Do you have a parent or close relative that plays, or did play golf…?

My Dad got me started in the game and is a big part of my love of the game. He is 83 and healthy but doesn’t really play anymore. He has an extremely type A personality and getting worse with age drove him nuts. I wouldn’t have the love for the game I do without him though.
 
Not only did my dad get me into golf, I'm sure his goal was to get me on the golf team in high school and eventually college by the way he kept coaching me. He was severely disappointed when I decided to wrestle instead, and it's one of the reasons that led to us no longer talking. It's funny that all these years later, I'm a golfer again. Last I checked on golf apps, he's a single-digit handicap.
 
Sadly no or else I think I’d have taken to the game sooner.
 
My college girlfriend’s family, but specifically her mom, got me into it. We used to spend Friday evenings at the local Pitch ‘n Putt or she’d watch me hack up their back yard. I’d stay over Saturday nights and she’d wake me up at 6a to go play 9 with her on Sunday mornings. I was lucky to have those times for 3 years before I was hideously dumped by her she-demon daughter! My mentor has since passed but the love of the game lives on!!
 
My dad, uncles/aunts and cousins. It’s hereditary in my family.
 
Yes, my mom’s parents. Were hugely impactful to me taking up the game. Just wish I would have taken it seriously sooner so I could have played more with them.
 
The only members of my family that played golf were my grandma and grandpa, and an uncle.

The grandparents were where I learned the game, and learned to love the game. Playing on a little country course with sand greens and tee boxes. It was always the highlite of the summer when we would stay for weeks at their house and played everyday. When I was maybe 12 or 13 I remember playing a tournament with my grandma. We finished our morning 9, heard there was a tournament and she wantes me to play with her. The prize I won? A bag of tees. But I will never forget that experience.

My grandma played into her early/mid 80's until she moved away from that small course. Golf is still a thing we share, we talk about if I am playing whenever I get to spend time with her.
 
My grandpa lived in Orlando once he retired and played a lot of golf. My dad played when he could but not often. He’s playing a lot now that he has more time and is approaching retirement.
 
My BIL and son are my typical crew. We also have very close friends that join us. My FIL casually plays, as does my other BIL and his family.

Almost forgot, my 8 year old nephew plays JRPGA. I get to caddie for him often because he is based out of a CC around the corner from my home.
 
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Not really. I am the sole avid player in the family. A few dabble(d) with the game but that was well after I began playing.
 
my uncle back in the mid 60's got me into golf. The man had a game, R.I.P.
 
Nope. I never had anyone influence me to take up golf.

Nowadays though, my wife plays. She started after meeting me.
 
My dad played college golf for NC State and was a lifelong single-digit handicap. By the time he passed at 77, he had shot his age many, many times.

When I was about 7, he took us for a walk around the golf course at my grandmother's house in Statesville, NC. He had a long iron with him, and on one hole, he found a ball in the rough. I watched him drop the ball in the fairway and hit a long shot into the green, and I was hooked on golf right there and then!
 
My dad's parents were big into golf. Got my brother and I into it as young kids. Played quite a bit with them, right up until they were in their late 70's... LOTS of life lessons along the way... The also insisted on no mickey-mousing around on the course and making people wait or waiting on others... they'd march up and "ask" to play through if we were kept waiting on more than a couple of holes and there was big gap to the next foursome ahead. :ROFLMAO: My grandfather (a former semi-pro baseball player in the 30's and 40's) always reminded that while we were huge into baseball growing up "golf is a game you can play and compete at your whole life".

While I've been an "ok" player, my younger brother is a gifted athlete and had all the shots at a very young age... to the point it was impressive to both kids and adults alike. He doesn't play much anymore and when he does play golf, never keeps score, plays with crappy balls dragged out of hazards (regardless of age), and still strikes the ball better than most people i've played golf with.... too bad he doesn't have the patience to play regularly.
 
Sadly, no one in my family played golf. I started on my own.
Only 1 of my 3 boys plays golf, but he is pretty far away, and have only played with him once.
Truly a great experience for those that have a family member to play with.
 
My Dad tought me the game. He was a very good golfer who never got to play as much as would have liked to. He once beat Pro Kermit Zarley in a Pro Am. He had a set of Wilson Staff Blades thru the 80's. Leather grips. My first set he got me was a set of Northwesterns. I remember them fondly.
 
My youngest son introduced me to the game. He still plays a little but usually when Dad comes to visit. Besides my two sons, no one in my circle of friends or family ever played.
 
I've told this story before, but my brother golfed in high school. He loved it. Aside from Tiger Woods PGA Tour 99 on Playstation I avoided golf like the plague.

My brother literally begged me to play a 9 hole course outside of town. He said he'd buy me a 6 pack and I could sit in the cart. I couldn't hit the ball on the first hole. Then on the second hole (long par 5) - threw a ball about 290 out - I hit a fairway wood, flush, landed on the green. I was much stronger back then, LOL.

Addicted ever since. Only reason I'm here today.
 
My dad and I actually picked up golf at the same time after I retired from baseball at the ripe old age of 12. We both had growing pains learning the game, but the golf bug bit me much harder than him. Still, we enjoyed tons of rounds together throughout the year, though he doesn't play a whole lot anymore since he's "busier now after retirement than he was when he was working" lol. He's a good scramble partner, though, since he can hit 12-14 fairways in his sleep even though the drives only go about 210 yards.
 
I didn't play growing up and wasn't aware of any relatives who did either. I knew a kid I played baseball with who also golfed. I was unaware of how good he must've been until I started seeing him on TV every now and then after I took up golf early in my USAF career.

I've played with my little brother sporadically most of my adult life. I introduced him to golf. We've never lived in the same state as adults so we haven't had the chance to play as often as I wish.
 
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My grandparents on my father side both played. Not hardcore or great players but I remember as a kid hitting balls in their back yard. My father was the first real golfer. He was scratch and a + player through much of his 40's and 50s. He shot 71 on his 72nd birthday 6 years ago.

In addition, my cousin closest in age with me was a teaching PGA Tour and moved into the management side. He has been the general manager of a couple if private courses in and around Hilton Head and Jacksonville.

My sister plays and has played at a scratch level at various periods. I think she's now a 7-8 at the moment. Her boyfriend is an ex-college player and plays on a competitive southern amateur tour through Florida, South Caroline, and Georgia.

I am the black sheep of the family at a 5 handicap.
 
My Dad played and got me a jr set early on. He was a teacher in Mississippi so could only afford to play a handful of times a year. When we moved to TX we started playing considerably more until we finally joined the country club in our small town. Only had a 9hole course but we played several times a week
 
My dad had evidently played when he was younger, but by the time I came along, he was self-employed and working long hours. I knew he had a set of old clubs, and
when I was about 11-12, I snuck up into the attic of the garage (something I was not supposed to do !!), brought them down, cleaned them up and started hitting balls around the yard. Finally, after I begged him a few times, he took my older brother and me to play my first nine holes. That’s the only time I knew him to play….he passed away years later, in his 90’s.
 
My dad had evidently played when he was younger, but by the time I came along, he was self-employed and working long hours. I knew he had a set of old clubs, and
when I was about 11-12, I snuck up into the attic of the garage (something I was not supposed to do !!), brought them down, cleaned them up and started hitting balls around the yard.
Great story!
 
My Dad was a pretty good golfer - and back in the late ‘50’s had a HOI on a nice little muni course. Fast forward roughly 60+ years… my younger brother and I met to play at this course… and enjoyed a moment of reminiscing when we got to that hole. Special moment.
 
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