Shooting one's age is FAR more common these days with the proliferation of "senior" tees, often on courses with 5 ,6 or even 7 sets. as well as with modern equipment(longer lighter drivers with appropriate loft and lofted fairway woods and hybrids).
Most courses until the late 80's had blue, white and red tees, with senior men loathe to play anything but the whites(the regular tee, second only to the blues), which were far longer than the senior tees of today, which ,while they now may be white(or green or gold) in color, are far closer to women's tee yardages of yesteryear(most of which have also gotten far, far shorter than they once were).
I remember as a kid playing a lot with a couple of seniors who were threatening their age in their late 70's just as I was starting out-we were both hitting woods into every par 4 and they taught me the importance of a deft short game-something you developed when you could barely reach any greens learning from the men's tees-they same as they were at 65-70 years older than I was.
That and many 65-85 year olds are in better health and shape than a generation ago.
But it's still one heck of an accomplishment!!