Perhaps the more appropriate question would be “Why would you take up golf?” Anyone who has been golfing for more than a year (and hasn’t given it up yet) knows this is a game of mixed emotions.
On the one hand, there’s excitement, jubilation and self appreciation when you make great shot or have a milestone round. On the other hand, there’s frustration, anger and self depreciation when you whiff on the first tee, or have matched the course record…by the 9th hole.
I’ve been golfing for over 20 years and I have had my share of all these emotions (mentally, the good shots and rounds tend to outweigh the bad, which is a plus since I personally know there have been a ton more bad). Anyway, back to my original question – Why did you take up golf? For me, it was either golf or tennis.
I was 14 years old and was about to begin that all-important summer between my freshman and sophomore years in high school. My mother, God love her, I’m sure wanted me out of the house as much as possible for those few months. And since my Babe Ruth baseball league had ended in the middle of June, she decided to give me an option: Golf lessons or tennis lessons.
The thing was, neither of those two options appealed to me very much. I had just completed a rigorous (or what I felt was rigorous at the time) first year of high school and had every intention of slacking off till September. Yes, in my mind, this was going to be a summer of waking up in the early afternoon, riding bikes with my friends and eating junk food as much as possible.
The thought of being confined to a tennis court or a golf course for hours every day was not only uninviting, it was wasting valuable months that I could be doing nothing. Doing nothing. Think about that for a second – At 14, I’d rather be doing nothing than anything at all! How things change when you grow up – now I play golf to avoid doing nothing.
Nevertheless, my mom was adamant – I was going to take either golf lessons or tennis lessons and I was going to like it. A week went by. Then another, and I still hadn’t decided which one I was going to take up. I was stalling of course (the deadline for sign-up was July 1), but she was in no mood to play games. My mother took it upon herself to decide for me: It was golf. Her reasoning? I was an only child (can’t you tell) and with tennis you always need someone else to play, which is not the case with golf (actually pretty decent reasoning).
This did not change the fact that I still didn’t want to go. I tried to logic with her: “But I don’t have any clubs!” A neighbor’s garage sale changed that almost immediately. So being all out of excuses, I reluctantly packed my 1927 clubs in my mom’s trunk and got in the car. We pulled into the course parking lot and I still refused to go. I threatened to not get out of the car (remember, only child). But she gave me that look that only mothers know how to give and I subsequently dragged myself to the clubhouse with as much enthusiasm as a dead man walking.
Thus my golfing career had begun. I went 3 times a week with a group of other similar-aged kids. I was (sort of) enjoying myself. But on the last day, they held a 9-hole tournament for all of us and I came in second (shot a 58). I got a shiny golf trophy (still have it today) and something about this game began to appeal to me. Fast-forward 21 years and here I am, writing a golf blog and rushing out to the course the second I realize I have nothing to do.
*Why did you take up golf? It doesn’t have to be a long story, just post your comment here and we’ll randomly choose one person to win a $25 gift card to Golf Galaxy!
I grew up with my step father being an avid golfer. He would go out 4-5x a week. Being the stubborn and dumb teenager that I was, we would fight a lot. Because of this, I swore to myself I would never play golf, because he liked it so much.
Fast forward 10 years to my senior year of college. I made a self realization that 90% of who I had become was because of what he had taught during those many occasions we had fought. After realizing this, I decided that I’d take him up on his offer to take me golfing.. I’ve been hooked ever since.
i’ve benn enjoying this sport for over 40 yrs…never been real gool..still wont on my game and will the rest of my life..it’s enjoyment/relaxation..not a compitition/ except maybe with myself……it’s a sport for a lifetime with great friends and constsntly meeting new ones..tks
My dad got me into it. He loves golf. I suck but I enjoy it!
I started playing with my brother 4 years ago. For the first 6 months I played with his clubs. Once I decided I’d keep at it I bought a $100 set out at Wal-Mart. 3 years later I’m obsessed, and play every change I get. Golf is the first sport I’ve ever tried that I wasn’t at least competent with. I’m a Paramedic, and golf is a lot like life. Things never go great for very long, but they never go bad forever either.
I started playing golf because I realized that most of the high end business professionals play golf. It was also the only place where it was acceptable to get completely trashed and drive a golf cart around.
I’ll never forgive my wife. When we were in Michigan she got us a pack of group lessons at the local Muni. She thought is was something we could do together!
On our third lesson we finally got to the range. They put a seven iron in my hands and told me to hit balls. After a couple of whiffs I had it dialed in. I was hitting them 220 yards as straight as an arrow. Every one of them was flying like that. Really. This was the first time I had ever been on a golf range. ( I am 6’5″ and strong).
Well, the instructor got to my position on the range and told me to keep my left heel flat on the ground. I did that and my distance immediately dropped to 150 yards- with a fade, sometimes a slice.
Another 30 minutes went by and he made his way back to my position. He saw the fade and told me to keep my left arm straight in the back swing. I did and this dropped my distance to about 85 yards with a hook or a slice. Further guidance enabled me to reliably shank the ball anytime I tried to swing the club.
This guy was a PGA certified pro.
I think his attention to my swing mechanics served the game of golf quite well, as I have been trying to recover my natural swing ever since and consequently spent way too much money on rounds.
Of course, and needless to say, I have refused all offers of lessons even going so far as to give away a set of lessons I won at some school in Florida. My game as it stands now is bad enough and I don’t need any further instruction. I just need more time on the course…
Oh- my wife couldn’t hit the ball. She has a Barkley hitch in her swing. The pro left her swing as it was.
Golf is not something we do together.
I took up golf as a challenge from my brother in law. I always saw him golfing with his buddies and I would go to just drive the cart that was some 20 years ago and now after countless lessons and finally finding what I think are the perfect clubs. I Love it. The challenge, the tradition, the history it all goes into my round of golf.
Thanks for commenting everyone! We’ll randomly pick a winner on October 7, 2010 and post about it here. In the meantime, feel free to add more comments!
So as promised we put everyone’s name in a hat and randomly drew a winner for a $25 gift card to Golf Galaxy – and that winner is…
Lili Ballerini!
Congrats Lili – please send your snail mail address to info@golfstinks.com so we can ship out your prize!
When I was in Jr. High my brother-in-law gave me his old set of Wilson Lee Treviño signature clubs. So I started hacking away. A bunch of my friends and I used to hang out at the city park which is adjacent to the 9-hole municipal course. Somehow we learned you could rent clubs and play. So they started playing too. It got kind of weird because here was this group of Mexican kids playing golf, sharing clubs and we got some looks and a couple of times the course manager would come check us out to make sure we had paid our green fees. I’m sure there were complaints because we didn’t know anything about etiquette or the rules. We were just slapping at the ball and having a bunch of fun and making noise.
Hellow!
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