What if you couldn't play well anymore?

[Peter Pallotta]

It is interesting to read about all the pushes and pulls and personal feelings/meanings that are behind decisions like these, i.e. to play or not to play.  

I was thinking a while back about the process that Arnold Palmer went through the last few years (and wondering about where he's at now in that): it really struck me to watch a man who loved the game so much have to come to terms, inevitably, with leaving it behind.

Peter

[Ken Moum]

I was thinking a while back about the process that Arnold Palmer went through the last few years (and wondering about where he's at now in that): it really struck me to watch a man who loved the game so much have to come to terms, inevitably, with leaving it behind.

You have to figure he's still teeing it up almost every day in the Bayhill Shootout, with two staff bags full of clubs on the back of his cart.

[TEPaul]

"TEP -
I've meant to ask you this for years. Have you ever read Darwin's piece called "Giving up the Game"?"

I don't believe I have, Bob. And if I have my memory is definitely slipping.

[Dan Kelly]

When it gets to where I can only hit it 180 yards, I think I'll have to move to the UK to find courses that are still interesting for me.

Tom --

Does this mean that you can't (for whatever reason) design courses in the U.S. (or elsewhere) that are interesting for people who can hit it only 180?

That must be AT LEAST 50% of the potential customers for golf courses.

Dan

[Peter Pallotta]

I hope so, Ken, and with clubs that he's still working on himself to get just right. He's probably still trying to find ways to get back some of the strokes he's lost these past few years...that's remarkable.  I was thinking of the last tournament he played in, and of his saying goodbye to that.

Peter

[George Pazin]

One of the more interesting issues of Golf Magazine was about a year ago. (I think it may have had CHIII on the cover?)

There was a fascinating juxtaposition of golfers: the feature interview was with Fulton Allem, who whined about how insulted he was to have been offered $300,000 to be the director of golf at a prominent resort, and cried that he was going to have to return home to South Africa.

Flip a few pages later, and there was a story about a gentleman who is a champion handicap golfer (real handicap, not golf handicap). He was a Canadian farmer, flipped his tractor, had to crawl out to the highway to flag someone down, and ended up having both legs amputated at the knee (addendum: now that I think about it, he may have lost one or both arms as well). He now competes in special events for amputees, and competes quite effectively at that.

A truly inspiring story - and a truly nauseating interview. I'd suggest reading the story and skipping the interview. Or, read them both and appreciate the contrast.

As someone who struggles with the game, primarily due to lack of play or practice, I find that the occasional pure shot keeps me coming back. I can't really relate to playing well all the time.

Maybe someday. Hopefully someday. That's enough for me.

[Bob_Huntley]

What if you couldn't play well anymore?

I can't and it burns me up. I go out thinking I am going to play well today - but never do. Do I ever think that this will be my last game? Never.

I am reluctant to reveal my index as it is as shameful as the Scarlet A but it does help win a dollar in a Wolf game. It is not that I don't practice or take lessons because I do and there's the rub. I can go from the Bobby Jones swing to The Golf Machine and back and throw in a bit of Jim Hardy with David Leadbetter included. By the seventh hole I am trying swing thought 214b and the Bobby Locke putting routine.

I play at least three times a week and walk, except when with a guest who needs to ride.

The past two years have been particularly painful with the exception of July 16th last year. The stars were aligned and I shot my age, 76, with a hole in one, and have not broken 80 since, with my average score a whole lot higher.

I think anyone who gives up the game because of a deterioration in their ability to play to the standards of yesteryear should get over it. Smell the grass and if you get just one good crack out the ball in 18 holes, be thankful.

Bob

[Tommy Williamsen]

It is interesting to read about all the pushes and pulls and personal feelings/meanings that are behind decisions like these, i.e. to play or not to play.  

I was thinking a while back about the process that Arnold Palmer went through the last few years (and wondering about where he's at now in that): it really struck me to watch a man who loved the game so much have to come to terms, inevitably, with leaving it behind.

