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!