Aging and Swing Speed

[Sean2]

Which is why I said earlier carts are great...there are a lot of folks who couldn't play this game without them. On really hot/humid days my cardiologist insists I take a cart as my BP plummets. On those days I make sure and play very early, when it is still relatively cool.

[Sean2]

Nothing to be embarrassed about. No one will care, and if they do they aren't worth knowing anyway. I occasionally play with some senior seniors who play the forward tees and I admire them for doing that...it makes the game more enjoyable for them...having the occasional birdie putt more than compensates for what others might think. They walk off the course smiling, as opposed to frustrated because they can't reach most par 4's in regulation. That all said, play the tees that gives you the most enjoyment, play the game that gives you the most enjoyment...be it playing blades, using iron head covers, have a staff bag, a bag full of hybrids, or whatever. It's not like how you enjoy the game affects anyone's bank balance, so they should simply mind their own business. :-)

[Yuck]

I turn 60 in a few months and time has taken its toll on speed. I was long as a young man and still had low 170’s ball speed in my early 40’s. At 50, I played my last US Am qualifier, and was down to the mid 160’s ball speed. My last Mid am Qualifier about 4 years ago, I shot in the mid 80’s and got “the letter”, By the time I retired I was down to 160BS. Last week, I saw I was down to 103 SS and barely 150 BS. I have lost about 15 yards on my long irons and 10 on my short ones. I am stronger and in better condition than I was 10 or 15 years ago, but that does not equal speed. Worse of all, the last few years I yip under pressure and my wife can beat me on not so rare occasions. For whatever reason, I still play the game and delude myself that it will get better.

[ZipinZ]

Interesting thread .... 64 today 65 this July 26th retired in 2010, I'm 6 ft 190lbs and very flexible, walk & Push a cart back home get 60-70 rounds in a year, here now in Palm Springs at the Desert Princess G&CC for 3 months, walk every day or ride my bike in the gated community & down the wash to Ramon, golf a couple times a week & some range time in between, the hot tub & cold beer helps my sore back.

Bought the Garmin Approach G80 here last year, it's helped improve my swing & today on the range I was finally was seeing some decent Tempo #s in the 3.2 & 3.4 range, unfortunately forgot the camera. Going back tomorrow for another practice session, playing Fantasy Springs, Eagle Falls on Monday. The secret is stay loose & flexible, it helps make a full shoulder turn and with a little lag in the swing, power through the ball, my P.B. drive back home was 293 Yds this past August under dry course conditions and 3100 ft above sea level. Hope the back holds out & my swing follows me home in April.

Time to flip the steaks .... it's BBQ night.

Cheers

David

 

 

 

[Pepperturbo]

Generally, we drive to the ball unless conditions prevent driving on the fairway. If it's cart path only, that IMO, makes using a cart much slower than walking. The other factor is whether or not those in the cart have common-sense. Those that lack it, leave carts 50-75 yards behind and walk to their ball, sometimes up to the green then have to walk back to get the cart contributing to slow-play

[Les Strokes]

I'm 64. I gained 10 mph with all clubs. SS now 114-116 with driver. I can hit my 35* iron 190 consistently if it want to.

Two crucial changes; 1. stretching, 2. Shawn Clement

 

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Up to 151 BS range balls. Looking at a Mevo+ or buying my friend’s XI to monitor my speed over the next month and a half. Love pounding balls past many younger players! I’ll enjoy it while I still can LOL.

[maverick]

As you age each year makes more of a difference in my experience. The change from 68-73 was like the Grand Canyon. It's not comparable to 48-53 or any other 5 year period. I was hitting my drives about 245 at 68 y/o, now if I reach 200 I am ecstatic. I DO have some swing faults that need to change and I am working on that now. I believe I can increase my SS with some work.

[Obee]

Hello!

Interesting stuff here. Few questions:

What was your handicap spread last year?

What was your low differential last year?

I'm curious about your "I play to a 6 or 7" on truly long courses statement. I'm a 0 to +1 everywhere. Tees don't matter. And I carry driver 215 to 220 in the winter. 235 max in the summer.

Do you just not play enough on long courses to acclimate yourself to the kind of grinding it takes to shoot around the course rating? Is your short game not a strength?

 

[TimK1]

I'm not sure what a spread is? It is 3.4 now.

I think it is probably more mental than anything. You would think I should be the same basically anywhere but I shoot 72 at my home course and 78 on courses I don't know or longer ones. My short game is good. I would say hitting more greens from further out is a weakness.

I have put in a ton of time with my long irons the last few months. I do not play outside my home club very often. Just tournament play. I spend enough to have a membership so I stick with my home course. I'm gonna challenge myself more by playing the tips this year on a regular basis and see if I can't turn this into a strength.

