GolfHos

Anyone you idolized or that got you interested in golf?

A great-uncle played and always had golf balls, putters and a putting cup on the carpet in their basement.  Every time my family would visit them, he and I were downstairs, making up putting contests (with him letting me win, of course).  I ended up getting a starter set at a garage sale, banged it around a local muni, upgraded to a full set from K-Mart, and went from there.

Oddly, he and I never did get to play a round together.  :tears:

My dad went to law school when i was about 5 years old. In law school he fell in with a bad crowd and learned the fine art of skipping class to go play golf (he claims new attendance requirements were put into place because he and his buddies always managed to pull Bs or better but never went to class, I don't know if I believe the story, but there it is). Once he really got into the game and decided to buy decent clubs, he left his Price Club specials in the garage where my older brother and I found them and took them to the school playground next door and hit rocks with them.

I didn't really play my first actual round of golf until high school. I tinkered with the game a bit, but probably never played more than 10-15 total rounds. I gave up the game entirely for about 10 years until my brothers and I decided it might be a good way to spend quality family time together so we started playing regular sunday rounds- 3 brothers and dad. I've been hooked ever since.

I played once or twice when I was 17.  Picked up the game seriously about 12 years later.  A friend I worked with golfed , so I bought a few clubs from him and got started.  Started out as a hack, brought my handicap down to about a 7.  Theres nothing I'd rather do than golf.

Fred Couples. 

He's one cool cat.  I figured if I played his game I'd soon have his swagger.  So far, so good.  I'm way slinky and smooth.

My dad played every weekend with some buddies of his. He started dragging me along when I was about 10, leaving me at the driving range with enough money for a large bucket, a soda, and a dog.  Some days I hit balls, and some days I had 2 cokes and 2 dogs and just watched people tee off on the 1st and 10th holes.  

As I became a regular fixture, the Pro started giving me balls and spending some time on the range with me, and I actually became a pretty good driving range golfer.  When I was 12 we moved to California and I quit playing for 3 years as I started playing baseball year round.  When I was 15, my dad starting playing with a friends dad, and they started taking me and my friend along so they didn't have to worry about getting paired up with a couple of yahoos (exact quote).  I have been playing off/on ever since.

It was at this point in the story that I reached for the phone to call my wife and tell her to get our kid off the computer!

My friends got me into it when I was 16. My neighborhood revolved around sports, and although football, baseball, and basketball were constants, we played just about everything you can imagine. If someone found a badminton set then we'd have tournaments until the equipment broke, and if water polo was on TV during the olympics we'd pick teams and play water polo. One summer we scored a few beater sets of clubs out of someone's garage and before long golf tournaments were our fad. It didn't hurt that there was a pretty decent muni close by and it only cost $3 for students to play. Most of my friends lost interest in golf after that summer but I was bitten, and by the time winter rolled in I was out, by myself, playing in sub freezing temps and loving it.

Nah. Aske dragged me to the range and it was boring that he'd hit and I'd watch. So I hit too.

When I was a kid there was a group of friends in the neighborhood who played pickup basketball, touch football, and softball games.  Two of them started playing golf as kids because their fathers played, and one them belonged to a country club.  When I was 14 those two guys talked me into taking up the game.  There was a 9-hole muni course within walking distance of our houses.  The city had discounted season passes for juniors so we played 4 or 5 days a week during the summer.  Playing golf basically stopped when I went off to college and I didn't start playing regularly again until I was in my 30's.

My dad used to take me along as a kid when he wasn't playing with his regular group and didn't want to play as a single.  I didn't like it very much because while my friends were playing baseball and soccer, I was stuck hanging around with old dudes for 4 hours.  Plus, even though I had plenty of lessons, it was frustrating as a kid.

I swore off golf in my late teens, but picked it up again in my late twenties playing with buddies and have been hooked.

My mum, got me into golf about 4-5 years ago!!!!!
I had moved back here, and I had changed jobs to go part-time, and she got me to go out and have a hit with her. I had a ball. ;D
I had just started "seeing" Russell, and he asked me about my day, and I said I had been to golf, and he said he hadn't played for about 10-15 years.
The both went out to the golf course together, the next day, and became full on golf-nuts after that!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

My grandparents got me into golf.  They lived in Wisconsin at the when I was young so we didn't see them enough.  But when we did they brought clubs and we would all go play.  My grandfather gave me his old set of Hogan apex irons as my first set when I was around 12.

My father and brother are not golfers, but I'll never forget Christmas eve when I was 13 playing a round with my father, grandfather and brother.  There was some snow on the ground and the ponds were iced over.  It was the only time I've ever played golf with my father and brother. 

I loved it immediately and got my friends into it too.

My brother got me into the game. He and a friend of his used to play quite a bit, and finally got me to come out with them. The both of them really stunk, but they enjoyed the hell out of playing.
His enthusiasm got me interested. That was about 39 years ago.
As a side note, I was able to beat him almost immediately. 8) It took many years of playing to get as bad as he was. :sad3:

So "the dude" says, yeah man we can walk around for 4 hours get ripped and smoke some jays along the way, and all you gotta do is hit this little white ball once in awhile.

