Working from the @Bigdadenergy post about “your first birdie”, I thought it might be interested to hear stories about who introduced you to this great game.
In my case, it was my dad. He could only play on Sundays due to his job, but I remember how special it was to get to play with him on those occasions. He was my golfing hero then and will always remain as such.
I used to go and ride along with my dad and grandpa when they’d play on Saturdays. My grandpa took up the game at 50, and played a ton after he retired at age 62. My dad would play some with him, but eventually lost interest. At age 8 I started playing with them. I would tee off and then pick up my ball and carry it to where my dad hit and play again.
When I was 10 my mom had a cyst develop in her brain and my parents had to travel to Denver to have it operated on. They spent roughly 6 weeks in Denver that summer, so my brother and I stayed with my grandparents. That’s the summer I started playing a lot. So I really credit my grandparents (and especially my grandpa) for getting me going. Though my Grandma bought me my first set of “nice” clubs when I was in high school, so she gets tremendous credit too.
My grandpa died when I was 22 years old. I still think about him almost every time I play. He was my first, and still is, my best golf buddy.
My dad got me into it. He was a good player growing up and hit the ball a mile (really wasn’t that far thinking back to it now, but at the time it seemed like it was). He has the best righty flop shot ever (I’d like to think I have the best lefty version since I got it from him, but I know that is impossible as long as Phil is still playing). He’s had some back surgeries so can’t hit it too far anymore which is hard to watch after knowing how he used to hit it. He’ll still sneak in some low scores though.
His dad played, but not much by the time I was growing up. I remember when I was about 8 I got to play with him and I was excited. He came to play at the par 3 with me and it was the first time I’d ever seen someone take a cart on that par 3 course. I was a bit embarassed.
When I was probably 10 or 11 my mom’s dad decided to get back into playing and I’m so glad he did. He became my “coach” and knew enough to get my swing where it needed to be. He’d play all the time with me (to this day he’s my “coach” and main club purchaser - he knows his role). I do remember being embarrassed one of the first times playing with him when he showed up to the course and he had wooden woods! He hadn’t upgraded his set from the early 80s (this is now close to 2000) so he quickly went out and bought a new set.
My parents. I would go with my dad to the park as a toddler as he hit balls from his shag bag. My first set was a persimmon 2 wood, 3 irons and a putter. Golf was just one of the activities, as we also spent a lot weekends fishing and camping, and I played every sport available thru middle school. My parents both play, and when I was young, I would usually play the front 9 and get tired, then I’d go chip and putt for a couple hours while they played the back 9. When I was around 7, they would drop my bro and I off at the course in the summer because it was cheaper than a childcare when they went to work, and we’d play 18 or 27, then have contests on the practice green.
When I was 10, we moved to a lake house that had a 9 hole par 29 course that we played most days til I got to high school and joined the team. Still played there all summer, and our family was always our group. My mom also won the Club Championship 3 years in a row!
Now my parents live 30 minutes away, on a golf course, and still play a few times a week, and I play with them a few times a year. I hope to give similar opportunities to play to my kids some day, and move closer to a course that I can play in the evenings without also wrecking my commute.
My friend and co-worker Mike. He’s pretty good, talked about him before, you know the sandbagger (hahahaha). Anyway I’m waiting for the day I beat him, I’m guessing it’ll be next year.
My dad. I got frustrated with baseball in the 8th grade so he suggested I play golf instead. Went out for and made the Junior High (what Middle School used to be called for all you young bucks) team about a month later and have been playing ever since.
I took it up when I got to high school and realized I was too small and slow for the football team
My parents supported every sport I wanted to play as a kid, and it was literally all of them at some point.
What’s weird about me (I guess) is that no one actually introduced me to golf. I stumbled onto some old clubs in my grandmothers garage and got hooked hitting hickory shafts in a schoolyard!
I was “Introduced” by a Shoulder injury that stopped me from playing Basketball 
or Football 
.
I had to find another sport and got hooked.
I got kicked out of home at 16 and ended up in a hostel where I met Jim who had gone thru a marriage breakdown. I knew him as a blind and curtain salesperson. It wasn’t until he moved out and invited me to come too that I discovered he was a retired golf pro. He gave me my first set and coached me to a 12 hcp.