Peter

Peter, I was fortunate enough to play with Palmer in a pro-am a number of years ago.  He loves the gam,e more than anyone I know. He told me that he will get up in the morning and do some office work but then he hears his clubs calling to him.  He has to be a good friend and take them to the course where they want to go.  Even at his age he still thinks, "If can...then I will score better."  You gotta love it.

I understand it as well.  Ten years ago, when I took a two month retreat at an Irish monastery, I put my clubs in a closet for the duration.  I played before I went in and after I got out.  Anyway, I would periodically go the clubs and assure hem that they are not forgotten and that I would take them from their vertical coffin and they would live again.

[Rick Shefchik]

Bob,

You forgot to mention your Ben Hogan swing. That worked pretty well for you for a number of holes back in September.

[Dan Kelly]

... if you get just one good crack out the ball in 18 holes, be thankful.

Or even if you don't!

[KBanks]

I had an old friend, now deceased, who was a great golfer. He won the British Senior Amateur in his day. He gave me some memorable golfing advice. He said "no matter what happens, keep on hitting the ball".

I've always felt that to be the ultimate credo, whether in the context of a particular round or in the sense of one's golfing life.

Ken

[Rich Goodale]

Very good advice, Ken

Reminds me of Joyce Wethered's amswer to someone who asked her the secret of good golf:

"Just hit the f***ing ball!"

As for me, I just want to make it to 76, much less shoot my age then like Bob "What a Woeful Hacker I am, but thank you for your money" Huntley.

[Bob_Huntley]

Very good advice, Ken

Reminds me of Joyce Wethered's amswer to someone who asked her the secret of good golf:

"Just hit the f***ing ball!"

As for me, I just want to make it to 76, much less shoot my age then like Bob "What a Woeful Hacker I am, but thank you for your money" Huntley.

Rich,

Did she say that before she became Lady Heathcote-Amery?

Bob

[Rich Goodale]

Very good advice, Ken

Reminds me of Joyce Wethered's amswer to someone who asked her the secret of good golf:

"Just hit the f***ing ball!"

As for me, I just want to make it to 76, much less shoot my age then like Bob "What a Woeful Hacker I am, but thank you for your money" Huntley.

Rich,

Did she say that before she became Lady Heathcote-Amery?

Bob

Probably afterwards, Bob.  She might never have received the gong at the altar otherwise, or then again maybe she just might have......

Rich

[Ash Towe]

I was seriously ill a few years ago.  The thought of being able to get back on the course was sufficient for me at the time.  To enjoy walking, being in the open air and back playing with my friends was very motivating.  Fortunately I managed the above and my health returned but along with that came the desire to return to my previous level of play.  It is amazing how quickly the mind and body can adapt to new circumstances.  The difficulty is when you know these changes are coming.

[Bob_Huntley]

Ash,

You should have a chat with Pat Mucci, you have much in common.

I must say I have no idea how good you were before the big stuff hit you but your game looked wonderful to me when you were here.

Bob

[Steve Hyden]

I'm lucky - I just turned 60 and I have no real physical problems and my game is hanging in there.  But I know the inevitable decline is imminent.  Interestingly, several guys older than I tell me they enjoy the game more, having lower expectations, and they're just happy to be able to play.  I'm dubious, but I guess I'll find out soon enough.  Then there's our 72 year old 12-time women's club champion and course record-holder, who's now a 12.  She's out there every day, still trying to get better.

[Michael Dugger]

Anymore?  

I suck now.

[Ash Towe]

Bob,
The company I was with had much to do with the way I played.  The environment was not bad either
It is those sort of experiences that make you try to get back to former standards.
I must make contact with Mr Mucci.

[Chris Cupit]

Mike Young,

Back when it was "fat" Charlie he definitely got the best of me MOST (not all) of the time.  I'll play the skinny bastard now for whatever he wants  And he's a pro with his name on his bag and everything!!

[Mike Golden]

One of my favorite playing partners ever was Dr. Alastir Fordyce, a retired orthopedic surgeon who was a member at Lake Merced at the same time as me.

