Age-Defying Improvements: Why 60+ Might Be Your Best Golf Yet
There’s a pervasive myth in golf that your best days are behind you once you hit 60. That distance inevitably fades, scores creep higher, and the game becomes more about socializing than competing. It’s a nice narrative (comforting, even) except for one problem: it’s not true.
At Bird Golf Academy, we see golfers in their 60s, 70s, and beyond making improvements they never thought possible. Not just maintaining their games, but actually getting better. Shooting lower scores. Gaining distance. Breaking barriers they couldn’t break in their 40s.
The secret? It’s not about fighting age. It’s about working with your body as it is today, not as it was twenty years ago.
A Miracle Week
Heidi came to Bird Golf Academy with specific goals: break 50 for nine holes, break 100 for 18 holes, and improve her short game. These weren’t pie-in-the-sky dreams.They were concrete targets she’d been chasing for a while.
Working with instructor Tim Peightal, something clicked.
“He is a miracle worker!” Heidi wrote after her school in Colorado. She achieved all three goals that week. But more than the scores, something else changed: “I am excited to spend the rest of my life playing and getting better at it!”
That excitement, that renewed passion for improvement, might be more valuable than any score. Too many golfers reach a certain age and shift into maintenance mode, assuming their ceiling is behind them. Heidi’s experience shows what happens when you’re given the right instruction tailored to how you learn and how your body moves.
Tim’s teaching philosophy emphasizes patience, positivity, and passion: what he calls “the 3 P’s.” With varying levels of student abilities, he adapts his approach to meet each person exactly where they are. For Heidi, that meant breaking down complex movements into achievable pieces and building confidence with each small success.
The result? Not just better golf, but a rekindled love for the game that will carry her forward for years.
Transformation at 67
When Bud signed up for a golf school in Florida, he had doubts.
“I didn’t think that I would be able to do as well as I have at the age of 67,” he admitted, “but I was wrong.”
Working with Tim, Bud discovered that age was far less of a barrier than he’d believed. Tim made adjustments across all aspects of his game (full swing, short game, putting) that addressed Bud’s specific physical realities, not some idealized textbook swing.
The results were immediate and lasting. Bud’s ball striking improved with more accuracy than ever before. His short iron distance increased by 10 to 15 yards. His bad shots became fewer and had better outcomes. His good shots? “Very pleasing results.”
Within months, Bud’s handicap index dropped to 13. But here’s the telling detail: “I can remember when I was really pleased if I broke 90. Now I am not satisfied unless I am in the low 80s.”
That’s not maintenance. That’s improvement. That’s a golfer who’s raising his standards because his game can now meet them.
Bud’s experience also highlights something crucial about good instruction for older golfers: it’s not about overhauling everything. Tim didn’t try to turn Bud into a different golfer. He identified what was working, fixed what wasn’t, and gave Bud the tools to continue improving on his own.
“If I decide to seek further help with my game, I would want it to be with Tim,” Bud wrote. “His clear guidance and his understanding of the individual golfer’s strengths and limitations makes him the ideal instructor.”
What Makes the Difference?
So what’s actually happening here? Why are golfers in their 60s and beyond making these improvements when conventional wisdom says they should be declining?
Understanding, Not Overhauling
The best instruction for older golfers doesn’t try to force them into a swing designed for a 25-year-old tour player. It starts with understanding what their body can do today (not yesterday, not theoretically, but right now).
Lee Maiden, one of our senior instructors, puts it this way: “My priorities with students are to make sure that their fundamentals are correct for them.” Not correct according to some universal standard, but correct for their body style, flexibility, and movement patterns.
This personalized approach acknowledges reality: a 65-year-old’s swing will look different from a 25-year-old’s swing. That’s not a limitation, it’s just a fact. The goal isn’t to fight that reality but to optimize within it.
Smarter Practice Over More Practice
Older golfers often can’t (or don’t want to) spend four hours on the range every day. Their bodies might not recover as quickly. They have other commitments, other interests, other things they enjoy.
The solution isn’t to practice more, it’s to practice smarter. Focused drills that address specific issues. Quality repetitions over quantity. Understanding cause and effect so you can self-diagnose and self-correct without needing a pro there every time.
This approach actually benefits golfers of all ages, but it’s particularly valuable for older players who need to be strategic with their practice time and physical energy.
The Mental Game Becomes the Edge
As we age, the physical advantages we might have once had (pure strength, flexibility, recovery speed) naturally diminish. But the mental game? That can improve indefinitely.
Course management becomes sharper. Decision-making improves. Emotional control strengthens. The ability to play within yourself, to know when to be aggressive and when to be conservative: these are skills that favor experience and wisdom.
Many of our instructors emphasize this. Brien Paquette, who’s been teaching since 1990, focuses heavily on how to practice and how to play on the course, not just how to hit shots. That distinction matters enormously for older golfers who can’t overpower courses but can absolutely outsmart them.
The Common Thread
Looking at golfers like Heidi, Bud, and countless others we’ve worked with, a pattern emerges. It’s not about defying age, it’s about understanding what you’re working with and optimizing it.
The improvements come from:
Proper fundamentals matched to your body. Not textbook positions, but setups and movements that work for your flexibility, strength, and coordination.
Clear, simple instruction. As Tim Peightal notes, the best teaching isn’t about overwhelming students with information. It’s about identifying the few key things that will make the biggest difference.
Confidence building. So much of golf is trust. Trusting your swing, your decisions, your ability to execute. Good instruction rebuilds that trust, which often deteriorates more from doubt than from physical decline.
Realistic practice plans. Drills you can actually do. Practice routines that fit your schedule and physical reality. Tools for self-diagnosis so you’re not dependent on constant lessons.
What It Means for You
If you’re over 60 and feeling like your best golf is behind you, these stories should give you pause.
Heidi found excitement for lifelong improvement. Bud raised his standards at 67. None of them are outliers or genetic freaks. Tthey’re regular golfers who got the right instruction at the right time.
Your body today is different from your body at 30 or 40. That’s not a problem to overcome, it’s a reality to work with. The golfers who improve later in life aren’t fighting age. They’re working intelligently with what they have.
Maybe you’ve lost some distance off the tee. That doesn’t mean you can’t score better. It might mean learning to be sharper with wedges and putter. Maybe you can’t practice as much as you used to. That doesn’t mean you can’t improve. It might mean you need more efficient practice methods.
The right instruction doesn’t try to turn back the clock. It helps you play your best golf with the body and time you have today.
Still Getting Better
There’s something deeply satisfying about improvement at any age, but there’s something special about getting better when you thought that window had closed.
When Bud wrote that he’s “not satisfied unless I am in the low 80s,” he wasn’t complaining. He was celebrating. His standards rose because his game rose to meet them. That’s not the story of someone managing decline. It’s the story of someone still growing.
That kind of progress is exactly what we see at Bird Golf schools. Students arrive believing they’re here to “maintain” their game, and leave realizing they’re capable of more than they thought.
Golf is one of the few sports you can play and improve at for life. Not despite age, but throughout it. The golfers who understand that (and find instructors who understand that) are the ones still shooting personal bests in their 60s, 70s, and beyond.
Your best golf might not be behind you. It might be waiting for you to stop assuming it is.
