Peter Williams: Age no barrier when it comes to the science of golf

Last weekend New Zealand Golf hosted the National Seniors Championship at the Palmerston North Golf Club. For those of us 50 and over it really is a big deal.
Most can't get a (honest) handicap low enough to make the field for the New Zealand Amateur these days, so this is about as important a national event as we're likely to qualify for.

But if you think that playing in a tournament alongside men of mature middle age would be a soft touch, then you obviously haven't heard of Rodney Barltrop, Ken Hankin or Graham Cooke.

None of these gentlemen, all aged between 58 and 62, actually won the event. That honour went to a Wellington youngster, 52-year-old Martin Webber, who finished 54 holes at four under the card.

But Hankin was second at three under, Barltrop third at two under and Cooke sixth at even par. What they were doing is confirming their ability to play a level of competitive golf that is unfamiliar to most of us but a level they've all been playing at for nearly 40 years.

Hankin and Barltrop were both representatives as far back as the Freyberg Rosebowl interprovincial tournament in the 1960s.

In 1974, Barltrop of Wellington beat Hankin of Titirangi 3 and 1 in the 36-hole final of the New Zealand Amateur at Manukau.

You might say that was when both were in their playing prime. But more than three decades after that match, they were rolling in those birdie putts during the last nine holes to move up the leaderboard and finish second and third last Sunday.

Hankin, the elder of the two, birdied the last hole for a 68 - equal best round of the tournament.

Graham Cooke's pedigree is even more impressive. The 58-year-old Montreal resident has won countless Canadian Seniors titles, played in three Eisenhower Trophy teams and as recently as 2001 was beaten in the final of the Canadian Amateur by New Zealander Gareth Paddison.

So how is it that golfers can still play as well, if not better, in their 50s and 60s as they did in their 30s?

First there is the matter of time to practise the game. Barltrop, for instance, has only just started working again for the first time in two years, during which he won the New Zealand and Australian seniors titles.

There is the equipment, which is easier to use and hits further than ever before.

There is also the matter of physical conditioning. So many 50-somethings are aerobically fitter, just through trying to avoid middle-age health issues by running and training.

Then, significantly, there is the way you play the game. Perceived wisdom is that the most important distance in golf is that between the ears. The golfing brain is used more wisely the older you become.

The New Zealand Seniors is not all about players at the level of Webber, Hankin, Barltrop and Cooke. Many others among the 120-strong field were there primarily for a social time and to mix with players of their own age from around the country.

But golf's greatest joy, namely its unchallenged status as the only real 'game for life', has been amply displayed during this season of national tournaments.

You can be too young. However, many showed at Palmerston North you have to be around a long time to get too old for it.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY