Sorry I haven’t been around for a while. Been pretty busy lately but I do have some posts in the works. Couldn’t decide which one to post first so I decided to talk about my favorite aggravation (ahem, pass-time)…golf

Who/What got you interested in golf?

This question was posted in an online golf forum I participate in. Got me to thinking about how I came to be so attached to a sport other than the one I grew up with (tennis) and the one I thought I would make a career out of. So I decided to share what I posted there…here.

Well it all started with my college roommate and best friend. We used to buy each other a gift on each others birthday and the gift would be something that would try to “one-up” the previous years gift AND the gift from the other person. Well at the start of the Tiger craze years ago he really got into golf but had never played. He got a starter set, and read magazines and went to the driving range and learned. He told me to learn it with him but I was really into tennis at the time, playing in two adult leagues and being a certified professional (Certified by the United States Professional Tennis Association! Boo-yow!).

I told him that even if I wanted to play (I didn’t), I couldn’t find a set of clubs because I am left handed and stores just don’t carry left hand sets in stock. He is also left handed but decided to learn right handed for whatever reason. He told me why, but I have long since forgotten.

Anyway, one day he calls me and says that he got my birthday gift and I need to go to his cousin’s house to pick it up. I was thinking “what could he have come up with this year?” but I went anyway. I get there and his cousin is laughing and hands me this HUGE box. Inside was a left hand starter set (Northwestern….remember those clubs?). All of a sudden, like planned perfect timing, he calls me and says: “Now you have no excuse to learn with me and play!” All I could do is laugh. Remember that commercial where the guy just goes around saying to his friends “I love you man!” when they do something good for him? Well, that’s what I was thinking at that moment.

He took me to the driving range, and I tried to hit the ball and was immediately hooked. One week later, reluctantly I went to the course with him, complaining all the way about how I will be embarrassed at how bad I will do. He says that everyone starts somewhere and that I shouldn’t worry about what people will think. I shoot 135 that day and the next day we go out to the same course and I shoot 125. The next day, I went looking for lessons. Thinking “this game is hard enough WITH the fundamentals, then it certainly will be no fun WITHOUT them!”

Long story short, 11 years later, I have quit tennis, have had 4 personal coaches, played in two national golf leagues, played in one world-wide amateur tournament (the World Amateur Handicap Tournament in Myrtle Beach), gone through 5 custom golf sets, spent close to 20K on golf (equipment, balls, trips, tournaments, etc.), and have played in more states than I can count. The only thing I haven’t done is played with the guy that got me started. He has since gotten married, had 4 kids, and has NO TIME to play. I playfully curse him when we talk for giving me this addiction and he just laughs. Maybe one day we will play again but he says I won’t enjoy it because he hasn’t picked up a club in years, and me…I can’t put them down.