Bloody Frustrated !!

[Macster]

Well here we are in mid may, the course looks fantastic, the weather is good........

.....any my game is in tatters !!

After a pretty consistent winter's golf, I decided to have a lesson early April to try and find my consistency again off the Tee, which was erratic.
Inevitably, some Grip changes......some slight stance & setup changes, and April was a mess, as I tweaked and tried to get comfortable.

2 lessons later, all which make sense, and I'm now working on keeping that damned left arm straighter in the backswing.........

Some great & truly sweet strikes...... and a lot of pathetic shots for an 8 handicapper too !

Its done one thing at least,........its got rid of my Fade/Push with the Woods, ........

.......and replaced it with a mahooosive Hook !!

Dohhh........

I is in a Deep Dark Place golf wise at present........

 

[Alex1975]

Ahh gutted for you. We have all been in that deep dark golf place. My only way out of it is to work work work and quite often not do the same thing as I will get the same result. We all have our own way of getting out of that hole though. Hope you get your head up soon!

 

[Hacker Khan]

Well here we are in mid may, the course looks fantastic, the weather is good........

.....any my game is in tatters !!

After a pretty consistent winter's golf, I decided to have a lesson early April to try and find my consistency again off the Tee, which was erratic.
Inevitably, some Grip changes......some slight stance & setup changes, and April was a mess, as I tweaked and tried to get comfortable.

2 lessons later, all which make sense, and I'm now working on keeping that damned left arm straighter in the backswing.........

Some great & truly sweet strikes...... and a lot of pathetic shots for an 8 handicapper too !

Its done one thing at least,........its got rid of my Fade/Push with the Woods, ........

.......and replaced it with a mahooosive Hook !!

Dohhh........

I is in a Deep Dark Place golf wise at present........

Sounds like you need some New Golf Thinking. As an 8 handicapper should you be changing grip, stance and set up? You can obviously do it and play very well, so is it a technical thing or is in the mind?

 

[Macster]

What is this 'New Golf Thinking' you speak of ? Pleeease ??

I know, I asked the same question when I went for my 1st lesson, but I was, and remain convinced, that if I was to retain my 8 Handicap, or get lower still, at 51, I needed to do some work on getting things right.
Perhaps not easy, or without Pain, and maybe a step or 2 back before going forward........but thats what I thought.

Now.....I just wish i'd left all the fe*k alone !!!

 

[Khamelion]

As Hacker writes, is it a technical issue or a mental one where you are over thinking the tech side of things.

New Golf Thinking is an eBook written by John O'Keeffe and Dennis Pugh (Sky Pundit) where they postulate 7 ways to think about golf. There is nothing technical it's all about the mind and how the mind can affect your game. How to keep you in a positive mental place (Mental Position A or MPA). It is working for me and I think the others that went on the GM day about NGT are having good results as well.

As for the lessons side of things, I was toying with the idea of having a mid season lesson this weekend, but have thought against it. I'm hitting the ball well and while my swing may not be technically beautiful I'm not going to tinker with it now and chance throw things all to kilter.

 

[patricks148]

Well here we are in mid may, the course looks fantastic, the weather is good........

.....any my game is in tatters !!

After a pretty consistent winter's golf, I decided to have a lesson early April to try and find my consistency again off the Tee, which was erratic.
Inevitably, some Grip changes......some slight stance & setup changes, and April was a mess, as I tweaked and tried to get comfortable.

2 lessons later, all which make sense, and I'm now working on keeping that damned left arm straighter in the backswing.........

Some great & truly sweet strikes...... and a lot of pathetic shots for an 8 handicapper too !

Its done one thing at least,........its got rid of my Fade/Push with the Woods, ........

.......and replaced it with a mahooosive Hook !!

Dohhh........

I is in a Deep Dark Place golf wise at present........

the only way it could be worse would be if you were off 5.8 and had a swing change and now could not hit the ball most of the time? now where i that Face Palm smiley

 

[the_coach]

Thing is with this, most everybody at sometime hits their plateau, their scoring range of where their technique, coarse management & ability will keep them.
Possible to on good days be at the better end of their range, but the lower you go the opportunity to beat that better end by a ways becomes a lot harder, only so many shots a razor short game will save & the razor play will be there infrequently.

Everyone has room for improvement in their overall swing technique, but the issue there is you have to change stuff, keep doing the same you get the same.

