[LindaSmithIV]

Do you think your best golf is behind you? Do you think you will play any better next year? Stay the same?

I was cleaning out some stuff and found an old CD with my golf stats on it. I have been losing a little less than a stoke a year, on my yearly average, for the past 8 years. Never even thought about it, other than I don't get as many birdies as I use to. So I got to say my best golf is probably behind me, if I don't change the way I am currently playing the game.

[Mimsykzr]

I am down to a 5.5 from about a 15 to 18 handicap over the last 2 years so it is possible to go the other way. Lots of stretching and stay in decent shape. I am going to be 56 in October and I hit it farther, chip and putt better now than ever maybe. My answer is no it is possible to get better with age but it is a lot of work and you have to stay healthy.

[Caluabdum]

i've played much better golf than I have this year, although my handicap has gone down, my golf is going to get better.

[jhfsdhf]

Realistically, at 62 I don't see much chance for improvement, but I am still playing at just about as high a level as I ever have. I don't hit the ball as far as I once did, but my short game is still ok, so my scoring doesn't suffer that much. My handicap index has been in the 10-13 range for most of the last 20 years.

Today I shot my lowest 9 hole score ever on the front 9, a 3 under par 33. I finished with 76 which is my lowest round of the season, and ties my lowest round last year.

When I fail, it's usually mental letdown, not physical, and that hasn't changed over the years either.

[wmcelesta]

I have maintained my h/cap over the past few years,so not getting any worse so far.

[TravelMan]

Obviously, my golf will be getting better, since I'll be playing on tour in a few years.

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[DuePew]

I think the real changes for most people start to come once you hit your 70s or 80s with some minor changes in your 60s. Over the past 20 years, I've watch my father switch from steel shafts to graphite shafts and from blades to cavity backed irons. He's had to make adjustments in club choice as well. He said a lot of the seniors (in their late 70s to late 80s) he plays with aren't willing to admit they can't hit as far and then get angry. The scoring potential is there if you're willing to work with, not fight against your age.

[Sydneyfonzi]

My best golf is ahead of me. Only been playing it for 3 years and I'm only 35.

[c-cialis]

I'm 48. I carded a 76 Sunday and my 'cap index is 5.7 and is trending lower at 5.2. That's the lowest it has been since my twenties. I don't hit the ball as far as I used to, but I'm putting and chipping better. The real reason I'm playing well is I'm playing at least twice a week and actually practicing. This is because my 12 year old daughter wants to be on or at the golf course, and so does my Wife.

Before they were playing it was tough to play more than once a week with a friend. Now he plays more because he plays with us. It's been a real win-win.

I'm hoping to improve going forward, and think I could get to 2. I'm overweight and I smoke, and I know getting healthier would improve my game, and especially my length off the tee. Getting healthier is the plan for the upcoming Cheeseland Winter.

Kevin

[DoctorNelsonOnten]

I'm about to turn 50 and wondered the same thing when I brought the old clubs back out. I can at times play better than I did when I was younger, just not consistantly. I'm more accurate from the fairway, but that may very well just be the new hybrids and wedges.
I may be wrong, but it seems like the courses I play now are a bit tougher as well.

[weluvjessicaalba]

I just turned 46 17 days ago, I've only been golfing steady the last 4 years knocked about 5 to 8 strokes off my avg with these new clubs this year, yeah I'm getting older but I hope to improve even more next year.

[Enjoymms]

I'm 62, but only picked the game up 9 yrs ago. I went down as low as a 6.6, but hover now around 9. I have recently made some equipment changes that I think will start to bring my game back to where it was once I get them dialed in. The only thing I have noticed in the last 9 years is that I do not have the stamina to play every day, or even 3 days in a row WELL. I can play, but my leg drive just isn't there and I tire toward the end of the round on the third day. Other than that, I do not believe my best is behind me.

[DuePew]

Getting healthier is the plan for the upcoming Cheeseland Winter.

Why not get a jump on things and start now?

[Lhiistyssdds]

I'm 44 and I believe my best golf is still yet to come. Being on sea duty in the Navy is not condusive to being able to practice or even play for that matter. I have stuck to a pretty stringent workout regimen and when shore duty comes next year I'll be ready to play twice a week and practice at least that often. My goal is to get to a low single digit handicap. Hopefully there's some truth to the old saw that you're only as old as you feel.

[Unhappu]

I really hope my best golf is yet to come. I broke 70 a bunch of times around 98-01, but things have been going reasonably steadily downhill since then. If I get over my yip, then I'll be back to being as good as I ever have been. I'm definitely young enough that my best golf could be ahead of me, but if it is, then it's going to be pretty good. I also probably need to play more if I want that to happen. Chances of that right now are pretty good as a couple of new friends play fairly regularly. Once a week would be enough to get me back on song (without the damned and blasted yip that is).

