How did you start?

Ghostwedge · February 11

I grew up 3 blocks from a super nice municipal course, thought golf was just for sissies and rich guys. Use to fish balls out of a couple ponds in summer time and then sell them back to the golfers early Saturday mornings. Heard more than once " hey that's my Titleist, ill take it now son " I said " its a quarter, you knocked into the pond " they would quickly give me the "sush" sign and give me a buck to be quiet. lol

18 yrs later I'm parked beside a minor league hockey player at work. He is going to play 9 holes, I tagged along and caddied for him, course wasn't that busy and he let me hit a few shots, I played baseball in HS and college so i put my best baseball swing on his 5 wood and crushed it, he was impressed as h"ll.

Bought a new set of PowerBilt Citation clubs, persimmon woods and blades a week later. Practiced my rear off for a year before hitting the course, my first 3 rds were 108, 105 and a 98, play it down and no gimmes. Said to myself " i'll be in the 70's next year " took me another year and 50+ rds to break 100 again. lol

act0fgod · February 12

On 2/10/2025 at 7:14 PM, SnowbirdTom said:

About halfway down this very page...

Age you started is very different from how you started.

Age is for reference, how is for the stories.

wam78 · February 23

I grew up in a big family that was big into sports. Even my grandmother. Baseball was the sport for us. I was taught how to switch hit at the age of 5. One of my uncles on my mom side, was more like a brother to me, played all the way in college and is a very successful high school baseball coach currently. Needless to say, he was someone I looked up to. So, at a very young age, I was all in with baseball. Played fall ball, summer ball, camps, etc. You name it I was in.

I was pretty good in high school, but not as good as I wanted. Had some injuries and a coach that set me back technically. Thought I was going to play in college, but one thing led to another and did not work out for me as I wanted.

Always kept up with the major golf tournaments at a young age but never really tried to play until after high school. An uncle on my dad’s side, who I was becoming close with at the time, played golf in college and was a hell of a player. He caddied a little as well. He and I would start talking golf over the course of time and he got me very interested. So I started playing immediately after baseball season was done my senior year in high school.

A friend of mine’s dad let me borrow some power built irons and I scrapped up some other randoms. As I got better I started to get into gear more and more. Ended up buying a set of Mizuno Mp14’s from this second hand store. That first amazing shot I hit with an 8 iron into a green was it. I was hooked. That feeling on that one shot was it.

Ever since then, I’ve been sucked in big time.

My career over the years has kept me away, but I’m back in. I was away from the game for 10 years due to my job.

The way I got back in? I was gifted passes to the first round of the 2015 Masters! Absolutely amazing experience!

I could keep going, but that’s my quick story.

sheepdawg · February 23

Grew up just down the street from the old Colonial Country Club in Memphis. At eight years old I was the master of the ditches and creeks coming off the course. Found golf balls by the dozens but one day I found a club. An hour later I was a golfer.

RichieHunt · February 24

My family had moved to the other side of the city when I was 10 years old and we wound up living near a golf course that was about a 1 mile bike ride (probably 1/2 mile straight distance). Before then my dad didn't play a lot of golf, but he would go to another course and take my sister and I out to the course maybe once a year. We would hit a couple of golf balls and that's about it.

I really got into sports at an early age and our old home we had kids down the street that played baseball, football, hockey, etc. Then we moved to the new home and that neighborhood the kids got done with school and watched TV. The old home (it was an old farm house) had a barn for a garage and I could practice pitching with tennis balls against a cinder block foundation. The new home didn't have any of that, so I was bored and my dad decided to get me into golf.

The new house was newly built in a newly built subdivision that was next to an abandoned farm. So I remember my dad having me hit some golf balls into the farm while giving me some instruction. He did this 2-3 times before I played for the first time. Then we played 9 holes for the first time and IIRC, I shot 73 for 9-holes. But I instantly liked the game. As frustrating as it was, it was a game you didn't have to rely on others to play and you could just practice and practice.

Shortly afterward, my dad took me to get an introductory lesson conducted by the owner of the golf course. He wasn't a professional, but he had a pretty solid swing. It cost $10 and was nothing big (after that I didn't take a lesson for another 5 years).

I then would golf only with my dad. I had to wait for him to come home from work and we would go out and play. A lot of playing golf with my dad was about learning course etiquette. Eventually the next year came along and I had to beg my parents to let me go play golf without my dad. I would just go to the course and play. My parents were afraid to do it, but they finally relented as the owners of the course said I would be fine.

After that, I would walk 36-45 holes a day. We didn't have much of a range (you weren't supposed to hit anything past 150 yards), so instead I would just play, play and play. I do remember the first year I was playing I had a 170 yards to the hole on a par-4 and I hit a 3-wood and hit a good shot. We couldn't find the ball that we thought for sure was on the green. We looked, looked and looked and finally my dad looks in the cup and there was my ball.

After that, my dad mentioned that 'when you think about it that's better than a hole-in-one because you hit it in the hole from about the same distance as most par-3's but you also had to hit a drive as well.' He said I should keep track of any eagle hole outs from over 100 yards. And I've done that...I'm currently at 18 for my life (I've only had 1 hole-in-one though).

RH