What age did you play your best golf?

[HoosierHacker89]

Pretty generic topic I assume has been covered before, but I didn't even check the search feature. 

 

What age did you play you best golf? For me I started at 16, my best golf was around 28-30. 35 now with very little time to play. I enjoy golf more due to having zero expectations or keeping score. It's just a fun round with friends or my dad. 

[cardoustie]

Ages 17-18, junior golf tour, lots of events 

then 24-25, university golfer

and now 55-56 … cap and scoring best ever currently … as a recent Senior Amateur 

[iacas]

Tomorrow. 😄 

[hunterdog]

At age 67 I’m hoping the best has yet to be!

[getitdaily]

Been playing since 12 or 13. 46 now.

 

Best is now. Was a +3.3 until a couple weeks ago. +2.5 right now. 

 

Was a +2ish in 2005 and played good golf then. But right now is better. More consistent. 

 

If you're a low single digit handicap golfer then right now is the best it's ever been for skill improvement. The technology that's available and affordable is so much better than ever before to us mortals.

 

In 2005 I was hog tied to instruction. In today's world, my instructor I'd an added set of eyes for confirmation of key things I work on. Now, probably 5-6 lessons a year is it. The rest is launch monitor and video feedback in my backyard. 

[MonteScheinblum]

27 and 49

[Greenie]

I played my best golf last year at 63. I lowered my cap from 13.7 to 10.3. I also shot my best round a 74.

 

Last year was my first year of retirement. I averaged playing three times a week.  My scores have always gone down the more I have played regularly. I have been a 13 for many years playing 5-6 times a month. I seem to be able to maintain that without much play, effort, or practice. 

 

In my mid forties my group and I would take off a week and play 36 holes a day for the whole week. By the end of the week I would always be flirting with rounds in the 70's. Then going back to once a week I was back up to my regular scores. 

 

 I could have played my best golf in my forties if I had more time to put into it. I think I have an overall better game now though so it is what it is. Not hitting it as far as I used to is a downer.

 

[Nels55]

I have played my best golf from 65 to 68 years old.  Shooting par a couple of times and getting my index down to around 5 several times.  LOL never able to stay there though.  I have hope but time will tell and as they say father time is undefeated.

[Obee]

Physically and golf ability-wise: 33 to 39. I was consistently +2 to +3.5 with half of those scores being in competition.

 

Mentally: Now (56 years old)

Edited March 25, 2024 by Obee

[DShepley]

I had my best scoring and lowest handicap between age 29 and 36, (currently 46) which was before kids and while the kids were young and I was able to play a lot of golf.  My handicap stayed between +2 and zero.  Now I stay between 0 and 3 with half as many rounds played and very little practice but my mental game is much better.  I tend to get more out of my game now if that makes sense.

[Obee]

3 minutes ago, DShepley said:

I had my best scoring and lowest handicap between age 29 and 36, (currently 46) which was before kids and while the kids were young and I was able to play a lot of golf.  My handicap stayed between +2 and zero.  Now I stay between 0 and 3 with half as many rounds played and very little practice but my mental game is much better.  I tend to get more out of my game now if that makes sense.

Makes total sense.

I used to make LOTS of birdies for my length. I averaged 4.x birdies a round for years, but I made too many stupid bogeys from lack of preparation, nerves, lack of understanding of my swing and what I was and was not capable of, etc. I rarely make bogeys because of those issues now.

 

[DShepley]

9 minutes ago, Obee said:

Makes total sense.

I used to make LOTS of birdies for my length. I averaged 4.x birdies a round for years, but I made too many stupid bogeys from lack of preparation, nerves, lack of understanding of my swing and what I was and was not capable of, etc. I rarely make bogeys because of those issues now.

 

Same.  For me it is the ability now to accept that sometimes bogey is a good score.  Once I've made a mistake on a hole I try to find a way to make bogey the worst outcome.  That can be a hard mindset for young confident fellas....

