Can We Get Better As We Get Older?

This past Saturday when I was working at the Centennial Teaching and Fitting Center, I was talking with Des Mahoney about some of the recent success I have had since taking three lessons from him. Quite frankly, I have not been so excited about my golf and the potential to play great golf in years. Not only am I striking the ball more solidly, but I have learned things from the lessons with him that are also helping me to improve my short game - the part of my game where I most often lose strokes. If you are looking to improve your golf swing and golf game, I am confident he can help you - www.desmahoneygolf.com.


While I was talking with him, he said something that has stuck with me for the past few days. It was "Golf is one of the few games where we can get better as we get older." Wow - what a fun thing to contemplate!


Having said this, however - I do not think there is a magic bullet (too bad!). If someone truly wants to improve in golf as you get older (or actually at any age), here are what I would suggest are the key pieces to that puzzle....


1. Get great instruction - learn the key elements of a good golf swing. And this does not mean, I think, that you have to swing perfectly.


2. Commit to spending some time each day, if you can, to get the feel of the swing changes you are making. My "higher power" probably realizes I am making some practice swings in the basement before I go to work - for me this helps me to really get the feel of the improvements I am attempting to achieve.


3. Practice in such a way that you learn to make your swing improvements a habit. I can recommend here some of the past articles and posts in Carey Mumford's "Clear Key Golf" web site (I have discussed this site before...think it is www.clearkeygolf.com). Carey's "32 ball drill" is a good one - hit 4 shots working on mechanics, 4 shots where you hit shots as you would on the course, and repeat this sequence 4 times.


4. Play with clubs that fit your swing and how you swing. And this includes a proper putter fitting. Des and I are finding more and more that our teaming together in teaching and fitting is the best way to help golfers achieve the most rapid improvement.


5. And, no surprise - learn the key elements of a good short game - good chipping, pitching, and sand game technique, and a good putting stroke - and practice these to engrain them in your golf game habits.


The great thing about our game is that all of the above things are not impossible to do - and the carrot in doing them is lower scores, more pars and birdies, and more fun playing golf.


MORE PGA DRIVER LENGTH DATA.... There were two data points in the August Golf Digest. Dustin Johnson plays a 45 inch length driver. Bubba Watson, the longest driver on the PGA tour the past few years, plays a 44-1/2 inch driver. Length of most drivers that you can buy in golf stores - 45-1/2 inches to 46 inches.


Tony

A Surprisingly Good Day!

My dream for this Monday was to get to play golf, which should normally be possible in East Tennessee. But a combination of snow today (maybe the only snow day this year?) and my getting a cold kept me from doing that.

SO......I decided to read one of the two golf club-related books that I purchased for myself over the holidays. I read - cover to cover, have not done that in a long time - "The Mad Science of Golf," by Philip Moore. Phil is a clubmaker, but this book is about way more than clubmaking. If you are looking to read something that truly might help you to identify strategies to help you play better golf, I am not sure you can do much better than reading this book.

I could discuss for pages the concepts that he discussed in the book but two of them stick out to me in terms of what I love about building great golf clubs for people....

MAKING SOLID BALL CONTACT. As I get older, I think I am understanding more and more how this can help me and others play our best golf. I used to be able to hit my 8 iron 150 yards, and often still think I can - but normally get much better results if I back off to a 7 iron or 6 iron for a 150 yard shot. Helping people to play clubs that they can use to Make Solid Contact is a big part of what I do when I fit people to the right club length, flex and flex profile, and club and shaft weight. One of my friends who I play with (Dr. S, you know who you are) never seems to attempt to hit the ball hard (except some drives after poor holes, but we all do that?) but always seems to make great contact. When you hit the ball solidly your confidence soars, you relax and enjoy the game more. This is a great concept to pay attention to.

HAVING THE RIGHT SET OF GOLF CLUBS. Phil Moore suggests this is the most important thing that he does when he fits players for clubs - getting them to play clubs that they can hit well. To me this includes things like playing more lofted fairway woods so you can get the ball airborne, playing hybrid clubs maybe even down to your 5 iron instead of playing irons that are harder to hit, and not carrying a lob wedge if you cannot hit that club well. Again, all of this revolves around that "confidence" word - if you hit solid shots with the clubs that you have, you are a long way toward being able to score well in golf.

In the end then the day was not so bad after all................but still hoping for good weather on Friday!



Tony