Life is funny. When we are younger, we all want to be older.
Old enough to drive, old enough to be legal in bars and restaurants, and old enough to be out on our own to live a more independent life.
As we get older things begin to change. We realize that that sheltered life wasn’t that bad and we soon start to experience what getting older can really be like.
Most people are able to live a relatively healthy life through their twenties, thirties and forties. However things begin to change as we enter our fifties. We all start to ‘lose things’. Besides the obvious things like daily possessions such as car keys and wallets and remote controls, we start losing more important things that we tended to take for granted in our former years.
Golfers all want to be better the more that we play. However as we get older we start losing some of those things that are needed to perform and play the game at a more competitive level.
We all lose both our physical strength and to some degree our flexibility as we age. Our energy levels, our eyesight, and even our memories are not what they used to be. Some of us even lose our hair, our patience, and even our sense of balance changes as we age.
Getting older however, is not all that bad. They say that like wine, people get better with age. We are smarter as we get older and have more experience than our younger counterparts. Most of us have been able to raise families, travel, and share our knowledge and experiences with our families and our friends.
I work with golfers every summer that are having problems coming to grips with the aging process. They can’t drive the ball as far as they used to, playing a full round of 18 is becoming too much, and even their kids are starting to beat them on the golf course.
One of my favourite sayings has to be, “Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill”. It is one of those truisms in life that really makes sense.
If you find that you are starting to lose distance from the tee, then work harder on hitting more fairways. You may simply have to work on hitting your mid irons better for your approach shots, where you used to hit your wedges into the greens. Hybrid clubs are not only more forgiving than your old 3 or 4 iron, but they are easier to hit and they give you more distance.
Playing the proper tee blocks will also help you improve both your scoring and your enjoyment of the game. Some men simply need to learn to leave their egos at home and realize that different tees on a golf course are there to help level the playing field!
If you are finding that you are taking a few extra strokes to reach the green, then simply brush up on your short game. Learn to chip, pitch, and putt better so that you can scramble better to make those pars and even bogies when you get into trouble. I get more pleasure making a good ‘up and down’ than from making one good swing from the tee.
The lowest eighteen hole score ever posted by a senior golfer was 102. He shot both his age and lived to tell about it!
Next Week : Changes on the PGA Tour
Cameron Burechails (Teaching Professional), The Georgian Bay Golf Academy at Meaford Golf Club (705)441-0865, baygolfacademy@bell.net or www.meafordgolf.com.
