I’ve been playing golf for over 20 years and in all that time I have never played golf with any of my girlfriends. That’s mostly because none of them were ever interested in playing, but they also thought it was boring and overall a dumb game.
I was able to get my wife to play a round of golf with me by using this one simple technique and that is bribing her. Nothing works better than a bribe for Getting Your Wife Started In Golf. Whether it be promising you will take her to dinner later that night or buying her a gift. Sure, there are other ways to get her to go but here are some bribes that you will probably have success with and you should try in this order.
- Asking nicely
- Give her a massage
- Flowers
- Her drink of choice
- Day trip to the coast or mountain
- A fun activity she wants to do next time
- Moonlit dinner
- Purchase an outfit/shoes for her
- That necklace/piece of jewelry she’s been wanting for a while
I know it sounds silly to bribe your wife or girlfriend to play golf with you (like this is the first time it’s happened). But when your wife/girlfriend wants to spend time with you and going to the mall or movies is getting old, why not try golfing.
Also, she doesn’t necessarily have to play with you. If she is totally against playing golf for whatever reason, she could always ride in the golf cart with you. This would give her the opportunity to see what it’s like out there. Plus, you could tell her that you need a driver, I always like it when other people drive the golf cart for me.
Tips On Getting Your Wife Started In Golf
You should pursue her with the intention of spending quality time with each other. If you’re an avid golfer and she knows this, you might have to dial back the competitiveness/excitement.
You want this to be fun quality time together so you will need to be encouraging and supportive especially if you want her to ever play again.
If she has never played before and she thinks it might be fun to try out, start her out at the driving range. This will give her an idea of what it’s like, if she’s willing to practice and get better, I would say that’s awesome.
If she actually likes playing golf then you can hopefully get her to play with a simple “would you like to play golf today”. If it’s not that easy than you will probably have to bribe her a bit with some of the ways listed below.
These tips don’t have to be used for just playing a round of golf, in fact, you can pretty much use these tips to try and get your girlfriend to try anything with you. Obviously know your limitation, you don’t want to try and bribe her into doing something that will make her look at you in a weird way.
Number 1 – Asking Nicely
Asking her nicely is pretty important in my opinion and can go a long way, this could make or break your chances of playing golf with her. I suggest you asking her nicely first for one reason…you have nothing to lose and a round of golf to gain.
How do you ask her nicely…you ask? Well if you need help with this question you may have bigger problems on your hands. But this could literally be as simple as saying “how would you like to spend some time together out on the golf course?”. If she’s a reasonable girl then she would consider the activities that you would want to do just like you consider the activities that she wants to do.
Asking nicely will give you the opportunity to test the waters with her, see what her reaction is. If she says yes, score! Job done without any extra money out of pocket. If she says no or maybe, you have some more work to do my friend.
Even if she says no or maybe, this doesn’t mean you can’t ask nicely again. It just means give it another week and test the waters again. If she says no again then you should move on to the next method.
Number 2 – Give Her a Massage
This works pretty well I think, I can usually get most of what I want if I offer up a massage. Also, it’s inexpensive, which is why I chose this as the second options.
If you decide to offer a massage, make sure to specify a time limit, this could be a 5 minute massage or 30 minute massage. It’s up to you, how much work do you want to put into the massage to get her to play with you?
When you’re offering up the massage, I would suggest offering half the amount that you would be willing to do. So if you wouldn’t mind giving her a 30 minute massage you would offer her half that time or maybe 2/3.
It could something like this “How would you like a 15 minute massage after we play a round of golf tomorrow?”.
She might counter offer you by saying “30 minutes and you have a deal”, boom, job done! She might not counter offer and you at all, if the case you might be able to get more out of negotiating deals with her in the future.
Number 3 – Flowers
You can find flowers for as inexpensive as $3.99 from Trader Joe’s. Costco have pretty good deals too but they’re a bit more expensive. If you really wanted to make an impression and convince her that you want her to play golf with you, get her a card too.
You could give this gift to her a few hours before you bring up playing golf, that way it’s still fresh in her mind. She is sure to appreciate the thoughtfulness and will likely say yes to playing golf with you.
But if she says no, oh well, at least it wasn’t too much money out of pocket and you probably scored some points anyway. Just move on to another bribe and hopefully she bites.
Number 4 – Her Drink of Choice
You could ask her if she would want to go out for drinks, on you of course. After a drink or two bring up how it would be so much fun if she played golf with you. She’s probably more likely to play with you just because she’s a little tipsy.
If she is on the fence about going just tell her she can choose any drink to bring on the golf course and you will bring it when you play.
This will probably sound like fun to her because there’s no pressure on her, she’s planning on getting tipsy while you guys play. Hopefully she doesn’t get too tipsy though, this would not look good.
Maybe tell her “we could do drinks after the round too” this would probably get her excited because the fun will continue.
