[1][2] Golden was introduced to gymnastics at four years old as an outlet for his energy after he fell in love with the sport after watching it on television.

[1][3] He quickly advanced within gymnastics, eventually being coached by Macey Watson.

[1][4] He later attended Camden County College, but dropped out of the latter to focus on gymnastics training and joined his former coach Watson in Florida.

[1][4] In 2004, Golden moved to Houston to work with former national team coach Kevin Mazeika.

[5] Ultimately, he was not selected to the 2008 Summer Olympics team which saw two of his roommates, Kevin Tan and Raj Bhavsar, chosen in some capacity.