My Early Golfing Years

My grandfather, father, uncles and cousins all placed golf so it was natural that I play golf as well. In fact, I started to mess around with golf clubs and a ball when I was 5 years old. My sister, who was one and a half years older, and me would sneak off to the local golf course with a few of my father's golf clubs and "play" golf.

We grew up in the Borders of Scotland where every town, village and even hamlet had a golf course. Our village of 1,500 habitants had a nice wee 9-hole golf course along the banks of the river Tweed - funny that I never got into salmon fishing as the river Tweed is world famous for that!

So, eventually we were given some old cut down clubs that my father did not use anymore, a wee pencil golf bag, and the 50 pence entrance fee. We never had to buy golf balls even though we lost so many ourselves. It seamed there were a lot of duffers that would hit their balls into the river on the thick rough. If we were bored with hitting so many duff shots, we would abandon our clubs, and our clothes, and jump into the river to scoop out the dozens of balls that could be found there.

The first tee was a short par-3 but it was deceptive as the tee was about 75 yards above the green. Between the two was a steep slope of thick rough and enough lost golf balls to keep any kid in golf balls for a year or two. In those days, nobody took any notice of a 5 and 6 year old on the golf course alone; there was no sense of danger of getting hit by a wayward drive or drowning in the deep waters of the river - aye, those were the days!

You would think that with a golfing family we would have no shortage of volunteer golf instructors. Well, it seams nobody would take us wee lads and lassies seriously. So, we just tried our best by sitting on the bank of the river and watching how the older proficient golfers swung their clubs. We struggled on like this until I was 10 years old and I had moved to the big town (5,000 habitants) and an 18-hole course.

By now, my grandfather gave me a complete set of clubs and a golf bag. The clubs were still old and had to be cut down but they were complete. Even though they were complete in numbers, they were from about 4 different brands and looked as if they had been through a war; in fact they were probably from the 1950's and others from the 60's.

I found in this new town several school mates who were into golf as well, so we started to play golf more seriously. About this time, my grandfather arranged some golf lessons with the club pro so that I could develop a more decent swing. Over the next 5 years I took periodic lessons with different teaching pros but I never managed to dominate the full swing. I developed a good touch around the greens and my putting was excellent, but the driver and long irons always alluded me for some reason.

It wasn't until I joined the army that I bought my first set of new golf clubs, bag and pull-trolley. I had a mate who golfed, so we would spend every free weekend on the golf courses of the north Yorkshire Moors playing golf. At this stage I was playing to a handicap of 10 but I never improved from there.

Lower Back Surgery

At the age of 28 I suddenly became paralyzed in one leg. I had emergency surgery to release two herniated discs that were strangling my sciatic nerve. It was also found that 3 of my lower disc were worn and damaged and the doctor had to cut away 40% from the circumference. My leg was saved, but it was the doctor's opinion that I should forget about golf if I wanted to continue to be able to walk.

Many years later, and still without playing golf, I found many good golf tips online. With the advent of golf videos and slow motion clips I finally identified many swing faults that had been ingrained into my swing over the years. I discovered a golf swing technique that allowed me to tentatively pick up my golf clubs again. Even though I can't put as much power into my swing as I did before the operation, I have managed to get my handicap into single figures. My back still aches at times, so I only play once a fortnight at most - but it so good to be out on the golf course again.

Discover The Simple Golf Swing technique that enabled Mick to golf again after major lower back surgery and which Golf Swing Guru teaches this simple swing.