What sport or hobby did you give up to focus on Golf?

[ballplayer002003]

I was a former baseball player (hence the screen name) and like all baseball players from my time, we hated golf.  It was too slow and boring.  After breaking my wrist and ending my baseball career, like many of us former players amateur and pro we took to softball.  I played on a few elite fast pitch and slow pitch teams for a few years and traveling was a must.  At this same time in my life I owned a sporting goods business and the traveling started to get harder for me to justify.  Golf started to rear its ugly head.  As I got older I just decided to stop all of softball and give golf my full attention.  I still fight a lot of the old baseball demons within my golf swing but the game is so good.  I always say, if I could go back in time, I would have NEVER picked up a baseball bat.  I would have swung clubs from day one.

[fixyurdivot]

Just now, Lacassem said:

That is an amazing picture, what a great background. I want to get out to Montana at some point for a vacation just the wife and I.

It is an amazing place.  Hit me up if you head out.

[edingc]

Great topic!

I've always played golf (since I can remember), but didn't take it seriously until the last few years. I played baseball throughout high school, and, while I'm not a big fan of "regrets," kind of regret I never took baseball seriously enough. I was a pretty good player but didn't take care of myself or put time in outside of regular practice/games. I wouldn't have been a pro or anything close, but maybe I could have played small-time college ball somewhere if I tried harder. Golf fills the competitive itch and I take it as seriously as I do because of my baseball experience.

Shortly after I met my wife I started playing a lot more because my in-laws worked at an executive course and it was free for us. We moved out of state for a while and I pretty much gave up the game, but didn't realize how much I missed it until we moved back after a few years.

I still dabble in other hobbies here and there. I used to collect sports cards more actively and play video games, and I'll still occasionally buy a pack or a single off eBay or turn on the Playstation for an hour. But I have a big vegetable garden in the summer and between that, home upkeep, golf and cooking I stay busy.

The forums specifically scratch an itch - I enjoy writing and have a degree in journalism. My intent in college was to become a sportswriter. So mashing up golf and writing is a nice bonus.

[Shankster]

I was starting an acoustic guitar collection. I can’t ply very well, but I could jam out and make some noise.  Sold them all (3) but I was about to pull the trigger on some seriously cool Martin’s, 0-15, and a little 4 string guitar.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

33 minutes ago, edingc said:

Great topic!

I've always played golf (since I can remember), but didn't take it seriously until the last few years. I played baseball throughout high school, and, while I'm not a big fan of "regrets," kind of regret I never took baseball seriously enough. I was a pretty good player but didn't take care of myself or put time in outside of regular practice/games. I wouldn't have been a pro or anything close, but maybe I could have played small-time college ball somewhere if I tried harder. Golf fills the competitive itch and I take it as seriously as I do because of my baseball experience.

Shortly after I met my wife I started playing a lot more because my in-laws worked at an executive course and it was free for us. We moved out of state for a while and I pretty much gave up the game, but didn't realize how much I missed it until we moved back after a few years.

I still dabble in other hobbies here and there. I used to collect sports cards more actively and play video games, and I'll still occasionally buy a pack or a single off eBay or turn on the Playstation for an hour. But I have a big vegetable garden in the summer and between that, home upkeep, golf and cooking I stay busy.

The forums specifically scratch an itch - I enjoy writing and have a degree in journalism. My intent in college was to become a sportswriter. So mashing up golf and writing is a nice bonus.

Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. I invested so much time in baseball when I was younger that school was no effort on my end, which in turn effected my baseball. I try to look at that with work and golf now where I make sure my golf focus doesnt effect my work (as I site here and type) because lets be honest I am not making it on tour anytime soon lol.

Glad you were able to link your journalism and sports into 1 enjoyable side.

