My earliest exposure to golf happened at the University of Texas in Austin. I took an intro to golf class for one semester in…1997 or 1998 (need to check the records)…definitely after Tiger Woods dropped bombs at the Masters in 1997 and made golf somewhat interesting.

However, my first attempt at picking up the game was anything but interesting. The instructor was nice but the instructions were painfully boring. There were too many rigid rules and a ridiculous amount of decisions on the rules. For the record, there are 34 rules…from which over 1,200 decisions are made. We didn’t have to learn all of them, but needless to say, I was way overwhelmed. I changed the graded course from what I thought would be an “easy A” to a pass/fail course.

Range? What range? We were hitting practice balls at the intramural fields and then collecting them with shag bags. Fortunately or unfortunately, none of my shots went much further than 100 yards and yet, I had blisters on top of blisters…on both hands…despite wearing a glove. I never made solid contact with the ball for an entire semester. If swearing caused blisters, I would have had them in my mouth as well.

The most memorable oh-shit moment came during our final test when we had to go play 9 holes at Hancock (if my faded memory serves me right). Like a true Longhorn, I hooked my first tee shot into the woods and the ball came to rest near a SNAKE. Basically, I remembered nothing else after the freaky first hole. I certainly didn’t recall enjoying myself. Miraculously, I passed the class and after that semester ended, I was also happy to pass on golf. In hindsight, the class failed to properly introduce me to the game and I should have gotten a refund! It took a bigger miracle to hook me back and I’ll share that in another post but here’s a short list of suggestions I would have passed back to my instructor:

• Learn from us first by understanding WHY we even came to you
• Engage with us on an individual level – a one-size-fits-all approach does not work
• Save the boring rules for later – most of it can be learned in context, on the course
• Advocate the game, don’t just instruct it – having heart makes a big difference
• Challenge us by creating achievable obstacles during practice
• Provide ways for us to practice outside of class – tuition should include free range balls
• Let us watch the collegiate golf team play
• Don’t make it feel like school
• Keep it light and fun! (ok, the snake wasn’t your fault)

Attrition is said to be THE greatest challenge for growing the game. Somehow, I managed to buck the trend.