Getting Older or Better

[Patch]

Golf is a game we can all play for life. Most of us know this. I figure as long as I have not been "pronounced" I might still have another round in me. Unless of course there is something to all these zombie, walking dead movies. If so, let me apologise now for my staggering,+ slow play. 

Right now, although not scoring as well as when I younger, I am still playing decent, consistent golf. I owe this to staying active. Most of my activity is doing stuff out doors, which requires alot of walking. I don't keep a log, but I average 6-8 miles a day, most days of the week. Most of my meals are in the healthy bracket. A few others, not so healthy. A good pizza, and pitcher of cold beer still works. Golf wise, I do something every day with a club. 

Perhaps this question has been asked before. My apologies if it has. Here's the question. How old do think you will be when you shoot your age?

Myself, I have some years to go. I am thinking late 70s at the earliest, with mid 80s being a more accurate number.  Some where in between those numbers. 

 

[dave s]

I believe shooting your age is probable if you're playing the correct tee boxes for your length off the tee.  Most of us (me included) probably won't ever shoot our age, but we can play well into our senior days.  I certainly intend to!

dave

[Club Rat]

Since my best round ever was 69, would that count on my 69th birthday?

I hope I can better that score someday soon as I age gracefully.

 

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, Patch said:

Perhaps this question has been asked before. My apologies if it has. Here's the question. How old do think you will be when you shoot your age?

Myself, I have some years to go. I am thinking late 70s at the earliest, with mid 80s being a more accurate number.  Some where in between those numbers. 

The usual joke is to just stop after 9 holes.

My guess (and hope) is based upon my experience with my older playing partners is 80. At 80, a golfer who has learned to swing with proper movements can still get 180-200 yards from a driver. The typical bag I have seen is (An expensive gold plated driver with a 40 gram shaft (or lighter), 3W down to 7W, Hybrid from 6H down 8H, 9i, PW, SW, chipper, putter), and Honma would be on the low end of the price spectrum***. The average person that I have observed at this age drives about 180-190 then can reach a 350 yard green pretty reliably with a 7W or Hybrid. Putting and chipping are the parts of their game that are almost pro level or beyond. They very very rarely take more than 2 shots when near the green. I saw one person hit 5 scramble pars and a few regulation ones in the 12 holes I played with him. He's the best I saw and is in the 6-8 handicap flight.

One golfer I played with recently used a gold plated face Kamui driver then teed up his second shot on the 449 yard par 5 with driver again and made the green in "regulation". If he had used a 3W my guess would be he would have bogeyed or parred that hole about half the time. He looked over 90. I'm sure he could easily shoot his age most of the time.

My kids two first tee coaches are in their 70s and have probably shot their ages already. One sounds like a scratch since he played the 7400 yards tees and mentioned that he shot a 74. Didn't witness it, but the two of them have really nice swings. I've never seen them play before, though. However, I just found out that they are actually members of my club. So, I'm sure I'll get to witness their playing.

The hope part is that I am learning to swing in a manner that does not stress any one part of the body that much more, and will allow me to continue to make the same golf swing. The only thing age should do is to gradually reduce the swing arc, if I am learning it correctly?

So, my hope is 80. My wildest dreams is to break 80 sometime in my 70s.

***http://www.tourspecgolf.com/katana-voltio-iv-g-hi-tour-ad-gold-driver

[9wood]

1 hour ago, Patch said:

How old do think you will be when you shoot your age?

 

Most likely never. Currently I am 67 and the best I can do is score an 86. If I'm still playing golf when I'm 80, I don'y expect to score an 80, not even using the senior tee boxes.

[MrFlipper]

I used to belong to a club with zillions of older members, folks playing up until their 90's. This topic came up a lot.

Seems your game deteriorates faster than your age. I've only known two folks (not pros) who shot their age.

One guy shot a 76 before some serious health issues, never got his game back enough to shoot his age again. Once you get sick at that age your strength never comes back enough to play well.

