[David Lott]

165! I still remember. Second round was 144. "Official" meant I was with my father and we counted every stroke. A year later I broke 100 for the first time with a 94 to my Dad's 95. I was 11 years old. We played again a few days later and I shot 86 and beat him again. He was very gracious and proud or so it seemed. My mother told me later that he was actually rather bummed by it, but I'm not sure I believe that. Funny thing is I never got a whole lot better than that as a kid. Had a slice with 50's clubs and balls. Not good. It got better as an adult with good instruction and more forgiving equipment. I did not like counting 165 shots but it was good for me and my times golfing with my dad, who died very young, are among my best memories.

[jvisser]

Brings back memories!
First round ever on a real course was on temporary greens. Needed to break 63 for the first 9 to get my "permit".
Shot a 56 and made 48 on the back 9 for 104.
First round on normal greens was a sobering 120. Shot 94 couple of weeks later for my first handicap of 22.

Cheers,
   Jan

[Brad Tufts]

I can't remember even keeping score till I was 11-12, maybe a couple 9-hole rounds in the 60-65 range.

My freshmen year of HS in 1994, I played #7 on my team (of and won every 9-hole match I played with a scoring average of 51.5 or so.  Thanks to Tiger, you have to be much better than that to make the HS team today!

We used to play interclub tournaments with the local clubs, and my yearly scores at Essex County Club were 124-89-76 at one point.  I was not good enough young enough to play high-level junior golf, but during my HS/College ages of 14-22, my handicap went 28-22-12-6-4-2-1-0.

I do not remember breaking 100 the first time, but I vividly remember breaking 90 in Hawaii with an 85 at Kauai Lagoons (the NLE Mokihana course...9 holes may remain) when I was 15, and I holed a 50-y pitch at my home course to break 80 (78!) for the first time the next summer.  My dad offered a $100 prize for the first completely legit round that I beat him (he's a longtime 10ish-capper), which happened around that time too.

[Duncan Cheslett]

As a very late starter (age 50) my first ever 'official' round is still on the handicaps computer!


June 2011 and I shot 100 dead. I'd forgotten all about a purple patch I had of birdie, par, par  through 5, 6, and 7!

[Jay Carstens]

Dad gave me $10 to break 100, $20 to break 90 (my 85 included what's still maybe the best the shot I've hit in my life, a junior 3 iron on to a par-5 in 2), $50 to break 80, and $100 the first time under 70.  Got 'em all and I remember it as a great motivator for a kid with no money! Try it on somebody. 

[Evan Fleisher]

Easy one to remember for me...December 29, 1978, the day of my 10th birthday.  My dad gave me a set of left-handed (women's) clubs as "hand me downs" from one of my grandmother's friends.  I'm pretty sure we went to a driving range a few times beforehand, but the first time we actually teed it up was at the Executive course at the Miami Lakes Country Club (down the Don Shula Golf Club).  It was a par-54 short course which I would play many times over the next few years.


Lefty versus lefty...we counted all shots and Dad kept score.  I shot a smooth 119 to his 67, and as you can see from the scorecard below, I calculated that he beat me by 52.  My Mom must have saved this scorecard (that's her handwriting at the top) and given it to me some years later.  It took me until 1990 (12 years later!) to finally flip that script and beat him for the first time ever (at Leatherstocking in Cooperstown, NY...he never beat me again).


Great memories, great thread.

[JWL]

84
My mother's clubs
In tennis shoes
Washtenaw CC, Ypsilanti, Michigan
A fourth in my father's group dropped out and he asked me to join to fill out the group at the new club our family had joined.   I was a diehard baseball fan and player every summer and in HS.
I was fifteen.   Summer of 1962, between my soph and junior HS years.  54 years ago this month.
Hooked on golf ever since.

[Doug Siebert]

I haven't read the whole thread but what does "official round" mean?

First real 9 or 18 straight up on a real golf course by the rules?

Yes, I meant first time playing 9 or 18 on a proper (not par 3 / executive) golf course where you played substantially by the rules and played out those double digit scores. As I mentioned in my post I remember the three putt 5 on a par 3 as my best hole of my first nine, but I don't recall what the worst score was. To add up to 82 on a par 35 course with only one par 5, it must have been up there! 

If you want to know what my first "calligraphy" score was, that's a big N/A because I've never had one of those. The 5th Major, being a major and all, has results in calligraphy but isn't stroke play so doesn't count!

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