How it All Began, Part I

Dec

2009

How it All Began, Part I

Posted by Double Eagle in Miscellaneous

I have to confess that the real purpose of this post is for me to hear from you, so feel free to skip all my jabbering and leave a comment if you like. A comment on a recent post got me thinking back fondly to how I took up the game of golf many years ago. There’s a lot behind the development of my appreciation for the game. I’m going to share that, but I really want to hear how you got started with golf. Share your story in the comments and take up as little or as much space as you need.

Now on to the beginning…

I had gone to driving ranges here and there while growing up. I always used the house drivers that they loan out to people who don’t own clubs, but I never had any concept of the game. All I knew was whacking balls as far as I could and laughing at people who whiffed (I wasn’t really laughing the time I slipped and threw the borrowed driver 100 yards down range though). I didn’t know anything about The Masters, Arnold Palmer, the difference between a hook and a slice, or what a Nassau is. Nor did I know that there were dress codes and etiquette.

Etiquette might have been nice to know because my first attempt at real golf wasn’t pretty.

I was maybe 17 years old and grew up in a fairly rural area in New Jersey (no, really), but there happened to be a golf course a few miles from home. It had never occurred to me to play until a friend of mine convinced me that it would be fun because he had played with his father a couple of times.

I saved up a little money and went and bought an old beat-up set of clubs. They came with a bag and everything. This was probably 1992 or 1993, a little before metal woods were fully ingrained in the game, so I got my start with persimmon.

I was happy as a pig in – well, let’s just say I was happy. My friend and I decided to play. He would borrow his dad’s clubs, and I’d bring mine – I was in the big time now. A golfer! We decided that real golfers played in a foursome, so we invited two other friends.

This is where the etiquette part would have come in handy. We made a tee time and showed up at the course. Four people, two sets of clubs. What’s wrong with sharing, right? Yeah. Embarrassing is a good word to describe the fact that they weren’t going to let four of us play with two sets of clubs and that we had totally tipped our hand, demonstrating that we were utterly clueless about the game of golf.

We were given a choice by the salty old pro giving us the evil eye: we had to either all pack up our remaining dignity and get out of there or send our two clubless friends over the hill. Needless to say, two of us we were preparing to tee off within a few minutes. Humorously, one of the guys that got the boot that day might even read this. Sorry, dude.

I don’t remember much from that round other than the fact that golf was harder than I thought and that we were totally clueless about the whole affair. We had no idea where we were allowed to drive the carts. We didn’t know about fixing ball marks. We didn’t know when it was safe to tee off. Perhaps most embarrassing – or funny, depending on your point of view – was that we played approach shots to a directional flag on the long, dogleg-right par-five first hole.

A maintenance guy on a rough mower was shouting at us that the green was still 300 yards away, but we couldn’t hear him over the sound of the machine. We just nodded, smiled, and waved and looked at each other with dumbfounded “what is he yelling about” expressions. He was kind enough to eventually ride over and convey the message in a way that was clear enough for us to understand, so, thanks Buzzy for that compassionate understanding all those years ago.

Those were the most notable moments. I have no idea what my score was and I don’t recall any individual shots, good or bad. I went home and didn’t touch my clubs for a while, except maybe to go to the driving range for fun once in a while.

Honestly, my golfing life was almost over before it started. I didn’t try to play again. Until…

Tune in tomorrow for Part II of this riveting cliff-hanger. OK, riveting is not the right word and maybe cliff-hanger is a bit strong, but I really do want to hear the stories about how you came to appreciate/love/be addicted to golf. Leave a comment and stop back tomorrow for the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say.

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There are currently 10 responses to “How it All Began, Part I”

1
Golf Clubhouse said:

My favorite clubs were my first, I knew every quirk when I used them

Posted on December 9th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
2
Stetson said:

The way I got started was a little odd.

When I was a child in Leominster, Massachusetts, there were no golf courses available for the middle class or poor. Just one country club and frankly I do not know if there was a golf course there or not.

Well, my father had built a garage for our automobile. Its floor was made of cement. Over time, with the salt New England municipalities use on the roads, the floor of the garage began to deteriorate.

In the center of the garage, a hole about the size of the cup on a golf green began to develop.

I would use a golf ball and a stick and from various distances putt the ball into that hole.

I didn’t actually hold a real golf club until I was forty. Never saw one in Leominster.

