On Monday November 10, 2025 I played golf with my friends Pete, Curt, and Bernard at Peacock Gap Golf Club in San Rafael, California. We have played Peacock Gap Course together on and off for many years. The four of us all used to work together at Chevron Research Co and now we are retired. This time we chose to play the White/Red sets of tees. The total yardage from these tees is 5,455 yards. Par was 36 on the front nine and 35 on the back nine for a total par of 71. We all enjoy playing golf and this time was no different. What was different was that for the first time I shot my age. I shot a 39 on the front nine and 37 on the back nine for a total score of 76. I turned 76 last March 15!
Above is a copy of the score card, and the golf ball–a Callaway SUPERSOFT, which I used for the entire round. What I found interesting was that I had not played golf since September 24th because my wife and I were on a trip from September 28th until October 23rd.
In August 2023 I came close to shooting my age. I was playing at Foxtail Golf Course North at that time. I was 74 years old and I was on target to shoot my age until the 17th hole. On that hole I put my drive out of bonds and ended with a triple bogey. I shot par on the 18th hole for a 76.
How unusual is it to shoot one’s age? According to one source1 that I found, the odds of shooting your age in golf are extremely low, with estimates suggesting that less than 1% of golfers ever achieve this milestone. It is very unlikely that a player less than 66 years old will shoot his age. To increase one’s chances, a golfer would have to reduce the rate of deterioration of his golf scores. One way to do this is to choose a course that fits your game. Another is to choose the set of tees from which to play.
The chance of shooting your age depends on how good you are to begin with, at what age you play until, how your score goes up with age, and whether you play shorter courses as you age.
- Shooting your age in golf by Lucius Riccio, June 4, 2018 in Probability Magazine https://doi.org/10.1287/orms.2018.03.11. ↩︎