[TEPaul]

.....read it and comment. Some of you may be young and may not understand it. Try to though! Father Time spares none, that's for sure. You will be here some day.

How do you think you'll deal with it? Will you deal with it as well at Patrick Mucci or not?

All I can say, for my part, is that Patrick Mucci deals with it well and I probably am not. Are you?

"TEPaul,

It is a challenge and you do gain a new perspective on the architectural features and play of the holes.

And, it's either adapt or perish.

Yes, you could say it gets old in the context of your former game, but, there's good news and there's bad news.

In 2011 you'll be happy to have played the game you played in 2006.  That's the bad news.  It's also the good news.

Like a bell curve, what goes down, must come up and handicaps and playing ability are not immune from the influence of Father Time

There may be a spike along the way, but the trend is clearly there.

But, the beauty of the game as you get older is keyed to acceptance, rather than denial of the forces that change your game, and how to best deal with them.

For me, the most frustrating problem was getting good trajectory on long iron and fairway wood shots.

The inability to get those shots high really caused me to alter my thinking and play.

One of the benefits of acceptance is the tendency to swing "within" yourself, thus producing more accurate shots.

I'm striving to be longer.
I swing the "Momentus" 20 times every day in an attempt to stay limber, retain my balance and gain some degree of strength and length.

And, I've had some recent success despite not being as long as I used to be.

Not once in my diminished state did the game cease being fun.

There's no doubt that it's fun to hit the ball far.
But, that's not the object of the game.
The object remains getting the ball from point A to point B in the fewest strokes possible.  It's that challenge and the route you take in that pursuit that provides the lure, the enjoyment.

In the end, irrespective of our handicaps, don't we all want to be thought of as ferocious competitors who play to our handicaps when the pressure is on?"


Guys, don't worry about the fact that Patrick learned most everything he knows about golf course architecture from me, and that he will have to continue to do that, the fact is, his quote above is wisdom----there's no question of it!

Can you appreciate it?

[James Bennett]

TE Paul (and Patrick Mucci)

I went through a similar but not as severe experience over the last 14 months.  Only in the last 4 months have I had a score where I played to my (since increased) handicap.  I went from a 6 to a 9.  However, my distance loss was probably more like 15 yards rather than 50 yards (I have never been a long hitter).

Thorugh this period, I lost some maximum strength and the extreme aerobic range.  I hit the ball shorter, and lost some carry, and found the ball going in different directions.

It was the most 'fun' I have had playing golf for some years.  I enjoyed the good shots and cared little about the bad.  And thought about how to get the ball to places with less carry.

Over the last 4 months, some of my golf has returned, through understanding how the shaft works.  It appears that through my loss of strength, the shaft unloaded before I got to the ball, resulting in high hooks (or, if a bit quick, a high fade that started right and went further right ).  Or a quick, low pull.  A return to stiffer shafts with a firm tip has straightened much of that out.  Now, things are controllable again (although still not the carry of before but better than recent times) and the scores are improving (although the level of fun isn't).  I shot 3-over on the weekend!  6 below the handicap

Hang in there Patrick.  See if you can access a shaft-lab for a swing test.  They'll tell you the shaft type for your action, not your clubhead speed.  Nothing wrong with your old heads that the right shaft couldn't improve.

James B

[SPDB]

Will you deal with it as well at Patrick Mucci...

No. My hat's off to him.  An amazing perspective.

[RJ_Daley]

In the end, irrespective of our handicaps, don't we all want to be thought of as ferocious competitors who play to our handicaps when the pressure is on?"

Absolutely!!!  I am at the time where my game and physical abilities are going south.  That is life.  Yet, last year I eaked out a little improvement.  Within one's age group, handicap range, and gang of regular golf companions, one still likes to play as well as possible, and seek ways to improve on some aspect.   If the distance goes, you think more of the strategy and alternative shots.  You can still work on the intermediate and short game, etc.  It is all satisfying if you improve within your present status of age and ability, whether you are a 20 or a single digit.

Pat, as you know my friend "Sargie"   is 75, and last year towards the end of the season was hitting the ball off the tee better than all the earlier year.  He was getting it out there 225-35 and would glow when he slid it past me (17 years his jr.)  He would be thrilled to break 90 while I was so hopeful to break 80.  He broke 90 several times, and all I did was land on 80 once.  So, there is as much satisfaction in those things as a finer player breaking par.  

Pat, your thoughts above are really a set of guiding principles for all the younger and stronger players to keep in mind over the long run.  As long as there are challenges and goals to reach, and they remain in the proper perspective of fun and satisfying to work on, and there are interesting golf courses to stimulate your thoughts, how can one not remain faithful to such a sport or game?  It is the essence of it all.

[A.G._Crockett]

This approach to age is something to aspire to, not just for golf, but for all of life's endeavors.  For all of us that are getting on a bit, and beginning to see an inverse relationship between aches and pains and yardage, this is instructive.

For myself, I want to enjoy golf all of my days.  That means, in large part, that I will have to have as thoughtful a perspective on life and as much gratitude for life as Mr. Mucci displays in this lovely piece of writing.

