At what age do most golfers peak ?

I was pondering this during my epic commute to work this morning. Luke Donald is 33 and seems to be comfortable in every aspect of his game (and indeed life). I really doubt many people would have picked him 24 months ago as a future world number one and multiple winner on both tours. He really has improved like a fine wine.
That said Woods arguably peaked in 2000/2001 during his Tiger slam years when he was what about 24/25, I know this is unusual in golf but McIlroy and a few of the other young guys seem to be hitting their stride early as well, but will it last or will their star burn bright for a short time ?
Then we have someone like Westwood, its hard to say in some ways whethether he peaked in his 20's when he was winning for fun or in the past 3-4 years when he appears to be a more accomplished player, able to compete in the big events but nowhere near as prolific a winner (accepted that winning golf tournaments has possibly got harder in recent years.)
Id also be interested in knowing what people see as the peak years of your average club golfer. Is there a tipping point where players seem to plateau out at a certain age ? Im 44 and am still hoping my best years are ahead of me, mainly because the past years havent been that good and Im hoping that in the future I might have more time to play and practise. Thats the dream anyway....

i think it depends on the player- but an average overall must be about that 33-35 marker.

some may peak at 25 , some may peak at 38, or even younger or older.

many club players peak past 40- when they are wiser and have abit more time on the golf course(classic examples are the players at my club that are so rich at 40 or so,retired or semi retired and get to play every day for the summer months)

Very good question Diggers,
I think it depends upon how the game aligns with their mental strengths.

Someone like Seve was exceptionally talented as a very young man, yet was so carefree and confident that the combination of both meant he was a fromidable player at a very young age. As he got older the mental edge deteriorated infecting his confidence and as a result his form dwindled pretty quickly. Ditto someone else whose name I won't mention, and then there are people like Jiminez, Stricker, Singh, Donald, Westwood and Mickelson who all took a bit longer to reach their peak, but are incredibly effective when on form.

It seems age is no indication , as it could take place between a 15 year period which in sport is quite a rare and unpredictable thing.

My handicap is still coming down, I'm now 51 and I've been playing since I was about 12/13. This is mainly due to me getting more serious about my game and putting the work in. We also have 2 guys in our scratch team who are late 50's but still produce the goods.

Obviously different on tour where length is such a crucial factor but O'Meara won his two majors after he turned 40. VJ is another example of players peaking much later on.

Horses for courses but as a general rule, I'd say 30's which is a good compromise between physical ability and experience.

personally i peaked at 15-16(handicap 4) just before i started going out and stuff- then i got back into it at 22- and peaked to almost the same as at 15 by 24 years old(handicap 5). had a bit of a break and have got to a point where i can actually play better golf at 33(only started back properly during this summer)- probally because i have the wisdom and more knowledge of my swing- i am not close to being as consitant due to not being able to play as much therefore my muscle memory isnt quite up there.

if i can make a million or two before in am 50 - then i fully expect to be able to get down to about 2 at that age.

I'm hoping that I've yet to peak, as I've been playing quite a few years, but seriously over the last 3-years. My handicap is falling slowly, as my age rises so expect to be a cat1 player by the time I'm 65

Interesting thread and good points raised.

Pro Game: I think it depends on where they are in their lives outside of golf for example Tiger I feel peaked so early as he never really had a proper childhood it was all golf no fun outside, won a whole host of majors then started playing got caught and the rest is history. As SR says Seve peaked when he was young as he wsa fearless, as soon as he started to get affected by the mental side he went downhill. Then the likes of Stricker and Westwood having double dip careers, good early, severe loss of form and huge mental strength to come back to where they are now..

Donald has shown that a solid game allied with hard work and metal fortitude can produce unbelievable results and is settled with a nice young family that clearly is his priority. Whereas Rory I can see going off the boil as he tires to be some form of global jetsetter chasing around his bit of skirt to ATP events whilst trying to be one of the boys like Gmac and Darren Clarke.

Club Players: Again many long term players if they begin as Juniors will experience to double dip, as Juniors when they have weekends free and summer holidays playing twice a day will see a severe drop in handicap and peak then. Subsequently they will turn 18, find booze and birds and work will spend less time on the course and possibly see a rise in their handicaps some may not play at all returning to the game years later.

I know this is true for myself in particular, but others I play with are all aged around 38-50 are currently in varying degrees of form, the ones experiencing their peaks tend to be the ones with families that are settled off the course and are those in their 40's as they have more time to practice and play. So if I can emulate that I can't wait.

I can only speak of my experience, once I reached the age of 40 with the kids flown the nest so to speak, then the wife and I had more time to spend on our hobbies.

I would go to the driving range at least 3 times a week and try and play about 3 times a week. My handicap came down to 8, but was a bit of a bandit of that, for on many occasions in match play events would shoot level par and a few times even better.

Round about the age of 55 I discovered that I didn't have the energy to go to the range 3 times a week, and that playing twice a week was sufficient.

Now I have retired I thought I would get back to the range and play more golf, but my time has been eaten up by just moving house(down sizing)
and plenty of chores still to do, but wait till next year.

But to sum up yes the best years for amateur golfers is the 40+ when time can be spent on golf and not general family commitments

I think your ability to 'get it round' improves with age. You know what you are capable of, and you know (on your own course) where not to hit it. In general though, your game declines markedly from 60 onwards because you can't hit it as hard, and most people suffer some nerves when putting, meaning that you can't just stroke it in like you did when you were 20.

