Your Playing Ability

[golfer2b2000]

I have been golfing since I was 13. I just turned 65 a week ago. I have always been an accomplished golfer. My younger days I could hit my driver and carry it well beyond 275 yards. Now my carry is 220 at its best. I play with a group of seniors that are always complaining about how far they can hit the ball. It is a given, but one that we are all reluctant to believe that as we get older, our ability to hit a golf ball farther is affected. Sometimes I feel that if they could possibly hit it 250 yards that they would be satisified. The hell with the score!!

 Over the years I have lost distance, but odley enough, my scoring is not all that bad. If I get on a par 4, and it is 420 yards, my chances of getting on in regulation are slim. So I don't try to get on in 2. There are other ways of making par. On a hole that length even if I were to hit the green, my chances for birdie are still small. So my thought on my second shot is not to get on the green, but rather to get "around" the green. If my ball ends up on the green that is a plus, but put yourself in a position to have a 50-50 chance to par the hole. All golf courses have holes that are easier than others. Try to do your scoring on them and try not to give up strokes on hard holes.

 My 7 iron has went from 160 yards to now around 145 at its best. But still on par 3's I see people hitting irons that they would have a tuff time hitting if they had a 30 MPH tail wind. You HAVE to be able to adjust to conditions, and the changing in your body. Don't try to hit your 8 iron 140 yards when you know that you can only get 100 yards out of it.

 Lastly, be a good putter, and chipper. I play with some younger fellas sometimes that on my best drive, they are 100 yards ahead of me. They are strong, and can really move the ball, but I think I could probably challenge any one of them to a putting contest, and easily beat them. The seniors I play with complain about their scores, and tell me that if I could get off the tee better, that they would score much better. Then they get over a 2 foot putt and leave it short.

 So tell me what you think!!!

[David in FL]

Sounds a lot like my game...

It ain’t how, it’s how many.  

[billchao]

@golfer2b2000 I agree with your post about accepting the state of your game, but I kind of feel like if you're playing par 4s you can't reach in 2, you should move up a set of tees.

[golfer2b2000]

14 minutes ago, billchao said:

@golfer2b2000 I agree with your post about accepting the state of your game, but I kind of feel like if you're playing par 4s you can't reach in 2, you should move up a set of tees.

To me I do not base my round on my score. I base it on how I played the round. The score is secondary. I would rather play a more difficult course knowing I played well, and maybe not have scored as good then to play an easy course, score well, but not of hit the ball as well as I know I have could. Normally though, playing well normally means that you score well. Again, we have all made a birdie by bouncing a ball off a sand trap rake, or by bouncing it off a tree. This does not dictate as to how you hit that shot.

 If I know I can't reach a par 4 in two, I play it as a par 5, and try to make a 4. If I make a 5, and played the hole well, then just accept it and move on...

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, golfer2b2000 said:

 If I know I can't reach a par 4 in two, I play it as a par 5, and try to make a 4. If I make a 5, and played the hole well, then just accept it and move on...

You aren't playing the hole the way it was designed to be played, though. Bunkers aren't in the right place(s), greens designed to accept perhaps a long-iron you're playing to with a wedge… etc.

Moving up a set of tees strikes me as a better way to play golf the way the course was intended to be played.

[NJpatbee]

I was never an accomplished golfer and started at age 40 so I was never super long.  I do take a similar approach to the OP and my scores are very similar at age 67 to what they were at age 45.  I have shot par on every hole at my new club at least once but there are a few holes (e.g. 435 yard par 4) I cannot reach in regulation.  I do use a cart and can get around in under 3 hours when the course is not crowded. I have read the comments that if you cannot reach every par 4 in regulation that you should move up but I am comfortable counting on a good pitch or chip to give me a par putt.  

[golfer2b2000]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

Moving up a set of tees strikes me as a better way to play golf the way the course was intended to be played.

I can see that you and I are quite different as to the game of golf. That is fine.You are still very young and will learn more as you get older.If I feel I played a good round of golf, but maybe missed a couple putts I should have made, then I am more than satisified with that...

