How to Better Your Golf Game After Age 50

PGA Tour veterans share their secrets on improving your score

Kevin Cook,

AARP

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Published September 23, 2024

Golfers Hale Irwin, Bob May and Gary McCord

Pro golfers, from left, Hale Irwin, 79, Bob May, 55, and Gary McCord, 76, offer tips to improve every facet of your game after age 50.

AARP (Leonard Kamsler/Popperfoto/Getty Images, Stephen Munday/Allsport/Getty Images, Jeff McBride/PGA Tour Archive/Getty Images)

If you’re a golfer of a certain age — more than 50, less than infinity — you’ve probably felt the way I feel. Diminished. I used to smack a good drive 260 yards; now I’ll swing from the heels and hit one 220. My son outdrives me with a three-iron.

Yet the game’s more fun than ever. Why? Because golf gives us wily veterans so many chances to make up for our shortcomings. If you want proof, watch the PGA Tour Champions, the tour for pros 50 and over, where senior golfers tee it up for multimillion-dollar purses. The holes tend to be shorter than on the regular PGA Tour and the players may get to ride in carts, but the golf’s still world-class.

“Nobody’s immune to aging. We all lose flexibility and power in our 50s, 60s and 70s,” says tour pro and longtime TV analyst Gary McCord. “But there are ways to compensate.” During 23 seasons on the PGA Tour, McCord, now 76, amassed zero victories in 422 tournaments. He joked about his record with a license plate that read NO WINS. But after turning 50, he won twice on the senior tour and racked up more than $4 million in total PGA Champions earnings. “Golf’s a great game for a bunch of reasons,” he says. “One of the best is that you can always get better.”

As the Presidents Cup kicks off in Montreal (Sept. 24–29), we take a look at how to improve every facet of your game after 50.

On the tee

Too many older players bend at the waist, leaning over the ball. That may be more comfortable, but it’s better to stand tall, with what senior tour hero Hale Irwin, 79, calls “a nice, straight back.”

Older golfers also tend to tee the ball too low, which can lead to short, blooping drives. “Launch angle’s crucial,” says McCord. “The pro tour average is 12.5 degrees, while for older guys the average launch angle is 7 to 8 degrees. Not enough! If you want to hit longer drives, play the ball a little farther forward in your stance and tee it up higher.”

In the fairway

For all full shots, amateurs should picture bringing the shaft of the club parallel to the ground at the top of the backswing. “If you can’t get all the way to parallel, you want to get as close as possible,” McCord says. “That takes flexibility, which gets harder as we age. Range-of-motion exercises can help.” PGA Tour Champions pro Bob May, 55, agrees. “I swear by Pilates,” says May, who dueled Tiger Woods in a playoff at the 2000 PGA Championship and now runs the Bob May Golf Academy in Las Vegas. “It’s terrific for strength and range of motion.” He believes older golfers can learn to gain more strokes around the green than they lose in distance off the tee.

In a bunker

Golfers young and old fear sand traps. The pros, who would rather be in a bunker than the rough, know better. “The key is to hit beneath the ball, not behind it,” says May. “When your ball’s in the sand, imagine that there’s a tee under it. Swing down through the sand to the middle of the tee. You’ll hit better bunker shots.”

On the green

“Above all, older players should focus on the short game,” May says. “It’s hard to believe how many golfers neglect it. I see amateurs my age on the driving range — they’ll hit a few irons, and then it’s driver, driver, driver. But think about it: How many drives do you hit in a round? And how many putts?” He considers putting practice at least as important as swinging your driver on the range. “And don’t grip the putter too tight. That’s another common mistake. Think soft — you want light pressure on the grip of your putter and smooth, consistent hand speed. Try it, and I bet you make more putts.”

Pro tip

McCord has one last suggestion: “Move up to the next tees!” He sees too many older players hitting from the blue tees, which are meant for more advanced golfers, even after they age out of such a tough format. “The game’s supposed to be fun. So play from the forward tees. And once you get near the green, you can chip and putt ’em to death.”

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