[Joint pain]

On 6/3/2021 at 8:58 AM, alfriday101 said:

Two things have greatly helped me.  I'm 63.

 

First, regular stretching.  I stretch each morning for about 10 minutes, the first part of the routine is while still in the bed.   I have golf specific stretches that I do before each round or practice session.  And I do half hour yoga sessions at night, two to three times a week.  It sounds like a lot, but it's pretty easy to build into my day.  

Second, I have adopted an eating plan that emphasizes  gut health--eliminating or cutting down on most foods that cause inflammation.  I used to have chronic sore joints, especially my hands, knees and lower back.  Moving to eating meals heavy in vegetables, fermented foods and healthy fats (olive oil) and low in simple carbs and sugar has really helped with inflammation and joint soreness.  I eat very few highly processed foods.      

^ This.  Yoga, stretching and diet are key to your overall health and flexibility.  I'm 59 and completely changed my diet about five years ago.  I don't eat sugar, eggs, dairy, fish, minimal meat (sometimes you have no choice) and zero processed foods.  Plants only (70/20/10 Carbs/Protein/Fat).  I know that sounds extreme (and goes against the incredibly extreme no carbs diets) but I went from only being able to play a maximum of every couple of days (because of joint pain and soreness) to being able to play every day if I choose.  I credit almost all of that to a change in diet.  There have been other benefits like regulating my blood pressure and cholesterol and reducing the plaque in my arteries by eighty percent.  I'm no longer medications (BP, cholesterol, allergy) which had some significant side affects that were not so wonderful.  I also dropped forty pounds and regulated my weight.  On the negative side, I'm dealing with some foot pain and golfer's elbow which is more an issue with practicing and playing significantly more golf (which is a good thing), but I've got a handle on those things.  As you get older you have to make some hard choices about your health.  If you don't, you will be watching your buddies heading to the course while you are dealing with health issues.  I see it everyday.  I'm choosing not to be a victim of my own poor choices in the past.

I'm starting now to add in some stretching and other light aerobic exercise (other than walking the course), but diet and stretching is key.  I don't think we have any idea what the crap food we eat actually does to our body long term.  The easy answer it to take a fistful of pills but it all catches up to you as we get older.  Also, someone else mentioned that things like taking Aleve before a round helps.  It most definitely does, but it can also ruin your gut health/biome so best to try your hardest to avoid those things.  Scientists are now saying your gut is your second brain.  There may be some truth to that.

[Bogies & Birdies]

On the other side of this question I had ZERO pars on the back nine the other day (after making six pars on the front nine).  I did hit four of nine greens and three putted them all.  To my knowledge, I don't recall EVER a having a par free front or back nine except maybe when I was taking up the game as a kid which was 50 years ago.  I hope I got that out of my system.

[How many shots can you remember?]

I can remember certain shots over my lifetime (e.g., ace, a few memorable eagles and circus shots) and a few rounds (not every shot but more at the macro level).  Mostly I remember some incredible shots that I hit perfectly and knew it the moment the ball left the clubface.  I recall playing a practice round during college where I birdied five holes in a row, the longest putt about five feet and hit three flags on approach shots during the five hole birdie streak.  I remember in high school playing a friendly match against another school, I fired an even par 72 after making an 11 on the first hole.  Played the next 17 holes 7 under.  It was like an out of body experience.  I've made some Phil-like incredible circus pars recently and I'll remember those for a long time to come.