Thanks, Patrick.

[JohnV]

James Bennett said:

I enjoyed the good shots and cared little about the bad.

That is probably the key to dealing with diminished skills.  Enjoy the good things.  Over a period of a few years, I had gone from a 2 to a 9 and was having a hard time with it.  Then, I changed my attitude, thought a little about my game and figured out some things that, if I'd known them when I was a 2, might have made me a 0 and my handicap dropped to a 6 in the last three months before winter took hold here.  Now I'm looking forward to spring.  I don't know if I can get back to being a 2, but I'm not as concerned about that anymore.

Instead of just getting frustrated, enjoy what you've got and look for little improvements.  It also helps that I've written down all my new "secrets" and have the file stored right in the middle of my desktop on my home computer so that I'll remember them in the spring.  Getting old is tough and we all need a little help sometimes.  

I also started looking at my game from the point of view of keeping track of my full shots as good, ok or bad instead of if they hit the fairway, green etc.  As long as the ratio of good to bad was acceptable I felt good about my game.  Good didn't mean that I hit it close to the hole, just that I made the swing I wanted to make even if the shot didn't come off.  A more attainable goal for me right now.

[Evan Fleisher]

Very interesting story, Shiv.

My father has developed back problems later in life, and in order to "adapt" and continue to play he has done two things...

1. His normal stance has his feet about 4-6 inches apart (no kidding!) and is all upper body rotation to ease the strain on his back.

2. He never hits any kind of wood...ever.

I guess you either do what you gotta do to make it worthwhile to strap on the spikes, or simply wave goodbye and move on with life.

[Tom Huckaby]

shivas - you've mentioned that before, although not to such great detail.  That must have been a drag - I'm sure you did want to play with your Dad.  But we can't fault him too much - as I'm sure you don't - everyone reacts to things like this in different ways.  Hell I've never been a GREAT golfer like your Dad, so I can't really figure one way or the other what I'd have done in his situation.  I just will say this - his take is every bit as valid as Mucci's.  I can sure understand saying "screw it" if all of a sudden I can't do what I could do so easily before.

Of course I'd sure rather handle it like Patrick myself, given my love and addiction to the game... but hell, not everyone shares that - for some golf is just a pastime.

Evan - our two Dads would get along GREAT - mine also hasn't hit a wood since the 80s, or so it seems.  He is deadly with his "trusty 4-iron" and thus uses it for seemingly 75% of his shots.  He lives and dies with each shot and is an absolute riot to play with.  The cool thing about him is he never was any good, but he has yet to give up trying to improve.  He is a course tactician to the max - he has yet to find a hazard he can't go around - I swear to you if he played 17 TPC Sawgrass, he'd chip it up the bridge.  The man hates the game and loves the game.  He just does do whatever it takes to keep playing.  I too have a lot to live up to.

 

[Kirk Gill]

I used to take poor play pretty hard (even though I was never very good to begin with), and on one occasion in particular I learned a life lesson that has stayed with me ever since, in my career, my home life, everything.

I was playing a match with a college friend, a guy who was frankly a better golfer than I, but one that for some reason I could usually beat. The sort of guy you could say something to like "man, you're REALLY playing well today," and then watch completely fall apart. Yeah, and I'd be sure to say it. I was like that.

We were six holes into a match and I was already five down. I was hating life, the universe, and everything. The sky was laughing, the breeze was whispering insulting phrases into my ears, and my opponent's good humor was changing him into something vaguely reptilian in my mind's eye.

I was having a horrible time, one which I'd paid for. With every stroke it was getting worse, each one more indifferent than the last. We came to a long par three, and as was typical for the muni where we were playing, there was a backup. A bigger one than usual. Besides the group on the tee, there were two other groups ahead of us waiting.

More curses, under my breath, more complaints about the golfing gods and the vagaries of fate. And then I noticed something.

The group that was waiting then to tee off, two groups ahead of us, was an older couple (older than me, anyway), probably in their early 60's. There was just the two of them playing, but they had two carts. The wife (I guessed) was riding alone, and the husband had someone who I figured was their daughter with him. As they waited, and as I watched them, the father coaxed his daughter out of the cart, speaking softly and solicitously to her, and as she turned and I saw her face, I realized that something was very wrong with her.

She had the compressed features and distant, unfocused look of the profoundly retarded. I don't know what words to use for this, so I apologize if the use of that word offends. She could barely walk, and did not speak, but I watched fascinated as her father and mother spoke to her, laughed and talked and included her.

I saw the love in those parents' eyes, and their unflinching support, and their strength.

And I started to feel ashamed of myself. For berating myself and the world over a game of golf. For letting myself so completely lose perspective over what was really worth getting so upset about in this world. And that moment changed me or matured me (better late than never).

The bad shots just started to not feel like such a big deal. The match that day (I almost caught him, but.....) was something I was doing for fun, and the notion of seeing it as life or death became what it should be.....laughable. The power of a moment is sometimes amazing to behold. That couple and their daughter just played on, out of my life, but they've stayed with me to this day. I just don't get mad at the course any more. Can't seem to do it. Strange that my average score went down about five strokes in the year after that day.

