For some golf is just another game, a game played in the summer when the curling ice has melted and the hockey rinks are closed.  For others it is much more than a game, it is a passion, it is the game.  Golf is something you think, breath and dream about 365 days of the year.  I’m in that second category, a true ‘golf nut’.

I was introduced to the game’ in 1975 at the age of 24.  I grew up in rural Manitoba seven miles from a golf course but because my father scoffed at the idea of golfing I never even visited the local golf course during my youth.  For me golfing started quite by accident.  I was working the midnight shift at the downtown police station in Winnipeg and several of my co-workers were lamenting the fact that the fourth person in their group was not able to make it after the shift ended so they were looking for someone to complete their foursome.  They asked me to join them.  Naturally I was hesitant never having played the game.  I put forward all the reasons why I should not join them.  I had never played the game, I had no golf clubs or balls,  After much cajoling  I relented and agreed to join them after the shift for my first ever game of golf.

When our shift finished at eight in the morning we headed out to the John Blumberg Golf Course, a City owned facility on the western edge of the city.  I rented a seven piece set of clubs consisting of what I soon learned were called a driver, a three wood, a three, five, seven and a nine iron and a putter.  I realized I would need a golf ball and when I attempted to buy one my colleagues urged me to buy what they called a ‘sleeve of three’ .  One even suggested I buy a dozen.  I saw no reason to buy a dozen balls as I was not planning to play golf beyond this one round and reasoned that buying a dozen balls when I was planning to play one game of golf was a waste.  I ended up buying a sleeve of Canada Cup balls.

Needless to say after I lost my third ball on the fourth hole I understood why I should have  bought a dozen balls.  Finishing the round using balls donated by my colleagues and shooting a 156 I was totally hooked on the game.

On the way home I stopped by the Woolco store at the Grant Park Shopping Centre and purchased a seven piece set of Campbell golf clubs, a golf bag, pull chart and a dozen Starflite balls.  My golf addiction had started.

If you want to read something else, I also write another blog related to Policing, Politics and Public Policy.