I remember, at the age of 10, coming home from the toy store with a cheap set of plastic golf clubs I'd bought with the money I earned delivering newspapers. My mother watched me hit a whiffle ball around the back yard, then turned to my father and told him, "He likes golf. Why don't you buy him a real set of clubs?"

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Gordon G. Andrew Golf Yeah Podcast Host

My Scottish father was too cheap to buy new golf clubs for a kid. So with a cut-down, used "Patty Berg" Wilson 5-iron and an Acushnet Bulls Eye putter that my dad had long given up on, I began my life-long love affair with a game that no one has ever pushed me to play; that fills me with anticipation every time I stand over the ball, and that I've never been particularly good at.

Over the past 40 years, with my sandlot swing, I've had the honor to play very bad golf at some of the very best courses around the world. Being able to play the same holes as golfing legends -- from Old Tom Morris and Bobby Jones to Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods -- is one of the many things that makes this game so special. (Try playing baseball with your friends at Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium.)

But like most people who invest endless hours launching balls at no particular target on a driving range, who know what a slope rating is, or who go to sleep at night thinking about how they start their downswing, I'm semi-addicted to a pursuit that I wasn't smart enough, lucky enough, or determined enough, to make a living at.

Perhaps as a way to borrow some small part of their success, this podcast is devoted to the people who've figured out how to convert their love for the game of golf into a business or career. We'll explore how and why they got there, and whether it's been worth the struggle.

Perhaps their stories will inspire or instruct others who yearn to make golf the center of their lives; not just the highlight of their weekends.

The first tee at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland. Like playing on the face of the moon.

My grandfather's vintage, hickory shafted, brass head D. Leitch putter. (Circa. 1900) Very rare, and available on eBay for $40.

Playing Bad Golf at Harbour Town Links.