I used to play. A lot.
As a kid, my buddies and I would ride our bicycles to the driving range, hit a few buckets and then earn some money back by diving for balls in the pond on the range. Righteous bucks for a 12 year old! Played on Par 3 course in my teens - ride the bicycle to the course with a driver, iron and putter from my Dad's bag! Sometimes we would go to the nearby private club and play holes 2 through 17! Then by age 20 I was working at a swanky private club. In the bar/restaurant, but being staff we were allowed to play the "Ladies Course" after 3pm. I'd play 2 rounds every day I worked. "Borrowed" a set of Ping Eye II's from the clubhouse. One day, I got a call from my roommates: "You gotta come home, we're watching Caddyshack!" (our favourite movie of the era). I replied: "Watch Caddyshack? I'm flippin' LIVING Caddyshack, man!". I must have played 200-300 rounds when I worked there.
Then I worked for a sporting goods company (skiing and golf) and we had pro deals on gear and free memberships at a local ski/golf resort. So spent a lot of time there and had some nice equipment with skis and golf! Eventually, I was promoted to a manager's position. One of my first acts as a manager was to close up shop (warehouse) early on a Friday afternoon and take my staff up to the golf course to play a round. My boss's brother was the owner of the golf club, so I got an earful on Monday morning from my boss!!! Then he slaps me on the back and says: "That's my boy", like he usually did when I messed up. Old School! Great times! By that time, i was all of 22 years old. Played a couple hundred more rounds in those years. Never had an official handicap but it was around 9 or 10. I was happy with an 80-85 shot round despite my absolutely horrendous slice. Didn't help being a lefty either
After leaving that situation and concentrating on finishing undergrad and graduate degrees, golfing became less frequent and had sold off my clubs. Fast forward a few years and I was awarded a new set of golf clubs for "perfect attendance" at the job I was in at the time. Wilson Pro Staffs. Cool! So played a bit more golf. That waned again after a few seasons what with family, work, bands and other sports. Sold off the clubs again. When I was in Afghanistan, a Navy Master Chief I worked with comes to me and ask: "Do you shoot left or right - and what's your home address?". He says to me that there was some sort of "Clubs for Servicemen" program and he put me on the list. So got a nice set of Callaways out of that. Package was waiting for me at home when I redeployed. Yeah!
These days I play in a few best ball tournaments every year and the odd wedding party related round; my office these days is right next to an awesome driving range. Last couple of summers it was not unusual to find me hitting a bucket or tow at lunch time. Gonna do the same this year.
Oh, and I've got a good story about getting run over by a golf cart at a work tournament years ago. I was at a social event recently and one of my old co-workers was there as well. First thing he asked me was: "Hey man, remember when Mike ran you over with the golf cart!?!". Oh, yeah, I remember!
