Do It Together: Retirement, Golf, and Couples

Retirement gives you more time to do the things that you enjoy with your spouse or significant other. One of the best activities to share with your special someone is the wonderful game of golf. Golf will allow you to get outside, get exercise, see new places, and spend more time together. Whether you are both experienced golfers, beginner golfers, or a mix of the two, you will find that golf can be a great activity for the two of you to take part in when you retire.

Exercise is something that you definitely need to add in your life when you get older. Finding fun ways to exercise – like golf – can enable you to exercise without feeling like it is exercise. This can go a long way to helping you do it regularly and exercising together can make it a special time between the two of you. By making golf a regular part of your life, you can get the benefits that come with golf, including maintaining your weight, decreasing your risk of heart disease, and slowing the aging process.

Spending time together doing something fun can help you both to enjoy your life more. And it’s never too late to learn the game of golf. Even if one of you has never even picked up a golf club, it’s a game that can be learned later in life and shared for a lifetime. A few lessons and your beginner golfer will be hitting the links with you and having fun. Make the most of this new time of your life and spend time together doing fun activities, whether it is golf or another activity.

Seeing new places is another great aspect of playing golf together. You can travel all around the country and world and play on many different golf courses together, creating beautiful memories that you will have for the rest of your life. Adding golf to your travel itinerary helps make every trip that much more special and will give you the opportunity to meet new people, see new places, and enjoy a great game on top golf courses throughout the world.

Simply put, retirement is more fun when couples can enjoy the game of golf together. It offers you exercise, fun, challenges, and new experiences that you both will enjoy long into your life.

Putt With Confidence

A good senior golfer can make any putt look simple…almost too simple, because in fact, mastering the art of putting can be very challenging. There are so many things to keep in mind when making a good putt that golfers can overlook vital steps or end up confusing themselves.

The most obvious example of this is concentrating too hard on your target. The point of putting is to get that ball in the hole and some golfers become so focused on setting up a good line that they forget to gauge the speed of their putt.

Your target line can easily hypnotize you into forgetting the little, but vital details that go into making a successful putt – especially on a green that is very contoured and a lot of break. You can simplify your putting and start putting with confidence using these two simple steps.

First You’ll Set Your Line

You first matter of business when you step up to your putt is to read the break. Taking into account the contours of the green, create an imaginary line that will be the ball’s path of travel. Now concentrate on a spot mid-distance between the ball and the hole, adjusting your aim based on this spot.

Always mark your ball and line up your putt from behind. When you’ve found your line and see the mid-point mark you’re lining up to, you can use a little trick that many good putters use. Take a line or wording on your golf ball and line them up towards your target spot. Now, when you are standing over your ball you only need to align to the line or wording on the golf ball and trust your line!

Now You Gauge Your Speed

Once you have determined your line, let it go. Clear your thoughts and focus your attention now on giving the ball enough speed to follow your line into the hole. Again, the contours of the green and where the ball breaks will play an enormous part on how much speed you will need.

Remember that target spot you created mid-distance between the ball and the hole? If you have a short putt, you can bring that point closer to you; if you are facing a longer putt that requires more power, move the spot further towards the hole. This is a great way to keep from over or under-powering your putts.

Breaking apart the putt into these two steps makes the process much easier, but you aren’t going to see those fantastic putts the pros make unless you practice, practice, practice! To become a master with your putter you are going to need to build your comfort and confidence with putting on any green from any distance, you are going to need to develop a natural sense of speed and distance which comes only from hours of practice on the putting green.

There is an excellent program to help you cut putts off your score. Most golfers putt between 33 and 40 times per round. Imagine cutting just 6-8 putts per round off of your score!

The program is called “Breakthrough Putting Secrets Revealed” and they offer a free report on “3 Days to Stop 3-Putting”. This is a very good program and I encourage you to check out their site and read more.

Re-learn How You Play Golf

You may have heard of this swing tip before, but it’s worth repeating until you actually “get it”. I’m talking about playing the game in your subconscious. This is a cornerstone approach that all professional golfers know and practice.

You have probably heard someone throw this saying around, “playing the game is all in your mind”.  It’s something every golfer over 50 should strive to master and here is how to wrap your mind around the concept of playing in the subconscious.

Playing Golf in the Subconscious

Take a look at the breakdown of how you approach your shots: you set up your stance based on a target, take some practice swings…enter the subconscious.  After you have done your pre-shot ritual you can expect to have calculated for most of the potential risks of the shot.  That leaves only visualizing the shot and taking the swing.

Each and every time you swing the club you need to make sure that only one thing is in your mind clean and clear – the target.

Remember, you have already aimed and made adjustments.  Your muscle memory has kicked in from taking practice shots and duplicating that perfect swing should be effortless.  The only thing you need to think about at that point is the target.  Be confident in your technique and the shot will follow through.

This is the power of playing in the subconscious.

