Aging, Ego, and Tees

I have enough trouble with one driver, let alone two. :)

I have an Epic Flash set to 12.5º. I just ordered an Aldila Quaranta 40 gram shaft in senior flex for it. The driver is 45.5 inches, but the fitter told me that is like 43.5 for the average golfer (my irons and wedges are +2-inches).

I will go against my regular reluctance to not give recommendations - but this comes from the "if you think the Aldila is not giving everything you want department."

If you can find a Mitsubishi Grand Bassara Shaft at R flex, 43g, as a pull somewhere, something like that might be a consideration in the future. Callawaygolfpreowned would be a good place because some of their prior drivers had that as a stock shaft. So many good shafts out there. I am growing fond of Accra - the FXS 2.0 100 series may be one to check out. I am consistently surprised at what a shaft will do for distance and dispersion. I use a TPT Red fitted shaft in my driver - lively with tight dispersion. Shafts are fun.
 
A little off subject but similar. Have a friend that's 55 and still using Ping eye2 with stiff shafts and a driver stiff shaft and can't hardly walk at the end of the round. I recommended regular shafts and it hurt his feelings, said that he wasn't that old. Being 75 I know how much the shafts can effect your joints. Seems foolish to play something that actually hurts you.

I honestly don’t notice a difference if I have a 300 ball range session mostly hitting my graphite shafted clubs(S or X flex) or my steel DG shafted irons. It’s not uncommon for me on a long range session to hit only 5% of my shots with my graphite shafted fairway woods and 95% of my shots with my DG shafted irons and wedges. I don’t do those longer range sessions very often anymore but my joints don’t get sore when I do. If it’s early in the season I’ll get a lot of muscle soreness after a long range session, especially in my obliques/torso and my forearm muscles. I think it’s different for all of us as I’m 55 and know guys 10 years younger than me that found a benefit in fewer joint issues from switching to all graphite shafts.

I do get some joint soreness in my surgically repaired knees when my wife forces me on 6-10 miles walks like she has the past 4 days, lol. I walked with her on Wednesday morning and then carried my bag for 18 holes that afternoon in the 83 heat and humidity for a 13.66 mile day that definitely had my left knee talking to me. :)
 
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@JB carries a second driver and the idea is appealing. For me, 10.5 loft, 43.5 inches, low kick shaft and R flex.

Would go in tandem with the 45 in, D4, 9 of loft Epics on their way.
5 years now and its not going anywhere.
 
I will go against my regular reluctance to not give recommendations - but this comes from the "if you think the Aldila is not giving everything you want department."

If you can find a Mitsubishi Grand Bassara Shaft at R flex, 43g, as a pull somewhere, something like that might be a consideration in the future. Callawaygolfpreowned would be a good place because some of their prior drivers had that as a stock shaft. So many good shafts out there. I am growing fond of Accra - the FXS 2.0 100 series may be one to check out. I am consistently surprised at what a shaft will do for distance and dispersion. I use a TPT Red fitted shaft in my driver - lively with tight dispersion. Shafts are fun.

Thanks for your suggestions. I am also looking for an optifit 3-wood shaft. I purchased the Quaranta shaft from Callaway Pre-Owned. I like the Bassara shaft and I really like the Diamana Greenboard M+, but couldn't find any of those. I can't use a normal shaft as my 3-wood requires one of those optifit doodads.
 
I am another senior golfer trying to get back to 100 driver SS, at 94 now after going down to 84 after heart surgery several years ago.

Complete swing change, more efficiency, an instructor that drives me, rowing/kettlebells/stretching/massages for therapy (yes, but they do loosen the shoulders, back, hips and legs). I recommend, if interested, you find a guy who worked for a pro sports team and knows about movement.

But I'd never play the back tees unless a par 3 was tempting. 7000 yards and hitting 3, 5 woods and long hybrids for 18 holes is no way to play golf.

Whenever I play, I always see the inevitable younger guys playing the back tees who don't belong there - I laugh. And more often than not, that high speed drive is going fore left or fore right. As long as I'm not behind them.

I broke a bone in my back a year ago, and am right now at around 84 mph CHS. Not sure if I can get it back up there (pun intended), but I am also not going to over do it trying to get more distance. If I play the senior tees I hit the ball far enough.

And yes, I never found any enjoyment hitting fairway woods in to par 4's all day long.
 
5 years now and its not going anywhere.

I am going to go there this year and experiment- drop the 3 wood - bring the 5 wd to 17-18, then 4H, etc.

Ought to be fun.
 