[TR1PTIK]

For me it was BMX. As soon as I could ride a bike without training wheels, I was jumping off pretty much whatever looked interesting. I probably would have gotten out of BMX when I was about 10 or 11 - I really wanted a mountain bike to ride to and from school, but for whatever reason my dad was adamant that I couldn't have one. So, I saved up Christmas and birthday money until I could make my first BIG purchase and bought a "legit" BMX bike. Everything pretty much spiraled from there and I parted out my last BMX bike about 6 or 7 years ago when my daughter was around 3 years old. Now that I have a son, it is very likely I find myself another BMX bike though I'll likely go with something more akin to a BMX cruiser with 24" wheels. We'll see... If Dennis McCoy and Matt Hoffman can still ride their bikes at 50+, perhaps there's hope for me in my mid-thirties.

[Knucklehead]

Was a golf fanatic from age 25-50. Left my club, played sporadically till 54, then quit to pursue a YouTube fishing channel. Missed golf and have returned 4 years later creating a golf channel in the last 6 months.  Golf is my passion.

[golfish!]

Haven't really given anything up per se but I have not gone offshore fishing in a long time (mostly due to COVID but also hard to leave the wife at home with 2 kids and say i'll be back in a few a days!) Golf has definitely taken the lead in terms of time consuming hobbies/sports. Looking to get back to some fishing hopefully once COVID gets back under control.

[darel2020]

On 3/14/2021 at 7:08 AM, Kenny B said:

If I go back to college days... you know, back before electricity...  I never played in any sports except intramural and pickup games.  I was never very good at anything, but adequate at everything.  In college I was into mountain climbing; lots of great mountains to climb in Oregon.  After college I got into downhill skiing and auto racing with a Datsun 240Z... talk about expensive!!  Then I got into sailing, but a sailboat on the Columbia and Snake Rivers is not very exciting because I was stuck behind dams; fighting current is not fun sailing.  

On to volleyball and softball... I played in two softball leagues, slo-pitch and fast pitch.  I played in a city volleyball league and traveled to play in the Seattle area and in Victoria, B.C.  Tore cartliage in my left knee in 1972 playing volleyball, and it was ultimately replaced in 2014.  I retired from playing, but I continued as a State-rated volleyball referee for girls H.S. and college.  In the early 1980's I took up running.  I ran in several Bloomsday events in Spokane and decided I wanted to run a marathon, which I did in 1983.  I finished!!  Never ran again!! There are tons of essays on these sports on the https://phdessay.com/free-essays-on/sport/ student site.  

My knees, along with the rest of my body, gave out when I turned 45.  I decided to try golf (the first time is a story unto itself)!!  I was hooked!!!!   It's been a long journey, but the game is always changing... some for the better; some for the worse as I age.  My only regret is that I didn't take up golf earlier before my body hurt all the time.

An amazing story, no wonder how you came to a calm sport like golf after such a turbulent past in the sport. I thought you could write a memoir about your past. And what, I would read with interest an essay or even a book on how to become a super athlete.

Edited April 28, 2021 by darel2020

[ParFore74x]

Awesome topic and it is so cool to read about all the different backgrounds of everyone. 

I was also a hockey player (sounds like we could put a team together on here) playing competitively through high school and continued on with an adult league for another 12 years after that. I was transitioning to mountain bike racing for the last few years of hockey and eventually gave up hockey to focus on endurance mountain bike racing. That went really well for a couple of years until my daughter was born and she took my priority over training. I switched to racing cyclocross bicycles instead which was easier to train for and that lasted for a few years until my daughter started playing competitive soccer which eats up a ton of time.

That is about where golf came in. I always wanted to try it but was scared off by the perception of cost, and yes it CAN be expensive but, compared to owning, maintaining, traveling and racing 3-4 bicycles, golf is cheap for me. 

Golf is the first sport that I have played that I am not “getting good” at like I have with other sports. At times it is frustrating but overall I love the challenge and crave the opportunity to get better. It’s definitely become an obsession that I truly love and aside from my daughter’s soccer it’s my only real hobby that I try to devote time to.