Turning Off Your Mind

To take advantage of your subconscious you must truly “turn off your mind”.  That seems like a difficult concept to grasp, but all of the pieces are in place.  You are on the golf course.  There are no distractions save maybe a crisp breeze and the sound of birds chirping.  You have already done your practice swing, you’ve worked out your stance and decided on a suitable target.  Let your surroundings help to quiet your mind.

Relax and take deep breaths.  Continue to visualize your target and you are ready to take your shot. You must remove the swing thoughts and latest tip from your golf magazine. Just play in the moment.

To really grasp the ability of playing golf in the subconscious you will need to practice quite a bit.  The benefits of mastering this skill are innumerable.  Having a strong mind is a decisive factor in winning golf, and a vital asset if you intend to take on competitive golf.

Chipping with Your 3 Wood

A chip shot is simply a way of getting the ball to roll from the fairway or light rough towards the hole. Many  golfers prefer a 7 or an 8-iron to execute their chip shots but there are times when you will want a little more power. Sometimes you want to put more power behind the ball than the blade of an iron can provide.

For such shots you might get better results from chipping with your 3 Wood.

The 3 Wood?

Sure. The 3 Wood is an ideal club for putting more power into the ball’s roll due to its loft. A standard 3 Wood will have a loft of around 15 degrees. The standard loft of a 4 iron is approximately 24 degrees; putters provide a loft of 5 to 6 degrees (and less). So, a 3 wood serves up the low flying shot of a 4 iron and a stronger, quicker hop than your putter will provide… the best of both worlds. The 3 Wood club head is also much heftier than your iron, which means less effort to send the ball further distances.

So what is the ideal chip shot to employ your 3 Wood? Here are few scenarios where chipping with a 3 Wood can achieve better results:

1. If the green is leveled above the ball (meaning you will need to chip up) a 3 Wood can provide the necessary acceleration. Any time where there is an incline or ridge present and an iron or putter shot might tempt the chip to go awry is a good time to break out your 3 Wood.

2. The 3 Wood is perfect on a nice, wide-open chip shot where you are staring right at the green. Since there is nothing in the way and it’s just a straight line to the pin, just swing away with 3 Wood for a rolling straight shot.

3. It can be dramatically harder to get an iron to behave when chipping from short cut grass or firm ground. While longer grass and softer terrain can compensate for minor discrepancies, trying to chip on hard ground with an iron means needing to make a more precise impact with the ball. Using your 3 Wood eliminates the need to be so precise and makes chipping from firmer ground that much easier.

When chipping with the 3 Wood, its important to choke down on the club and employ a putting-like stroke. Keep your wrists firm and be sure to follow through the ball instead of stabbing at it.

The chip shot is an extremely vital part of golf and one topic with a slew of various tips and techniques. To be a competitive senior golfer it pays to have an expansive repertoire of chipping methods that utilize your equipment to its full potential – and using your 3 Wood is one such method.

Smart Golf for Baby Boomers

Getting stuck at a certain point in golf can be infuriating. You try every exercise, every technique and nothing seems to work. You spend all of your time practicing to fix weak points but see almost no improvement. Sometimes the answer you are looking for lies in something very simple.

Here are small, simple tips to help baby boomers play smarter golf and overcome our sticking points:

Smart Putting: Long Range Warm-ups and Establishing A Rhythm

Many golfers make the mistake of concentrating only on the mechanics and essentially “rebuilding” their putt out on the practice green. Leave technical practice for after a round to work out inconsistencies.

Even with a proper warm-up it is likely that you will need the first few holes to get a feel for the course. This means you are likely to face long distance putts early on in the game. Take a few putts from 30 to 40 feet when you warm-up on the putting green.

When you are just practicing for the day or warming up for a round you want to focus first on setting rhythm for your putt. You want to concentrate on getting the ball to roll smoothly; this is done by making solid contact to the ball with your putter. Your goal is to get into a rhythm where your putt strikes the ball smoothly through the path of the club.

Smart Practice: Finding Your Swing

Have you ever hit a few practice shots that seemed to suffer from the same push or pull, and no matter what you did to fix it nothing seemed to alleviate the problem? The solution is as simple as just letting everything be.

Finding your swing isn’t about practicing until you hit perfectly, but understanding your tendencies for that day. If your ball is consistently hitting left, don’t approach every hole anxious and focused on making a perfect swing-that’s a good way to mess up. Rather you must be confident that your shots will go left and simply aim right. Work it out on the driving range after the round and play the shot that your body is giving you during the round.

Research the Holes

Researching the course’s holes is an important tactical strategy and one that is often overlooked. You wouldn’t make a move in chess without analyzing your opponents pieces; you can’t expect to walk blindly onto a course and par every hole.

Those course planners and yardage boards are like cheat sheets for a high school math exam. You want take into account everything from the yardage to hazards. Use this information to formulate a plan for how you want to play each hole. This way you can avoid undesirable lies or situations that could potentially cost you a stroke.

Playing smart is the only way to see unbounded success in golf. Use these strategies and tactics to analyze and overcome your weaknesses on the course as you progress to the next level of your game!

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