[otto6457]

Easy.  Age 27-30. Playing the mini-tours.  Working full time on my game and grinding non stop.

 

Unfortunately, I missed too many cuts. I was not finishing high enough, often enough, to keep going.  But playing as well as I would ever play.  Sadly, it still wasn't good enough.

 

I've had some minor peaks since, mostly due to finding a great swing coach back in 2007, but I'll never get back to my best.  I'm just too old now.  I'm still trying to play some State level senior tournaments, but I'm not very good any more.  Father time is undefeated and I'm just trying everything I can to keep him from an easy win.

[upanddown]

Now.  Very slowly keep getting better..

[kwcsports]

25-30

[MountainKing]

16 through 24.  High level junior golf, tried to make a living in professional golf, took a couple years off after running out of time/money and needing to get a real career going.  Despite that being my best golf, I don't really know how much I enjoyed a lot of it because of how stressful it got at times.  It really got to the point of just being work.   At 44 I have a lot more fun and get a lot more joy out of it even if I suck now.

[Pepperturbo]

As a farm kid, I shagged golf balls for my uncle who played on the tour.  He paid me knowing I thought golf was for sissies.  As a late bloomer, took up golf at 40yrs old, and reached an index of 2 inside six years.  Maintained 2 index and played my best golf until the year of COVID.  I still enjoy some low rounds, and solid ball striking but not enough of them 😬 to return to index of 2.  🙂

 

Yesterday, played a 122 slope 6200 yd course from White tees, using 2i-LW only, carded an 80, my highest.  My bones don't loosen up 😣 as quickly as they used to, cost me on the front, but I'll keep trying until I can't.

[skim4]

17. Didn’t play at all in my 20s now back at in my 30s . 

[TobesSC]

I scored the best between 20-22 but feel like my swing/ballflight has been better last few years between 40-42.  Scoring was better just due to playing all the time and 20 less years of mental/emotional scar tissue lol.

[Socrates]

My best/most consistent good golf didn't occur until my mid 50's after I really learned how to swing the club properly.  If I could have chipped the ball decently in that time period, I likely could have gotten it to near scratch.  Now that I have figured out how to chip, it's a little too late in the game and the rest of my body is giving out (shoulder and elbow issues).   Still hoping to resolve the health issues and keeping the hcp in the 5 range for a few more years.  Hope to still be single digits when I hit 70.

[skraly]

I was consistently 1-2 hcp in my 50’s.  After 60 it’s been a slow decline.  Now at 72 I’m at 7-8 hcp😩. Still have days of very good golf, par or better.  But quite inconsistent, especially late in the round.  Also, I now have very little patience for watching groups ahead of me fumble and fart around and take 5 hrs to play a round of golf.  I mean really? Plumb-bobbing a 2 foot putt?  Leaving a cart 50 yds. short of the green, walking up, putting, and walking back to said cart?  And don’t even get me started on refusing to fix ball marks and music so loud I can hear it two fairways away.

Do I sound like an angry old fart🤨

I can honestly say I’ve never yelled at someone to get off of my lawn🤪

 

On the plus side, I now miss so many greens, I’ve become a really decent chipper and pitcher of the golf ball👍

Edited March 27, 2024 by skraly

[Valtiel]

Bronze.

[Ajgaguy83]

You guys actually play golf? When?

 

I thought we were all just swing junkies. 

 

 

[Golfinfloridaafter40]

16-17

Shattered my left arm into 13 pieces senior year of high school so golf career ended quickly

[naval2006]

Roughly, it must have been 18 to 40/42. Peak around 35. I formally took lessons with my coach for a year. I spent over two years shooting sub 80 anywhere I played. 

[RSinSG]

When I was younger I was better than average (meaning I could regularly break 90 and occasionally 80) but I didn’t have the time to practice nor the funds for many lessons. I retired at 58 and finally had time and money for the game and got to a 3 handicap. My best scores came in my 60’s and I first shot my age at age 67. That lasted for a few years but my handicap is slowly creeping up and at 9 index shooting low is uncommon though at 72 y/o I can still scare my age but I’m likely to drop an 85 the next round. As long as I’m still walking and enjoying the game I’m OK with the natural decline of my skills.
 

