Just because it is believed to be inevitable for a senior golfer to experience a decline in performance, does not mean it has to be that way. If you are a senior golfer, don’t give up. The old adage “it’s all downhill from here” will only be true if you let it.
The senior golfer will experience more difficulties in maintaining the same level of performance as he or she did in their younger years, but it is still possible. The avenue of approach for you now, is your body. Your body is the main factor in the speeding up or slowing down of your performance as you age.
Have you had the experience recently on the golf course of feeling as if you could not make a full back swing? Do you feel as though your drives are not reaching the distance as they once did? Are you experiencing aches and pains in your shoulders, back, hips, or maybe even wrists while you are playing or after you have played? Then you must improve your body.
Many senior golfers feel as though they have experience a loss of flexibility as they age. This is probably true our bodies will lose flexibility as it ages, but the strength of the body will decline just a rapidly as the flexibility.
As a senior golfer you will want to focus on strength, flexibility, nutrition and endurance. These are important factors needed in a good total golf fitness program. It is important for the senior golfer to find a golf fitness program designed to fit their specific needs and to progress from their current fitness level. If one starts on a program beyond their physical limits, it will only end in failure. This can only be discouraging. You don’t want to be ready to quit before you have given yourself a good starting chance. Start off slow and progress forward.
The game of golf is a beautiful game and like in any other game succeeding at golf demands certain things of the golfer. Here are a few of them:
Determination
Any successful golfer will tell you that one of the secrets of success is to be fiercely determined. Determination is crucial to success in any endeavor in life and golf is no exception. For the first time golfer or the beginner who has a dream of being of the best in the game, there are so many obstacles to over come. The obstacles of learning the basics, improving his game and mastering the game etc. He or she will be able to overcome these obstacles easily if he or she is strongly determined. Determination helps you not to accept initial failure as an excuse to stop doing what you are doing but rather determination pushes you to go on and keep working at it until you get it right. Do you think Tiger Woods got to where he is right now without a strong or fierce determination? Read more…
Many golf beginners drop their hut and surrender because they experience frustrations in the execution of their swing. This should not happen because swing is doable for every one even for kids and seniors. The most common mistake of beginning golfers is that they try to give as much strength they can muster in the execution of their swing. This is not necessary because fluidity in motion and direction driven swing is what is necessary.
Of course, as anything physics, understanding the concept is easy but execution is always the issues. If you have noticed, I said physics. This is because golf swing is all physics. You will need to follow certain anglings and mind your movement to create fluidity of motion and giving direction to your ball.
I hope I can help you improve your golf swing by giving you some of the useful tips on how to execute the proper golf swing.
Parts of a golf swing
Backswing
Downswing
Follow-through
What is the backswing?
The backswing is the where you begin your effort to give direction and control to the golf club. A good backswing sets the stage for that perfect swing, if you do not feel your body coil as you give power to your club, it may not be a perfect way to move forward into the downswing.
It is imperative that your execution of the full swing starting from your backswing will give the fluidity and strength to the club and ultimately the ball.
What is the downswing?
In here is where you will transfer all the power you mustered into the ball and send it off rolling. The alignment, stance and grip will define this moment and thus, the result of the swing.
There are three phases of downswing, which happens in less than a second. The phases are shifting from the backswing, rotating and finally hitting the ball.
Upon impact will you only know if you did the swing right or failed in your attempt. If you slice, hook or shank the ball, do not worry. Even professional commit this mistake many times.
To execute your swing well you may need a mentor to guide you, choose a mentor and surely, in time, you will be able to execute you swing well.
However, this is not the end. There is but one more part of the actual golf swing, the follow-through.
What is the follow-through?
It is in the follow-through where you release all the force and finishes the swing. Your position in the follow-through will tell if you did the full swing perfectly and thus sending your ball to the hole.
You will surely be able to say that you did the full swing well if your follow-through gives you the position where you chest faces your target. The follow-through will also send your clubface accelerating upon impact. The perfect swing does not stop upon hitting the ball; the follow-through finishes your swing and defines the delivery of the ball to the target.
Like in any game, there is no overnight success in playing golf. Even, golf professional you see on television started long before to master that perfect golf swing. It is for you to practice and ensure that every mistake is noted and every game is improved.
Do not be afraid of poor stroke, but try to improve every time and practice. This is the only way to hit the ball to the hole
In most endeavors in life, success or failure starts in the mind. If you believe you can’t do something, it will be difficult for you to be to do it at all or do it well. The same applies to golf. The masters at golf are those who play with right mentality, those who refuse to be intimidated, who believe they can win and go ahead do all they can to win. The right mentality can be cultivated, and here are some tips on how to go about doing that.
Believe In Yourself
If you are going to be the best in anything in life there is a need for you to first believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself you won’t be able to overcome the challenges that come your way easily and you will be intimidated by other people’s success. In golf, the same applies, you need to believe in yourself, believe you can master the game and compete with the best of the best. If you believe it you can achieve it.
Visualize Playing Perfect Games In Your Mind
As good as it is to believe in yourself, it’s not enough you must learn to practice playing golf on and off the course. Since success starts in your mind, you should learn to visualize playing golf in your mind. Visualize playing golf in your mind and getting it right. If you get it right in your mind you’ll be surprised how easy it will be when it’s time to actually play it on the course.
