.....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?

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

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

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.

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.

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........

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.

"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.

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.