Senior Golfer desires to begain again anew

[luggage]

I am 69 yrs old, retired from Army and recovering from back surgery.  Can't do anything abut the 69 (I never apologize for living longer) while in the Army I played a lot of golf, even played in the 80s for a few years.  In my youth I loved hitting 2, 3, 4 and 5 irons and hit them fairly well for a duffer.  Later in life I flattened out my swing and seem to hit my fairway woods better than my irons since I was sweeping the ball.  Thought came to me,"why not replace my long irons with woods(3 iron for 3 wood), (4 iron for 5wood), (4 iron for 6 wood), (5iron for a 7wood), (6iron for a 9wood) and so on.  You see the problem,at least one of them is my slow swing speed about 80-90 mph and I do not hit down and through the ball.  I sweep it and I seemed to have more success with wood that irons.  This may sound radical but I want to enjoy the game and what success I can muster.  I am going to schedule  some golf lessons, I'm wonder if I should bring my 3-6 irons or try to convince him I can have more success with the woods. I remember a comment by Jack Nicklaus one time when asked about men carry so many wood..  He initially said he just past that off as folks that didn't under stand the game. But later he came to gain a better appreciation of the advantages of some different woods. Any advice that anyone would care to share would be appreciated. I am not going to try to impress anyone and starting over seem a bit silly at mu age

Thank You

[iceman777]

try some hybrids instead of long irons , 3 , 4 5 . good luck.

[Raymond]

I'm 70 and started back 2 years ago after a major health hit and long layoff. I agree with iceman777 you should try hybrids. If you haven't played for a while then hybrids showed up while you were gone. When you take your lessons, find a pro that will bring a fairway wood and a hybrid to the lesson and analyze your swing with all three options: iron, hybrid, wood. If a pro doesn't have them your local golf shop will loan you clubs to take to the lesson. Then go with what you do best with. That's what I did and I stayed with my irons because I didn't do as well with the hybrids and woods, but I did much better with the hybrids than the woods. I play with other 70-somethings so be forewarned that regardless of your equipment fate has slowed your stride and you have to deal with that. Most par 4s are automatically par 5s for me and there's not a club in existence that will change that. A round of bogey golf used to depress me, but now it's a good day. Good luck.

[David in FL]

Good on ya! Make sure your clubs (shafts especially) fit your current swing. Your old ones will likely not, and there's been a lot of advances made in golf club technology. I agree that you'll likely find that hybrids are your friend. What you may have lost in distance, you can certainly make up for in short game acumen. Spend an inordinate amount of practice time around the green and you'll rapidly become known as "that pain in the ass old guy that doesn't hit it very far but still kicks everyone's butt"! Welcome back to the madness!

[dak4n6]

Originally Posted by David in FL

Good on ya!

Make sure your clubs (shafts especially) fit your current swing. Your old ones will likely not, and there's been a lot of advances made in golf club technology. I agree that you'll likely find that hybrids are your friend.

What you may have lost in distance, you can certainly make up for in short game acumen. Spend an inordinate amount of practice time around the green and you'll rapidly become known as "that pain in the ass old guy that doesn't hit it very far but still kicks everyone's butt"!

Welcome back to the madness!

Ditto. Those guys drive me nuts! We have a number of them at my club. But, I have to admire them for their skills and ability to adapt and make the most of what they have.

[luggage]

Thanks for the input. I have another question.  Somewhere along the way I picked up a Nicket 3DX Iron wood 2/17 degrees.  I think I probably bought it when I first read about hybrids.  What is the difference between this club and say a 17 degree Adams wood?  Additionally, given the ambiguity associated with the term "average golfer", about how far should this club hit the ball, assuming a good swing?

[Ricepr]

3-5 hybrid, short game to die for, kick the younguns asses! Thas what i'm trying, but not there yet. Good luck

[DocWu1948]

I am 64. Two guys I know have done what the OP mentioned, which is switching even the short irons   for 19 woods and 21 woods (my numbers may be off). They keep an iron for chipping and a few wedges. They're playing bogey golf.

I use a 5 and 6 hybrid, and dropped my 4H in favor of a utility/rescue wood.

[onesome]

Hybrids are the viagara for long irons.

[Chas]

Originally Posted by David in FL

Spend an inordinate amount of practice time around the green and you'll rapidly become known as "that pain in the ass old guy that doesn't hit it very far but still kicks everyone's butt"!

Yes, that's the guy I wanna be when I grow up

As an old fart of 60 I hit it further than some of the young'uns but it doesn't do me much good at the end of the day.  So I'm starting to practice chipping as much as anything else.

I use a 3H quite often (play it like an iron, not a wood, i.e. hit down a bit) as well as a 5W, but I still like my 4i and 5i.  Maybe I'll switch these out too when I get even more decrepit.