Who introduced you to golf?

[pitbull808]

Simple topic that maybe can be chimed in by everyone here in Golfwrx land. :drinks:

 

I started at about 8 years old with a cut down hickory shafted Otey Crisman putter my dad gave to me. My dad had turned the backyard into a putting green and I'd be out there after school putting around. Soon after I had my first junior set of four clubs and would be hitting balls and wiffle balls from our yard to our neighbords yard. Although I played a lot of sports in between including baseball, football, and basketball, golf was always my favorite.

[taylormadefan]

I started playing seriously about a year and a half ago.

 

In college I'd go to the driving range with friends and just goof around, but when I graduated, I started to really get serious about it. It's now my only release, I figure it's much better for me than going to a bar (although it's not any cheaper :drinks: ).

[lologolf]

wish I started when I was a kid but alas only started this game off and on when I went to college.

[slicefixer]

My dad stuck a club in my hand when I was 18 months old and its never left.......:drinks:

[slicefixer]

"(although it's not any cheaper )."

 

It ALL depends on WHO you meet at the bar......hehehe......:drinks:

[PGMlady]

I was first introduced to golf by my neighbor Daniel. It was the summer before 7th grade when I was 13 years old. We started by hitting wiffle balls around in the backyard. Then I took "Hook a Kid on Golf" at my local golf course and was instantly hooked. I bought an old set of Northwestern men's clubs at a garage sale. The next year I went all out and bought the clubs I still have now. No one else in my family golfs. My parents say they want to learn but I'm afraid my Dad would get too angry with the sport. He has a short temper. My Dad can talk golf but does not play. It's weird having my parents visit me over the summer at my internships. I can show them the facilities but we never play. I'm glad they have supported me in my golf adventures.

[JHR]

I started playing about 12 years ago when i started my first company. My partner at the time was a golfer and i had never played before, i thought it was the dumbest game on the planet, if you can't hit someone what is the point.

 

He told me if i am going to be in business, i will have to learn to play. So i bought my first set of clubs, a set of Ping Zing 2's and some Callaway Warbirds and i was off and running. Now i can't imagine life without golf, and i still buy an occasional club or two.

[glcoach]

Got invited to play in a select shot tournament in the summer of 2001, thought it would be an easy game to play, never so mesmerized in all of my life, ended up playing 54 holes that day and have never looked back. I love this game. I only wish I had been introduced to it much earlier in life. I am thankful I started at 25, but wish it would have been 15!!

[xxio]

I started when I was 9. My dad is a very good golfer, He was a 2 at the time. He would take me with him to the country club during summer vacation. I would play 9holes with a few kids and then go swimming til he would get done.

 

I was quite good. I was a 20 handicap at 11 years old. Then it all came crashing down one day. I was playing in a National Junior tournament.

150 yard par3 with the South China Sea all along the left side. Hit 8 balls in the drink. Quit the game right after that round.

 

Took it up again 15 years later. I've been playing again for 9 years now.

[crew_138]

My grandfather taught me righthanded at about 10yrs old... "but grandpa i'm left-handed" I said. He says. "No such thing". It made it hard for me to learn that way so I gave up trying.

 

13yrs later my buddies and I were stationed in Japan and decided to go in the mornings to the base golf course after a late shift at work, we would drink some beers play 9 stop for breakfast burritos, then play 9 more while drinking more beers.... I don't know which was more addictive the beer or the golf. I was hooked nothing can cure the addiction(golf)

[tbowles411]

My wife said I should take up a hobby other than Playstation! HA! Boy is she regretting that!

[tmagfan2010]

my grandpa taught me when i was 8

[hacker17]

My stepdad bought me my first set of clubs about a year ago. I've been hooked ever since.

[gjones77]

For me, my first time on a golf course was last April, though I spent plenty of time on the driving range the summer before learning how to hit the ball :drinks:

 

The reason I started playing was my brother got me hooked on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004, and after that I wanted to play myself.

 

What made me fall in love with golf though was it's history, tradition, and the people that played it.

 

I spend every waking moment watching, studying, and learning all I can about golf, right down to equipment and have become pretty knowledgable, mostly thanks to GolfWRX, Frank Thomas, and Tom Wishon :crazy:

 

On the good side, I'm long as all get out (Golf Pro called me not human and a freak of nature) but I'm working on consistency now and I would glady give up 20 yards off the tee to keep it straight (mind you I can carry a ball almost 330 yards with a driver in the air, so giving up 20 yards wouldn't hurt all that much).

 

I'm comming along though, played nine one day and came out at only 3 over, so there is hope!

