I’ve been playing golf for over 50 years and as a late model septuageniaran, it’s hard to come to grips with the diminution of your ability to hit golf shots at the distances you used to hit them.  It has forced me to abandon the idea of “greens in regulation” as most of my pars and birdies these days come from a razor sharp short game including putting.  I am not giving up the “GIR” objective, just being realistic and setting the challenge for further improvement.  The body after fifty years of athletic activity does not cooperate with the mind that tells the body to turn those hips and get that club back.  I played basketball at a pretty high level until my late fifties–I had to succumb to the idea that the cuts and moves that the mind instructs you to make and execute are no longer obeyed and  the body reports back “I don’t do that anymore.”  You risk catastrophic injury to your achilles and probably knees.  Therefore you have to give up the game to preserve your ability to walk and play golf.  You watch the professionals including the Senior Tour and the LPGA and tell yourself–I can still do that–the reality is that you can’t and it  becomes frustrating.  The 8 handicap that used to be much lower is a struggle as the trend is heading in the wrong direction probably never to return to that 8 predictably.    It just isn’t going to happen-you need 230 yards off the tee and today can barely make it 200 yards.  Meanwhile, the young players are hitting it 300 yards with the ball and the equipment that your swing speed can’t begin to dial up.  You’re taking lessons to improve club head speed and get the most physically out of the body to prevent further deterioration.  At this point, competitive golf isn’t going to produce much, if any, hardware.  It’s time to deal with the situation and decide how to approach the game.  I believe you have to focus on why you are playing golf and to reset your goals and objectives for performance.  My sensation is the first priority is to play the game for the love of it and for the company you keep on the golf course.  In year’s past, the goals might be how many tournaments can you win and can you play respectfully in the Club Championship.

I have reached the decision after my left hip replacement surgery is to “play it forward.”  I have decided to play courses at the 6000-6200 yard level instead of 6600-6700 yards to present enough challenge to score.  I know my handicap would move to double-digits if I played from the longer yardages, but I’ve decided to try and maintain a single digit handicap by moving forward.  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter if I focus on my new set of objectives for the game. Sometimes yardages can be relatively meaningless on courses where wind can be severe and where there may be long carries over water, scrub or desert (if you’re playing in Arizona).  In those cases, pick a set of tees that you can carry these obstacles and maintain your golf ball inventory.

I’ve made this decision for myself but it’s not a decision you can force on all players.  Playing it forward is essentially good for the game from a number of different  aspects.

Benefits:

1.  The player assesses his own ability to perform and, if the player is new to the game, it presents the initial challenge of improvement.
2. The senior player can get more enjoyment out of the game and execute better scoring from a solid game that no longer has the distance of youth.
3. Playing it forward enables players to potentially play faster and improve the current biggest curse of the game–slow play
4. Playing it forward for many courses will eliminate significant carries over water and gorges and deny golf ball manufacturers some significant revenue opportunities
5. Playing it forward is an acknowledgement that the quality of the player is matched to the skill sets possessed by the player placing a premium on the golf experience for the entire course than the ego of a player who plays from tees that cannot be reliably dealt with.

So the question is…what tees should I play?  The easy answer that is an unofficial standard is to take your average driving distance and multiply it by 28.  If you’re average tee shot is 215 yards, then you should play tees that approximate 6,000 yards.

I’ll close this piece with direct quotations from the greatest player in the game of golf, Jack Nicklaus:

“Golf is a game that should be fun to play, but many golfers make it far too hard by playing from distances that don’t match their abilities” ” This program should help stimulate people to play the proper tees and maximize the golf experience” (2013 support for the PGA of America/USGA Tee it Forward Initiative)

Suggesting that you leave your ego in the locker room and get out there and Play it Forward.