The beauty of golf is there are tons of different ways golfers can achieve something impressive. One of the most impressive achievements in golf is reserved for an older player, and that is shooting your age.
But what does it mean in golf to shoot your age?
What does it mean to shoot your age in golf?
In golf, shooting your age means scoring at or below your age. This can be done for 18 holes or nine holes -- although golfers typically don't care about or even recognize shooting their age for nine holes. It's more impressive for a golfer to shoot their age or beat their age over the course of an 18-hole round.
For the best golfers in the world in their 50s and competing at the highest level, that's their first real opportunity to shoot their age. Shooting an 18-hole round under 60 is incredible, but breaking 60 and shooting your age in the same round is about as good as it gets. Trying to be reasonable, the first chance a golfer really had to break 60 and shoot their age is at about 58 years old.
However, for high-quality players, their true earliest opportunity to shoot their age is in their early 60s. Shooting 64 at age 64 is a tremendous accomplishment.
Really, though, the achievement gets more impressive as a golfer gets into their 70s and even their 80s. If a golfer can break their age at that point in their life, they're demonstrating an incredible longevity and skill level that few golfers possess.
Of course, a golfers shooting their age isn't limited to any age. It can be any age! That means a golfer in their 90s or even 100s could shoot or break their age in a round of golf. It helps to play from the right set of tees and be gifted with the physical and cognitive longevity needed to pull off the feat, but that may be the most special of all.
Golf truly is a game for a lifetime, and golfers can continue to achieve in the sport as long as they're able to play the game.
