Why Did You Start Playing Golf?

[JohnBarry]

The question is simple, but the answers won't be. everyone has a different reason to play the game we have all grown to love and might have special stories about it, so lets start hearing them:

 

 

Allow me to start it off, as it is something I hold very dear to my heart.

 

In High School, I had a few friends who would play, and I got interested but I also played Basketball and Volleyball, so I didn't devote much time. By the time I got to college, I was playing Beach Volleyball 6 days a week. Golf I still liked, due to spending my time watching it with my grandfather, one of the greatest men I have ever known.

 

We would watch matches, he was blunt, straight to the point, sarcastic and down right funny and dirty at some times, and made watching all the greats a lot of fun. He was a club pro many years ago, and even at the age of 75, a 2 handicap, but it was his antics and his light hearted approach to golf that even got me interested again.

 

I played very little until my late 20s, and in my very early 30s, his health started to decline. What got me devoted to the game was me, my 2 Uncles playing with my Grandfather for his last round of his life. I seriously think he knew it was his last also, and he struggled with moving around and a constant pain from a tumor in his neck. He still managed a 78 at 79 years old!!! He died 4 weeks later of heart failure, and our lives have never been the same.

 

To me, he was golf, to his plaid pants, loud shirts his colorful curses, his ability to make any bad shot from me or my Uncles to seem like a great shot. he is the reason I play golf and play with a carefree demeanor. I play to have fun and live my life like his, like it's the last day of my life, so family and friends come first!

 

 

My Grandfather after our last round of golf with my Mom!! Cliff Doxey Sr, stylish to the very end!!

[JBones]

I started swinging a club at 6 and started playing at 8. I started playing with my grandfather because he loves nothing more than spending a day on the course. I started playing seriously, because I have been a fierce competitor since the day I was born. I was beating every golfing member of my family since I was 10 and until the last 10 years it was all about beating the competition. Now that I've grown older and wiser I cherish every moment I get on the course with my father and both grandfathers.......and every now and then my inner competitor will let them finish within 20 strokes of me.

[RoverRick]

I started playing because my dad played and invited me one weekend when I was in high school. I was never close to my father until the last 10 years. He played regularly but I did not really start playing much until 10 years ago. By that time he had just about quit playing. He died this year.

 

The better question is why do I keep playing. That answer is because I want to improve. I want to shoot a 58 on back to back days. Of course, this is not realistic but I can still dream.

[Tony Covey MGS]

Love this topic...

 

No touching family stories for me...

 

I didn't pick up my first golf club, visit my first driving range, or step on my first golf course until after my 30th birthday. I worked at one of the largest law firms in Boston, and my boss at the time had cooked up a deal with the senior partners that basically allowed anyone on his staff to leave early on Thursdays so long as we were playing golf together (team building and what not).

 

It should be noted that prior to becoming aware of this arrangement I thought golf was the stupidest game on the planet. Rich old white guys in stupid pants smacking a ball around, BUT...if it meant I could leave work at 2:30 instead of 5:00, well it couldn't be all bad.

 

My boss told me he wouldn't let me out on the golf course until I had gone to the range once or twice, so that's what I did. 3 swings with the Mizuno irons I took out for demo and I was hooked (incidentally I also demoed Adams, Ben Hogan, and TaylorMade irons). I ultimately settled on the TaylorMade RAC OS irons. Wasn't long before I added and R580 driver, and a Rossa putter.

 

The better part of the first year that I played I did so without fairway woods and wedges. Over the winter I added R580 Fairway woods and RAC wedges (I was such a TM *****). True story, the R580 fairway was the last true 3 wood that I carried.

 

Anyway, my first time out I didn't keep score, picked up a lot, but on the 9th and final hole (a par 3), I hit my tee shot roughly 18 inches from the hole and tapped in for birdie. Almost a decade of playing later, I'm working my way towards being one of those old guys in stupid pants, and that tee shot on #9 is still the closest I've ever been to a hole in one.

[RoverRick]

In 1997, I quit my real job and went to work for myself. My "partner" and I had decided that we would play golf every Wednesday afternoon, since no one could tell us we could not. By 2002, we realized that we had only played golf like 5 times on Wednesday afternoon. So we decided that we needed to pretend like there were two work weeks. Monday - Wednesday morning, and Thursday and Friday. We actually became more productive because of it and played golf every Wednesday until 2008. At that time, I changed my focus to Europe, and now can play everyday, provided that I get my work done. Since their work day is over at 10 am for me, as long as I get them the information they need by 2 am my time, I can play golf.