After I moved to California, there were lots of golf courses around, but I was still looking for putting. That was my idea of golf, so I sought out a miniature golf course on a date, feeling comfortable with that level of play.

Then, when I turned 55, someone invited me to a real golf course. It was then that I rented a bag of clubs, and had my first real taste of what it is like on a golf course like one sees on TV. This course was a bit sandy with lots of mud and puddles throughout, but we got through it. At one point it was so muddy I slipped and fell into the mud. Lost my cap in the mud there, but we pressed on.

It was amazing.

And, that was it.

Since then, I haven’t been back. I am now 66 years old, and maybe some day someone else will invite me to a golf course to play.

Looks like fun. And, the one experience I had on a real course was fun, if one discounts my playing full of mud for 8 holes. I did catch a chill and was home for a day or two. However, it was worth it to get the real flavor of what golf is all about.

Posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 4:14 am
3
Paladin said:

Wow, so you grew up in NJ. It’s funny, because for some reason I got the impression that you were somewhere in the Midwest or upper Midwest.

I’m in NY and both of my siblings now live in NJ. So, I’m curious, where in NJ did you live? If you don’t want to mention the town, a general area designation would be sufficient. The only thing I know is that if you lived in a fairly rural area of the state, you were nowhere near NYC.

I’ve played a bunch of courses in the state, such as the Somerset County public courses, Cranbury and Glenwood Country Club.

Posted on December 29th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
4
Double Eagle said:

I’m in Woodstown, Paladin, almost as far from NYC as possible in NJ. It’s close to the Delaware Memorial Bridge in Salem County. It’s weird because I’ve hardly ever been to northern NJ in my life other than to pass through a handful of times. It’s like a different universe to me, even though it’s only a couple of hours from here.

At this point, I’m looking to get out because it’s getting too busy down here for me, the cost of living is too high, and the state government doesn’t exactly inspire me with confidence. I think I would like the Midwest/Upper Midwest, but I need a place with a longer golf season, so I’ve been considering the Southwest.

Posted on December 29th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
5
Paladin said:

Yeah, tell me about a high cost of living (again, I’m in NY). At least, though, you got rid of Coarseswine, if you know who I’m talking about.

It really is sad when places start becoming more congested. Although I grew in in NYC, I’m a country boy at heart.

Posted on December 29th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
6
Double Eagle said:

I know exactly who you’re talking about. I’ve never been so happy on election day in my life. The new guy seems like he’s serious about getting NJ under control, so we’ll see where that goes.

Posted on December 29th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
7
Paladin said:

Also, as far as the congestion goes, it’s really a killer in golf. And I’m sure you can imagine how bad it is in the New York metropolitan area. Private courses are prohibitively expensive, and the public ones are outrageously crowded. This is why I would drive and hour and a half up to the country to play once a week and make a day of it (I could practice around my area on the other days if I wanted to). I would go to a great course that boasted a beautiful layout and extremely reasonable prices, including an all-you-can-hit range ball special for $15. It wasn’t a bad deal considering the fact that I’d hit balls for three hours and practice my short game before playing a twilight time round or two, and I could sometimes play 36 during peak summer hours.

Unfortunately, they closed that course down for construction; they want to build a huge development that will ruin the flavor of the area — not to mention the fact that the new prices will be too rich for my tastes. Losing that course sort of ruined golf for me, actually.

I can do without many forms of “progress.”

Posted on December 29th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
8
Double Eagle said:

I couldn’t agree more, Paladin. That’s one of the reasons I want to get out. This area is tranforming before my eyes and I don’t like it. Crowded golf courses are a real bummer too.

The course I wrote about above was eventually run into the ground by the last owner who sucked out every last cent that he could. And what did he get in return? The state bought the course from him at market value to turn it into some kind of open space preservation. Open space preservation in a township that’s 35 square miles in size but that only has a few thousand people living in it. There’s open space in every direction. Not for long, I guess. Depressing.

Posted on December 29th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
9
Paladin said:

The good news, Double, is that if you own real estate in your town, its value should increase if the area is developing. So, with any luck, you would be able to escape and pitch camp elsewhere with some nice change in your pocket.

Posted on December 30th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
10
Double Eagle said:

Unfortunately, I rent, so I won’t be cashing in. But, on the flip side, the advantage is, I can be mobile at any moment and don’t have to worry about the state of the market or selling or anything.

Posted on December 30th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

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