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How did you start playing golf?

• 2,840 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 11:43 AM

  Last week I asked people about their baseball memories in honor of opening day.  This week in honor of the first Major of the year I would like to hear everyone's stories on how and why they started to play golf?

   

  I started playing when I was 5 years old at my grandparents CC in Florida.  My grandfather would take me out with him in the cart to help him look for all the lost balls in the lakes.  The next day we would always head out in the early afternoon when the course was deserted and I was allowed to hit one shot from the fairway per hole.  Not much when you think about it but as a 5 year old it is amazing!  Some of my fondest memories of my grandparents revolve around golf and the time I got to spend with them alone in the golf cart talking.  Since they live across the county I would only get to see them a couple weeks a year so all that time was very precious to me. 

  I look forward to hearing everyone's stories.

   

  -WGTdbloshoe

• srellim234 2,077 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 12:16 PM

  Good topic.

  Dad was a member of South Hills Country Club here in So Cal. When I was 7 he would drop me off at the club swimming pool, then play his regular round with his buddies on Wednesdays (his regular day off from work). When he was done he would come by the pool and take me out to play holes 1,2,3 and 9. 

  As a few years went by the time eventually stretched out to 9 holes. I think I was 11 or 12 the first time he treated me to a full 18.

  When the weather didn't cooperate or the pool was closed he'd take me on the cart to play caddy for him. Seems like most of the time I was scouring the rough and the lakes for balls (not his; he was about a 9 or 10 handicap).

  Hard to believe that was 51 years ago.

• MBaggese 15,378 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 12:17 PM

   Never swung a club until I was in my early 30's.

   

  I used to play Sega's PGA Tour game with a buddy of mine (who was a golfer).

   

    After a few months I bought a set of clubs and we'd start hitting the Range, then the addiction took over;)

   

   

• GARRYCARTER 1,533 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 12:29 PM

  I  can answer this one,Well as a kid I never played golf but we where & are surrounded by courses from council to championship standard,I used to caddie at one of the Championship courses ( The Addington Golf Club ) until I left school in 1976,

  However in 1984 I got a job erecting Tents & Banks @ showgrounds etc,One of our jobs was the British Open in St,Andrews the year Seve won the title,That was the first game of golf I ever played on the Eden course as the main course was closed for The Open.

  I got home after the season & spent £600 on golfing gear been hooked ever since,If only my play was a good as my keenness for the game,That was one of my favorite jobs ever too,Meet some of the golfing greats like Jack Nicklas & his caddie Jock,Sir Nick Faldo who won the following year @ RSG we was there too Great Day's & always a fond memory.

  GC

• borntobesting 9,751 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 12:38 PM

  My brother started playing first while he was in the navy. So my parents started playing as well. I was around 12 or 13 at the time. When I told them I wanted to play too they told me until they were sure I would stick with it I would have to use their clubs. So for the first year or so I had to use my mother's clubs. For first year I had to play left handed and as a right handed person it wasn't easy. I got my first right handed clubs at 15. That was over 50 years ago and I still play as often as I can. My brother and parents have passed away and I miss playing with them. We never played very well but just the fact that the whole family was out on the course together having fun was what was so great.

