Wished I was young again

[warbirdlover]

I got done with my 18 today (37 on the front and 44 on the back for a 81) and just wandered around the clubhouse watching some others tee off and finish the holes. (I didn't want to go home as SWMBO would give me some jobs to do). There was a group of (college age?) athletic looking flatbellies walking up to the first (blue) tee all carrying one or two irons. This is a 550 yard par five and they ALL striped them right down the middle and longer then I can hit my driver consistently (probably over 250-260 yards). The thing I noticed was the trajectory difference on their shots vs. my driver. Their balls started out low and then just climbed and climbed about half the shot distance. I've never hit a shot like that. I would think you'd have to have some serious (good kind of) ball spin for that to happen. In any case I wished I could have played like that when I was young. It took me 20 years of hacking around before I met a guy who was a former college golfer and who completely cleaned up my swing. Well mostly anyway. Then I've found a great teaching pro that I go to if I have problems that gets me back on track in about five minutes. I still suck but you should have seen me when I was these guys age!

 

[SiberianDVM]

I played a tourney Saturday. One of the guys in my foursome had his driver swing speed checked by the Bridgestone guys:

130 mph.

He hit driver and 5 iron on a 520 yard par 5, uphill, and was 20 yards OVER the green. The next hole, a 290 yard par 4, uphill, he hit driver, landed it on the green, and bounced 20 yards over.

Luckily for me, on any shot less than 150 yards, he didn't have a club short enough, and he couldn't putt or chip for shit.

I would give Rockford's left nut for that kind of swing speed.

 

[limpalong]

I got done with my 18 today (37 on the front and 44 on the back for a 81) and just wandered around the clubhouse watching some others tee off and finish the holes. (I didn't want to go home as SWMBO would give me some jobs to do). There was a group of (college age?) athletic looking flatbellies walking up to the first (blue) tee all carrying one or two irons. This is a 550 yard par five and they ALL striped them right down the middle and longer then I can hit my driver consistently (probably over 250-260 yards). The thing I noticed was the trajectory difference on their shots vs. my driver. Their balls started out low and then just climbed and climbed about half the shot distance. I've never hit a shot like that. I would think you'd have to have some serious (good kind of) ball spin for that to happen. In any case I wished I could have played like that when I was young. It took me 20 years of hacking around before I met a guy who was a former college golfer and who completely cleaned up my swing. Well mostly anyway. Then I've found a great teaching pro that I go to if I have problems that gets me back on track in about five minutes. I still suck but you should have seen me when I was these guys age!

You shot an 81. The young flat-bellies who striped irons down the fairway... I would venture a guess your final score would have beaten at least 50% of them. It's not how... It's how many.
I didn't even take up this dastardly game until I was in my 40s. The wonderment is always there as to how well I might have been able to play, had I started earlier. But... we don't get a second chance.
There are a plethora of golfers of any age who would give their left nuts to shoot an 81... ever. You can and have shot that low on a fairly regular basis. If we had the ability to hit it rrreeeeaaaallly long.....
One of our regular group used to play a lot of baseball. He is still fairly athletic, even though his knees are gone. When he is on, he can hit his driver 290 to 310 without breaking a sweat. Problem is, he doesn't know which direction that 300 yards will be in relation to the tee box. This morning, he played nothing but irons on the front. He shot one of his best 9s, ever... a 41. (He just took the game up 2 seasons ago.) He just could not overcome the temptation of driver on the back. "Fairways are over-rated... and boring!" Using driver on the back, he shot a 53. He almost drove one par 4 green. He played two other par 4s from adjoining fairways.
To have the swing of these young flat-bellies.... I've never known that game and never will. I'm completely okay with that.

 

[warbirdlover]

I drove two par 4's yesterday. Of course one was 240 and the other was 268. Got birds on both of them too. Other holes weren't so good but a couple birds and a few pars and I can stink on the other holes and still be okay. I'm catching on to the Ci-9 irons. The chipping and pitching was much different (harder) then with the S59's. Probably wished I was younger not for the golf but for the cart girls!! Wow are there some sweeties.

 

[jreed]

Ive seen the guys on tour hit that sort of shot, starting low and rising. Ive always wondered how it is done.

 

[limpalong]

Probably wished I was younger not for the golf but for the cart girls!! Wow are there some sweeties.

Trouble is, most of these young "lookers" are the age of my granddaughters. My wife and I visited one of her aunts, yesterday, in a nursing home. I was looking for eye candy, my age, in the wheel chairs and with walkers.

 

[limpalong]

Ive seen the guys on tour hit that sort of shot, starting low and rising. Ive always wondered how it is done.

My tee shots "start low"... until about the ladies tee box and then they hit the ground. :>)

 

[Bignose]

I played with a guy who hit shots like that in league this summer. Any green within about 330 yards was potentially drivable for him given the wind and how straight he was hitting them that day. To quote the cliche 'he played a game with which I was unfamiliar.' Literally makes it look effortless, too.

I think a main difference between his game and mine is that he's been playing since he as 8 or 9 years old (27 now). I've been playing around 5 years. Lots of time to hone a swing over 20+ years, especially without any of that job-type nonsense.

 

[mddubya]

I USED to carry a 2 iron and could hit those slow rising shots, they are a thing of beauty, and deadly accurate. Well......, they were until the 2 iron turned evil on me, it has since been regulated to the closet, along with the rest of the clubs I can't hit or trust to hit consistently enough.

And Limpalong is right, I bet your score was lower than over half that group of flatbellies. I used to play rounds with a seasoned gentleman who couldn't hit it over 175, maybe 180 on a good day off the tee box, at the time I was crushing my old HiBore XL with the Code 6 shaft in it 275-285 all day long. But I had NO idea where that 275 was going to end up. While he was playing in the short grass all day, I was looking for wayward balls in the 2nd and 3rd cut, and in the woods. He used to wear me out EVERY time we played. Sure its fun and impressive to others to hit those monsterous towering tee shots with the driver, but if its hurting your final score, what have you really accomplished?

 

[SilverUberXeno]

Its unlikely that a bunch of guys who can pure a 1-iron didnt shoot close to par. If youre hitting a 1 iron off the teebox instead of a driver, youre not showing off. Distance and accuracy are not enemies on account of less skilled players having to choose between the two. Swing for accuracy and the distance comes.

Im a young flatbelly, and i walked (actually ran) nine with a buddy who was riding in a cart, trying to beat nightfall. I had done a rough upper body workout two days before and my chest was super tight. Swinging was rough. Hit a ball 282 on the third hole to land it on the left fringe. Didnt even feel like I could swing. Was a 3/4 at best.