[gjones77]

and i still buy an occasional club or two.

 

The my friends is the understatement of the year, if not the decade.

 

We've all seen that office of yours John, and might I add I'm still horribly jealous, but at least after showing my girlfriend that picture she never complains about me buying clubs anymore :drinks:

[HipCheck]

I think I was about 8 years old. My dad had old Power Bilt woods and some irons that had 'master' in the name and red paintfill? Anyway, I used to take them down to my elementary school on weekends and hit tee shots from what seemed to be 300 yds. away from the school (but was probably 300 ft.) and try to hit golf balls on top of the roof.

[hacker17]

Got invited to play in a select shot tournament in the summer of 2001, thought it would be an easy game to play, never so mesmerized in all of my life, ended up playing 54 holes that day and have never looked back. I love this game. I only wish I had been introduced to it much earlier in life. I am thankful I started at 25, but wish it would have been 15!!

 

Same here, I started at 17 and I wish I could have started at 7.

[ba_priddy]

Was given my first club at 4 years of age by my dad, and I have never had them out of hands since.

[USNHack]

Played my first 18 holes when I was 18 and working as a greenskeeper with some friends that worked in the cart barn, they played regularly but I just had no interest in the game, that was 21 years ago and I played about a dozen or so rounds after that first 18, but my how time changes things. A little over two years ago I went out with some friends while deployed to Okinawa, Japan and the bug bit, now I play every chance I get. :crazy: Often I wonder where my game would be if that first round would have sparked the interest that I have now. In the last two years I've gotten my handicap to 8.6!

Great topic Pitbull :drinks:

[alexthegrrr8]

Even though I've picked up the game due to my poor health. It also must be said I had no real desire to play golf as I was one those "goofs" that thought golf was a stupid sport compared to hockey, baseball and so on. Also I was one of those "goofs" who also would yell "fore!" out of the window while someone was teeing it up. This being said I now know how that feels. I've only been playing"seriously" the last two years, I can tell you exactly why I went out and bought my first set of clubs.

 

I was single and working in Hamilton, Ontario where I was downtown trying to catch a bus to get home after a night shift. I can't remember the exact year (I want to say 1995) but the Senior PGA Tour Canadian Open was going on there. Anyways I was walking down the sidewalk and who comes walking out of the hotel there...it was the "King" himself Arnold Palmer. The aura that man has his unreal. Probably one of the nicest human's I have ever had the pleasure meeting. Well I talked to him briefly (about five minutes) and I wished him luck on his round. I went home, had breakfast and bought a real cheap 7 piece set. It wasa set of Precision irons with Zinc heads. Cost me a whole $60 CDN...bag included. So even though I didn't truly pick up the game at the time that meeting led to my serious addiction to the game. I've been averaging about 70 rounds each year the last two years. Last year I was ill a lot.

 

Also it should ne noted that Jim Maclean is also an extremely nice gentleman too. I just met him on March 10th at the Toronto Golf and Travel Show. He conducted a seminar prior to the show opening. I had the opprtunity to have a bit of his time.

 

Hit'em Pure,

 

Alex

[willie991]

Born and raised in a quite rural setting was never around, nor interested, in golf. Late 1970's, at age 40+, visited wife's relatives in Minnesota on a summer vacation. Her two uncles were going out to play golf and invited me along. I walked along, in my cowboy boots, and thought it looked like fun. When I got back home took a Smith & Wesson revolver I had laying around and traded it for a set of golf clubs at a local pawn shop. (Should have kept the pistol! Sure would have saved me some money over the years!) The set I traded for were MacGregors with aluminum shafts. I didn't know the aluminum shafts were terrible. Didn't make any difference because my game was terrible as well! Really caught the bug and that bug turned into quite an addiction that I live with even to today.

[RagingAardvark]

Played a couple times with friends in high school, with my dad's rusted old clubs. Nobody gave me any tips so it sucked utterly. Walked away hating the game.

 

After my (now) wife and I got engaged, my soon to be father-in-law gave me a starter set, balls, kit, etc for Christmas. He loves golf, and wanted me to learn it...soooo, I started poking at it. Had a little bit of fun, the usual brief glimmers of hope, then got to play some fun courses (like Caste Pines) and got sucked in. Coming into my second season now, hoping to break 100 this spring.

[Sam-Tee-Time]

 

I started in 1996, with my first sales job. I was hired as a regional sales manager for the entire Southwest. My first sales meeting with our VP was at a very exclusive resort home community named "Big Canoe", outside of Atlanta GA.

