CSANews 107

Golf By the time you read this, golf season across Canada is in full swing. I italicized the last word of my first sentence because that is one of the topics which I want to discuss in this column. Not swing as in the dance you might have learned in your youth and enjoyed at now-defunct dance halls such as The Stork Club in Port Stanley orThe Palais Royale in Toronto. I’m talking about your golf swing. Doesn’t it feel some days on the course like you are getting shafted? You know what I mean, right? Remember those glory days when you could drive the ball 225 yards or more off the tee; now, you are lucky – on a good strike – if it rolls past the 200-yardmarker. Often, as your distance drops, so does your enjoyment of the game. You are not alone. This is a common refrain heard by golfers between the ages of 60 and 80. What you might not know is that the additional candles on your birthday cake are not the primary reason for your decline in distance off the tee. It’s easy to blame this loss on your age, but the reality is that this drop is more about your corresponding decline in strength and swing speed/power. Note this key difference. While you cannot stop the aging process, you can improve your strength, power and speed, no matter what number is on your birth certificate. Just look at some of the players on The Champions Tour such as 60-year-olds Sandy Lyle and Bernard Langer, both of whom still average 280 yards off the tee. I’m not saying that you can match those numbers, but read on to learn how you can easily gain more yards. Everyone agrees that aging is not fun; it’s also disheartening when we discover that our once-virile bodies are not what they were or what our mind remembers. The good news? You can control how much enjoyment you have on the golf course – and gain back some of those lost yards – with a few simple tweaks. Remedy the distance issue by addressing three factors: your swing speed, from what tees you play, and a little discipline to take care of your body by stretching and exercising your muscles regularly between rounds. Let’s start with swing speed. It’s normal that, as we age, swing speed slows down for the majority of players – no matter your skill or handicap. This doesn’t mean that you have to lose yardage. Not possible? It actually is, if you take some time to get custom fit for the right equipment with lighter shafts that will help increase your swing speed. If you follow the industry at all, you are aware of all of the incredible leaps made in golf equipment technology in recent years. With these advancements, club manufacturers are getting hip to the needs of both young and old. It’s not all about how far and straight you can smoke your drive off the tee, it’s also about designing clubs and making technology specific to various demographics. Take Cleveland Golf as just one example. Their XX10 club is a perfect example of a piece of technology designed specifically for you readers to help you hit the sweet spot more often and get more yards off the tee. XXIO features new True-Focus Impact Technology that combines two revolutionary innovations: a Smart Impact Shaft and a Hi-Energy Impact Head. By combining a larger sweet spot with a shaft that helps you find the face-centre more often, XXIOX helps moderate-swing-speed golfers hit the ball farther and play better golf. Age is no excuse 40 | www.snowbirds.org

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzMzNzMx