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Why Do You Golf?

Just moved to a new city and after my wife completing 8 years of med school and residency we decided to take up a hobby together. We choose golf and I've been playing almost daily since this August.
 
My neighbor (and now close friend) kept chipping golf balls in his front yard, and I had always been curious about what all the fuss was about golf...so one day I asked im if I could hit a few chips (with his right-handed wedge - I'm a lefty) and even when I shanked 4 out of 5 of them, I wanted to play more...so, out of complete impulse, I went out and bought myself a starter set of clubs from the local sports authority, and a couple weeks later went out on the course for the first time with the neighbor. Even when I was hacking away, I loved it...and hated it...and loved it again. That was seven months ago, and I've been golfing at least once (more often twice) per week since. Have a nearby course that is inexpensive, so I get out as much as I can. I'm shooting consistently in the low to mid 90s now, with a low career round of 79 (I can't believe it! It won't happen again anytime soon).
 
My first introduction to the sport took place when I was about 14. The grandfather of a childhood friend had a set of Golden Bear clubs and he let us take a couple of swings. After a few whiffs (a la Na j/k) I hit a nice 7 iron shot that flew real well. Remember the first time when you hit a ball and never "quite" felt it?

Several years pass and two graduations later I'm living on my own out of my parents roost. I was living and working in Hamilton, Ontario and that particular year (1996) the Canadian Senior Open was going on at Hamilton Golf and Country. At the conclusion of my night shift I was heading home and who comes out of the hotel. "The King" Arnold Palmer. He said "Good morning" and we chatted for a bit. I wasn't a golfer then but I knew who he was. I went out right away and bought my first set of clubs... zinc heads...awful clubs.

The game wouldn't stick then but that was my introduction to the sport.

Alex
 
I had no choice, my Dad took me with him when I was a kid! :)
 
Both my parents played and my brother and one sister. I only played once a year or so growing up. Didn't really get into it until about 4 years ago after all my rock climbing, ww kayaking friends moved away. Now I'm hooked and kick myself for not getting into it as a kid............
 
I can remember my dad going to play in a Wednesday night super ball and then again on the weekends. I went with him and played my first 9 holes when I was about 12. I did not even have clubs and played out of his bag. I remember my score of 59 on 9 holes and I was proud of it. After that, I did not play much anymore until I graduated high school. I then bought my own clubs and just started hitting as many balls as I could. It was then that my dad and I could play a round together. He was not a long hitter; maybe 150-200 yards on his drive but he always beat me because he was short and straight and I was long and all over the place.

He introduced me to the game and I will never forget that!!
 
My Dad. He grew up (in the 1920s) very poor and was able to caddie as a kid to help his Mom after his Dad died.. He learned the game way back then. I had an accident and lost my arm when I was 21.. The next year, he asked if I would want to try and play golf. At the time, I looked at it as a way to get my Dad outside playing golf again. I thought it may be good for both of us.

After hitting balls around the yard for a few days, we went to a local golf course (short) and away we went. My first 18 hole score was 111. I got hooked and love the game... This is one game you can play better as you get older and "grow up" in spite of physical problems!

:drinks:
 
Peter Griffin did. Cleveland, quagmire, and peter always played good golf
 
I had watched a lot of golf before, but it never occurred to me (growing up poor and already playing hockey and lacrosse meant no clubs) to actually play. Then my gr. 9 math teacher invited me out to play in the golf club. I liked him, it gave me a chance to try it, I got a few days off school, and a few of the prettier girls in school were going, so it was a pretty easy choice. After a few outings (ftr, I played rounds both left and right w/out noticeable difference, I only ended up righty b/c the old clubs my teacher ended up giving me were right) I was hooked. I never played more than a couple of rounds a year (almost always with the golf club) until after university, but it was all down to my teacher's repeated invitations that I picked up my first club.
 
Nobody in my family played. I did it in part to make friends after I moved to NC towards the end of middle school and in part because I thought Tiger Woods made golf kinda cool.
 