 

http://www.bigcanoe.com

 

When I went to his weekend home, I was immediately impressed by the beauty of the location, and the incredible golf courses in the community. This area is a very, very beautiful area with lakes, golf courses, rolling, forested hills/mountains, and ultra-exclusive weekend/vacation/retirement homes.

 

When we got on the course………I was the ONLY one who didn't play golf, and was horribly embarrassed. Fundamentally - all I could do was tag along with the group, and putt once we got to the green. It was VERY embarrassing, as one of my co-workers was a Georgia Tech alumni golfer, and the rest of the sales team all played golf.

 

When I got back home, I immediately started taking lessons, and learned to play golf. My sole reason was to become "one-of-the-group", and enhance my sales ability (hopefully). At the time - I was still a bicycle (road) racing USCF cyclist, and competed regionally. I only played golf as a pastime for my sales career. In 1998 - a severe accident knocked me out of cycling, and I switched my focus from cycling to golf. While it's been tremendously difficult to lower my handicap to the levels I want to achieve - I still enjoy the game tremendously, although I will admit my first sporting love is still bicycle racing.

[sprtsfrek21]

Well, i've pretty much have had a club in my hand since toddler stage, but I've been playing seriously since March of 2005. When I started, I was about a 35 handicap, and now, i'm about a 13.

[Huskypride28]

I started when I was 8 years old and it was both my parents that got me involved. They used to send me to golf camp during the summer when we lived in Florida. We all used to play every weekend just about. Unfortunately, when we moved up north we played much less and my game digressed as I became more interested in football. After college I started to play serious again. I wish now that I stuck with it more as I got older.

[cpa49707]

I didn't start till I was 29 years old and then i went kicking and screaming. My buddies promised me a good time and convinced me that they would buy all the beer i could drink on the course. So I finally went. Then i got screwed since the beverage cart was not out and i had no beer for 9 holes. But by the time i was done with 9 holes I was hooked.

 

I did make them go to a local pub and buy me beer however.

[wholeinwon]

Started at about 8...just smacking a club around in the park beside my house.

 

got my first membership at 13 at a muni course like 4500 yards...play there till 15 then joined my dads club.

 

Been there for 4 years now... 2 time junior champ woot woot!!

 

my first year at my dads (15-16 years old) club i was a 17 handicap to start and a 12 by the end of the year...2nd year (16-17 years old) got down to about 7-8, 3rd year (17-18) I was down between 6-8 and never really got lower focused more on hockey that summer than golf...last year I starter at just under an 8 and worked on my game all summer and am currently just under 2.

 

So in 4 years at an actual course I went from a 17 to a 2.

[AJSx2]

Well..........

It all started June of 05'. I previously fractured my wrist in the winter of 04' and at the time, was a die hard basketball player. Spring came and my wrist hurt like there was no tomorrow and decided to pick up a club for my first time to go hit some balls at the range with my father (since basketball was out of the picture). I still remember standing over the ball and taking a rip at it with my only club( big bertha 4iron) and watched it dissapear into the distance. My father said it was luck but then i did it again and again. Playing golf feels like something i should have been doing yrs ago but hey, a fractured wrist gave me some direction so i guess "things happen for a reason" lol

[TwistedSister]

I would hit a tennis ball around tthe back yard when I was 7 or 8 I guess. Try to hit the ball into an old cistern ring. Then got an old set of irons 5,7,9 irons would hit hit plastic practice balls around the back yard to an area of grass that was very fine bluegrass. It had an old metal tube in the ground. Was from a clothes line "t". Shots were about 30-40 yards. Actually made several "holes" in one. Then when I was 11 went to a par 3 golf course in my home town . The "pro" there would give group lessons for $3 which included all day golf afterwards. By the time I "graduated" to the full size municipal course later that year, I had a wicked slice. Sometimes hitting into the wind I thought the ball was gonna come back to me!!! I went back to the par three "pro" and took one private lesson. He had a weird fix of the slice. After doing his fix for about three weeks went back to my "old" swing. Except it was not the same swing. The slice was gone. By the time I was 15 was playing JV High School golf. Made the Varsity as the 5th man my seior year. (Which is where my nickname comes from.) The other four guys on the team were ALL freshman. They called me Da Hacker. I even played one year of college golf for a small college in Indiana. At one point in my late thirties was down to a 2 handicap. Now that I'm a "senior" golfer (will be 50 later this year my skills have gone down a little. Also less time to practice with two to put through college. I play to about a 6 but could be that 2 again if I could hit the ball as long I used to. Well I thank you for plodding through this.

[TReed]

I played miniature golf and I liked it a lot so my dad bought me a junior set when I was 8