unfortunate (IMO). Is actually an elegant language capable of expressing delicate nuances of the human experience, all of which make you inexplicably sound like you are cursing. (Dave Barry said it best: I love Wagner, but every time I listen to him I am filled with the inexplicable urge to invade Poland 🤣.)

 

But Esox? Have navigated around, and discovered how to get around internet filters that don't get German. I'm pretty certain that you can say what I'm about to say to anyone you want to without getting filtered:

 

"You can Farfegnugen your Umlaut".

 

Sorry folks, actually have some friends here from Norway tonight, and they are totally hammered and making me write these things. I'm going to take them out to my back yard and hit a driver into the woods behind my house. But things are a little weird. Sven (yes, his name is Sven) wants to do clay pigeon sort of stuff. I don't shoot guns (actually, I hate guns), but have a couple at my house 'cause my business partner is a hunter that moved to Puerto Rico so I have a bunch of guns in my house. So Jürgen is about to go try to drive golf balls, and Sven is going to try to shoot them down with buckshot. 

 

Ordinarily, I'd be worried about my neighbors calling the cops. Except one of my neighbors is here, and a local cop has one of my guns and will be trying to hit the golf balls with buckshot. 

 

Live in joy. 

 

 

Sounds like a typical Saturday night here in the South.

Ha! one of my best employees (and a dear friend) lives in Alabama. Told him about this and he said us northerners were boring - the guys with guns weren't even trying to shoot golf balls while riding on tractors. Sent me a video (that I'd seen before and really love - the modern south ... shoot bullets at the moon!)

 

 

 

[rd1959]

13 hours ago, bobfoster said:

Ha! one of my best employees (and a dear friend) lives in Alabama. Told him about this and he said us northerners were boring - the guys with guns weren't even trying to shoot golf balls while riding on tractors. Sent me a video (that I'd seen before and really love - the modern south ... shoot bullets at the moon!)

 

 

 

Yep, that looks about right😀

[rd1959]

On 7/24/2022 at 1:19 AM, bobfoster said:

I've got a bunch of languages, most of which I speak embarrassingly badly (I have travelled a lot, but always try to learn at least a bit of the language of any nation I visit as a sign of respect - and weirdly, have found that almost universally appreciated - even by the French, and that's saying something.) Kind of like German, extremely precise. If I want to express emotion, Spanish (either Castilian or Latin American) or Italian is perfect. Want to do science, and German or Japanese gets the job done. 

 

Have a sort of affinity with German - had four years in HS, and two of my grandparents immigrated from Austria, so I grew up around the rhythms of the  language. Austrian German is different than Berlin German, but sort of in the way that the US southern accent is different than a Brooklyn accent, or Indian English is different than British English that is different from American English.

 

But German is quite guttural. Odd and weirdly unfortunate (IMO). Is actually an elegant language capable of expressing delicate nuances of the human experience, all of which make you inexplicably sound like you are cursing. (Dave Barry said it best: I love Wagner, but every time I listen to him I am filled with the inexplicable urge to invade Poland 🤣.)

 

But Esox? Have navigated around, and discovered how to get around internet filters that don't get German. I'm pretty certain that you can say what I'm about to say to anyone you want to without getting filtered:

 

"You can Farfegnugen your Umlaut".

 

Sorry folks, actually have some friends here from Norway tonight, and they are totally hammered and making me write these things. I'm going to take them out to my back yard and hit a driver into the woods behind my house. But things are a little weird. Sven (yes, his name is Sven) wants to do clay pigeon sort of stuff. I don't shoot guns (actually, I hate guns), but have a couple at my house 'cause my business partner is a hunter that moved to Puerto Rico so I have a bunch of guns in my house. So Jürgen is about to go try to drive golf balls, and Sven is going to try to shoot them down with buckshot. 

 

Ordinarily, I'd be worried about my neighbors calling the cops. Except one of my neighbors is here, and a local cop has one of my guns and will be trying to hit the golf balls with buckshot. 

 

Live in joy. 

 

 

One of my first jobs was with a Japanese company and I'd hear them talking on the phone sometimes. I didn't speak Japanese so, it sounded like they were arguing with someone and then they would let out a big laugh. It was odd but comical at the same time. 
 My last job was with an Austrian company. When I first started I was introduced to the top man over the manufacturing / warehouse. After hearing him speak the first thought that popped into my head was Gen. Burkhalter from Hogan's Heros. 😁

[jwhite86]

I walked a round with my dad when I was maybe 10... he let me hit a shot on the 9th and I was hooked

[imkirby34]

When i was 12, one of my brothers (4 years older) and I borrowed a set of ladies clubs from our family friend.  This was back in the 70's and she had one of those all-in-one pull cart golf bags so we took our bicycle sidecar (built by the same brother) to pick it up and we went to the local 9-hole course with me pulling the cart while riding in the sidecar.  We did this a few times only going to the range and then decided to play on the course  Technically, per the course rules, we were supposed to have separate golf bags, but the 1st tee wasn't completely visible from the pro shop, so we were able to circumvent the rule.  Heh.  

 

About 6 months later, we decided that we'd each get a starter set, so we went to the local BEST store - anyone else in the U.S remember those catalog showroom retail stores? - to get Northwestern sets.  I still remember bending the 7-iron after a few months of hitting balls off mats at the range.  That's probably why I developed a "picker" swing.  😆

Edited July 28, 2022 by imkirby34

[jordan2240]

On 7/28/2022 at 4:58 PM, imkirby34 said:

so we went to the local BEST store - anyone else in the U.S remember those catalog showroom retail stores?

Oh yeah.  Had one open a few miles from where I grew up.  It was a huge hit for a short time until the novelty wore off and people got tired of having to place an order for everything and wait for it to come out of the warehouse.  I suppose it prevented shoplifting, which perhaps was supposed to keep prices down, but they apparently weren't low enough.

[HiCapGolf]

Well I guess I’m a little different than most others that have posted so far. I only started last year. Was watching East Lake with my brother in law and giving him crap about how boring watching golf was. After watching it all weekend and some peer pressure, I picked up a new set of Pings that week. I’ve been absolutely hooked. Have picked up on it pretty quickly. I am playing atleast once a week. Would be more but 3 kids. Only took me about 2 months to turn into a club ho. I’m that way with any and every hobby I pick up though. 

 

Not sure why I never got into it younger. My grandfather played a lot of golf. My cousin was on the H.S. Golf team and  I even did some school project on golf. I just never picked up the game. Was always busy with baseball and chasing girls. Now I can’t get enough.