Graham Averill is turning 50 this year and he’s crazy. Instead of buying a motorcycle or getting a tattoo, he’s decided to try to get really, really good at golf. He is a 13 handicap trying to get to zero in a year. Welcome to his midlife crisis.
The problem with golf? It takes time. Time to play, time to practice, time to improve… And time is good when you’re an adult with a job and a family. In a way, this whole project is timely. I’m running out and trying to make the most of what’s left by attempting something very, very, very difficult.
Over the past two weeks, the battle against time took place on a micro level; it wasn’t enough to play much golf. I got on the course to practice a few times and walked a few holes here and there, but never got the chance to play full rounds. Life just got in the way. There was a business trip, a family trip, my son’s baseball games, and I was trying to meet deadlines because of those other obligations. It’s the same thing that hinders everyone’s golf game. If you’re not a professional, other obligations take precedence, so there’s a two-week gap at which point my handicap remained static. It’s disappointing, but I’m sure it won’t be the last time that work and family life will get in the way of this year-long project.
I’m back on track though, playing doubles rounds to start this week. A few readers have asked for more details about my rounds, so I’ll dig into those below, but first I want to talk about something that He did are able to do last week: assisted stretching.
Bending down
Assisted stretching is pretty much what it sounds like. Imagine a trainer working your body into various contortion-like poses. It’s like yoga, but your instructor is trying to rip you off.
I’ll go down a lot of rabbit holes in the name of golf (should I have a shaman bless my clubs?), but this might be the most uncomfortable thing I’ve done in my quest for a better swing. Mobility has always been a weak point for me. I am 49 years old with a number of sports injuries so it takes me 20 minutes of stretching in the morning before I can walk the dog without pulling a muscle. And I’ve noticed a drastic difference between my “cold” golf swing and my golf swing after a proper warm-up. If I don’t loosen up before I play golf, my swing is strained, dirty, and ineffective. It’s all arms without the proper twist.
I’m also at an age where most players are losing speed and range.
According to data collected by Hack Motion, the typical speed of male amateurs in their 20s is 95-105 mph. Go into the 40s and that drops to 90-98. Enter your 50s and it gets really slow: 85-95.
I haven’t played golf in my 20s or 30s, or even most of my 40s, so I don’t have any previous speed to compare it to, but I know my swing. feels faster and quieter when I take time to lie down.
Strength definitely plays a role in moving the club quickly and hitting the ball far, but maybe I should spend more time focusing on increasing my mobility?
To test this theory, I used an inexpensive launch monitor to check my driver’s drift speeds in the driving range on two separate occasions. The first was a regular practice session after my standard warm-up, which includes a series of stretches and light calisthenics (imagine Jazzercise from the 80s, but without the leg warmers). The second interval session took place right after an assisted meeting at Stretch Lab, a national chain with a branch in my town, where I spent an hour being stretched by a guy named Mitch (not his real name).
Mitch gently laid me down on a table, then took one leg and pushed it into a position it had never been in before and held it there for an uncomfortable amount of time. He worked all over my body like that for an hour. I left feeling 20 years younger.
I immediately went to the range and the difference was dramatic. My club head speed during my regular driving range session topped out at 96.5 mph and I was hitting the ball 235-240 on my fastest swings. After the stretch assist session, my clubhead speed jumped to 102.4 with a random 105 detected and a 10 to 15 yard bump in distance.
I did nothing but let Mitch work on me for an hour and got another 6 mph out of my driver.
Mobility=swing speed
At least it is for me. The trick will be finding a way to stretch properly without Mitch’s help because I don’t have time to visit the Stretch Lab before every round of golf. So I’m looking for a stable mobility treadmill to work into my daily life and warm up before the round. It is time to repent.
Re-round cap
As for my final rounds of golf… I played nine holes earlier in the week, followed by 18 the next day, at my home course in the mountains of North Carolina. I played from the back tees in the nine-hole round because the guy I was paired with wanted to and I’m a people pleaser. It’s amazing how moving back 10-50 yards completely changes a course. I had a hard time finding the new landing areas out of the box and shot a five-over 41, which did nothing for my handicap. Most of the shots I missed were off the tee (1.8), but my short game was also an issue (1.6 missed shots) as I missed a few chip layups from the rough.
The full 18th was an Odysseus-like journey full of twists and turns, but I held it together to finish with a 9-over 81. I walk when I play and carry my bag and was absolutely worked up by the end of the afternoon round. However, I managed to score better on the back nine (three over) than the front (six over) even though my swing was breaking down. Case in point: I started the round with a 275-yard drive, but finished with a 220-yard drive. Overall, I wasn’t hitting the ball far off the tee, but I kept the ball in play for the most part, hitting 79 percent of fairways. It was my approach game that sucked the life out of me, losing 4.2 shots to a scratch player. The distance of my biggest problem? 50-75 meters. I didn’t hit a single green from that distance all day.
Oof. Not being able to hit the green from 50 yards and chip short shots… it’s frustrating, but overall I’m happy with my last two rounds and excited to play more as the week progresses.
My handicap is now 11.5. I have a long way to go, but I will celebrate that small move.
Dig deeper into one golfer’s struggle to become better at golf in middle age and read last week’s Scratch By 50, where Graham discusses going after the low-hanging fruit on the course here.
