How did you get started in golf? It’s a question I was thinking about as I contemplated the beginning of this Top 100 journey.
I started playing when I was nine years old in the summers while spending time with my grandparents in New Hampshire. My grampa was a starter at a local course and he would bring me early in the mornings to hit balls and get out to play some. I only played from 150 yards and the par threes. That strategy allowed me to keep up and not feel too rushed. Going in early in the morning usually gave me a quiet practice facility and I just fell in love with the game.
As I got older, I would expand to playing the entire course and by twelve years old I was playing at home during the school year. Let’s just say I was hooked on golf. I practiced and played almost every day. I played by myself or whoever I was paired with, it didn’t matter. I got to meet a lot of people this way and still do. I played summer tournaments in New Hampshire and high school golf at home for the rest of the year. The drive to practice that hard is something I wish I still had today. I also wish I had the time for it! I progressed far enough to attempt walking on to the golf team during my freshman year of college, but that did not work out.
I haven’t gotten to play as much as I did as a kid (well over 150 rounds per year), but I still have an incredible passion for the game. How did you start? Who gave you the golf bug? Did you find it yourself? Let me know in the comments how you came to this wonderful game.
Jimmy
When I was young, my father introduced me to golf. It is one of the more fond moments of my childhood. I have enjoyed this gift for 35 years. Little did I know that his act of kindness would help shape my way of thinking about the world. http://thegratefulgolfer.com/2012/11/04/grateful-for-golf/ is the rest of my love for golf! Great post!
Cheers
Jim
Awesome post! It’s a great game and it’s good to remember that!
Jimmy,
I would follow my Dad around the course ever since I could walk. Starting with plastic clubs and plastic ball just batting it around anywhere I wanted as he played. Been hooked ever since.
Cheers
Josh
Awesome!
It was the summer of 1997. Tiger Woods was all the rage. Golf was becoming cool. And the end of my baseball career coincided with my high school graduation, so I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands before leaving for college in the fall. My older brother’s set of old J.C. Snead Signature Northwestern golf clubs were just gathering dust in the corner of the garage. Put that all together and a few orange wiffle balls later, I was hooked.
Thanks for responding!
Aloha Jimmy,
I was 37, a department manager, and had never been on a golf course. I got a bunch of new employees and somehow decided that a golf outing would be a good teambuilding activity.
After one lesson I took them out. As a teambuilding activity it worked fabulously well — but I hit one perfect shot.
I stood relishing the incredible satisfaction that come from making the ball go exactly where you want it to. I remember that moment. And as you and every other golfer knows, there is no walking away from that feeling — I became a golfer.
A Hui Hou,
Wayne
Thanks for sharing Wayne!