7 minutes ago, iacas said:

Moving up a set of tees strikes me as a better way to play golf the way the course was intended to be played.

I also see that you are from Erie, Pa. Lots of nice courses up there. Lake Chataqua is a great place to play. I have also played the Lake course in Erie, and I see that you have played Green Meadows in Volant Pa. Nice little course which is less than 15 minutes from me...

[David in FL]

Even playing appropriate tees, every now and then most of us will find a hole that stretches us a bit.

My own rule of thumb is that if a set of tees has more than 2 par-4’s that I can’t reach with driver / hybrid, I move up.  For me that’s about 425 yards.  

Unlike the OP, this old guy does NOT enjoy pretending that par-4’s are par-5’s....and I don’t feel like I’m selling out by playing 6,400 yards instead of 6800.

 

[golfer2b2000]

38 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Even playing appropriate tees, every now and then most of us will find a hole that stretches us a bit.

My own rule of thumb is that if a set of tees has more than 2 par-4’s that I can’t reach with driver / hybrid, I move up.  For me that’s about 425 yards.  

Unlike the OP, this old guy does NOT enjoy pretending that par-4’s are par-5’s....and I don’t feel like I’m selling out by playing 6,400 yards instead of 6800.

 

There are many many different ways to play the game of golf on ones golf course. I play off the senior tees when I play with my group of seniors, sometimes even driving that green. But to me there is no challenge as to doing that. So I basically leave the driver in the bag, and hit a 5 or 6 iron, then a nice easy wedge into the hole. Probably more of us also should just leave that driver in the bag.LOL

 And no, you are not selling out David.You also know the beauty, and feeling of hitting a shot just the way you have invisioned in your mind. There is no greater feeling in the game of golf than that...

1 hour ago, iacas said:

You aren't playing the hole the way it was designed to be played, though. Bunkers aren't in the right place(s), greens designed to accept perhaps a long-iron you're playing to with a wedge… etc.

Moving up a set of tees strikes me as a better way to play golf the way the course was intended to be played.

A long iron?? Just what is a long iron???😄

[Zippo]

This discussion has come around before and I think you'll find two (maybe three) schools of thought:

1 - Keep moving forward until you're playing the hole the way others think you should because your score has to be the lowest possible to have any meaning.

2 - Play from the tees that make you feel challenged and let you enjoy the game as long as you can keep up with the group in front of you. Use your score as a record of improvement or a way to keep tabs on your play or for competition within your group. I think this option may be why they invented something called a "Handicap".

3 - (Maybe) If you can't score low enough to challenge Tiger then quit golf and take up checkers or basket weaving.

Personally, I play to have fun and do the best that I can that day. I enjoy the peaceful green scenery and the critters that the course attracts. I enjoyed seeing a baby coyote trotting out onto the 12th fairway a couple of weeks ago. I keep score - and a handicap - to have a record of my improvement slow though it may be. At 68 it doesn't pain me to admit that I'll never be a PGA Tour Pro. I find it thoroughly satisfying when I make solid contact, hear that "click" and feel the club head sending the ball off into the distance. Even if that distance is 50 yards closer to me than it was in my youth and 10 yards left of the target I chose. Moving closer would, to me, feel like cheating and I'm not sure another 15 yards would make much difference anyway.

I've read of people here who were so frustrated with their play that they were giving up golf, briefly or otherwise. I'm not sure if they had tried moving up to the forward most tees or not but I am sorry that they have gotten so serious that they are quitting. To paraphrase - I will quit when the group behind me pries my club from my cold dead hands as they play through.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

Even playing appropriate tees, every now and then most of us will find a hole that stretches us a bit.

There's nothing wrong with a long par 4 that requires good execution with a long iron or hybrid to reach the green.

The problem IMO would be a long par 4 that's impossible to reach even with two well executed shots. That suggests a player is playing off the wrong set of tees.

[70sSanO]

3 hours ago, golfer2b2000 said:

I play with a group of seniors that are always complaining...

