Let me start by saying I would love to hear how each and every one of you got into golf. The four of us here at I’D Golf all have a very similar story: we were baseball players our whole lives (and a couple other random sports mixed in here and there) and we didn’t really start golf until after we finished high school. From there we each explored golf in our own unique way. Today, I’m sharing with you my golf quest. So when you finish reading, please leave a comment with your story!
My first set of clubs
My personal story begins with me playing my VERY first round of golf less than a month after I graduated from high school. I ended up using a set of clubs that were probably as old as I was and were probably meant for a 13-year-old kid. Needless to say, everything about that round was ugly! One of the guys that got paired with us told me I needed to go out and get a starter set of clubs if I wanted to see any kind of improvement. I did that the next day. While I finally had clubs that fit me and were from this century, sadly, that didn’t improve my game.
I played with that set of clubs for the next few years, taking advice from people I got paired up with on the course and then practicing what they taught me later on at the range. One year, after I broke a couple of my cheap clubs, I started saving up for a set of new irons. I ended up buying the Callaway X20s on sale and the next summer I finally took my first lesson. Turns out there was a lot that I still didn’t know about golf. After a couple lessons, I got my swing down to a point where I was at least swinging more like a golfer rather than a baseball player. I got better that year, although not drastically better. I would still slice the ball then duck hook the ball, I was very inconsistent. I started to watch more professional golf thinking I could learn by watching. I was able to learn a little more about the theory of the swing and the thought process when approaching your next shot, but it didn’t make a drastic difference in my score either.
Trying to improve
I was always trying to find ways to get better. Watching videos, watching the pros, playing more but what I didn’t realize was I should have practiced more. I spent so much time at practice my whole life during my baseball days that all I wanted to do was go out and play. Plus, unless you had a coach there with you, practicing doesn’t always help. I finally decided to try going to the range a little more before I played a round. Slowly, I started to see an improvement in my game. I tend to base my game off whether I beat Derrick, Zack, and Craig at the end of the round. I knew I was getting better but so were they. I was on a quest not only to beat them but to be better than them, every day, every round. What I have learned since then, is that that’s never the case with golf. Once you think you have the tools in place to piece together a solid round, you end up struggling with one aspect of your game. Yet, you make a good shot or drain a tough putt and that brings you back for the next round.
The ebb and flow of the game
Golf is a game where you can win The Masters one week and miss the cut the next. It is a game that will always challenge even the best golfers in the world. Today, I love watching golf and trying to pick up things here and there from the pros. Even though I am almost 30 and will never make millions of dollars playing golf, I am on a quest. I am on a journey to be the best golfer out of the I’D Golf group, I want to win our infamous Dick Out Cup for once. I want to finally get a hole in one, shoot under 80. The list goes on and on, it is eternal. But the truth is, I know I will probably die before I achieve all my golf goals. And that is the ugly truth!
It all began for me in the Spring of 1995. A friend of mine was a senior in High School and was on the golf team. The snow had just melted from the long winter in Bear Lake. He invited me out to play a practice round with him and the coach. I didn’t have any clubs and he let me use his (can’t do that much anymore as most courses require each golfer to have his/her own clubs). The opening hole was a daunting Par 5. Well it was for me as this was my very first round of my life. I stood on that first tee box and with instruction from my friend, I put the tee in the ground, the ball on the tee, and a firm grip on that driver. I starred down the fairway picking out my landing spot, and then it was time to let it rip. 10 yards was all I could muster on that first drive of my career. It took me 10 shots just to get to the green. I thought to myself, why do people play this stupid game? Two puts later and I was in with a +7. It took several holes before I was finally able to even get the ball in the air, but oh was it B.E.A.utiful. We finished that 9 holes and I don’t even remember what I ended up shooting. It would be several years later and after I moved to Boise when I would reunite with this friend who made me get my own set of clubs so he had someone to go golfing with. I started hitting the golf range after work and hitting balls and working on my putting. He and I went out a few times and my golf game was nothing more than a weekend player (100-120). This friend would meet a girl, get married, move to Utah for work and start a family. I soon met a friend that worked at another store than I did (he an assistant Store Director and I was the Receiving Clerk) but we both had the same Store Director, and one day our conversation led to golf. He suggested that we go out and play on the upcoming Sunday. I agreed and we headed out to Centennial in Nampa and played our first round together. The next day being a Monday, I had a vendor ask me what I did over the weekend. I told him I played golf with the ASD from the other store. He asked me how I did and I told him I beat him. About an hour later I get a phone call from the ASD asking me what I’m doing running my mouth about beating him on Sunday (keep in mind I had never hung out with him before and wasn’t sure if he was joking or actually a little ticked off). I politely tried to explain I wasn’t running my mouth and he suggested we go out again the upcoming Sunday. That started the second round of golf that lead to us golfing every Sunday that year from April through September. I would pick a course one week and he would pick a course the next. Of course I beat him the second round and YES, I was running my mouth Monday morning at work. My game really started improving with the continued playing and the competition. Fast forward a few years and I get a phone call from my friend from Bear Lake and he’s going to be in town and wants to go golfing and he wants to golf his favorite course in the valley, Quail Hollow. I setup the tee time for right after I get off work. I’m pretty excited to play but I’ve put in a full day of work and the temperature was pushing 90 degrees. I’ll never forget this day as I shot an even 80 and my buddy was fighting to keep it under a 100. I believe he finished that round with a 98 and I had that “student beat the teacher”moment. Some of my best golf would follow in the coming years with continued play and practice, but mostly learning to navigate around the course. Course Management is one of the most important parts of golf and rarely is it mentioned when learning the game. Hit ’em straight and hit ’em long and eventually you will become the Big DICK…hehe