How to Get Someone You Know Into Golf

I love golf, have done for most of my life. And when injury forced me off the course I missed it horribly - it was all the more difficult because I spend so much of my life writing about the sport.

Over the course of my life I have helped several people get into golf and, without exception, they have fallen for it hook, line and sinker. 

Those of us who play refer to being bitten by the golf bug - and it is a real thing. When you have hit that one shot perfectly, holed that monster birdie putt, chipped in, struck an iron to three feet, then golf has you. And it will never let you go.

My first convert happened about 40 years ago. I worked with somebody who had played football all his life but had reached the stage where he was starting to find it all something of a struggle. When I suggested that he take up golf he looked at me like I had lost my marbles. But I refused to take no for an answer.

Eventually, I persuaded him to join me in the middle of a field and, armed with a bag of golf balls and a seven iron, I taught him the basics. 

It all started off pretty horribly. Naturally, his swing was all over the place and he kept telling me that the grip felt utterly alien to him. He hit fresh air shots, he topped it, he thinned it. But then he crushed one. The ball soared into the air with a gentle draw. I will never forget his reaction. He simply said: "Wow!" 

And, in that instant, I knew that he was hooked.

I gave him some old clubs that I had knocking about in the garage. He bought himself a bag, some balls and some shoes. We spent several sessions at a nearby driving range. Initially it was all pretty painful to watch but there would always be a couple of perfectly-struck shots and I just knew that he had what it took.

Within six months he had gone out and bought himself a full set of clubs, had joined me at my golf club and was comfortably playing off 18. And he simply could not get enough of it. Whenever he had a spare hour or so he would head down to the range.

And his biggest regret? That he had not started playing years earlier. Result!

When I met my wife she told me that she had always wanted to learn to play golf. Her interest in the sport was heightened by watching Europe thrash the USA in the Ryder Cup on TV. I should point out that we are talking about my second wife, somebody I met later in life.

She had always been extremely active. She once ran up to six keep-fit classes every day and had a try-out for the TV series Gladiators. She had also been a junior javelin champion.

So the first present I ever bought her was a full set of golf clubs. And she was thrilled. No, really, she actually was.

I decided that we were going to do things properly with her. I taught her the basics and the two of us had many trips to the driving range but we quickly reached a point where I realised that she needed proper lessons. So we started off with a series of six lessons. It turned out that Mrs C was a natural. 

Next up was a trip to the south of France to spend time with Jean-Jacques Rivet. You may not have heard of him. He is one of the world’s leading biomechanists and has worked with the likes of Lydia Ko, Matt Kuchar and yours truly. The man is a genius.

He worked his magic on my wife’s technique, we returned to England and her lessons continued. The next step was to get her sorted out with a set of custom-built Mizuno clubs.

In only her second round of golf she managed a couple of pars and was well on her way. Sadly, her journey hit the buffers when she started suffering from arthritis in her hands and fingers.

The point of telling you both of these stories is to highlight that it is never too late to introduce somebody to our game. And there does not have to be only one route - my football friend did it on the cheap before deciding golf was the game for him and then forking out some proper money, while my wife’s path was a more expensive one.

If you know somebody who has recently retired, who has some time on their hands or who has had to give up a sport such as football, you could change their lives forever by introducing them to golf.

I have tried to get my granddaughter into the game too. I even bought her a set of junior clubs. Sadly, I have been unable to tick her off as another convert - but there is plenty of time!

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