Life is tough when you get to sleep in and can play mid-week.

John

[Zippo]

8 minutes ago, billchao said:

There's nothing wrong with a long par 4 that requires good execution with a long iron or hybrid to reach the green.

The problem IMO would be a long par 4 that's impossible to reach even with two well executed shots. That suggests a player is playing off the wrong set of tees.

The White Tees are the closest that men can play at Grandview:

 

[Patch]

Yeah, getting older robs all of us some of our physical attributes. Our golf games are no exception. 

I will turn 70 in a few months, but I can still play a decent game. I can still score better than alot of the long ballers I play with on occasions. This, because I play, and/or practice everyday. I have been forced to trade distance for more accuracy. 

Although I prefer playing from the whites, I will play from which ever set of tees the group wants to play from. Alot of times, the extra stroke it takes me to reach the green, is made up with one less putt. My game lives off par 3s, par 5s, and par. A bogey 1 is now no longer a bad score on a hole. . 

I play the game for the fun of it. I tend to compete against the course conditions, which is the way I think golf should be played. I never considered it a "hard"  game to play. It just wasn't as easy as playing baseball, basketball, football, poker, chess, or checkers. 

In hour, or so, a group of us will be playing in high triple digit weather. We will complain about the heat, and why we are so stupid to be playing in these conditions. At the end of our "Round In Hell",  it won't matter because it's golf, and we are life long friends, still having fun. 

[golfer2b2000]

All is well spoken. I try to create games for myself because a lot of times I play by myself because a lot of those old farts will not get up at 6AM to be out on the first tee at 7AM. Sometimes I will play two balls, and instead of playing the best one, play the not so good one. If I put one on the green, and one off by 5 yards, just pick the one off the green and play it and see if you can save par, or bogey or whatever.

 I am one who loves accuracy, much better than distance. I feel that when I am within my 7 iron,(around 145 yards in) I will be on that green 85% of the time. This may seem high to most, but it is realistic for me. I am not always seeking out the pin, but I do believe that if I am on the green putting for birdie, I have a chance at making it. Even if it is 40 foot away...

[iacas]

4 hours ago, golfer2b2000 said:

I can see that you and I are quite different as to the game of golf. That is fine.You are still very young and will learn more as you get older.If I feel I played a good round of golf, but maybe missed a couple putts I should have made, then I am more than satisified with that...

That's got almost nothing to do with what I've said…?

4 hours ago, golfer2b2000 said:

I also see that you are from Erie, Pa. Lots of nice courses up there. Lake Chataqua is a great place to play. I have also played the Lake course in Erie, and I see that you have played Green Meadows in Volant Pa. Nice little course which is less than 15 minutes from me...

I'm the head instructor at Chautauqua Golf Club, and Lake View and Lakeshore are both in Erie. I've played each many times.

---

My original point is that if you're playing a par four that you can't reach in two, you're probably not playing the course as it was designed, and you should move up a set of tees. You'd likely enjoy golf even more.

[Killa]

You are all saying move up a set of tees. I get that in the US where you have 5 or even more sets of tees. 

 

Over here you usually have 3. Ladies, mens and mens pro tees (in 99% of the cases the ladies pro and men’s regular tees are the same)

Well I (and pretty much everyone I ever seen play) ain’t playing from the ladies tees even if I can’t reach a par 4 in 3...

In some courses there are only two sets of tees - ladies and mens...

 

 

[Patch]

10 minutes ago, Killa said:

You are all saying move up a set of tees. I get that in the US where you have 5 or even more sets of tees. 

 

Over here you usually have 3. Ladies, mens and mens pro tees (in 99% of the cases the ladies pro and men’s regular tees are the same)

Well I (and pretty much everyone I ever seen play) ain’t playing from the ladies tees even if I can’t reach a par 4 in 3...

In some courses there are only two sets of tees - ladies and mens...

 

 

There alot of U.S. courses that, even though they have different sets of tees, the spacing between those combined tees can be as little as 5-10 yards. In those instances, it matters little which tees are use by the different talent levels.