[dpb5031]

Curious what the course rating is on your home track from your regular tees? Practically guaranteed that the longer courses that you're competing on have significantly higher course ratings. Point being that those 78s might be much closer to the course rating.

Remember, a scratch player is generally expected to have the ability to play to the course rating on a good day. Given the challenge of playing an unfamiliar course with a significantly higher rating and under tournament conditions, it could be that those 78s are better (relative to your handicap) than you think.

[TimK1]

I had to look it up. The slope is 131 from the tees I play now. It's 6373 hundred yards. It says the par is 71.1 rating? I'm not sure what that means. You might be right though. I looked up the last tournament I played and the Slope is 129, course rating is 73.1 and it was 7016 yards.

I played well there only because it was a links course and I could run the ball a lot so it didn't feel like it was that long. My course feels much longer or plays longer and it's 700 yards less. I shot 77 there.

[dpb5031]

The course rating, not slope rating is what a scratch player should generally be looking at. As a scratch player, the higher the course rating, the higher your scores will be (theoretically). The back tees of longer courses are going to have course ratings significantly higher than 71 or 72.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

I’m definitely doing something wrong... but that’s likely been established in another thread.

[br61]

I did. My club pro talked me into buying them. On 2nd session, I pulled something in my right shoulder doing lefty swing. I said screw it and sold them to someone else. It took me 5-6 weeks before I felt normal. It wasn't fun trying to swing with bum right shoulder.

I'm 58 now with driver swingspeed in low 100's. I played from tips today(wet 6950 yds) and it felt really nice because I needed more practice with my longer clubs on the course. My wimpy friends hates to play from the back tees and all last year I have noticed my mid irons suffered from that lack of on course reps. My HC stays the same from either tees anyway.

[cubanstogie]

I was reading your post and actually thought I might have posted it. Im 52 , 10 years ago ss with driver 117, about 8 years ago ball speed was 170 at fitting I remember fitter telling me ss wasnt working correctly. Im been doing cross fit for 6 years and didn't think Id lose SS. So last year Callway Demo day and my driver ball speed was 153-153 with 1.49 smash factor, ss was 103. Long story short I know longer buy exotic shafts for driver, I hit the stock tensei blue better than the 300 dollar shafts. Irons have only dropped about 5 yards or half a club, but my bombs are now 285 instead of 300 plus. Its frustrating, I just don't play anything over 7000 and prefer 6600 yards. Its like eyesight, eventually its going. But my index is 3.8 and with short game practice I know I can get to a 1 or 2.

[TimK1]

Ok,

So the Back Tes at my home course , the course rating is 72.3. That is what it says on the scorecard. I honestly don't know anything about how this stuff is calculated. I just play and record the scores, the system does the rest. 3.4 is pretty accurate then. I don't normally play from the back tees so that rating is 70.1. I usually will shoot between 72 to 75. I'll shoot 75 to 78 from the back tees.

The last tournament I played, the course rating was 73.1 and I shot a 78. Guess it is pretty accurate then.

I have a few things I need to improve on if I want to get better than this. I have been kinda of stuck at this number for a long time.

[bpink21901]

It seems that would be the golf version of the circle of life for me. When i started playing in early early 70's as a spindly smallish teen, jr clubs were not very good at all. Tried cutting down a few different clubs but I ended up with best results using a ladies driver and 3 wood. I had to paint them black since the robin egg blue would have exposed me to unbearable HS golf team ridicule at that age! I guess I am lucky now that when i move into my 80's the ladies shafts & clubs will blend in easier.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Many of the older folk are colorblind to pink anyway.

[Joe Duffer]

Have you considered a ladies shaft or driver? - You need to go as light as you can possibly find...

Learn to hit a high draw...

Find a good fitter who has lots of options (heads/shafts)to try and max that sucker out...

GOOD LUCK! ?

 

[Sean2]

Your post reminds me of a story a fitter once told me. A guy came in for a driver fitting and he brought his current driver. He hit everything, different shafts, etc., and there was no gains over his current driver. So the fitter wanted to try one more thing. Gave him the club, and the guy was getting a legit 20 yards more distance. After hitting a number of drives...and seeing the distance gains...he looked at the shaft and it had an "L" for the flex. The guy turned around, looked at the fitter and said, "I'm not playing any ladies flex shaft! I only play stiff flex!"

Not only did the guy leave 20 yards on the table, but he insisted on buying a driver with a stiff shaft, that was no better than his current driver. Guys and their egos...lol.

