Nate...it's a long story.

www.titleist.com/.../team-titleist-member-spotlight-deno-denniso3

Loved your story. Your so lucky to have a interesting story like that to tell

Caddied at a local country club. Caddies were allowed to play on Mondays when the course was closed.

I started playing golf at 16 year old in 1994,
because my best mate at the time dad was the local pro.
Two years later I was the first junior to win the men’s club championship handicap!
I got down to 6 handicap that year in 1996,
then gave up golf for car racing and women lol

I never hit another golf ball till I split up with my ex wife 4 years ago and moved back to my home town Kincardine Fife.
The following day the first thing I did was rejoin my old golf club haha

I have been back playing 4 years now,
I got down to 7 handicap after 2 years then I dislocated my shoulder and my handicap went up to 12.
I managed to get it back to 10.4 before last season finished.

My goals for next season are 6/7 handicap,
play as much as I can,
practice a lot more,
improve my short game.

A long time ago in a galaxy not too far away, on a hot, lazy nothing to do summer day at one of my friends houses, when we were bemoaning about nothing to do, at the ripe old age of 12, my friend asked if any of us wanted to play some golf. His grandfather had built a 9 hole, par 3 course on farmland that he had out back and it was becoming successful to the public. Since that course was in the family, he, his father, mother, sister and brother all had clubs. Off we went, walking through some other farmland to get to it and I was off. I was hooked. Addicted. I've been addicted ever since. Found a couple old hickory shafted clubs in my grandparents cellar, and while doing my paper route that went along another 9 hole course, scoffed some balls that had been hit astray into the brush and woods by the side of the road. Started wacking them in the back yard off an upside down Dixie cup for a tee. Bought my first club at a Zayre's (Rick might remember those), store for $7 in paper route money and didn't even realize it was a woman's club, being a signature Patty Berg. It's been a love affair addiction ever since. All from having nothing else to do one day.

By the way, the first ball I found to hit was an Acushnet Club Special. So that dates myself I guess

Similar to yours My father got me into it. The old wood shafts rubber wound balls. It was a simpler time.I miss him so much. Thanks for getting me to remember this.

I was prodded by my co-workers who all played golf. I worked on the side as a fishing guide and in less than a year my boat was gone and I was paying all the time.

I actually started from a bet over 20 yrs ago. I teased a buddy how hard is it to hit a white ball into a hole. So he bet me $100 I couldn't beat him. Well I lost and wanted to win it back so I got a beginner set and started playing and practicing pretty much every day watching golf tournaments on tv, reading books,magazines everything to figure out how to play this crazy game. After a year I was finally able to beat him and haven't stopped playing since. I don't get to play as much as I used to but still love this game and now getting my wife and daughter into it and so far they love it

Everyone's stories are so good and invaluable from encounters with Butch Harmon to hickory shafted clubs. Thank you all for reminiscing stories and memories with me. Its so easy to forget where you came from compared to where you are now. Sometimes you just need to stop and see the beauty in the simple things in life.

Best wishes, Nate

Great post Nate, I worked at my county muni golf course for over 15 years before I started playing. I was a basketball player through high school and college. Golf just seemed like an old man game. One late summer I played 9 holes by myself after work, and absolutely fell in love with this great game. It wasn't long till I was all in. And not long after that I found Titleist and this great family. I still consider myself so lucky to be a part of TT.!!!
Play Well,
Steve S.

It started as an excuse to drink, got addicted to both dropped the bad habit and now I'm a drunk....no wait I gave up drinking and still golf. Some days golf makes me want to drink again LOL

In my 20's my mother in law signed me up for a few lessons and I got hooked, Played quite a bit for a couple years and then kids and family got in the way. Then last year the same mother in law gave my son a set of clubs for Christmas and got us both playing. Now a year later my son's on the HS team and I try and play or practice every week.

Took a Summer job in 1965 as a caddie at Sleepy Hollow Country Club. Wasn't wild about carrying bags in the heat, but, loved the natural beauty and the game intrigued me on the first day. Didn't start playing for a few more years after that, and, the rest is history.