Just turned 60. Still good from tees that run 6K to 6.5K. Last SS check was 103/105 in early 2020. No physical issues to speak of other than a balky back or knees that sometimes will act up. Just makes me swing smoother, which doesn’t affect distance too much.
A few years ago, I was paired up with some out of towners that wanted to play up a tee which were the “Gold” tees- essentially the Senior tees. No problem for me. Other than shooting the same score as I normally would. Yes, at least one Par 5 was a driver across the corner and a 9I to green. But just about every other hole made me decide on the tee to club down to avoid places I would not normally reach or worry about. When I didn’t, I found places I don’t normally play from. Those might have been areas of rough or awkward lies that I never usually play from. So a normal Driver then 9I might be a 3W or Driving Iron/9I or 8I. If I DID take a Driver and found a fairway, I might be left with an awkward distance in.
 
they called for red tees for the scramble today...didn't hurt my pride one bit.
 
I played the men's tees until I turned 68. The next year I was -2 coming into the 18th hole. Never did that from the men's tees, but I had decided to move on down the the senior tees and will never go back. I ended up shooting even par that day as I hit my second shot into the greenside bunker and made bogey, but still made a nice even par 72. during that year we hade two players join the group and they played from the men's tees. they were both in their mid 60's and before the year was over they also moved up to the senior tees. It may be embarrassing initially but once you do it you will be enjoying the game so much more again.
 
My home course (9 holes played twice through):
Red: 4300
White: 5004
Blue: 6008
Black: 6682

I'd say 70% of the members play from the whites as will I. It has little to do with distance or age, it's just a challenging course. I will play from the blues when the course isn't busy but hitting a long iron into those tight greens is difficult for someone like me. Still, the challenge can be enjoyable as long as reasonable expectations are kept and you're ok with losing a few balls.
 
I've learned this one already. Ego gets left in the parking lot. I'm too old to be playing the blue/black tees anymore anyway. I got rid of my ego when it comes to golf clubs too. I no longer play the blades or tour playing irons anymore. It just takes hitting balls many more times than I'm able to put in the time for in order to keep up with hitting the center of the face all the time. :sneaky:
 
I thought this was an interesting article:

 
I thought this was an interesting article:

Interesting Thanks!
I copied this from the article:
"I did some thinking about which course length is best for me. As it turns out, if you take the total length of a good drive for you and multiple that by 28, it will give you the yardage of a course that will be a lot of fun to play, not too hard, not too easy. If you want to read the whole article on this, go to www.milesofgolf.com/blog and look for an article called “Which Tees Should You Play”."
Per Mile's formula a 6500 yard course is spot on for someone with a 'good drive' (I read that to mean 'good - but not a bomb') of 232 yards total.
 
Interesting Thanks!
I copied this from the article:
"I did some thinking about which course length is best for me. As it turns out, if you take the total length of a good drive for you and multiple that by 28, it will give you the yardage of a course that will be a lot of fun to play, not too hard, not too easy. If you want to read the whole article on this, go to www.milesofgolf.com/blog and look for an article called “Which Tees Should You Play”."
Per Mile's formula a 6500 yard course is spot on for someone with a 'good drive' (I read that to mean 'good - but not a bomb') of 232 yards total.

You're welcome. I like that formula too...it doesn't work too well for the really long hitters, but is a good rule of thumb for the average golfer. I also read that multiplying your 5-iron yardage by 35 works too.
 
You're welcome. I like that formula too...it doesn't work too well for the really long hitters, but is a good rule of thumb for the average golfer. I also read that multiplying your 5-iron yardage by 35 works too.

Multiplying my 5 iron by 35 gives me 6720 which is about 100 yards less than the maximum distance I feel comfortable with. Most all of my golf is played at 6,400 to 6,850 now.
 
Multiplying my 5 iron by 35 gives me 6720 which is about 100 yards less than the maximum distance I feel comfortable with. Most all of my golf is played at 6,400 to 6,850 now.

That is very respectable. I played in a tournament and because of my HI they had me play from 6800. I hit one iron shot all day, everything else was driver/wood/wedge. I still managed to eek out an 89, lol.
 
I am of the Opinion that the game is hard enough theres no reason to make it harder by playing the wrong tees.
Some courses like my home course doesn't make a difference it's prob 30-50 yards per hole but at some courses it can be 100+ and thats really going affect scores.

I play with some guys who are barely better than me that want to play the blues, I still play they whites. I am over the Vanity of playing a certain tee.
 
I am of the Opinion that the game is hard enough theres no reason to make it harder by playing the wrong tees.
Some courses like my home course doesn't make a difference it's prob 30-50 yards per hole but at some courses it can be 100+ and thats really going affect scores.

