Was just reading an article about the US Open Course "The Country Club".
And the author talking about back in the day when they played the Muni course growing up for $2! And would sneak onto the "Country Club" course though a hole in the fence.
Thought in might interest some here what is was like growing up in Brooklyn, NY and playing through High School, Junior and Senior year on FDR High Golf Team (1974 & 1975). We played other schools obviously on a local muni(municipal) course(Marine Park), believe it is still there.
We where able to get a student ID card from the city and we could play 18 on any of the muni courses in the city for a $1.50! I'm guessing but think for regular golfers might have been $10 to $15 to walk at the time.
And there were no advance tee time reservations! You showed up paid the greens fee, got your receipt with number on it and walked it out to the first tee where the starter was and he wrote it on a big blackboard and would group foursomes together. Doubles, singles, triple, hardly ever on busy time(which was always in NYC ) did anything less then foursome go out, so if your were a single you had a good chance of moving up the board to complete a foursome. And estimated waiting time was always on adjustable clock of some sort at the cashier! You could call in advance to find out wait time but that was it. I remember Playing Sundays at Silver Lake in Staten Island, NY with dad and my uncle and one of his friends, we would go buy the greens fee at 6:00 am and get on the board and go down to local diner and have breakfast without a rush and then head back to tee off usually about 8:30 or 9:00am.( 2 to 2 1/2hour wait times were the norm in NYC). Most courses at the time only had putting greens and no driving ranges.
The upside to playing on High School team besides the big discount we got for practice rounds. When we played match's, it's was after 3 pm and it was a 9 hole match play format. And that was only time back then when we didn't wait and had set tee times for interschool play. Each school fielded 5 players rated from 1 to 5 and 1 played 1 and 2 played 2 and so on. So had to win 3 out of 5 match's to take competition. Played #2 both Junior and Senior year. Junior year only won one match. Senior Year won all 6 match's I played and only 1 went past first five holes . Our #1 player was the younger brother of the graduating # 1 from the year before and a junior at the time but he could play! We both won all our matches that year. But our # 3 thru 5 players lost every match except 1 that year, so we only won one competition that year.
I remember many a day after school or in summer getting on the city bus with my clubs and with other team members and heading to the course. I remember the # 3 player always came and played with us the # 1 & 2 and use to complain because he would be right there with us and beat me sometimes and our number 1 on occasion also. Thought he should not be # 3 player on team, but when it came to interschool play he never won and was usually done before 9, didn't handle the competition well.
Just thought I would share some of my golf journey with younger fellow Golfers and Golfettes.
Mostly everyone walked and carried, and if you got a cart usually was a pull cart. Motorized carts where usually same price as green fees or more .
Oh and this was when woods were made of real wood & numbered from 1 to 4! A rescue club was when you ran to retrieve you club because you lost your grip on it! Lead tape was in use all over the place & spikes were metal! Cavity backs was when you lost a filling in your tooth! And Titlist Acushnet were the 1st heel & toe weighted clubs. Graphite was only found in pencils and dimple patterns where pretty much the same and Top Flight was the 1st 2 piece ball and most balls before the Top Flight rocks would cut real easy. And I can't remember the name of the first ball that came out with octagon shaped dimples!
Hope it was enjoyable read.
Would love to hear about some of your history of herstory!
My dad(RIP pops) didn't take up the game until after he retired. He was a huge fisherman. Had a bass boat, went on week long fishing trips, had all the gear, etc. One summer while on family vacation in Gulf Shores my dad decided to just ride along and watch the kids and in-laws play. We made the turn and begged him to get up on the tee and have a whack at it. He was probably 65ish at the time. Didn't do too bad. After that trip he got into it a bit more and was pretty good. by the next summer he sold his fishing boat and all his gear and he was the one hooked, not the fish. Never forget those early Sunday mornings with Pops and the Florida trip just he and I went on. Played Falcon's Fire if I'm not mistaken. golf is great in many aspects of life.