[JohnBarry]

Great stories all!!! Keep them coming. The best part about it the theme of someone's Father or Grandfather introducing them to the game and it sticks, so if you have kids, get them out there on the course!!

[GolfSpy Dave]

I started at 38 or 39. Previous to that I had played annually with some buddies and beers. Something like that.

I had just played one of those rounds with my mother who plays weekly with a all ladies play group. While she was making plans for a lesson, I wandered out to the range where they were doing ball fittings.

It was a Titleist fitting, but that is not where the hook came in. Having left my clubs in the car, they let me borrow a driver. Now my driver was a Rogue Polecat driver with a senior shaft in it. Who needed a club fitting back then...

 

Anyway, the driver I borrowed was the first generation Tour Edge Exotics driver. Just a few swings and golf became a completely different game for me. My addiction to the game and golf gear started right there. Got a two ball sleeve of NTX Tours too which was nice.

 

So if you are ever sick of reading my ramblings, don't complain to me, send an email to Tour Edge and let them know what they are responsible for.

[GolfSpy WD]

My first time out golfing was in high school. A friend of mine's dad was a member of a local club, so three of us got onto the course for free. I didn't golf for another dozen years after that, but it always lingered. Finally, I decided I needed an outdoor hobby and bought a Jack Nicklaus set and have been hooked since. Now I take my son with me every time I go out and it's a great bonding experience for us.

[finalist]

My step dad is really into golf, so it was always on TV during the weekends growing up, and I mostly hated it during high school. For one summer around my 12th birthday he got me some group lessons. I took those and probably played 9 holes once. I quickly lost interest for the next 13 years... then Tiger showed up.

 

I started full on obsession at age 25. Basically Tiger Woods got me interested in golf, so a coworker and I went to the range after work one day. I couldn't hit a 9 iron to save my life, every shot hurt my fingers to the bone, and I loved it. Being outside, the gear, the occasional personal triumphs all fed the first portions of the addiction.

 

I've always been addicted to some activity. Usually solo sports that involve style and gear. It started off in junior high with skateboarding, then snowboarding once I could drive to Tahoe, then mountain biking once I was in college, then guitars and music. I was into each as much as I am into golf now, but golf has outlasted them all.

[apples]

I'm 19 years old, freshman on my college Golf team. I have been swinging a baseball bat since I was literally 2 years old. Found an old golf club in one of our many barns on my family's farm. I believe I was about 6 or 7 when that happened. My parents gave me a few golf balls and before I kmew it I had fallen in love with the game. Hit golf balls for hours a day during the summer's and spring here in Ohio. I didn't get on the course until I was 12 and I had practiced enough at home that I was fairly good. As far as I know I have never shot a score over 100 in my entire life. I'm the only golfer in my family which is why it's so strange that I am as obsessed with this crazy game as I am. Tiger Woods has had a very large impact on me, which is why I am and always will be a fan of his. Watching him on TV made me fall in love with Golf, and its shaped my life into what it is today.

[skihippy]

Here's my story and it did not start with my dad or grandfather,

 

When I was 23, I took custody of my two sons. At the same time I started a new job, my new boss (which has adopted three kids). As we got to know each other we found a lot of respect for each other. This was the man that got me playing, I spent 3 yrs on the driving range before I ever stepped foot on a course. I couldn't make a fool of my self, I personality wise am a perfectionist. Any way I am 30 now and still golf at least try to once a week.

 

The biggest reason besides golfing makes me really happy and frustrates my wife to death that I still play is for my two sons. I realized that there is really only three sports that I can do with my sons till I'm 80 (Golfing, Fishing, and Hunting) This is the reason I look forward to golfing....

[Matt Saternus]

Technically, I started playing golf when I was 5 or 6. My parents signed me up for a park district group class, so I went out and tore up the driving range with a bunch of other kids. It was ok, but I wasn't really into it. I played occasionally between then and my junior year of college.

 

The summer before my junior year, I got roped into playing in the annual family golf outing. I shot a score that only NASA could calculate, cursed relentlessly, and was utterly miserable. The real problem started when I woke up the next day, went downstairs and said, "Dad, let's go play golf again."

 

Ever since then I've been obsessed with trying to make the little white ball go into the cup. Still don't know why.

[JBones]

The number 1 reason I love golf, is because it's a new adventure every day. I can play the same course over and over again and while I might shoot the same score, I never play it the same way. It never gets old.

[MmmmmmBuddy]

I got dragged to the local executive track by the neighbor kid when I was 16.. (I think it was because I could drive). This was in 1986. Right after Nicklaus won the Masters. We played 9. Then 9 more. We played golf together at all of the local short tracks for the rest of that school year and summer. I was hooked. I never played on the High School or College team, but I was obsessed. At one point in the mid 90s, is was playing 200+ rounds a year, with a handicap under 2. Now, I work in the golf business, almost never play, and when I do, I still think that I should shoot 75. I love this game..