[evennyNiz]

I've played more this year than in years past, and though my scores haven't dropped significantly, my ball-striking is much improved with every club in the bag. I'm still getting used to my clubs, of which everything except for the FWs I've had for < 1 year. I like what I have and don't intend on changing anything for quite a few years. Having said all that, I think my best golf is yet to come.

[Alkassyinhisk]

Good thread!

I'm almost 46. 4-5 years ago, I got down to a 2.3 index. My game slowly deteriorated to 8-10 as late as last year. I couldn't help but think my best game was behind me, which was discouraging. But something turned around. I give credit to a tip I received from Andy, our resident pro. It got me back to the range with a purpose. My enthusiasm is back, I am excited to play every weekend, and I'm now down to a 4, trending to under 3 again.

Now, looking back and comparing my game today to when I was playing well 5 years ago, my driving is not as consistent, my short game is about the same, but I am still as long (probably somewhat due to technology), and my approaches are better, especially with my hybrids. In fact, I now play 3 wood off the tee much more often because I don't dread having a long iron in.

[grosqueneen]

I think that losing one's "chops" as one gets older in golf is largely a myth that can be directly attributed to the PGA Tour.

We are constantly reminded of players on tour having left their best days behind them as they approach fifty years of age. But the thing that I don't think many people realize is that when a tour pro turns fifty, he has probably already hit well over a million full swing shots and that, combined with the mental grind of high-level competition adds up to his having "used up" his body and his mind.

But on the amateur level, even someone who plays a couple of times a week and visits the driving range a couple of more times a week is not hitting anywhere near the amount of golf balls as a pro does in a thirty year span. So the way I see it, I (at 51 years of age) still have a lot of quality swings left in me because I haven't burned my body up like the pro's have.

When I was younger, I used to get away with some swing flaws because I had great upper-body strength especially in the "twitch" reflexes needed to swing a golf club. So what I lacked in technique, I usually made up for in brute force or just a very quick "top down" delivery of the club to the ball.

But as I've gotten older, that upper body speed and power isn't quite what it used to be, so I've gradually become more aware of mechanics and nuance in my swing and as a result, I've actually ADDED distance to my game. For example, for years my 8-iron was my "150 club" which I consistently hit to 152 yards almost like clockwork. But today, my average 8-iron is around 155 or so. My "old" 6-iron distance was around 175 -76 yards and today it's right around 180.

Some will say that it's the equipment, but I'm playing basic forged irons with steel shafts and no special "science" to them and my ball of choice is a ProV1, which is not considered a "distance" ball. What I think is happening is that in the last few years, I've begun to really understand the nuances of a good swing and good mechanics and I now swing more efficiently and more purposefully than I did say, twenty years ago. As a result, I find that I'm getting more accurate and a bit longer overall while using less effort and that can only be because my swing has become more efficient and I'm using my entire body more than I used to.

My putting and chipping have always been the strongest part of my game and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Physically, I feel more like I'm in my late thirties (despite a few aches and pains now and then) and mentally I'm still a kid so all in all, I don't see why I can't actually play even better as I go through my fifties and beyond.

To me it's not about age as much as it's about attitude and since I haven't used up my body as many (if not most) professionals do by this age, I figure that as long as I stay healthy, I can look forward to perhaps some of the best golf I've ever played.


-JP

[Unhappu]

my ball of choice is a ProV1, which is not considered a "distance" ball.

Nice post JP and while I agree that a ProV1 isn't technically a distance ball, it would be compared with something like the old Titleist balatas. Those things went nowhere compared with the balls of today. Now an old pinnacle or top-flite or molitor or similar would probably have gone further than a pro v1 (I would guess anyway), but by god did you pay for it with the lack of spin. The real gain in the golf ball is a ball that goes like an old two piece distance ball, but spins like an old balata (though not as much granted).

[grosqueneen]

Nice post JP and while I agree that a ProV1 isn't technically a distance ball, it would be compared with something like the old Titleist balatas. Those things went nowhere compared with the balls of today. Now an old pinnacle or top-flite or molitor or similar would probably have gone further than a pro v1 (I would guess anyway), but by god did you pay for it with the lack of spin. The real gain in the golf ball is a ball that goes like an old two piece distance ball, but spins like an old balata (though not as much granted).

Having played balata's for years (and loving them to death), I agree that the ProV1 is a longer ball. So I might modify my argument to say that if I haven't gotten longer, I've at the very least, maintained my distance from years ago.

But the rest of my post still stands; that intellect and attention to mechanics and technique win out over brute force and as such renders the issue of "being fifty", moot.


-JP