Other guy was a freak of nature, was probably 83 when I knew him and shot all the time in the low 80's for awhile. He was still fit, hit the ball far enough, looked like he was in his low 70's age wise. He had the secret. But his window closed too. Maybe 85 is the upper limit. Father Time gets us all in the end.

When I was younger I thought it would be easy, but as I get older and my game matures (I'm 58 haha) it seems more and more unlikely to me.

[Marty2019]

On 3/8/2016 at 0:31 PM, Patch said:

Golf is a game we can all play for life. Most of us know this. I figure as long as I have not been "pronounced" I might still have another round in me. Unless of course there is something to all these zombie, walking dead movies. If so, let me apologise now for my staggering,+ slow play. 

Right now, although not scoring as well as when I younger, I am still playing decent, consistent golf. I owe this to staying active. Most of my activity is doing stuff out doors, which requires alot of walking. I don't keep a log, but I average 6-8 miles a day, most days of the week. Most of my meals are in the healthy bracket. A few others, not so healthy. A good pizza, and pitcher of cold beer still works. Golf wise, I do something every day with a club. 

Perhaps this question has been asked before. My apologies if it has. Here's the question. How old do think you will be when you shoot your age?

Myself, I have some years to go. I am thinking late 70s at the earliest, with mid 80s being a more accurate number.  Some where in between those numbers. 

 

I don't think I'll ever shoot my age.  I don't think I'll ever be good enough. 

Right now, I feel like I'm in a race against time.  I'm 62, and at some point, probably pretty soon, the aging process will overtake me and my game will fall off.   Until then, I am battling to get better.   But I know I am running out of time. 

Speaking of shooting one's age, I think one of the most remarkable things I've seen recently was Tom Watson shooting 65 in the Open Championship at age 65.   It's one thing for some senior to shoot his age from the senior tees at his local club.   Pretty good.   But to shoot your age in a professional major championship?   Wow.   It got way too little coverage in the media.  

[boogielicious]

I shoot my age all the time....by around the 12 or 13th hole. 

[Marty2019]

34 minutes ago, Marty2019 said:

I don't think I'll ever shoot my age.  I don't think I'll ever be good enough. 

Right now, I feel like I'm in a race against time.  I'm 62, and at some point, probably pretty soon, the aging process will overtake me and my game will fall off.   Until then, I am battling to get better.   But I know I am running out of time. 

Speaking of shooting one's age, I think one of the most remarkable things I've seen recently was Tom Watson shooting 65 in the Open Championship at age 65.   It's one thing for some senior to shoot his age from the senior tees at his local club.   Pretty good.   But to shoot your age in a professional major championship?   Wow.   It got way too little coverage in the media.  

Okay, I have to apologize.   I can't find where Watson shot 65 in the Open Championship, and it's too late to edit my post. 

Edited March 15, 2016 by Marty2019

[PingMike]

I;m just turned 66 and while not playing real good right now still feel sub 80's should be my goal Of course not playing the tips, but 6500 -6700 still very managable.  I'm usually 81 -84. Eliminate those 1 or 2 "other" hole and 1 less 3 putt and I'm a very happy camper.  I find extra stretching  is most important to playing better and reducing back pain and strain.

[Mike Boatright]

I don't know if your 62 years old it will be tough to shoot your age. I think if you take the game seriously by the time your 55 and were once a high cappper at age 38 then realistically you could be a scratch or +3. Say you hit it 25 yards farther in your younger years so what? As you get older your stats indicate you find almost every fairway make a ton of birdies but have some weakness like sand game,3 putting who knows. In other words no reason for your skill to incline dramatically and your distance to decline gradually.

[Osnola]

I am 67 now and really never expect to shoot my age.  If I were shooting my age now, I would be about 94 years old....I just don't envision me dropping 14 strokes by the time I am 80...

I currently play from white tees that are about 5700 to 6000 yards.  At what age do I move to the forward tees, senior tees?

Edited April 14, 2016 by Osnola
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