I grew up watching my neighbors hit golf balls into a net thought it was neat so when I became a freshman in high school I went out for golf and fell in love practiced like crazy and went from a freshman who knew nothing about golf to the fifth man on varsity my sophomore year and was number 1 by senior year.

Around 1972 I saw the Masters on TV for the first time and wanted to try it as a 10 year old. My Dad who didn't play much, got a friend of his to give me some old clubs and a bag - 1W, 3W, 2I, 4I, 7I, 9I and a putter. He took me to a par 3 a couple of times and I was hooked. I decided I wanted to play more so my mother took me to our scruffy 9 hole city course and played with some old guys (who probably weren't to thrilled to be with me). From that point on I played every day once school let out every summer - either walked the 33 minutes or rode my bike with clubs on my back to the course. We found out the city had a very generous "button program" - it was ONE DOLLAR for the entire season for a kid 12-17. You bought the button and pinned it on your golf bag. Officially we could only play 9 holes after 10 on weekdays. But we had two starters who didn't seem to mind letting kids play another 9 and then another 9. We often played 27 holes a day. I started to play junior tournaments and then HS golf. I'm 57 now and joined a private club about 5 years ago. Now I'm a HS teacher and HS golf coach and play about 70-80 rounds a year and still compete once and a while.

I laugh when the powers that be talk about growing the game. Make the game so cheap for kids (and their parents), give them a handful of clubs and let them play - they will get hooked!

My father didnt talk to his dad much after his parents got divorced. They (mother, my grandmother) moved to CT and my Grandfather stayed in VA. When my parents were getting married my mother secretly invited my Grandfather to come up and my dad and him reconnected almost instantly as adults. They did so by playing as much golf together as they could. When my grandfather was sick with lung cancer and pretty much done fighting he asked my dad to come down to VA and play at a local Winchester course for 9 holes. My dad tells the story well, but long story short later that week after the round he passed away. Golf (and my mother) reconnected them, and my dad learned that he needed to take his boys out to not only honor his father, but create that bond he had. We, my brother and I, were young when we started and bad...like really bad. But it was a start, and that's all you need to catch a life long golf bug. Family 1st, golf close 2nd.

I had a very non typical start.
I was born and raised in Brazil, where golf was non existent as I was growing up, honestly I didn't know golf existed until my later teens.
I came to the US to study back in 2001, at that time I did get a little more of an understanding of what golf was, but still had no interest about it, I went back home to Brazil late 02, and then came back to the US on 04, I still would not get any interest on golf until about 2008, the year my son was born, that some year a few things happened, we had a child, because of that my wife and I spent a lot time on the hospital during her pregnancy, in one of those visits, flipping thru the channels, I came across a piece about Tiger Woods.
For some reason they were focusing on his ball striking, and those slow mo shots stayed on my mind, with that, back home I started to watch golf and become more interested.
For Christmas that year, my wife bought me a PS4 with the move controllers
Not far after we bought the TW PS4 move edition.
I realized that I enjoyed the concept of golf.
Earlier that year, I had started a job at home depot, and now in 2009, just by listening to people talking at the break room, I learned that a couple of my coworkers did played golf.
I became more friendly towards them and talked to Old Man Peruski about golf some, he invited me to go out and play, I had never hit a real ball my entire life, I dint even had golf clubs.
But I wanted to try, coincidentally my wife and I were at K mart shipping, Yes kids, Kmart was real and it had stores back then, we came across a set a Fantom golf clubs, that were on clearance, plus a few other discounts on top, we paid about 60 bucks for a full set of clubs plus bag. not wanting to burst the bank, I went to a salvation army store and bought a bunch of used balls, something like a dozen for $1.
Then for a couple weeks I went to a empty lot behind our store and tried to imitate what I had seen from you tube instructions.
It wasn't pretty, but a I did not let it discourage me.
Finally on the summer of 09, something like july, it was very hot, I finally had enough courage to take my game to the course.
I played my first round ever, on Taylor Meadows.
It was my buddy Chirs Peruski and our coworker Eric.
I have to say, I really sucked at it. But I enjoyed playing, and even being my first time ever, I was invited to play with them again.
Now almost 10 years later, many rounds and better clubs, I am happy to say that I went from a bad player to a mediocre one, and have grown to enjoy the game even more.
I went from playing a few times a year on the beginning, from dead last at the city of Summer championship two years in the row to being the champion on my work's golf league.
I honestly had not turned my attention to Titleist golf balls and equipment until probably 2015, when Chris gave me some pro V1s that his wife had got from her work, and I was instantly hooked.
Today, my son plays golf with me and has his own clubs, Chris and I try to play as much as we can on the spring, summer and fall here in Michigan.
I have made really good friends on the golf course and I hope to play with my grandchildren some day.
This sport is amazing and the folks here on Team Titleist, both the members and Staff make every day a more interesting every day.