• renniw52 5,385 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 1:39 PM

  Got my first swing as a caddie in 1963. There was a private club called Penn Hills. You had to get to the course early and sign your name in the book. You would check off your experience as a caddie so the members could choose who they wanted. Needless to say I spent some long days waiting to be called. Some days I would be there from 7 am until 4 pm and never get called. One day by chance a very polite gentleman came out to the caddie shack, and asked who was the best swimmer in the bunch. I raised my hand and he said let's go. I grabbed a bag bigger than me and he told me to grab the bag beside his also. I was doing a double. I asked about the swimming, and he responded, I can't stay out of the damn lakes and those balls cost almost a quarter a piece. Mind you, the lakes in NW Pennsylvania are still about 60 degrees in July. This gentleman was George Blaisdell, the inventor and founder of Zippo lighters. On the second hole he hit his drive dead center in a 3 acre lake. I took off my sneakers and socks, my shirt and stripped down to my BVD's. 3 minutes later I handed him his ball and about 10 others. I never had to sign the book again, I became his personal caddie. He told me I would caddie 6 days a week, sometimes 36 holes a day, either for him, family members or customers he was entertaining. I would be picked up in front of my house in a big black Cadillac and treated like family. One day Mr. Blaisdell was on his approach to an uphill green and handed me the club and told me to get him close. I took a practice swing and then set his ball about 2 feet from the cup from 80 yards. The rest is history. I golfed with his family and could have married his grand daughter if I wanted to, we were really close from 1st grade until we graduated high school. I still have brand new sleeves of Zippo SDX golf balls from the mid 60's. Yes Zippo did make golf balls for a few years. Sorry for such a long story, but it sure brought back some fond memories. Running down to the bridge between 9 and 10 and 16 and 17 and dropping a 6 pack of Iron City in the stream so they would be cold when Mr. Blaisdell got there. It paid 50 cents to caddie for 18 single and 1.25 double. When I turned 16, I was able to pay cash for a slightly used 1963 Impala 409 SS. Golf is great.

• Romax 1,876 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 3:11 PM

  This a darn nice thread......and brings back lots of memories of my childhood when my Mom bought a full set of clubs for us to share, ( $60) in the local hardware store.I know now that those clubs were complete junk, but man they meant the world to me way back then ! I never did get good at the game , but have always loved it and still do. Thanks Mom !

• 2,840 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 3:40 PM

  Great stories so far everyone. 

  I lost my Grandfather a 5 years ago but even until the last time I saw him he would ride around in the golf cart with me. So I can feel everyone's pain who has lost loved ones.  It's good though to remember them when they were happy out on the golf course.

   

  - WGTdbloshoe

• alanti 10,564 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 3:58 PM

  Firstly, nice thread which hopefully will not get hijacked!

  Although I would watch the golf, and most other sports on TV, I did not take up golf until I was 18. Tennis was my number one sport and I would play for hours every day. My aspiration was to make it as a pro, however this dream came crashing down pretty quickly after I played some top players and after licking my wounds, realised this would not happen.

  My first round of golf was when I was 18 and vividly remember the first hole - the drive went whistling down the middle, the approach to about 10 feet and sunk a birdie! Easy game! Pro Golfer maybe????

  Then the next 3-4 holes I barely got the ball airbourne and did not break 100! Pro Golfer NOT.

  Through my work I have always played golf on days off and lugged my clubs around the world and have been lucky to have played some great courses all over the world, including two of the courses on WGT.

  My handicap has been as low as 1.8 and now itis theoretically 4 (I am  sometimes ashamed to put in my card lol)  but still occasionally turn in a sub par round on a very good day (bad days are closer to 10 over!)

  I stopped playing for a couple of years due to my scoring and now play only with the attitude to enjoy the walk - the good shots are a bonus but not essential. This is the same attitude I have with WGT.

  My parents were not golfers but I had a lot of joy taking my kids to the range and teaching them the fundamentals and seeing them progress onto a real course. But I was taken to the Australian Open in the 70s and saw my Idol, Jack Nicklaus play at NSW (a course that I still struggle with lol) and that was the start of my love affair (and hate) of golf.

  Alan

• renniw52 5,385 Posts

  Mon, Apr 8 2013 4:01 PM

  I have accepted the fact that my days are limited. I look forward to every sun rise I see, but you can't take the memories away, my kids and grand kids get tired of hearing the old stories. This post has just brought back a pleasant time in my life, that I hadn't thought of in awhile. I was just a kid from a hard working family trying to make ends meet. I got involved in the Rich mans sport as a servant (caddie). Back when I started that was what you were, you carried clubs, looked for lost balls, and cleaned the Rich mans shoes if he told you to. But it was still golf, I observed, listened, and enjoyed the friendships of the members I was working for. They patted me on the head like a pet dog tagging along. I never took this as an insult, I was learning the game of golf, something that my family could never afford to do. These are memories, precious, priceless, and the Rich men I caddied for, loved me like a son. I was their right arm, their little man on the bag, and the one who would jump in the lake. I miss these old men, now that I am old myself, I would give anything to set down and spend some time just listening to their conversations. they were golfers when only the wealthy had the opportunity, now we all can.