My high school girlfriend’s Dad, Joe Balistrieri. He would ask my to go to the range with him. I didn’t play much but it was cool. Then in the Navy at NAS Pensacola (1970), a bunch of us would go out lose a bunch of balls. Then in 2008 (fast forward 40 years) a good friend kept bugging me and my oldest son played, so I said ‘why not?’. What I didn’t know was how much time you get out of work playing tournaments that companies sponsored!! Now 70, being playing ever since I quit riding motorcycles and quads. I find I crash less playing golf!
My dad, and indirectly, my uncle. My younger brother and I would make our annual Father’s Day event an event, when I was in high school (for reference). My uncle was an avid and quite good golfer who introduced dad to the game in his 40’s and away went went. Dad got my brother and me our first set of clubs; he bought a set of used clubs and ‘split’ them. I had the odd # irons, my brother had the even #irons.
My brother played in high school, I didn’t really take up the game until post college. At the time I was playing in a “town team” baseball league. I had been playing organized baseball since I was eight years old and then had a moment of clarity where I’d had enough baseball and wanted to take up golf.
In retrospect, a lot of things look clearer in retrospect, I wish I’d have taken up golf much earlier. But, here we are…
I actually golfed the first time to tag along with some buddies who played and I didn’t want to be left out. After showing an interest, my dad and grandfather passed clubs on to me and I haven’t looked back! I was 17 at the time, wish I had started earlier.
Now that I’m in my 30s and a father, I may gotten my 2 year old some plastic clubs and we go swing in the yard.
Played Basketball my whole life, got really good, played at a very high level or so I thought. Had pipedreams of playing pro ball playing college ball in 1978. A friend that got cut from the Pistons said to me I’ll spot you 8 in a game to 10, if you beat me, I’ll say you got a shot, I lost 11-9. JB was/is 6-7, I’m 6’0 but I was quick, cocky and accurate from 25ft. Cried! Wanted to find a sport I could play so I went out golfing on a whim with my college roommate in 1980. I think I shot like 70 first time out (9 holes)…Cried! 1982, Went out with my Uncle, who was a decent player, showed me a few things, shot like 110, I was like I could get better at this. 1983, Met Bill Bishop, In general, I fell in love because of conversations with him…this is a game of you against yourself, you never win, you never lose, you just play and you will never hit the same shot ever, so every swing is a new experience. That’s how it happened for me. It’s a quest against myself. I enjoy, really enjoy, practice, I like to play cuz it’s a barometer of my practice…Mr Bishop took me from like the game to love the game.
In 1982, I was working in Aalborg Denmark and sharing an apartment with a work colleague who was a scratch golfer. I borrowed a half set of clubs and went to the local golf club with him. He showed me the grip and the swing and then told me not to bother him the rest of the round. I hacked my way round the course and later, over the post round beer he told me that when you start playing 80% of your shots will be bad and 20% good when you reverse the ratio to 80 good and 20% bad you will be a golfer. You will never get to 100% good and that is the elusive secret obsession of the game. Since then I have played the game all over the world and the obsession has only got worse.
My grandfather introduced me to the game when I was around 5 or 6. He was a retired schoolteacher who had gone into the grain business. He had to be home by 7am to get the day’s orders from his customers, so we’d get to the course - a 9 hole club - by sunrise to get 3 holes in. We’d come back home and he’d get to work while I set up a 3-hole wiffle ball course in the backyard.
My dad didn’t start playing golf until he was nearing 40. I think I was 14 or 15 the 1st time he took me golfing. We didn’t have a golf team at my high school, so I didn’t start playing a lot until I was in my early 20s.
My dad took up golf after college for business reasons… we moved to California and lived on a golf course when I was around 6… I played a ton of journey golf, but didn’t really play seriously until high school… after college I lived in Idaho for 3 months and played golf every day…
I didn’t get to play much for the next 15 years and am now back and committed.
My dad, grandfather and aunt tried to get me interested when I was a teenager, but I didn’t give it a chance. I played baseball, basketball, soccer and dabbled in other sports. Baseball was my best sport and not even my favorite as I felt it moved to slow and I thought golf was even slower lol. I loved basketball, but I maxed out at 5’ 10" so…
I started playing in an after work league. I was 30 and starting to move up in the company and was told the league was the best way to schmooze with management. The first 5 years I only played in the league and charity scrambles and it really was for networking. Then I was traveling so much I couldn’t play in the league one year and I really missed it. All of sudden I had caught the bug for playing golf. I took some lessons, I learned how to build clubs, I started watching golf, etc. The floodgates opened lol!