I would play a pink, Hello Kitty shaft if it got me 20 more yards. :-)

[maverick]

Yes I have tried ladies shafts and they were too whippy. I talked to an instructor about my not proportional distances with a driver and he pointed out some basic flaws in my swing. I am not getting enough weight to my front foot so now I am working hard on that. The shafts that fit me the best are regular shafts that are on the senior side or a stiffish senior. One problem I have with senior shafts is the lower kick point which just sends the ball higher but not longer. I have no problem with getting the ball in the air. My 3 and 5 woods are Callaway Rogue clubs and I play them with regular shafts and hit them well but could improve. The pro that has seen me swing thinks I should be at least about 80 MPH. I would like to get fitted but I find most places with launch monitors are either broken or no one knows how to use them. It's over 200 miles for me to go down to Phoenix and get fitted but that is probably one of my best choices except for the swing flaw correction.

[Les Strokes]

could one solution possibly be to get a softer flex but get it tipped?

[Sean2]

Could you get fitted at one of the private clubs in your area? My club does fittings for anyone, you don't have to be a member. And, you wouldn't be hitting into a screen, or indoors. Ours is "indoors", but you hit out to the range...kinda like hitting out of a garage with a really big door, along with trackman, video, etc, included.

[maverick]

I did tip the club with the ladies shaft but not enough, I guess. If manufactures would be more uniform on flex specs it would make things much easier. I stay away from Taylormade now because their shafts are stiffer than Callaways for me. I did belong to a private club here for a few years and might give them a try. BTW, it must be a real nice club to do that for golfers. I'll find a fitter somewhere.

I played with a twosome a few days ago with one player at 90 y/o. I didn't out drive him by much. :-( However the rest of my game was OK. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact the I hit my 3 wood (Callaway Rogue regular shaft) really good. My short game is a chip and a putt for par. Once I get this driver situation resolved I have a good chance to get on in regulation.

[Pepperturbo]

I don't understand OEM's should be more uniform in their flex specs. I use to think that but eventually realized I wasn't taking into account the big picture. If flex or equipment specs were OEM uniform I most likely wouldn't be playing my current shafts, irons or woods, but forced to play what fits average. When wishing, we must look past personal ideal to see downstream the good and bad result from the domino effect.

If uniform, which manufactures flex or specs do all other related manufactures emulate? The one's you chose or the one's I chose? How about the one that average high-cap golfer chooses? Once we go down that road it will influence other sectors. Could mean everybody will be wearing one of three styles of pants. I get it, different specs call for forethought, testing and often takes too much time to find the right answer, even money, which can be frustrating. I know, been testing for awhile now. However, diversity in American products align with the diversity in the people; the American way. My 2cents.

[scomac2002]

I think that we make it too difficult trying to be too fine. They have always said that the enemy of a good plan is the search for a perfect plan. If a ladies club gets the job done, so be it. I have a friend who plays a ladies 14° driver with an NV 55 A shaft. It works and it was cheap. A fitter at a private golf shop in Florida hooked him up and gave him his long game back. There once was a time when Freddy Couples played a ladies fairway wood unbeknown to him and it worked out just fine.
I think I'm with @Pepperturbo on this because if every manufacturer did it the same and they were all adhering to Mizuno specs or Callaway specs I probably couldn't buy off the rack as easily as I can with Taylormade or Cobra or Cleveland. I've done the custom fitting thing before and while there maybe marginal gains, I find it difficult justifying the cost benefit versus an approximate self fitting/aftermarket adjustment. I just haven't seen the results being borne out consistently on the scorecard. It just goes to show you that so much of scoring has so little to do with how exact your equipment fit is.
I don't have a lot tied up in my bag at present. None of it was purchased new at retail. But, I've spent thousands over the years getting to that point. I suppose that's the downside of trial and error, but there were a couple of fittings in that journey with big bucks laid out for the custom fitted clubs. I don't own those anymore. I could still play them, but they never worked out to be quite the bee's knees that the fitter purported them to be.

[Pepperturbo]

Agree! Recently playing with my wife, she asked me to is if I could hit her 12* driver with woman's graphite "R" shaft. I busted it down the middle close to where I hit my driver. She asked me how I did that and I said adjusted my swing knowing the shaft was a noodle. Then she says why don't I do that instead of buying something new? I said, no way, not without a shaft change like Freddy. It maybe supports your statement of "too fine", as well as minutia creates jobs in golf and related markets. Uniform across OEM eliminates minutia and also a lot of jobs.

You also bring up another good point. Of four attempts with fitters, the cost benefit of high-end fitting hasn't shown value to me either. Only one club builder/fitter demonstrated value. Therefore, an argument can be made that says human nature actually works against the fitting process and or coping with a lack of choice. If that were not true, we wouldn't see not long after expensive fitting, people changing equipment believing what they purchased isn't working. No, they are not invalidating fitted equipment as much as demonstrating how much choice drives human nature.

This "I could still play them, but they never worked out to be quite the bee's knees that the fitter purported them to be." makes my point. I don't want to imagine if OEM companies were forced to adhere to any uniform equipment code, destroying choice. Have a good weekend.