So you either accept the above, play with your range, & nothing wrong in that at all, or you bite the bullet & walk the walk find a good teacher & get down to some real hard work, that's going to take some time, dedication, blood sweat & tears to get to strike the ball consistently better than they have been doing.
But you have to acknowledge that this route is going to take some deal of time, plus it is one step forward couple steps back for a good ways.
Depends what you want in the end.

 

[Macster]

Thing is with this, most everybody at sometime hits their plateau, their scoring range of where their technique, coarse management & ability will keep them.
Possible to on good days be at the better end of their range, but the lower you go the opportunity to beat that better end by a ways becomes a lot harder, only so many shots a razor short game will save & the razor play will be there infrequently.

Everyone has room for improvement in their overall swing technique, but the issue there is you have to change stuff, keep doing the same you get the same.

So you either accept the above, play with your range, & nothing wrong in that at all, or you bite the bullet & walk the walk find a good teacher & get down to some real hard work, that's going to take some time, dedication, blood sweat & tears to get to strike the ball consistently better than they have been doing.
But you have to acknowledge that this route is going to take some deal of time, plus it is one step forward couple steps back for a good ways.
Depends what you want in the end.

Wise words I know, and I knew there'd be some pain to the process, just difficult to bear when the course looks so spectacularly gorgeous now !

And ......lost my Singles Matchplay last night, 2 up with 2 to play, .......got robbed on 17 when he chipped in for a miraculous Par, and going for mine it lipped out.

Blew 18 in frustration...

& then fired my Tee shot out of Bounds Left on the 19th hole........ and left is somewhere I arent used to going !!

*shakes head*

back to the parctice ground.......

 

[the_coach]

Good luck with it.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Still getting frustrated myself. 15-16 great holes and the odd disaster at any time. Testing MPA and New Golf Thinking to the limit. I'm working on the theory that I've put the work in over the winter, had some success at KoK and The Grove, and that if I keep doing what I'm doing sooner or later I'll get the rewards. It's all about patience.

 

[Curls]

So you either accept the above, play with your range, & nothing wrong in that at all, or you bite the bullet & walk the walk find a good teacher & get down to some real hard work, that's going to take some time, dedication, blood sweat & tears to get to strike the ball consistently better than they have been doing.

Depends what you want in the end.

OOoohhhhh thems some wise words. I've only just come to realise this. After my first year dropping from 17 to 11 I pent last year creeping up to 13, and though that was largely down to not playing very often I accept that the game I had was good enough to get down to single figures but not much more. Lesson 1 with a pro confirmed this, and yeah, bits of my game have gone to pot, Im spraying the ball all over the place, but when i hit it better its way better, so sticking at it though it sucks is the only way to true improvement.

I want to be better, its going to cost, if I feel its not worth it and Im not enjoying the game I play to enjoy, Ill walk away. But man, when I strike one better, Im convinced I should stick it out. You'll get there chap, you're obviously good anyway, imagine what youll be like when you step up a level. Stick at it, darkest before the dawn and all that

 

[Hacker Khan]

And ......lost my Singles Matchplay last night, 2 up with 2 to play, .......got robbed on 17 when he chipped in for a miraculous Par, and going for mine it lipped out.

Blew 18 in frustration...

& then fired my Tee shot out of Bounds Left on the 19th hole........ and left is somewhere I arent used to going !!

*shakes head*

back to the parctice ground.......

There is one section of the ebook that deals specifically with this, or more accurately, how to stop this kind of thing happening. As what you describe is 100% a mental issue.

You could argue that there is not a lot you can do in the practice range that will prevent you from getting frustrated or feeling you have been robbed again if an opponent does something out of your control. But there may be some mind techniques for want of a better word, that work for you and will help.

 

[pendodave]

So you either accept the above, play with your range, & nothing wrong in that at all, or you bite the bullet & walk the walk find a good teacher & get down to some real hard work, that's going to take some time, dedication, blood sweat & tears to get to strike the ball consistently better than they have been doing.
But you have to acknowledge that this route is going to take some deal of time, plus it is one step forward couple steps back for a good ways.
Depends what you want in the end.

There's an exchange in a Wodehouse short story that encapsulates this. Some of the more die-hard improvers might consider it :

"It's always been my dream to marry a man with a handicap of around 10,
I should be ten if the family didn't make me practice five hours a day all the year round.
I'm not a natural scratch, I've made myself scratch through ceaseless, unremitting toil.
The relief of letting myself slip back to ten is indescribable. We shall be so happy; just to
think of taking three putts on a green, it'll be heaven..."