And I says "no way"

And he says "way"

And I says "nooooooo wayyyyyyyy"

And he says "yeahhhh wayyyyyy"

Thus my love affair with the game started at 17. And it only took about ten years for me to realize why my swing was twice as fast as Nick Price's on a slow day, marijuana is a grade three accelerant, in certain combinations and proper atmospheric conditions you can actually...

... awwww never mind.

Torpie. :)

Most folks seem to have been introduced to golf by a parent. My Dad never played. He was a tennis bum. But when I was in college most of the guys in my dorm played and I was dragged along from time to time. I played a few times a year for many years with that same group of guys. Had the same beat up old set of Kroydon Paul Harney clubs until the mid 90s.  [sm_disgust]
I got much more interested in the game when my son did. He had friends in junior high that played and he took it up. I discovered that playing the game with my kids was fun.

Mine was my dad. I never saw him play when I was younger but I always took a club out back and swung it around. One day he let me take some old clubs to a par3 course near us and I was hooked. Too bad I was beter then than I am now but I still love the game.

Several years ago I worked for a small company and the owner would take all the people that played golf out for a round during the week and they got paid for it.

I thought the game would be easy to learn and I could get some time off if I could play.

It turned out the game is hard to learn but I was addicted right from the start.

About nine years ago we were visiting my BIL in Florida. He and my son (Justin, 15 at the time) were going to the local par-3, and asked me if I wanted to go.

Justin has been my playing partner ever since.

I owned a construction company.  At the last minute a local country club called because the contractor they hired had walked off the job.  Their big member/guest was coming up in less than 2 weeks and they had a ton of work left to do.  Long story short, I put everyone of crew on the job and we finished the job 1 hour before the tournament started.  They got my bill and told me they couldn't pay it all, how would I like a membership, clubs, lessons, etc.  Most expensive job I ever did.

nothing other than morbid curiosity really

growing up,  i played

tennis
soccer
basketball
baseball
football ( a bit)
x-country
billiards/pool


not exceedingly great at any of them (as in keep playing past high school) really  but always into competition/sports/games/etc

in undergrad,  our campus was within a 10 minute drive of a driving range.  drove by it frequently.   one day in a store , saw some (maybe dunlop, i don't honestly remember... it was 1999 or so) driver on clearance for like $30.   probably about 200cc  and a whippy graphite shaft.     LOL

anyways,  grabbed it, took it to that range

probably went about 10-20 times until 2001 when i graduated.   just liked whacking the ball, trying to make it go straight, right, left, etc.  like hitting a baseball....    only i missed the ball entirely a lot at first!  LOL


anyways  couldn't find it when i moved here to pa.  lost in the move somewhere. 

come  2003,  i wanted to get back into it ...  bought a dunlop loco i saw for $70 clearance or so.  got hooked again.  got a bit better wanted to actually play the whole game.   bought some clubs

Just sort-of picked it up. 8)

I can't recall the actual watershed moment. I started pretty young.  I suppose 9 or 10.  I had some friends I hung out with all the time.

Picture this, only we never found a dead body.

(http://users.110.net/~ps3776/stand/stand.jpg)

We used to spend the entire day, all summer at this par 3 course on Beach Blvd. in Jacksonville.  I think it cost 3 or 4 bucks for the day.  The highlight was at noon, having a large limeaid.  They would put a cut,squeezed kumquat in it for flavor.

I remember buying my first putter.

I lost the game when we moved to Minnesota, and picked it up again later in life.

The only thing left for me is to catch sight of Bagger coming towards me on the next fairway.

I'll describe my remarkable introduction to the game for 10 smites. 

NOBODY gets the story, and let me tell you it is quite the story and YES, part of it involves copulation, unless I get to -5 Karma by noon EST.

Well, here's the problem with your request

As much as I would LOVE to hear the story (truly I would) I have taken a vow of Smite-elabcy.

Would a page of nasty emoticons suffice?

It's not a sin if someone begs you for it.

Spent '99 working on my masters and from April to Dec had nothing but night classes.  One of the guys in the same course took it upon himself to line up golf lessons from the local pro for 12 (good discount) and needed another couple of guys to round out the number and I figured why not try it.  Been hooked ever since. 

In my early teens, I went out and bought a starter set (Wilson Johnny Walkers). Have no idea why, nobody in my family played, just thought it'd be a cool thing to do. For the longest time, I just hacked the ball around the yard. Finally, my older brother became interested and got clubs. I think somebody gave them to him. By this time, he was married and living on his own. We started playing together fairly often. Whenever the family got together he & I would be talking golf. That got my mother interested. She started taking lessons and playing with a ladies group. Eventually my dad started playing in order to spend more time with my mom. They ended up being members of two different clubs.

My mom passed away 13 years ago and my dad hasn't touched a club since. My brother and I still play 2-3 times a year when we can get together.

Welcome to golfhos chollyred. 8)

Like Torpie said, "Welcome to Golfhos, chollyred!"