[Tyk]

Great story about your Grandfather JB, thanks for sharing it. My Grandfather was an avid golfer as well. He retired at 50 and played 3-4 times a week until his health deteriorated. He died at 86 last fall and many of his golf buddies showed up at the funeral. Guys I didn't know, guys that knew my grandfather as a man and as a golfer in a way I never knew him. They are just like the guys at the course I hang out with now and it was great to meet them.

 

I started playing golf as a transition from both frisbee golf and martial arts. I played frisbee golf pretty avidly for a couple years and one of my buddies also played golf. He got me to try it. I liked it but really just played beer golf, it was more about the party and the socializing than the game for me for many years. During that time I was a pretty avid martial artist. My school closed and I lacked a competitive and physical outlet. I began applying my martial arts training to golf, and surprisingly, there are more similarities to golf and martial arts than one would expect on the surface! I began to appreciate the game on a whole new level and began to devote myself to improving. Golf became a passion instead of just a game for me, and has been ever since!

[JohnBarry]

Thanks Tyk, Grandfathers and golf are great, never knew how much I had until I lost him, makes me wish I played more with him. Love to hear more about the martial arts and golf, sounds interesting.

[Dave]

I started playing at about 20 after blowing my knee out playing rugby. I decided I needed another hobby that didn't involve sitting in a pub every Sat afternoon. So I hired some club and off I went. 9 years later here I am.

[Jmikecpa]

Much like the rest of you I started because of my Grandfater as well. When I was two years old he put a cut off five iron in my hand and took me to his club. I went out and played just about every day in the summer with him for the next six or seven years and then I started to play some local junior events. I actually began playing left handed since that was the way I hit a baseball and when I could no longer find a decent set of left handed sticks I turned around and started playing on the correct side of the ball. I played baseball and football as well as golf in high school and continued to play two or three days a week with my grandpop at his club. Went to college on a baseball scholarship and due to injury I had to stop playing at that level so I walked onto the golf team and got some money to play golf the rest of my time in school. I am now 35 years old and my grandpop is in his mid 80's and does not play all that much anymore, but rest assured when I am up to visit him in the summer time there is a Saturday that we head out in a cart and spend the day on the course. It is somewhat hard that he really can't play anymore and when I told him that he just shrugged it off and said that he played all those years with me not so much because he loved the game, but that he loved the time with me and watching the ability that I had to play the game. For that reason there it is important to me that my son and two little girls learn the game and can at least have half of the memories that I have from growing up in the game.

[Blownfuse]

Started "caddying" for my dad with his Sunday morning group. I was 11....He'd put a Sox helmet on me and we'd hit the links with his buddies at 6:00am. Didn't get the bug until one Sunday when I watched him call an ace. Now dad had a swing like a rusty gate....flat...short ....big left to right. But by god get him 100 yds. and in and he as good as anyone I ever saw. Anyway, he's standing on the tee at a short par 3.....looks at me and says." Gonna hit a screaming liner right into the bank in front....pop it up and drop it like a putt." I'll be go to hell if he didn't do just that. Now the green ran away front to back so we never saw the damn thing go in. Got up to the green and can't find the ball. Of course the last place we look is in the hole...and there it was. I was so excited I almost pee'd myself. I was hooked. Would take one of his clubs and a bunch of whiffle balls, go across the street to the park and bang away. Dad was a funeral director...the funeral home was right across the street so he would watch me slappin' plastic. Finally, he and a friend were watchin' as I played my tree to tree course when his buddy said, " He's got a really nice swing." Right there dad decided i would never swing like him....so off to the local driving range for my first and only lesson. To this day I still set up and align the way I was taught that day.

[Kanoito]

Unlike most of you, nobody in my family played golf (afford playing golf would be more accurate) so all I could ever do was the free stuff at school like basketball, soccer, etc... I always thought golf was for old people anyways!

 

Finished college at the age of 22 and got my first job... sitting the whole day in front of the computer can't be good for your health! I had to find something to move my lazy ass!

 

Once day I found a voucher in my mailbox from the insurance company "2 hour golf lessons for free" so I gave it a chance.

 

Long story short... I loved hitting balls on the driving range... that sensation you get when you put the ball where you want it to be! Then I asked around some golf clubs and found out that their memberships weren't that expensive (around $1200/year all you can play)

 

My wife also decided to join me and we go play around 3 times per week. We make a bet every year and see who has the lowest HCP by the end of the season (she beat me twice already)

 

Why do I keep playing?