Even with ceaseless unremitting toil, most of us might have a natural level that we gravitate towards....

 

[Curls]

The relief of letting myself slip back to ten is indescribable

Yeah you get this with kids who were forced into being great to please their folks, not really for themselves. Knew a las who was a fantastic golfer, hated the game, gave it up as soon as she realised her Dad would love her anyway.

Played with a guy the other week off 22, said he just accepted he would never be much lower and was enjoying golf more than ever. Goes out to play matchplay with people and only plays enough comps to keep his h/c active, hates nothing more than having a card in his hand. Doesn't care for it, fair enough says I as long as you're enjoying yourself isnt that what matters?! For me to enjoy myself I feel I have to be progressing, playing well, striking it well, scoring well. Each to their own.

 

[Macster]

I'm not crazily obsessed about my handicap, and arent gonna beat myself up anymore, I'll just keep trying the changes my Pro is advocating, and see where I end up.

Personally, I only ever play strokeplay/stableford Comps in the hope of Handicap reductions, never with a particular 'intent' to Win as such. I've learnt that if I score well, and earned a reduction, I'll be up at the top of the results anyway.

1st Div Open at my Club tomorrow, shouldnt be playing the way i'm striking it, but what the hell, gonna just ignore the card, relax, and play.

 

[Curls]

I'm not crazily obsessed about my handicap, and arent gonna beat myself up anymore, I'll just keep trying the changes my Pro is advocating, and see where I end up.

Personally, I only ever play strokeplay/stableford Comps in the hope of Handicap reductions, never with a particular 'intent' to Win as such. I've learnt that if I score well, and earned a reduction, I'll be up at the top of the results anyway.

1st Div Open at my Club tomorrow, shouldnt be playing the way i'm striking it, but what the hell, gonna just ignore the card, relax, and play.

Good stuff - enjoy it!

 

[CMAC]

Well here we are in mid may, the course looks fantastic, the weather is good........

.....any my game is in tatters !!

After a pretty consistent winter's golf, I decided to have a lesson early April to try and find my consistency again off the Tee, which was erratic.
Inevitably, some Grip changes......some slight stance & setup changes, and April was a mess, as I tweaked and tried to get comfortable.

2 lessons later, all which make sense, and I'm now working on keeping that damned left arm straighter in the backswing.........

Some great & truly sweet strikes...... and a lot of pathetic shots for an 8 handicapper too !

Its done one thing at least,........its got rid of my Fade/Push with the Woods, ........

.......and replaced it with a mahooosive Hook !!

Dohhh........

I is in a Deep Dark Place golf wise at present........

been there, done that..........try 5.3 and three seasons of terrible golf, lessons and practice just ingrained the faults.

How could I have so many faults after so many years playing, and in cat1 I hear you ask....?

solution- back to basics :thup:

the_coach on here knew exactly what was causing all the errors and gave me checkpoints, drills and links to useful youtube vids as affirmation. He has enabled me to strike the ball the way I used to, putt the way I used to, and after some great advice yesterday will get my sub 100yd shots back......:thup:

sorry the_coach if this gets people PM'ing you more now but credit where credits due:whoo:

 

[Foxholer]

Blew 18 in frustration...

Definitely need some 'new thinking'!

back to the practice ground.......

Persist! But there does come a time when results are more important than 'the perfect swing'.

I know a 2/3 capper with the ugliest swing I've seen, but he certainly golfs his ball!

A quick re-assessment by the Pro might help too!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Thing is with this, most everybody at sometime hits their plateau, their scoring range of where their technique, coarse management & ability will keep them.
Possible to on good days be at the better end of their range, but the lower you go the opportunity to beat that better end by a ways becomes a lot harder, only so many shots a razor short game will save & the razor play will be there infrequently.

Everyone has room for improvement in their overall swing technique, but the issue there is you have to change stuff, keep doing the same you get the same.

So you either accept the above, play with your range, & nothing wrong in that at all, or you bite the bullet & walk the walk find a good teacher & get down to some real hard work, that's going to take some time, dedication, blood sweat & tears to get to strike the ball consistently better than they have been doing.
But you have to acknowledge that this route is going to take some deal of time, plus it is one step forward couple steps back for a good ways.
Depends what you want in the end.

The man from the US of A talks a lot of sense :thup: