New Swing for an old body

The first thing I noticed, upon my return to playing golf after 16 plus years away, was how much things had changed. “Well duh !”, you say. Well, yes, but it was not what I was thinking it would be.

My thoughts were about how much the technology had changed. However, it soon became apparent I could still score with my 1995 model of Golden Rams; front nine of 42, 5 pars, 2 bogeys, a double, and a triple. Not too bad considering the time away from the game. And, the back nine started off okay, bogey, par. Then reality set in! Two plus hours of turning, twisting, swinging, bending and using muscles that had been dormant for years, the body began to say “enough !”.

I guess it’s needless to say, the game went south from there. Add the two plus hour car ride home, the birthday golf outing told me that I am not 27 or 47 but 67. And, the body is not what it once was. Message delivered!

Over the course of the next couple of years, somewhere on the back nine of a round, the body would experience degrees of a similar pattern. Then, by the times I reached my early 70s, the stiffness had turned to soreness to the point it was a challenge to get the ball out of the cup by the end of the round. It was CLEAR, if I was going to continue to play golf, the swing had to change!

But, how do you change a swing that’s 50 plus years of muscle memory? Where does one start? Books; YouTube videos; a teaching pro and if so, who? Way back I was coached by L B Floyd and tutored on the importance of “knowing my swing”, so can I rebuild it myself? Lot of questions, but no answers, then COVID arrived and changed everything.