Getting back to the swing of things since retirement.

[pmaru77]

Hi all,

I've been retired for a few years now and decided to take up golf again.  I'm hitting mid 60's (age, not score) and used to play a lot when I was in my 30's.  The best I got handicap wise was 18.  The best round of 9 I've had was 39 twice on a 36 par, so that makes it 3 over for nine holes.  I sure wish I could get back to that.  I've always struggled to get off the tee as I was a fader, slicer, and even a hooker while adjusting too much.  Now that I've seen my swing in slo mo I can understand why I cannot shoot a good score on 9 holes, and dread trying 18 holes.   I've got the good old "coming over the top" swing and my clubhead is outside in at impact. It has always been like this even when I was playing in my 30's.  somehow I figured out how to clean up the mess once near the green. I'm working on trying to fix my swing and have improved some as far as making the over the top not so bad if I pay attention. My bro has sent me info on the "single plane" swing (Moe Harmon?).  It seems like since I have such bad form now that maybe I should try this "simpler" less moving parts swing. My swing is just too unpredictable now and have to fix it so I can get out and play.

[RandallT]

You've found a great place to help you get back into things. Lots of us have taken years off, and pick golf up later in life again. When I came back to golf in my mid/late 40's, I also found the dreaded over the top move, so I can empathize with trying to iron that out. But good news- it's possible!

Browse around and contribute for a while, and definitely check out others' "My Swing" threads under the forum "Member Swings." Eventually, you might feel brave enough to start one, and folks here can provide some pointers for you. Never hurts to get other opinions- not to mention the support to practice and to make progress. We have daily practice threads to help you stay disciplined and see what others or doing- where you can earn a site badge if you do 30days straight. Kinda fun, if you're up for it some day.

Anyway, there's tons of good advice under the "Info" dropdown for instructional content. That'll keep someone busy for a while diving through all that material. But the general philosophy here is not to push any certain swing type (like Moe Norman). The main idea here centers around five fundamentals (known as 5 Simple Keys), and you analyze to figure out which of those fundamentals you are weakest on... then work to fix it.  Rinse/repeat for each fundamental over time (takes time to work on each).

So there's no one single one-size-fits-all swing that anyone here ever points to. We are all different, but there are some commonalities that promote consistency and distance.  Each of us has a different starting point, and we don't need to gut our swings to start out- we just tweak what we've got over time based on the weakest fundamental. Hope that helps you understand where most folks come from here on the site. 

[dennyjones]

Welcome from Michigan.   Your story is like so many others, myself included.    Being retired will give you the time to practice and play to make golf enjoyable again.   Good luck and post often.