It speaks to how much the game of golf can be in the mind, and how much a turn of mind can affect the experience, and the playing of the game.........

In Mr. Mucci's story, what is interesting to me is that a physical change seems to have wrought a mental change as well. "...the beauty of the game as you get older is keyed to acceptance, rather than denial of the forces that change your game, and how to best deal with them." I think I got to the same place somehow, just in a different way........

[Tom Huckaby]

Kirk:

That was profound and moving and I for one really appreciate your sharing it - what a great story.

I have a brother who if you saw him, you'd say he's severely retarded.  It's ok.  No offense is taken.  Of course that's not the word we'd choose, but we've hard far worse, that's for sure.  The fact is there's no better word, really.  Just understand the specifics can be quite different - in my brother's case, it's a mix of cerebral palsy and epilepsy at a very young age that lead to mental retardation.  In others, what looks like retardation might be autism or any of a number of other things.

In any case, I say all of this not to scold you, far from it.  I say it to APPLAUD your sensitivity.

But back to the issue at hand... it is cool when one has an epiphany like that.  I had one myself... similar situation, matches against college buds, this time taking us through Scotland to many of the great courses there.  Well, I was getting my ass handed to me and good by my main rival in the group - not a guy I like to lose to - and it all came to a head on the 8th green after one of many lipout putts that day.  I'm ashamed to say that I was so damned pissed off that on the way to the 9th tee, I didn't just do a club throw, I did a full bag throw.  I'm not kidding - there the whole bag went, into the high rough.

Good lord.

Well I went and retrieved it and it hit me hard - what the hell am I doing?  Have I completely forgotten where I am?  If you've been to Dornoch, you know how great the spot is where the 9th tee is.

Well I picked myself up and determined then and there that getting that angry does absolutely no good.  I resolved to enjoy the place and the day no matter what, and did so, just like you almost coming back to win the match, also.

I've never gotten truly angry on a golf course since.

TH

[Garland Bayley]

There is some hope.
When I was young, and played college basketball, I could blast the ball a mile. I stopped playing for many years and then started playing a lot 3 years ago. During the mean time I spent a lot of time sitting in front of a computer (and getting fat). I have been amazed at how long it has taken me to recover a swing resembling what I had 30+ years ago. However, at the end of the summer I began to find it, and am taking two clubs less on par threes. Even in the dead of winter, I am still taking 1 club less than I did at the beginning of last summer.

Also, with age and shortcomings I am beginning to think and enjoy shot placement a lot more than years ago when almost every approach was a wedge.

[Ed_Baker]

Tommy Paul,

Have you met many other people in your vast travels with the mental acuity and tenacity of spirit that Pat Mucci has ??
I haven't.
I think if Pat put his mind to it he could levitate a motorhome.
It doesn't surprise me a bit that he has adapted and prevailed and found joy in doing it. He's a remarkable individual, and the next time we play I want 6 shots a side, I don't care what his handicap is.

[TEPaul]

"Tommy Paul,
Have you met many other people in your vast travels with the mental acuity and tenacity of spirit that Pat Mucci has ??"

Eddie Baby;

Having searched my deep memory and my vast travels, I'd have to say not only have I not met many other people with Pat's tenacity of spirit, I have not met one other person with Pat's tenacity of spirit.

As for mental acuity and Pat, just perish the thought---mental acuity and Patrick Mucci is the very definition of "mutually exclusive". Pat may have remarkable tenacity of spirit but the fact remains he cannot even form a short logical sentence regarding golf course architecture without checking with me first.

[Cliff Hamm]

Kirk...If we could all learn what is important, what our priorities should be at a young age the world would be a better place.  Not to mention ourselves.  The word retarded  means slow growth.  It is too bad that it has such negative connotations...

Back to the subject at hand.  Many comments have been written that only the low handicapper can really appreciate the intended architecture of a course.  I have always been a bogey golfer and while shorter as I age scores remain about the same.  I have also felt that despite my scores being far from scratch, I could appreciate and evaluate golf course design...As those that were proficient at this difficult game find their skills declining, does your opinion change as to what level of golf skill it takes to judge a quality golf course?

[Patrick_Mucci]

TEPaul & Ed,

Thanks for the kind remarks.

What I don't want to get lost in my acceptance of the inevitable, is my resistance to it.

I continue to strive to play better.
I also delight in competition with my friends and fellow competitors.

Playing against Ran at Sand Hills was the begining of a favorable trend, which appears to be continuing.

While my competitive fires burn as brightly as ever, only my methods for negotiating golf courses have changed.

[TEPaul]

"While my competitive fires burn as brightly as ever, only my methods for negotiating golf courses have changed."

Let me tell you birds who might be on the other side of the negotiation with Pat Mucci. Do not go for his ridiculous multiple bets-----it's nothing more than the concept of the pathetic "Blue Plate Special" run amok!



Another thing any of you who have never played against him should do if ever faced with that prospect is to bring a really good pair of ear muffs even if it's 95 degrees out.

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