There is an old saying that there are two things we can't avoid in life: death and taxes. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we have to add another to the list. For golfers, the 3rd unavoidable, inescapable fact of life is hitting it shorter. Sorry, but that is a fact of life and physics. Mort asks about his loss of distance for his driver and basically all his clubs and asks for my help. The only help I can give him is the answer to why this is happening to him and all of us along with a pep talk and some life and playing advice.
MORT GOODKIN says:
I am reading your book and trying. So far holding club with 3 fingers of left hand firm is best advice. Nothing else seems to have improved distance. Not devoid of athletic ability'formerly nationally ranked tennis player'now 82, playing golf heavily since 75 yrs of age. Distance fading each year. Cut down on backswing (everyone thinks I'm nuts'but as a back sufferer I was glad to do this). Can't seem to drive more than 150-170 on a good day. Pitching wedge-65-80 yards. 5'7'…160 lbs. Chipping and putting not bad.
Thanks in advance …
The Surge says:
Hello everyone! From the second we are born, we are from then on dying. Fortunately, for many years, around 50 of them, we perform most all our tasks on a pretty level and equal degree of physical ability and athleticism, barring developing any physical problems. Then, varying in age, from person to person, our skills may still remain intact, but our athleticism begins to decline. Slowly at first, then it can start to say bye, bye at a much more accelerated pace. Why? Because we are getting older. Growing older or aging is a fact of life.
One of the big changes that happens to our bodies as we age is our muscles don't work as well. We lose flexibility and suppleness and we slow down. And as our bodies slow down, so does the movement of all parts and appendages of our body. The bad news here is that as our body slows down, especially our legs and the swinging of our arms, so to does our golf ball slow down. A slower golf ball goes less far. Less far is shorter drives and needing to hit more club for all shots.
So, first and foremost, we have to 'slow down' this slowing down by working out and eating better and living better. We need to get on good and healthy diet and nutrition eating programs. And then we need to start working out on good flexibility, strength and conditioning programs, and cardio workouts. Naturally, we need to see our doctors for advice on what we should and or should not do and how much we can do. And we should all seek out professional advice and assistance from experts in diet and nutrition, and for our strength, flexibility and cardio training programs.
Now for our golf game, I run into this distance dilemma in many lessons. The fact is it is not a dilemma, but a fact of life. I always explain it in the same manner. Older = Slower. Slower = Shorter. I then go on and say that I know in my life, as I am sure in the student's life that there are many tasks we can still do, and do well. But what we can't do is do them in the same time and at the same speed as we did in times past. I point out that I know many long distance runners and swimmers who can still run and swim as far as in years past. But now they can't do it nearly as fast. It takes longer and, as we add on the years, we also add on more time because we slow down.
Golfers also slow down. We walk slower, and we swing slower. As we age, the legs and arms slow down just like runners and swimmers. Slower arms = slower club = less club head speed = less distance. This is aging and physics and can't be altered or changed, but just lived with and adjusted. Our drives will get shorter as will every other club in the bag. We adjust by having to club up to hit the same distance. We adjust by working harder on our putting and short game to get to be wizards around and on the green. We lose speed but we won't lose touch. In fact we gain touch when we work more at it. We adjust by teeing up. That is moving up and playing the course from a shorter set of tees. Teeing up is perhaps the best and smartest thing to do to maintain a level of enjoyment, accomplishment and satisfaction in playing. This is no different than getting strokes in a match from a lower handicap player. Teeing up is getting strokes from the course.
We can also adjust by visiting our PGA Professional and/or club fitter and seeing if they can make adjustments with our clubs that can help your slower swing get more club head speed. This usually happens by going to lighter steel shafts or to graphite shafts as lighter can be swung faster. They usually will use shafts that are softer/weaker and have more load and kick to increase club head speed as more speed = more distance. The point here is adjustments in equipment can help slow down the loss of body, leg and arm speed by getting some new found speed from your clubs that fit your now slower moving body and arms.
Growing old SUCKS! But there is nothing we can do but accept it and embrace it. We embrace it by thinking and feeling young. Unfortunately, thinking and feeling is not enough. The primary ingredient to fighting or holding off aging in our bodies is working on staying healthy and vibrant and FIT. For our golf, it is playing smart by using properly fitted equipment, becoming short game wizards and playing from shorter tees.
The Surge!