I remember playing when I was in my 30’s with a buddy and we were stuck behind a foursome of fossils and my bud said “My goal in life is to live to be old enough that I can annoy the crap out of everyone behind me on the course and not care.”  I’m not there yet but hope I’m still playing for years to come.

[TheDeanAbides]

26-28. My average score was 77. I didn't see my swing on camera until I was 30, and that ruined me for years because I couldn't believe I ever hit the damn ball with that monstrosity! In my 30s my swing was better, but my scoring average went down a couple of shots due to my health condition making my putting atrocious (it was never good, but I regularly had 3-5 3 putts a round and rarely made anything over 3 foot). 

 

Before I had to give up for good a couple of years back my swing was the best it's ever been (thanks to Monte), but I couldn't even make it round 9 holes very often. It's a constant source of frustration that I'll never know what could have been.

[jonsnow]

On 3/25/2024 at 11:45 AM, otto6457 said:

Easy.  Age 27-30. Playing the mini-tours.  Working full time on my game and grinding non stop.

 

Unfortunately, I missed too many cuts. I was not finishing high enough, often enough, to keep going.  But playing as well as I would ever play.  Sadly, it still wasn't good enough.

 

I've had some minor peaks since, mostly due to finding a great swing coach back in 2007, but I'll never get back to my best.  I'm just too old now.  I'm still trying to play some State level senior tournaments, but I'm not very good any more.  Father time is undefeated and I'm just trying everything I can to keep him from an easy win.

https:/https://markloveshistory.com/2018/01/06/death-had-to-take-roosevelt-sleeping-for-if-he-had-been-awake-there-would-have-been-a-fight-vice-president-thomas-marshall

 

 

[Cliffy2020]

3 hours ago, Golfinfloridaafter40 said:

16-17

Shattered my left arm into 13 pieces senior year of high school so golf career ended quickly

Now that’s a handicap!

[Mike_C]

I started when I was 10, by 12 could break 40 fairly regularly on local muni.   By 14 I was pretty good for my age, but I didn't feel I got a whole lot better really in High School, a knee injury my Freshman year playing backyard football didn't help, nor living way up north with a short season.  Played some junior golf, did OK, just never went low, finished 3rd in my state finals my senior year maybe the best achievement.  Tried to walk on at Auburn as a freshman, thought if I didn't make it I could at least have a full winter of practice.  Just missed making the team in the fall, then broke my hand playing basketball and had another set back.  I transferred to a DIII school back in Michigan and played 3 years, finished 5th, 1st, and 2nd in my conference in those years, but again never really could go low.  I qualified for match play several times in the state Amateur; the best I ever got was to the sweet 16.  I would say my handicap during these years was probably 1-3 consistently. 

 

When I was young, I never spent much time at the range for various reason, mostly cost and lack of good facilities.  Oddly, when I went to graduate school, I didn't have much time to play golf, but the school had an open practice area where you could hit your own balls, it did that a lot one year, and when I did play that next summer, I actually played pretty well, I even won a stoke play tournament that summer back in Michigan. 

 

After school, work and kids took up my time, but when my kids were a bit older we moved to a smaller town away from the big city and I started playing again.  Since then, I actually practice a whole lot more than when I was a kid, play a lot less, but I probably have played better over the past 20 years than when I spent all my time actually playing...  My handicap has ranged from +2 to 2 I would say, many more scores in the 60s than I could have imagined back when I was in HS and college.  I'm sure technology has helped a lot too.....  What has changed?  I used to be long off the tee, a so-so iron player I would say, had a good short game, and was a streaky putter.  Now, long off the tee for my age I guess, (but not by flat-belly standards), much better iron player, iffy short game, and consistently average putter.  Like my game has flipped totally over from when I was a kid....😄