This is the Story of how I got started in Golf way back in 1964. I have learned a lot since these beginning "errors" but in retrospect they are funny. I am continuing to add to the days presented and hope I can publish a book which may save other Golfers the embarrassment of my early daze.

I first started playing golf back in 1964 while a 2nd semester freshman at NTSU (now UNT) in Denton, Texas. One of my roommates (Mike) was a golfer and he told me about golf and showed me how to swing a golf club. I should have seen and understood the “Hand Writing On the Wall” because my first experience with golf (apart from hitting golf balls into a carpet hung over a clothesline in the backyard of our rental house) was a night that I will never forget.

On a dark early spring night, Mike, Jerry, and I went over to the lake next to the #1 hole at the UNT Golf Course. Mike told us about how many golf balls we could find by just feeling the bottom of the lake with our feet. It sounded like a good idea since our golf balls at the house were getting very beat up.

As I was feeling around the bottom of the lake, I found about a dozen golf balls and the pockets of my blue jeans were getting full. Mike and Jerry were having similar success with finding golf balls, so Mike suggested that we swim out to deeper water and dive down and feel with our hands for golf balls. We went heads down for about 15 minutes and I found another 10 golf balls. I was getting tired so I told Mike, let’s leave we have plenty of golf balls. Mike and Jerry agreed, so we waddled back to our rent house at 2pm with our pockets loaded with golf balls.

When we got back to our house, we unloaded our pockets and took turns washing and drying the golf balls. As everyone finished and we all sat down at the kitchen table to examine our golf balls. About 10 of the 31 golf balls that I had found that were “like new” and a lot that were either cut, bruised or just plain ugly with XXX on them. I had 2 that were Sam Snead Blue Ridge balls and 2 that had Ben Hogan’s name on them. I had 4 really good balls with the word “Titleist” on them. Mike offered to swap me 8 of his Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and Arnold Palmer balls for of my 4 Titleists. I thought was a good deal so we swapped. Mike also swapped golf balls with Jerry and got even more Titleists. As we retired to our separate bedrooms, I dreamed of hitting great shots with my new found golf balls.

During spring break from NTSU, I returned to my home town of Irving, Texas (about 30 miles South of Denton). I went to a local pawn shop and found a set of Sam Snead golf clubs in a plaid bag. I asked the owner of the Pawn Shop how much were the golf clubs? He told me that that set was $100. This was just too much money for me to spend on golf clubs since I already had a 5 iron and an 8 iron that hit the golf ball fine. The $100 set had 2 “woods” (a Driver and a 3 wood) along with 3, 5, 7, 9 Irons and a Putter. As I was “hooked” on golf, I just had to have the “matched set” of Sam Snead Blue Ridge golf clubs. I asked the owner of the pawn shop if he would consider taking something in on trade and thus reduce the price of the golf clubs. He said that he would look at what I had to trade. I went to my car and returned with a “like new” tape recorder that I had paid $60 for so that I could tape my class in French. I had studied French in High School and thought that the college French would be easy. I was so wrong; it was like I was learning the language all over again. I had dropped the French class after 2 weeks and thus had a tape recorder that was just useless to me.
After leaving the Pawn Shop with my new set of Golf Clubs I was only $50 lighter in the wallet. My next step in becoming a Complete Golfer was to acquire a Golf Glove.

I went to a local sporting goods store and an employee pointed to where the Golf Gloves were merchandised. I could not find a glove that would fit my Right Hand since I was a Right Handed Golfer. I called for an employee to help me and an older man came over and helped me find a Right Hand Golf Glove that fit very well. I told him that I had just bought a set of Sam Snead Blue Ridge Golf Clubs at the pawn shop down the street. He asked me how much I had paid? I told him $50 and that was after trading in my “like new” $60 tape recorder. He laughed and told me that I had gotten ripped off since K-Mart sold the same set for $29.97.

OK, so I got ripped off, the prospect of returning the clubs was not even considered since I wanted to go out and hit some golf balls that afternoon. The older man sold me a dozen “practice golf balls” which were Whiffle Balls and could be used inside or outside since they were plastic and would only go about 30 feet if hit solid. As he checked me out, he said Good Luck with your golf – it’s a Great Game.

I went to Wolf Lake Park near Irving and spent 2 hours hitting my Whiffle Balls. I then went to a local Municipal Golf Course and spent another 2 hours chipping and putting at their Practice Green. A golf shop employee came out to the practice area and asked me if I was just going to “practice” or play golf? I told him that I would be back tomorrow to play a “Round of Golf”. He said OK for this time but next time I would have to pay $2 for the use of the practice green. I did not like the employee’s attitude so the next day I went to the Tennison Golf Complex in Dallas. Tennison had two 18 hole Golf Courses and I paid a “Greens Fee” of $4 to play the West Course since it was easier and the local “Players” played the East Course.

