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At what age do golfers reach their peak?
The playing career of a competitive sportsman is a limited
thing. Sportsmen are usually only competitive when they are
physically fit and by the time middle age has set in it's likely
that fitness has become a problem. The longer a sportsman can
prolong their physical well-being, the more opportunity they
have to utilise the experience and tactical awareness built up
over a long career. It's an interesting conundrum to consider at
what point the combination of experience and physical well-being
are maximised to produce sportsmen at the top of their game.
Golf is not unlike other sports in this respect. Although golf
is not physically demanding, it nonetheless requires a degree of
athleticism. The game can be played quite readily by enthusiasts
who are well into their sixties and seventies, but they cannot
be physically sharp at this age. On the other hand, golf is
undoubtedly a game in which you never stop learning and
experience is a hugely valuable asset. The maturity that comes
with advancing age is also of considerable benefit in golf.
Patience and composure are important factors in playing good
golf and these qualities tend to be associated with greater
maturity.
So at what age are golfers likely to reach their peak? To come
up with some sort of answer, Pro Golf Form performed an analysis
of some of the world's best golfers. The sample comprised the
top 100 players on the US PGA money list and top 100 players on
the European Tour order of merit in 2005. The 200 golfers were
then sorted into various age categories and average Pro Golf
Form performance ratings were calculated for each group.
Pro Golf Form ratings are calculated for each golfer in every US
PGA and European Tour tournament. The ratings are calculated by
taking the player's mean stroke average for a tournament and
then adjusting the score for the difficulty of the course and
the strength of the field. As the ratings are under-pinned by
stroke averages, they can be used to compare performances on the
basis of 'shots per round'. Each full point is worth one shot
per 18 holes. A quarter point is effectively worth one shot per
72 holes of golf. For example, a player with a rating of 69.00
should, on average, perform one shot better over 18 holes than a
player rated
70.00.
The results were as follows:
Aged under 25 - 18 players - Average rating 71.43
Aged 25 to 30 - 43 players - Average rating 71.28
Aged 30 to 35 - 60 players - Average rating 71.25
Aged 35 to 40 - 42 players - Average rating 70.92
Aged 40 to 45 - 25 players - Average rating 70.94
Aged over 45 - 12 players - Average rating 71.08
The first thing to note is that the largest number of qualifying
players on the US PGA and European Tours fall into the 30 to 35
years of age category. This would seem to indicate, through
sheer weight of numbers, that most golfers reach their peak in
their early thirties. By virtue of their position at the head of
the US PGA and European Tour money lists, these players are the
best in the world. So the fact that almost a third of them are
aged between 30 and 35 year of age is significant.
The ratings analysis also confirms the theory that players
improve with age. The average rating for a player in his early
20s is 71.43, whereas players in their early thirties have an
average rating of 71.25. This equates to players in their early
thirties being, on average, one shot better per 72 holes of golf.
The ratings also show an interesting pattern for players moving
into middle age. Golfers that are still playing on Tour in their
late thirties and forties appear to out-perform their more
youthful rivals. The best group average rating is recorded by
the players aged 35 to 40. There may be fewer of them among the
world's best, but those that remain seem to outperform their
younger rivals.
So what can we conclude from this data? Well, it seems to point
to the fact that golfers reach their best somewhere in their
thirties. There is then plenty of room for argument as to
whether golfers are at their best in their early or late
thirties. Perhaps a reasonable conclusion would be that most
players tend to reach their peak in their early thirties,
although for those golfers that look after themselves
physically, their best golf is produced in their late thirties.
About the author:
Chris Mills works for Pro
Golf Form and is an expert analyst of the US PGA and
European golf tours.
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