How did golf improve your life?

davidrichardsgolf

New member
Joined
Feb 9, 2020
Messages
1
Visit site
I was introduced by my dad to golf and it's molded me into the person I am today and given me a lifetime of happy memories.

How has golf changed your life for the better?

I'm writing a blog post on this for a website Ivygolf.com and would love to include some of your stories in my article.

Edit: For anyone who's interested here's a link to the published article. Thanks for all your responses!
 
Last edited:

chrisd

Major Champion
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
24,788
Location
Kent
Visit site
To be fair I'm not going to give a rosy answer. I have played sport since was 5 years old and golf has been a natural progression from football and then tennis. I love golf and the competitive edge that feels in a way like football and tennis did, but, as I get older it comes without aggression that football did.
 

ScienceBoy

Money List Winner
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
10,260
Location
Cambridge
Visit site
I came to golf at a huge mental low point. Injury and illness had just ended my hopes of playing rugby and I was verging on depression as my fitness tanked (being fit was a huge part of my life).

It helped me build myself back up, gave me a competitive platform to enjoy sport again and widened my social circle hugely.

Golf saved me and I owe it big.
 

clubchamp98

Journeyman Pro
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
15,951
Location
Liverpool
Visit site
My football career was over at 23 due to a bad knee injury.
Had always loved the team ethic of the game . Being with the lads.
I would still play now if I could. 62 yr old.
As a shift worker everyone else was in work when I was free ,so golf gave me something to do.
I played and practiced almost every day for three years .
Got into the scratch team ,club champion , and many board honours.
I wish I had played when I was younger.
But I would give them all back to put my footy boots back on .
As much as I love golf ,and I do .
You can’t beat the smell of liniment in the changing room.
 

Orikoru

Tour Winner
Joined
Nov 1, 2016
Messages
25,170
Location
Watford
Visit site
Well it gives me a perfect excuse to ditch the wife every Saturday anyway!

On a basic level, golf is something I really look forward to each week, and it's just nice to have a hobby that you feel that strongly about. I'm still playing football on Sundays but I'm 33 and know that won't last forever - but when I go down the golf club rather than being the old man of football, I'm one of the young ones. I've made a couple of great friends too, two of my regular four ball are guys I met through my wife, and through playing golf they've become good friends of mine now. Also, not as often as I'd like, but it gives me a great reason to meet up with my Uncle and my dad for a round and a catch up. And it gives me something to waste all my money on so my wife can be angry at me, and that means she doesn't have to think of something else to be angry about - so it benefits everyone.
 

Doh

Journeyman Pro
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
2,101
Location
cheshire
Visit site
It's the people you meet for me I now have a large group of friends male and female who I can have a game with or just go for a drink. Also been to some amazing places I would not have gone to.
 

Maninblack4612

Tour Winner
Joined
Jan 24, 2014
Messages
5,711
Location
South Shields
www.camera-angles.co.uk
When I left school I gave up the tennis, rugby, basketball & cricket. Golf was the only thing I kept up, I'd been playing since I was 10. 63 years later I'm still playing &, because of the handicap system, can still compete with people much younger & more skilful. The game has been a constant source of pleasure & cameraderie over the years, apart from the 6 years I didn't play when the children were young - I really regret this lapse. Since I retired, I have made some new good friends, with whom I play many social games & the Seniors' Open circuit in the summer.

The attraction, for me, is the social, combined with the competitive, aspect. Can you have a conversation with your opponent during a game of squash? Hardly, & that goes for most other games.

The other attraction is variety. I played in a tenpin bowling league for one season but gave it up after one season out of sheer boredom, which must get worse the better you get. In contrast, I've played the same course for 63 years & hit every club on the par 3 first from driver to 9 iron. It's a different test every time you go out.

I love playing golf, love watching it, love talking about it. It's better than sex, lasts 60 times longer & nobody is bothered if you play away.
 

Hobbit

Mordorator
Moderator
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
Messages
18,613
Location
Espana
Visit site
Friends from around the world.

An interesting conversation was had with an Australian and 2 Americans, one being an ardent Trump supporter and the other very much anti-Trump.
 
Last edited:

SwingsitlikeHogan

Major Champion
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
Messages
32,219
Visit site
When in NZ and Australia last year playing half doz rounds of golf in the most varied and sometimes very unusual landscapes, amongst quite different (for Brits) flora and fauna, certainly added hugely to our travelling experience. And we met some lovely people and had some interesting chats - about golf - and life...
 

clubchamp98

Journeyman Pro
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
15,951
Location
Liverpool
Visit site
Went to play on my own one day at Eagle Creek (Orlando) while on holiday.
And was invited to play with three Vietnam Vets ,jeez the story’s they told me made my skin crawl.
After they invited me to dine with their party 12 of them.
Most in their 70s now but what a bunch of lads they were awesome .
Not many sports would give you that.
 

Swinglowandslow

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 19, 2018
Messages
2,724
Visit site
Had a go at it in my twenties with a friend ( membership 5 guineas a year!)
Didn't know what we were doing really. Thrashed about. Couldn't afford lessons.
Gave it up till my fifties, played a lot better. Competitions etc .
Of all the sports I (had) played, I was best at squash and golf.
Knee OP caused no golf for ten years till I tried it again -18 months ago.
Playing keenly again.
Technically at my best but the strength has gone( mid 70s)
Wonderful hobby. Practice helps keep the weight down.
Golf gives great satisfaction and frustration in equal measure.
You can play against others or play against yourself( the Course).
I never get bored with it.
 
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
264
Visit site
Finding golf was a huge plus for me at 50 years old. I had retired from my professional sport, and overcome an acrimonious divorce. A new girlfriend suggested I try pitch and putt whilst on holiday. It just felt right straight away. I had always been warned off golf by my father, but I suspect that it was because in the 30s/40s/50/s/60s it was seen as a rather upper class and stuffy sort of game, and he liked cricket and football.
Anyway, one think led to another, and after about a year, I joined a club and I can honestly say that almost twenty years later I have never looked back. I still look forward to Saturday mornings, the competition, the friendship, and the physical and mental exercise. I play many other courses, Golf House at Elie being my favourite, and have travelled as far as South Africa on golf holidays. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't discovered golf. It has certainly improved my life. And my current squeeze has taken up the game.......well we will just say that it's "work in progress"!

As a footnote, I DO worry about the changing nature of golf. More and more courses are closing, possibly because too many were built in the boom years. Hopefully this amazing game will see me out, but will my grandchildren be playing the game in 50 years time?
 

Wolf

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 4, 2018
Messages
5,665
Location
Lincolnshire
Visit site
I honestly don't think the sport has done anything to change or enhance my life. I enjoy playing but don't worry or feel like something is missing when I don't play. Haven't even swung a club since October partly due to the weather and partly due to not being concerned about playing.
 
Top