My mom took me golfing the first times and my grandfather always encouraged me to play. Unfortunately he passed before I ever got to play a round with him. In college my group of friends played and many of those guys are my golf partners still.
 
Nobody in my family played as well. I was helping coach my oldest son's youth football league and they did a scramble fund raiser. I was talked into playing on one of the teams and had to borrow someone's extra set of clubs. Got an interest in it after that, and I actually hit 1 or 2 decent shots during that tourney. Now my desire to play keeps growing. I also deal with a lot of sales reps who also want to take me on golf outings all the time as well.
 
My father and both my brothers play so they force me to take up golf to make up the 4th. :act-up:
 
Dad. When I was a kid he played every Sunday. Once in a great while he'd take me with him.

One trip I remember vividly. He teed off and we immediately drove down range to watch the others hit. I remember being parked under an overhang of tree watching the tee. When the next player hit, I remember being fascinated when the ball took off, crisp white in the morning sun, to complete silence, then the click coming a second later. Might have been my first science lesson as Dad explained why.

If I was a film producer that scene would make it into a movie, complete with the wonderstruck look on a 5-year old's face.
 
I guess I've always been my own man. When I was 12 or so I told my dad that I wanted to go play golf and he said that he hated golf and swore that he'd never play again. After some persistence he dug some old clubs out of storage and we went to the bring your own balls range and mini 3 hole course at the junior college near our house. After that he was hooked and my great uncle gave me his old clubs. It helped that that range and 3 hole course was free.
 
Grew up around golf with my dad and granddad playing all the time. My granddad would always take me to his course and let me play a few holes on our "golf cart rides."
 
We lived in a rural community in a poor county growing up. A group of men in the community put together enough "members" to get a grant to build a nine hole course. The bought an old farm, got a drunk to design the course, and tore down the house to build that course.

I was in from the beginning, my dad volunteered for me to tear down that old farm house. This house was built of entirely of solid oak, boards for the walls, floors, and ceilings. I had crow bars and a sledge hammer and a trailer. I took that house apart board by board and hauled it away. (turned out to be a great learning process as well as hard work) Then after the course was built, I worked at the course doing whatever there was to be done during my weekends and summer. They couldn't afford to pay money but did pay with golf equipment and free play. So, I worked part of the day in order to play the rest of the day, usually getting home well after dark.

Many years later, I learned that the house I tore down had been the first house occupied by my Mother's family when they first moved to Georgia from Alabama.
 
I had no one inspire me to take up the game. Nobody in my family played. When I was 18 I decided that I was going to give it a try and went to the local sporting goods store and bought a cheap starter set. I have been hooked for the last 30 years since that day. I have a lot of great friends because of golf and now my wife and sons play also. I'll chalk it up to divine intervention.
 
Ad-libbing conversation between me and my dad:
Me (aged 5): I wanna play football!
Dad: OK, I'll drive you to practice and games...if you play golf with me.
Me: OK!

When I was 10-11 I lost interest in team sports and golf took over.
 
Honestly... Tiger Woods.

Growing up, I thought golf was as boring as ever and had ZERO interest in playing it.
 
When I was nine years old my family was on vacation down in Florida. My father, whose brother and colleagues played the game, asked me if I would like to try a set of beginner's lessons with him. I was a pretty easygoing try-anything sort of kid and said sure. We took a series of three lessons and went out for a few rounds. I was hooked from the first time I striped an iron. Something about that solid feeling and seeing the ball take off for something I'd aimed at just clicked. Through junior high and high school I worked for a local muni and got really into the game, playing in a regional junior league on Long Island. Aside from a few brief breaks due to injury, I've played ever since, going on 19 years now.
 
Grandpa.. Only met him once before he died. He took me for my first round and gave my my first set of clubs. He told me something that to this day I will never forget -

"Golf is a never ending journey on a path to something special"
 
My grandpa. He used to take his old clubs, cut them down, regrip, and give to me.

When I threw out my arm playing baseball at age 14, I made the complete switch to golf.

Tapped out on my EVO 4G LTE
 
One of my middle school friends, now I am better than him!
 
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