Old lady managed to follow golf (4)
I believe the answer is:
gran
'old lady' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'managed to follow golf' is the wordplay.
'managed' becomes 'ran' (I've seen this before).
'to follow' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'golf' becomes 'g' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'ran' put after 'g' is 'GRAN'.
(Other definitions for gran that I've seen before include "Senior family member" , "... Canaria in the Atlantic Ocean" , "Relation" , "... Canaria, island off African coast" , "Senior female relative (abbr)" .)