Since I had never hit a Driver, I changed to the 3 Wood after 2 holes so that I could find my golf ball after “slicing” balls into the woods on the first 4 holes and only finding 2 of my golf balls. The 3 Wood worked much better and on several of the remaining 5 holes on the “Front 9″, I had 20 to 30 feet putts for Par.
There was a group of 4 golfers that came up behind me and on several occasions they yelled 4 as I was putting for Par on the Par 4 holes. I figured that they were seeking to encourage me to make the putt. With 2 holes to play on the front nine, a golf shop employee came out in a golf cart and informed me that I was supposed to stop play and stand aside as the group of 4 “played through”. That was no problem for me since I wanted to yell at them if any of them had a putt for 4. As the “four-some” played through, one of the men told me to get a Rules Book and learn the Rules of Golf.

As I watched the four-some hit their 2nd shots to the green, 2 of the men hit the green in “Regulation”. When the group was finally on the green all of them had putts for Par or better. I yelled 4 at them from the fairway. One of the golfers made a putt for birdie while the others made bogey 5. The four-some waved me up to the green as they stepped aside to write down their scores and exchange money. When I got to the green, I had a 25 foot putt for a Par 4 and one of the men in the four-some yelled 4 at me. I turned and said “Thanks”.

I missed the putt and the next 3 for a total of 7 on the Par 4 hole. As I left the green, one of the golfers asked me if this was my first time on a golf course? I said yes and that I had been practicing with Whiffle Balls at the Wolf Lakes Park near Irving. The golfer then told me again to get a Rules Book and not to come back to the Tennison Golf Complex until I could shoot “Bogey Golf” at the worst. I agreed that I needed much more practice before I would be a “Complete Golfer”. As the four-some headed to the next tee, I asked them about the money that I saw them exchange as I was playing “up to the green”. One of the golfers said that I would find out that the thrill of winning money was just about as much fun as hitting a shot “on the screws”.

I finished playing the front 9 with a score of 65 which was 29 strokes over on a Par rating of 36. I then said to myself that I would not come back to Tennison until I could shoot Bogey Golf which would be a score of 45 on the front nine of the West Course.

During the remaining days of that 2nd semester at NTSU, I usually spent 2-3 hours each day hitting golf balls at the “Range” at the NTSU Golf Course. I worked on my putting skills each day on the putting green and on the carpet in the living room at the house where I lived. Mike told me that I had gotten the “Golf Bug” and that there was no cure for the disease.

My grades that 2nd semester were above average and I was able to get off “Scholastic Probation” and thus I was able to avoid the Draft for the Vietnam War. During the Summer Break from NTSU, I spent many hours practicing with my Whiffle Balls and putting with what was left of my “lake” golf balls, I played the front nine at the NTSU course for free since I was a student at NTSU.

My average score near the end of summer was below 50 on the front nine and one time I made a “Hole in One” on the Number 3 hole, a Par 3 of 165 yards and downhill from the tee with the #1 hole lake on the left. I used my 3 wood and the ball hit off the hill to the left of the green which bounced right and rolled into the hole. As I rushed toward the green, I noticed a man fishing near the #3 hole and told him that I had just made a Hole-In-One. He asked what club I had used. He laughed when I said a 3 Wood, he then said that a 3 Wood was a little too much and to try a 7 iron next time. His statement confused me since my maximum distance with a 7 iron was 100 yards. I guess that a 7 iron might work since the green was downhill from the tee and I really did not hit the 3 Wood “on the screws”.

With the fall semester at NTSU approaching, I decided that I would go back to the Tennison Golf Complex and play the East Course. This is where all the “Players” played and I believed that I was now a “Player” after spending the entire Summer devoted to golf.

I practiced every chance I got, I read books. I read Ben Hogan’s book, “Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf”. Since Ben did not wear a golf glove, I figured that armed with Ben’s teaching and a glove for my right hand – I was now a Complete Golfer and ready for Tennison East (where all the “Players” played golf). I had purchased a dozen Sam Snead golf balls for $4 and had bought a pair of Hush Puppy golf shoes with spikes for $14.95. I was hooked on GOLF and the “Golf Bug” was about to take its first toll at Tennison East.

January 24, 2015 9:39am. The rest of the story to be posted soon.

Thanks for your interest, Ed