How it started... and How it's going.

[GolfSpy BOS]

I'm the type of golfer who always wants to play his best.  Even on casual rounds with my family I am striving to shoot my lowest scores.  While this has generally been good for me as I've improved there have certainly been times I've been to hard or expected too much of my own game.

During some chit-chat with the forum staff we were all talking about that feeling when you have a round that you didn't play great but when you think back on it you realize how far you've come since this "bad" round was one of your "good" rounds just a few years or months ago.  

 

I thought it would be fun to share the first video I have of my swing which came during a free "lesson" during the Deutchebank Championship at TPC Boston.  Now I've been playing since I was 7 or 8, but this was the oldest video I have, versus one I have from my round last weekend.

 vs

 

I think it's safe to say my swing is in a much better spot now, while still not perfect.  Thinking back to the first video and the time between the two I have:

• Learned so much about myself, my swing, and the game of golf
• Enjoyed countless rounds with friends and family.  Even made a few new friends along the way!
• Started to teach my two boys how to play and have been out on the course with them.
• Joined this stellar community and became friends with many more golfnuts like myself.
• Shot personal bests, personal worsts, played in rain, snow, and beautiful days
• Made some great memories that I'll cherish forever.  

So, as much as my swing has improved over the years, I'd like to think I've had greater growth as a human in that time.

I hope that others will share their "How it Began and How it's Going" here as well, regardless of if you have videos to share as a place for us all to reflect on our golfing journey and appreciate the time we've been able to spend playing this great sport we all love.

 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Let’s jump in!

I do not have any old videos but I have a snap shot of a round years ago that I go back to time to time to realize how much my game has changed. 

II started really playing golf in 2013/14 before that maybe a round or two a year. My swing has drastically changed and while I still have a ton of hiccups throughout a round I typically know what i am doing wrong or feel what the issue is which is so nice.

I think this first picture was from 2015 and the second was this year, while different angles of picture you get the jyst:

Much like @GolfSpy BOS golf has taught me a lot and changed me, as well as given me memories for the rest of my life (and more to come). Golf has become that outlet for me to go empty my brain of everything else and just play a game, well or not so well does not matter (although preferably better).

I still don’t know why I was resting the club on my shoulder…..

[Big moose]

I started playing golf in 1977 when I was 22 years old. I ended up buying the clubs they let me use, Dunlop max power blades with persimmon woods. Of course they were not meant for a beginner the sweet spot was as big as a dime and if you didn't hit it the ball would go anywhere. I didn't find out until years later about lie angle and shaft flex and length and how much that affects contact and ball flight. I am 6'3" and I was trying to play with standard length clubs with the wrong lie angle and shaft flex. When I finally went to get fitted I brought my 7 iron and the guy that was doing the session said those clubs were totally wrong for me. After my new clubs came I couldn't believe how much better I was hitting the ball, no more slicing every shot. My clubs are set at 2 degrees up and 1 inch long reg flex steel shafts. The game is so much more enjoyable now. I tell everyone who is just starting to get fitted for clubs you will thank me for it later. Hit them well everyone. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

I'll bite as well! I picked up golf in the spring of 2011. As part of my undergraduate program, we were required to take one credit elective classes that were glorified gym classes. One was golf, so I figured, why the heck not, I'll give it a try. I didn't have any clubs of my own, so always had to ask for rental sets from whatever course I was playing. I'll never forget that the first time I ever went, the head flew off the rental driver I was given on the driving range . I was gifted a set of clubs by one of my uncle's friends that included a Taylormade Burner driver and 3 wood, a random hybrid, a 5-PW set of Taylormade RAC OS irons with graphite shafts and a Nike OZ T100 putter. All were standard length and regular flex, and looking back now I realize how fortunate I was to be gifted a set of clubs of that caliber. My swing, as you'll see, has improved DRAMATICALLY from when I started out and had no idea what I was doing. Still a lot of room for improvement and growth, and I am hoping to start getting an indoor area set up in my garage for the coming winter. Golf is something that both of my children have shown a big interest in, which I am very excited about as it means we hopefully will be able to play this wonderful game together for the rest of the time I have left on this earth and am physically able to get on a course. My wife also plays occasionally, so it means a lot to me to have it be a family activity. It has since grown into an obsession, I have found this awesome community on MGS, and is truly something I have developed a passion for.

The photos below are from one of the first times I went out on the golf course after being gifted that set of clubs I mentioned, and then this past summer during the Cobra challenge. And yes, I do know that I am not addressing the ball in the old photo, and no, I have no idea why I didn't stand with my feet wider apart, or what they are doing . I do miss the mobility I had to turn through my upper body, though haha.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I don't have any pictures or videos of before and after swings, but it is a different kind of story of how I got into golf.

I was 30 years old and was working for a company that had a golf league. If you were in the league, you were able to leave work at 1:00 to go play golf. If you weren't in the league you had to stay and pick up extra work to cover for those who left which also meant you were working late. After a year of putting up with that I said, " Fudge this Sh!t". I was joining the league next season even though never having played before. Always wanting to be good at things I started on my mission. I picked up a set of new clubs, took some group lessons, got a BIG net for the yard, and built my first synthetic putting green.  Yes, built a green without thinking twice. I was blessed with a neighbor that had equipment. When I say equipment, I mean equipment. He had his own backhoe, dump truck, steel rollers and more. He came over cleared an area in 10 minutes, then was off to pick up a load of crusher runs for the base, then back for a load of top-dressing sand. I did all the manual work.  Stone wall, red wood chips. leveling rolling, putting in the cups and laying the turf and border. I had to appease the wife and built her a wishing well to finish off the area.

 

Then practiced, practiced, practiced, I even practiced out in the snow. Very easy to see my swing path with an inch or so of snow on the ground. I shoveled off the green in the snowy months as well. The only patch of green in the neighborhood for months.  A few weeks before the start of the season I took a few more private lessons from a guy at work who was a scratch golfer.

That was the start of my golf obsession, and it is still going strong 35 years later. From someone shooting 110 / 115 to now the low 70's or sometimes better.  I'm losing some distance these days, but my handicap is the lowest it has ever been. Just shows you are never too old to get better. 

I sure wish I didn't put this reply together today. I'm thinking about another synthetic green now! AND a new simulator system, new projector, bigger hitting bay.   STOP ME please!!!!!!! I'm sick. I need help.  Ok I'm going to go play golf now and stop thinking about what I want to do and focus my thoughts on a round of golf.   

Edited October 6, 2023 by Tom the Golf Nut

[TSauer]

I started back in 2015, but unfortunately don't have any swings from that early on. One of my close friends talked me into it and I've been hooked ever since.  Started out with some Top Flites and then bought some Ping G25s and I've been upgrading ever since. The earliest video I had on my phone was one my wife recorded back in 2017... not a good angle but it's a swing nonetheless Then, my most recent one from about a month ago. When I started I watched countless YouTube videos trying to perfect my swing, as most newcomers do. I stopped that after a couple years as it was doing more harm then good. Now, I kinda just got with the flow and tinker with little things here and there.

This will be a good placeholder to come back to every season to see how well my swing is (or isn't) progressing.