Welcome Jim.... this is a great game and a wonderful feeling when you get that 1st Bird or a low score..
Good advise by Shrude ... I liked those Raptures when I had em, way back.
When I first started, The only friend I had (and I know what some people will be thinking, I have other friends...lol) was the guy who told me about this game.
What I started to do was Join in multi player games (alt shot games), with other people at my same tier and made up the friends list from there.
Good Luck and Happy Hitting
Roger