I play with some guys who are barely better than me that want to play the blues, I still play they whites. I am over the Vanity of playing a certain tee.

That just means you are secure in your masculinity and don't need to prove it by playing the blue/black tees like a few folks seem to do. :)
 
Interesting Thanks!
I copied this from the article:
"I did some thinking about which course length is best for me. As it turns out, if you take the total length of a good drive for you and multiple that by 28, it will give you the yardage of a course that will be a lot of fun to play, not too hard, not too easy. If you want to read the whole article on this, go to www.milesofgolf.com/blog and look for an article called “Which Tees Should You Play”."
Per Mile's formula a 6500 yard course is spot on for someone with a 'good drive' (I read that to mean 'good - but not a bomb') of 232 yards total.


I’ve seen that article before, and that formula has me playing yardages I absolutely should not be playing.
 
I'm 50 and I'm a short hitter. I've never been long, even when I was young. I've never played any tees other than the whites... no black, no blues.

My 21 yo son is taking up golf and barely makes contact with the ball. His best shot goes maybe 100 yards. If the weather ever cooperates, we'll hit the course for his first time and play from the forward tees. I want the game to be fun for him. Playing from the whites won't be that.

I'm kind of looking forward to that... if I find that I'm playing close to par on a regular basis, I'll move back to the white tees... until that happens I think I'll play forward.
 
I am of the Opinion that the game is hard enough theres no reason to make it harder by playing the wrong tees.
Some courses like my home course doesn't make a difference it's prob 30-50 yards per hole but at some courses it can be 100+ and thats really going affect scores.

I play with some guys who are barely better than me that want to play the blues, I still play they whites. I am over the Vanity of playing a certain tee.
On my home course the biggest difference isn't just the yardage - it's that it brings a few forced carries off the tees into play that leave no margin for error. If you mishit your drive, might as well reload and hit a provisional because it's highly likely that you're not going to find your ball - or if you do, it's going to be unplayable. Those penalty strokes add up on the scorecard even faster than having to hit longer clubs because of the extra distance!
 
I'm surprised that nearly every poster has used the term "senior's" tees or " women's tees". I called them "women's tees" once a few years ago playing with a female and nearly got my head bit off who corrected me to "forward tees".

Gents, call them the "forward tees", "back tees", or red, white or purple, whatever. It's the only way to help with the stigma and to get folks the right ones for their pleasure. I play course every once in a while that has put the blue tees at the front, red at the back, probably for that reason. Our local munis are putting in Green tees as more forward than the reds, another local course has put in black tees as the most forward.

I just turned 70. I will probably play the red (second from most forward) tees on a couple of the courses I play regularly this year and sometimes on other courses. I and a number of the guys in my (ahem) seniors league hope at least one of those two courses rates a red/white combo that was in the works for 2020 before Covid hit.
Glad you mentioned this about labeling the tees. Kind of a dumb pet peeve of mine, but I hate when people label them.

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I play the tees that make it enjoyable for me. Right now, those are tees in the low 6,000 range.

That being said, depending on who I am playing with and what the group consensus is, I've played from the tips and I've played from the very forward tees. One thing that really makes it interesting to me is that at many courses, the playing from the tips just makes the same course longer (duh), but playing from the forward tees make it a different course entirely. Meaning, there are shots I can try from the forwards that are not available to me from other boxes.

I'm out there to do well and have fun. Whichever tees make that available to me, are the tees I will use.
 
One thing I do enjoy watching, however, is the guy who "plays from the tips, always" and can't get out of his own way. I played with a group last year, and one guy was new to me. He insisted we play from the tips. OK, WTH.

First tee, and pretty much every tee all day was a giant banana slice from him. I shot in the 80s and he put up something in the 100s and claimed a 90. w/e.
 
I started playing when I turned 50, so I never had the feeling like many of you, who have been playing a lot longer and hit the ball a mile in your younger years, of losing considerable distance. So for me ego doesn't really enter in to it. I have nothing to prove and don't really care what other people think regarding what tees I play. I know for some people the latter is a concern and keeps them from moving up.

A big part of the game for me is also the exercise (I walk 99% of my rounds), being outside for a few hours soaking up some sun and getting some fresh air, as long as the camaraderie. So golf fills a variety of different things for me. Ultimately though it is about enjoying myself, and I find more enjoyment playing tees commensurate with my abilities.

I couldn't have put it better myself. I started at 57 (now 69) and walk every round. Your answer sums up my view precisely.
 
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