Number 5 – Day Trip to The Coast or Mountain
I’m fortunate enough to live in a spot where Mt.Hood is an hour and a half away and so is the coast range. Now that I’m writing this blog post, I may just go to The Resort at The Mountain for a little play and stay.
I know our coast range is loaded with golf courses, Bandon Dunes is one of the courses I plan to play, hopefully my wife will join me. I think this would be fun regardless of if she wants to play or not.
After golf you can go hang out at the mountain or on the beach, who would say no to that? Make sure to pack a lunch and some wine, just a suggestion.
Number 6 – A Fun Activity She Wants to do Next Time
This can be beneficial for both you and her because this could open the door for new things that you both would want to do together.
This could be hiking, biking, running or even skiing, something maybe she’s always wanted to try but you never considered it. For some reason skydiving comes to my mind!
If my wife brought up skydiving, this would literally be worth 10 rounds of golf to me, maybe more. I’m not a fan of heights so if I did this she would owe me big time.
But hopefully when you ask her, she doesn’t bring up anything too exiting like base jumping or too boring like going to an art show. Not to bash on other activities that some people might think is fun, they just aren’t for me.
Number 7 – Moonlit Dinner
Moving on to moonlit dinner, if the other two attempts fail at getting your girl to play some golf with you, maybe a nice meal will. This could possibly be your winner if your girl likes to be wined and dined.
A good way to approach this is to mention “it would be a nice saturday afternoon out on the golf course…would you want to play? It would be fun to go out to dinner tonight so we can relax after the round of golf.”
This definitely depends on your financial situation and it’s all relatively speaking to your particular situation. If you can afford to spend $200 on a nice meal then go for it, if $40 is your budget, you can buy a pretty good meal for two with that too.
I don’t see her saying no to a day outside and then a nice dinner at night. She might want to make it a regular thing…never know.
Number 8 – Purchase an Outfit/Shoes For Her
I know this would work on my wife’s no questions asked. She loves to go shopping for things that she doesn’t need, not sure that’s how it is with all women.
Or maybe you can get her an outfit that specifically for golfing. She might be the girl that only does something if she looks the role if you know what I mean.
Yeah, I know you’re thinking, this can be very expensive. But you have to understand that this could be the start of you and her playing golf many times together. If you purchase a decent pair shoes and maybe a shirt and pants that could be all it takes.
If she doesn’t want outfit that has to do with golf, well then try to set a low budget. I say low budget just because this could get very expensive and you don’t want to drain your bank account for this.
So if there was a nice shirt or a nice pair pants that she’s been keeping her eye on then sure, get it.
Number 9 – Purchase a Necklace/piece of Jewelry For Her
Now, you don’t want to get carried away with this one. You could easily spend over $200 on a piece of jewelry, don’t get carried away.
My wife generally likes to purchase earrings that are pretty unique, they are almost like a piece of art. Same goes with her necklaces but those are much more expensive.
But like I said before earlier, this is all relative to your financial situation so take this blog post as a guide. If you can afford to blow $250 on necklace then by all means go for it.
Personally, I could probably get away with spending around $50, maybe less for a decent pair of earrings that she would like.
Number 10 – Print Her Name on Balls and Tees
I know, this sounds a bit much but you never know how a girl will react to this kind of thing. If she’s just starting out and said she would give golf a shot, this would be an awesome gift to her.
My guess is that she will like the gift so much that she won’t want to use them at all because she’ll be afraid of losing them.
Here’s a website called ViceGolf that you can have whatever you want printed on the golf ball. The pricing is pretty fair for what seems to be high quality work, even though I haven’t used them, their pictures on their website looks good. It doesn’t seem like they can print a name on tees but if a golf ball is good enough, leave the tees out.
In Closing
Like is stated earlier, these tips can be used for almost any activity. Tennis, fishing, rock climbing, you name it and these tips will probably work. The number of times you can use them could be an issue, meaning don’t overuse them.
You wouldn’t want to bribe your girlfriend or wife too many times, she will eventually start expecting these deals every time. You will soon feel like you are presenting your fun idea on the show Shark Tank so keep the bribes to a minimum.
And Don’t Push It
Don’t push the issue either, you wouldn’t want her to feel forced into going. Some girls don’t want anything to do with golf or any other activity. If this is the case you may just have to completely give up on your girlfriend or wife playing golf with you.
This isn’t the end of the world though, I personally believe that golf should be a time to take all your troubles off your mind. Golf is literally the most relaxing and calming activity for me and is the only way for me to take my mind off of everything going on in my life.
So bringing your girlfriend or wife might not be the best idea anyway. Especially if you feel the way I do about golf. I have played with my wife a handful of times but to be honest, I like that golf is an activity that I do on my own.
Thanks for reading my post and just know that these are just my opinions so if I said something that you don’t agree with, well, sorry!