Golf passed near me when I was a kid in third grade, but even if I wanted it, it wasn't accessible at all. When I was in my early 20s, my Mom remarried a good man who made his living from golf in a circuit. He once asked me if I'd like to play, but said no to it at the time. My bro and I were too much in to fishing then.

In my late thirties, one day, my bro pulled up my driveway while I was washing my truck and he popped open his trunk and out comes an old large Titleist tour staff bag filled with old Titleist blades... So I had to ask him, "How do you figure to catch fish with those?" But in short, we went to a nearby range and got a jumbo bucket each. Almost halfway through it, I caught one that flew about a hundred seventy-ish yards with a three iron... it felt great, looked great... I tried to search and get that back, I wanted a few more of it...

In a couple of years it'll almost be thirty years... still searching! :-)

My dad played once in a great while with my grandfather. I have the hickory shafted irons from Gramps. Those were the first clubs I played with.

Dad was a brick layer and got laid off for weeks every winter. A sport like golf was out of the question. I had a paper route, which enabled me but a new baseball glove, go to a movie once in a while and to play golf a couple times each year. Once in a while my younger brother and I would ride our bikes out to scrounge balls from the back side of the local course. Otherwise we couldn't afford to buy balls. No glove, no shoes, scrounged balls and that old set of hickory sticks.

In high school I played baseball. I wanted to play football and basketball, too, but Dad allowed us to play one sport and were expected to have a job the rest of the year. Going into Junior year I was looking at being the starting shortstop. A kid who transferred from another school played on the golf team the year before, which we all thought hilarious. Real athletes playing real sports, not golf. He beat me out to start and was all conference, hitting about .440 to my .395 that year. That opened my eyes that golfers are athletes, too.

I would play with borrowed clubs a couple times a year until after I got married. We had moved to Florida and I bought a used set of 70's era Titleist clubs, the first clubs I owned myself. I played a fair amount while living down there and taught myself while watching the pros on TV. Golf took a back to a couple times per year again after we moved back to Wisconsin and started having kids.

Once the kids were older I was able to play more and now some people give me grief because I play too much. My wife wasn't an athlete and teaching her to golf was an adventure. She almost quit at one point, but stuck with it for my sake and now enjoys it. This past year we took a golf trip to Scotland. It amazes me that I went from not having a pot to piss in, to taking a golf trip to St. Andrews.

Playing with my Gpa

I grew up across the street from a golf course, and had absolutely no desire to try the game. All of those old guys in goofy pants (it was the late 70's-80's). After growing up and moving away, a friend of mine...we'll call him Leo... was an avid golfer and was always asking me to "try it just once". With his wife's clubs and a promise that he would never ask me to try it again, we set off for a local 9 hole course cut out of a cow pasture. I was hooked by the 5th hole, and have been playing ever since.

Like many others here, I started with a cheap set of second hand clubs, then worked my way up the quality ladder. Now, every time my wife ribs me a bit about my addiction to this great game, and to Titleist products, I just blame it on Leo.