Take older players to a new tough course though, and typically you see the wheels come off because they don't know where to hit it for the best, and they can't overcome the course by overpowering it any more.

i think there's very few putters that have improved with age in the pro game. i think allot of it has to do with mental scar tissue getting the better of them. this is the main reason why i think Tiger will never be the same player again... i cant think of many who have lost their putting stroke and managed to get it back. (maybe Stricker? not sure whether his putting was bad when he was off the boil)

If you want your game to improve I recommend that you get divorced.
My game peaked the following year.

[quote="hend085"]i think there's very few putters that have improved with age in the pro game. i think allot of it has to do with mental scar tissue getting the better of them. this is the main reason why i think Tiger will never be the same player again... i cant think of many who have lost their putting stroke and managed to get it back. (maybe Stricker? not sure whether his putting was bad when he was off the boil)[/quote

many on here are counting on sergio getting it back.

i agree that one of tigers biggest changes was his fearless putting, once you get the 'fear; you cant banish it.

Doh! hadn't thought of Sergio to be honest! one week in his back garden doesnt signal he's back yet but certainly puts him on the right road.
he doesnt even need to be a good putter. if he manages to become an average putter hes likely to be a top 5 player for the next 10 years

hend085 wrote:Doh! hadn't thought of Sergio to be honest! one week in his back garden doesnt signal he's back yet but certainly puts him on the right road.
he doesnt even need to be a good putter. if he manages to become an average putter hes likely to be a top 5 player for the next 10 years

Does the fact it was his home course make that much of a difference? I play at my home course like 3 times a week and doesnt mean I put like a god every round, although no doubting it helped him. Ok he knew the lines a bit more but still has to put a good stroke on the putt and hit it where he thinks the line is. Think his claw grip has made him much more consistent and confident. Hes clearly putting a lot better this year compared to say the last five. I read over the weekend he had only 20 at the BMW in the fed ex.

hmmm not so sure about that Sand. hes ranked T144 on strokes gained on the PGA tour.
2011 T144
2010 T159
2009 119
2008 121

putting on your home course wont make you put like a god Sand but I imagine you tend to put better than on a course you play once a year?
also with irons as good as his it makes all the difference knowing what side not to miss.

Speaking for myself I seem to have had two peaks.
As a young Pro 21/23 years and as an amateur 38/40.
I played more consistantly and putted better in the latter period but scored better in the earlier one. I was not a great putter in my youth so I for one have putted better as I got older.
After 40 my game went downhill all the way, due to about four 'circumstances'.
Family health, work pressure, twitchy pitching and lack of time.

hend085 wrote:hmmm not so sure about that Sand. hes ranked T144 on strokes gained on the PGA tour.
2011 T144
2010 T159
2009 119
2008 121

putting on your home course wont make you put like a god Sand but I imagine you tend to put better than on a course you play once a year?
also with irons as good as his it makes all the difference knowing what side not to miss.

Ok fair point, just think his putting stats are never that good cus his ball striking means he hits most greens. Anyway we will soon find out if hes putting seems to be better since hes playing again this week in Spain.

So it seems all hope is not lost even at my age.
That said I went to the range yesterday, I hit a good ball on the range, far better than I ever do on a course and was nailling a few rescues yesterday.
Then a bunch of kids turned up for a casual lesson, think they were just from a local school, werent junior members or anything and they were all novices.
I tell you one of them was like a young Rory, was completely smashing everything, lovely loose swing and great follow through. The tutor was asking him if he'd played before and he was saying no, just seen it on the TV so tried to hit it the same way. I could have punched his little face in....

Agreed Diggers from the evidence at my club they peak about age 18.
Played with one of the greenkeepers the other week big strong lad hit drive 6 iron into a 565 yard par 5 and followed up with 7 iron 198 yds for eagle chance on the next par 5Only plays about once a month.

There is a very good book by Matthew Syed called Bounce, sometime subtitled 'The Talent Myth'. Basically it says that the key to becoming proficient at something is quality practice and to master something where you are world class takes 10,000 hours. Apparently the most you can do in a year is about 1,000 hours so people like Tiger and Rory seem to peak earlier as they started very young and then you get Martin Kaymer who started at 15 and won a major at 25.

He is not the only one with the theory and its a really interesting read. I guess this is why the amateurs vary so much as the amount that we practice varies enormously due to your life.

Bottom line is that time is the key and I suppose for the majority the time you can give the most to the game is in your teens and probably once past 40 where your kids are a bit more independent and you are able to be a little more flexible with work. Unfortunately this then gets messed up by your body deteriorating!

is talent a myth.

some people just havent the physical or mental attributes.

i think your right about quality prcatise- but from my point of view that only seperates the talented between just talented or world class, and in varying degrees.

He doesn't say that you could be a 5' 2" basketball player as certain sports mean you have to have a certain build but sports like golf have a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

He gives good examples where you assume that someone has for instance great reactions (Desmond Douglas in table tennis) and when tested came out worst in their group. Then you look at where he learnt the game and there was hardly any room behind the table so had to learn to play very close to the table. When you look at what he reacts to its not once the ball is hit it is all the movements before and during the stroke allied to years of learning what that means.

They key thing is that you need to have quality practice. Where I question what he says is what motivates you to do that amount of practice so I do think that there is an x factor in there somewhere. Something has to inspire you.

It is a very interesting book and well worth a read and I like things that challenge conventions. Bottom line is whether you believe in talent or not, the key to whether you succeed is practice. He also makes some very interesting points about choking and what pressure does to your mind. Again, this can be practised.