I love waking up early to enjoy a peaceful golf course with all the fresh air, animals and water flowing.

I love having a wife that shares the same hobby so we can spend more time together doing what we like to do.

We are starting our 3rd season and we both play off 20. We know there is more room for improvement so we try even harder.

 

I could go on and on and on, but I think you guys know the rest

[finalist]

I wish caddies were still around. What a great way to grow the game and introduce kids to various personalities and various careers of the players.

[JohnBarry]

Great stories everyone

[JohnBarry]

I wanted to thank everyone personally who shared their stories about the great game of golf and how you got started!!!

[GolfSpy Tim]

I played for a number of years as a young kid, we lived close to a golf course, and it was just entertainment for me to keep myself busy and be outdoors, and on occassion to hang out with my dad and the adults for a day.

 

This went through Junior high, but then I got really into mountain biking and the golf clubs never came out again.

 

I worked at a very high end golf club in college, pulled out my clubs and played on a day employees were allowed on, and I sliced every shot, lost 4 balls and stopped. DUMB sport, I was over it.

 

After college a few friends who I didn't even know knew each other started hanging out, and doing so without me!! I called them out on it and found out there were playing golf together. One guy had asked if I wanted to play and I'd said no, it's a stupid stuck up rich white man's sport.

 

Within a month, someone handed me their old clubs, I stepped on the course, drank a beer and smoked a cigar and realized the sport didn't matter, I had an excuse to drink and smoke with my buddies during the day.

 

Give it another 6 months and I was completely obsessed and realized if I didn't drink and smoke, I played better!!!! Suddenly I cared about getting better.

[Guest Electric Pig]

Unlike it seems everyone else, I started off without any family involvement. In fact, my father hated the game.

 

One year, the local course put on a clinic and a game over the school holidays, and the hook was well and truly in. I ended up working in the pro shop buffing clubs after school, which let me buy clubs, a bag, some lessons, my junior membership, etc. Someone noticed my ability, and the club paid for me to see Billy McWilliam. Mr McWilliam our Harvey Penick, in that he was always there for you, you didn't pay for lessons too often, was getting on and he kept it simple. His greatest lesson was to instill a passion for the game in his students, a passion that we all shared.

 

His pupils weren't always superstars, but included names like Norman, Devlin, Crampton, Hutton, Woodward and current LPGA player Sarah Kemp. I was also lucky enough to get to know a few of his more famous students- no, friends.

 

The only time Mr McWilliam ever had a bad thing to say to me was when he saw a packet of cigarettes in my bag. "It is your choice to smoke" he said, "And my choice to continue to teach you." I was 28 years old at the time, but boy, it was enough to make me stop!

 

A few years later the state golf association sent me to see Alex Mercer (Steve Elkington's coach) who was the state program coach. He took one look at me and said "You're one of Billy's, aren't you... Don't ever change a thing."

 

My father died without ever acknowledging to me the value of the game and what I was capable of. I like to think that I am making up for that more than double when I teach, where everyone is treated equal- and special, no matter who you are.

[Matt Saternus]

Unlike it seems everyone else, I started off without any family involvement. In fact, my father hated the game.

 

One year, the local course put on a clinic and a game over the school holidays, and the hook was well and truly in. I ended up working in the pro shop buffing clubs after school, which let me buy clubs, a bag, some lessons, my junior membership, etc. Someone noticed my ability, and the club paid for me to see Billy McWilliam. Mr McWilliam our Harvey Penick, in that he was always there for you, you didn't pay for lessons too often, was getting on and he kept it simple. His greatest lesson was to instill a passion for the game in his students, a passion that we all shared.

 

His pupils weren't always superstars, but included names like Norman, Devlin, Crampton, Hutton, Woodward and current LPGA player Sarah Kemp. I was also lucky enough to get to know a few of his more famous students- no, friends.

 

The only time Mr McWilliam ever had a bad thing to say to me was when he saw a packet of cigarettes in my bag. "It is your choice to smoke" he said, "And my choice to continue to teach you." I was 28 years old at the time, but boy, it was enough to make me stop!

 

A few years later the state golf association sent me to see Alex Mercer (Steve Elkington's coach) who was the state program coach. He took one look at me and said "You're one of Billy's, aren't you... Don't ever change a thing."

 

My father died without ever acknowledging to me the value of the game and what I was capable of. I like to think that I am making up for that more than double when I teach, where everyone is treated equal- and special, no matter who you are.

 

Mr. McWilliam sounds likes a great teacher! Great story, thanks for sharing.