Refuse To Be Intimidated By Others
The reason why some people find it difficult to improve their game is because they feel intimidated by the people they play with. They see themselves as not good enough to compete with such people. This sets up a mental barrier that actually reflects in their game. You must be confident in your game, believe in yourself and refuse to be intimidated by others. You are all playing on the same course with the same kind of clubs, it’s just in getting the ball into the hole as quick as you can with less attempts. Refuse to see the others, see yourself as having a good time and you will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to beat those you think are too good for you to play against.
Having said all these, it is worthy of note that no game is completely won in the mind. Victory starts in the mind but it doesn’t end there. You must make an effort to translate what you have in your mind into real life games. Practice and training is what bridges the gap between winning in the mind and winning in real life, so practice is very important in improving your game in golf.
Make sure you cultivate the right mentality and develop a good training and practice schedule, then you will able to improve your game as you won’t be easily discouraged even when you don’t get it right in your first attempts. When you have the right mentality, your initial failures and setbacks are perceived as part of the process of getting better and becoming a master golfer.
SUMMARY
Being a great golfer starts with having the right mentality. This can be cultivated by believing in yourself, visualizing playing perfect games in your mind and refusing to be intimidated by others. But it should not end there as practice and training is what brings victory in the mind to real life games.
As with most Sports, when the going gets really tough, you might resort to desperate acts. The difference with Golf from most competitive sports is that a typical round will cause you to confront yourself during the course of the round because you are responsible for keeping your own score just as in life.
In Golf.. Sometimes when you’re out of sight of all the other players in your group and it is up to you to play the ball where you find it or give it a little nudge left or right to improve your chances of hitting a good shot. Sometimes you feel like the game is being unfair to you when your ball ends up in a bad spot for the fourth time in a round. You feel as though the only way you can counter this “Golf God” is to take the situation in your own hands out of desperation, and give that ball a little nudge or perhaps not count that stroke that nobody in your group saw you take.
In Life…When the going gets really tough, you might resort to desperate acts. You might just forget to pay for that little something that the store clerk overlooked. You might exaggerate an insured loss or fudge on a tax return. You may go out of your way to avoid someone whom you promised to pay but can’t or don’t want to right now. This is nudging the ball of life.
Besides the risk of being caught, there is a risk to your character. A risk to who you hold yourself out to be. The risk to your character is that desperate acts, unchecked, may become a habit. That same act that was an act of desperation now becomes an act of greed. In golf you will be known as a “cheat”. In life you will become to be known as “greedy”. Banks and financial institutions do not get exception from this rule.
“You are not what you say. You are what you repeatedly do.”
“Beware of two first cousins, desperation and greed. They are different characters but often travel the same path”. Ken Brown
Playing golf certainly helps us to relax and spend enjoyable weekends with friends or family. In a game of golf we not only enjoy it as a sport but we’re challenged mentally and physically.
A game of golf teaches us to value many virtues that are important in life. We gain lessons not only of honesty and respect but qualities like temperament, persistence, patience and self-control. These valuble lessons gained not only for the game but for life are probably the most important benefits of all!
The “World’s Longest Golf Course” holds its first tournament in October.
People eager to play will have to drive many miles between each fairway to reach the next hole, spending the night in outback hotels before proceeding to the next tee. It’ll take most golfers about four days to play the course.
The 18-hole par 72 golf course spans 1,365 kilometers (a little over 848 miles) with one hole in each participating town or roadhouse along the Eyre Highway, from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to Ceduna in South Australia.
Alf Caputo, who has managed the construction project, said the idea was to attract tourists and golfers who want to experience “the real Australia”.
“There’s some absolutely amazing scenery out there and before Nullarbor Links there was no magnet to bring people out there to have a look at these beautiful things,” he said.
“One of the holes is right smack bang in the middle of a sheep station,” Mr Caputo said. “You can actually see the sheep, you can see the shearing shed, you can imagine international tourists will have never seen anything like it in their lives.
“There’s also a wheat farming area – people would have never seen anything like it.”
“It’s not just a game of golf, it’s a true Australian experience.”
Playing golf is for most real players the best way to spend the day. Many golf players would gladly play golf all day long, every day if they could. It is not just a sport; it is a way of life. It is common for most golfers to see golf as an escape as a relief from the tedium of every day work and home stresses.
Golf can be a great stress reliever, for those who chose to use it as such; however, for others, golf is more than that. Some golfers can’t imagine a day passing where golf is not the major aspect of it. Of course, if you do play golf to this extreme, you know that it can also be quite expensive.
Keeping your head and staying focused on your aim in golf or life is of utmost importantance for the balance that is necessary in either.
“IF you can keep your head when all about you are loosing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too..”
Sometimes it may seem easier to just go along with the distractions than to focus on the end goal; but you must remember, that if you allow yourself to do so, you could lose sight of accomplishing your golfing goal or life goals.
Mentally sharpen your focus…Good balance keeps you steady and standing.
Visualization is a major part of focus. If you can actually see yourself in the position you want to be in, then it’s much easier to focus on the aim for getting there.
Sharpening your mental vision by visualizing what you want to happen keeps you from being at the mercy of the environmental distractions and favorably impacts your Focus and Balance…for golfing and life.
Keeping your head and staying focused on your aim in golf or life is of utmost importantance for the balance that is necessary in either.