{"id":325030,"date":"2025-12-04T15:04:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/325030\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T15:04:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:04:13","slug":"shooting-your-age-in-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/325030\/","title":{"rendered":"Shooting your age in golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two-and-a-half years ago, after carding 76 at Augusta National<\/a>, Gary Player claimed that he had shot his age or better 3,072 times in a row.<\/p>\n

The great South African, a winner of nine Major Championships and a member of the career Grand Slam club<\/a>, is now nearly 90 years of age, so that figure could well be approaching 3,500.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Well done, Mr Player, although, well, 165 professional tournaments in six continents and all that…<\/p>\n

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To shoot one\u2019s age (or better) is an incredible achievement, surely more impressive than any hole-in-one<\/a>, and not a feat that most club golfers can boast about having on their CV.<\/p>\n

These golfers do exist, though. You probably have one at your golf club.<\/p>\n

Epping Golf Club<\/a> has at least one. Steve Rowe describes his 68 at the par 68 in Essex as one of his \u201cgreatest-ever achievements\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to be right up there,\u201d says the single figure golfer, who finished in spectacular fashion with a hole-out eagle on the 18th, which tasted even sweeter given that it came in the Seniors Medal and gave him the scratch title for the third successive year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve been playing on and off for 54 years,\u201d says the 68-year-old Yorkshireman, who began golfing in his early teens, at Wath Golf Club, with a handicap of 18.<\/p>\n

Within two years he was down to single figures – and he\u2019s remained there ever since.<\/p>\n

After firing a \u201cdisappointing\u201d 77 in the August Medal, the first 18-hole round comprising the scratch competition, Steve, now off 4.8, was determined to go low in September and shoot his age, something he\u2019s been trying to do ever since he came close with a 68 at the age of 66.<\/p>\n

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With a two-two finish, which included a perfect wedge from 60 yards on the 18th, Steve wasn\u2019t just back in the prizes – he\u2019d gone and done a Player.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Shooting\n<\/p>\n

A two at the last hole saw Steve finish with a 68 to shoot his age<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Steve Rowe)<\/p>\n

There are a few lessons that we can learn from Steve. The first is to never give up, for the South Yorkshireman (made of steel and all that), opened up on the back nine with back-to-back bogeys.<\/p>\n

The second is to keep yourself in good shape. Playing from such a young age has helped Steve to stay nice and flexible, and, when you\u2019re fully retired, a bit of gardening doesn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n

Practice also helps. Who would have guessed? For Steve, as well as playing three times a week, he\u2019s a regular at the range on a Thursday, where he spends two hours hitting 9-irons and working on his short game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Any more secrets? What are his strengths?<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose I\u2019m a solid all-rounder,\u201d he says, with a little more modesty than Player, who also made the claim that, courtesy of modern technology, he can now shoot his age \u201cwith my eyes closed\u201d. Steady on, Mr Player.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Gary\n<\/p>\n

Gary Player is no stranger to shooting his age on the golf course <\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Pushed for a few more tips – because shooting one\u2019s age is something many club golfers dream of achieving – he says he\u2019s been blessed with sound technique.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I have a nice fluid swing,\u201d says Steve, who was also victorious at Epping’s Club Championship this year. \u201cThat’s something people tend to comment on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis a bit of a milestone for me,\u201d adds Steve, who once made the semi-final of the Daily Mail Foursomes.<\/p>\n

Shooting his age beats that and, after spending a week playing more golf in Turkey<\/a>, he\u2019s back looking to do it again.<\/p>\n

As Player might say, if you can do it once, why not three thousand times?<\/p>\n

Have you ever shot (or bettered) your age? Let us know in the comments box below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two-and-a-half years ago, after carding 76 at Augusta National, Gary Player claimed that he had shot his age…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-325030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}