Alastir, who was 70 at the time, had probably been a scratch player earlier in his life but was now a 4-5 and always walked and carried his own clubs.  We used to play a single $1 bet even up and one of us usually won on the 17th or 18th hole.

My goal is to be just like Alastir at 70. I have 10 years left to go and will hopefully reach that milestone.  It would be easy for me to say I would never quit when I can't play as well as I can now (which isn't as good as a few years ago, more from the lack of playing than anything physical) but, when the time comes, I'll make that decision.  I was probably a 12-15 handicap 25 years ago anyway so it isn't like I've never been there before.

[Bill_McBride]

Like a lot of fathers of three, I went for about 15 years without playing much weekend golf, just the occasional business round during the week.  I also did very little stretching, which I am paying for these days.  When I was in high school and college, I could play pretty well, never scratch but low and mid '70s.  Now I'm 65, wondering where the missing 30-40 yards went, happy to occasionally break 80, but usually don't.    I did make my first hole in one a couple of years ago after 50 years of trying.

But you know what?  I still love the game.  I can still walk the occasional 36 holes, especially in the UK.  One of the things I love about playing golf with GCA.com people is that they could care less what you shoot!  One of the things I think brings us down as we don't play as well anymore is that we think our playing partners really give a shit how we play.  

Guess what?  They don't!  

I guess the sad thing about life in general and golf specifically, is that when you are older and have the time and resources to play a lot of golf in exciting places, you can't play as well as you could when you were a kid and couldn't afford to.  Now that's unfair    but it's the way it is.

[Gib_Papazian]

Tommy,

Many years ago when I was a pretty damned good player - I was 30 - my back blew up. All at once, jogging on Xmas morning with my brother - trying to shake off the consequence of being a trifle over-served at the local Pub.

After four months of a complete inability to walk more than a few steps, and bleeding out every orifice from all the pills, the doctors told me the rehab was not going well and that I ought to just be happy if I was ever able to walk again.

I asked about golf and the doctor shook his head as if I was daft.

11 months - and a course of epideral catheter treatments later - I was finally able to walk reasonably well and thought to try and hit a ball.

My old golf swing was simply not possible - any shoulder turn past halfway caused instant swelling and nasty pain.

So, because golf was the only thing keeping me from the bridge, I got some soft graphite shafts on my driver and fairways woods and set about trying to learn to hit a ball with half a back-swing, little turn and good footwork.

It is difficult to believe this - though I admittedly ceased trying to play from the tips ever again - my handicap went back down to a comfortable 2-3 and stayed there (for years) as long as I did not try and play courses longer than 6600 yards.

As Hawkeye Pierce famously uttered in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H*: "We must make certain concessions to the war."

Progress with back rehabilitation is measured in quarter-inch increments and monthly. Not daily. I rarely play golf days these for reasons too nauseating the discuss, but I still stick with the exercises four times a week for when I can go back to my passion.

I really believe - if back issues are the root of the problem - that playing from the appropriate tees is the most important affirmative choice you can make.

Just be patient and if you just figure out a little different way to get the ball in the hole, the score will be the same. Think of Schilling, he can't blow it by batters anymore, so he just outsmarts them.

And not matter how shitty things may get, just remember you know a guy over 60 who beat terminal cancer and lived to shoot 69 at Garden City. There is nothing more to state than that.

As for Uncle Bob, pay no attention to his plaintive whining or claims of age and infirmity. Give him a couple a side and you'll get closed out and lose your presses besides. Bob is a gentleman though, he'll buy you a drink or two after he lightens your wallet and lend a sympathetic ear . . .



 
 

   

[Phil Benedict]

One of the things I think brings us down as we don't play as well anymore is that we think our playing partners really give a shit how we play.  

Guess what?  They don't!  

Truer words were never spoken.  Nobody cares about how you play except your partner.

[Bill_McBride]

One of the things I think brings us down as we don't play as well anymore is that we think our playing partners really give a shit how we play.  

Guess what?  They don't!  

Truer words were never spoken.  Nobody cares about how you play except your partner.

Part of aging gracefully is getting rid of that vanity handicap, avoiding medal play, and picking partners well!