Ever "Lost it" ?

SocketRocket said:
I have been there and understand the frustration.

Here are a few tips that I found helped when all had gone:

Stand with your feet together and hit balls with a 9 iron, this keeps you centered as if you sway you will fall over. Pick up on this feeling and the steady tempo it gives.

Make sure you make a proper shoulder turn so your right shoulder gets right under your chin. It is easy to start swinging with your arms only and this will create many problems.

Make sure you take the club back without pulling it open and to the inside by rotating your forearms and wrists. Imagine the shaft tracing down the extended ball to target line as far as possible before pulling back up along the plane.

There is a good drill to ingrain the correct feeling of the takeaway and keeping the arms and torso connected. place the butt end of the club into your belly button, grip down on the shaft like you are addressing it and take a stance. Now take the club back halfway with it still pulled into your belly button. Now turn through to face the target with the same connection. This will give you the feeling of keeping your arms infront of you.

Finally. make some half swings with a glove tucked under your left armpit so the glove stays there.


These drills will soon get you striking the ball well again.
Click to expand...

whilst I wouldn't disagree with any of these as 'drills'; in the context of this thread I beleive that 'thinking about it' is the cause, not the solution.

the only common denominator Ihave seen is that I have made a normal, to be expected, poor shot/swing/etc and ended up unable to swing at all..........


if you can mentally wind back the clock a few minutes, and definitely never look back, it may just stay a poor shot rather than lead to a total meltdown!
 
duncan mackie said:
whilst I wouldn't disagree with any of these as 'drills'; in the context of this thread I beleive that 'thinking about it' is the cause, not the solution.

the only common denominator Ihave seen is that I have made a normal, to be expected, poor shot/swing/etc and ended up unable to swing at all..........


if you can mentally wind back the clock a few minutes, and definitely never look back, it may just stay a poor shot rather than lead to a total meltdown!
Click to expand...

The problem is that when you have entered the realm of 'Swing Meltdown' it can completely destroy your confidence and you need to work on something that engrains the correct feelings and takes your mindset away from the negativity. I know that if you just keep shanking balls it can lead to despair.
 
Pride before a fall eh?

I do this to a lesser degree after every time I've played well. I think to myself, "cracked it, nothing to it. It's getting easier", then next time out you have heightened expectations and can easily collapse when things don't go quite as perfectly as you'd planned.

I'm learning and getting better though. Last 2 rounds as an example. First of these I was on my own, golf club was swinging easily, ball going straight and to desired destination, was 2 over par on the first 6 holes, hit 6/9 greens in regulation and finished with 22 Stableford points from 9 holes.

Second round was first week of our Winter league, thinned over the green on first tee (par 3) but recovered, topped next tee and NR on the third. Slowly got my game together from there by engaging my brain and slowing down a little and made a 4 pointer on the last hole to salvage 19 points over the 9 holes. Only 3 points different but the game I was playing might as well have been a different sport!
 
every year about this time , i go through a week or so of not being able to even picture a golf shot , but keep going and it will come back . i can now imagine a golf shot , i just can't play it as good as i thought
 
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"My biggest concern is the Forest of Arden meet on the 17th."

Don't worry mate, you won't be the worst player at FOA! I'm hitting everything fat at the moment and trying to get back to basics. Just wish I had more time to practice on grass - the range mats are too forgiving.
 
I think the basic principle to achieving a repeatable swing that bring some consistency is an understanding of the swing plane.

To create the imagery of that 'pane of glass' sitting that the club rides along through the swing. Before anyone says the golf swing is not a single plane, I know this but if you can groove a feeling that from halfway back to halfway through the club holding against that pane of glass you will eliminate many errors and introduce sone consistency.

This video is quite good: http://australianseniorgolfer.com.au/625/golf-swing-plane-simply-explained/
 
Thanks everyone for the support, words of wisdom & drills - it's nice to know I'm not alone with my swing disintegration ! ;)

So far I've hit in excess of a thousand range balls all with similar comedy outcomes. Back at the range again tomorrow and will try feet together 9 iron drill.

If it weren't for the safety net between range bays my colleague in the next bay would have been leaving in an ambulance today! :rofl:
 
I played in a Match at Woburn years back, played the Dukes (I think)
1st tee, and with everyone else watching I toed 2 balls 45 degrees right into the woods and conceded the first hole before walking off the tee.
2nd tee, hooked 2 into the undergrowth and conceded the hole before walking off the tee.
3rd hole - birdie
4th hole - par
5th hole - birdie
6th hole - par
7th hole - par
8th hole - par
9th hole - par to stand level at the turn...

SO what the hell was going on for the first 2 holes.....?

Eventually lost the match 2&1 and was heartily congratulated by the 4 handicap Life member I played with for giving him a good match after the debacle of the first 2....
 
WideEyedFox said:
Thanks everyone for the support, words of wisdom & drills - it's nice to know I'm not alone with my swing disintegration ! ;)

So far I've hit in excess of a thousand range balls all with similar comedy outcomes. Back at the range again tomorrow and will try feet together 9 iron drill.

If it weren't for the safety net between range bays my colleague in the next bay would have been leaving in an ambulance today! :rofl:
Click to expand...

If you want a bit of help sometime then give me a PM, not sure what range you use but It cant be far away.
 
Couple of times last year I wasn't even sure which way to go around the golf course let alone how to swing a club. Fortunately it was just those two occasions but oddly I played really well before and afterwards so it just seemed to be a random thing. In the past the "losing it" was related to attempts to hit it harder/longer. I would get in a groove and then try to go for an extra 10 yards. This would prove successful for one or maybe a few rounds and then the brick wall appeared. These days I reign in any such thoughts and fingers crossed I'm happy picking the club for the distance rather than the other way around.

If we're talking putting though I'm quite capable of alternately losing and finding it on odd and even holes.
 
For the last 3 weeks I have either had the shermons, or, when not going right they were going very high and very left.

Last night I had 100 balls like the above, got pi**ed off and got another 50 and something clicked... started nailing my 8i a good 150 yards, dead straight, into at least a 1 if not 2 club wind! Whether rightly or wrongly I identified my clubface being too closed at the top of my backswing and from that change it just all worked.

Back at the range tomorrow to hopefully keep it going then first outing to the course on Sat (weather permitting!)
 
I lost it one round and at the half way point I felt like I never wanted to play golf again, I couldn't get the ball to go straight and was slicing into the trees, when I altered my stance to take the slice into account the ball went straight, but because I was pointing at the trees.... I was ready to leave my trolley and bag on the 10th for the next unlucky person to have a freebee, but I continued after persuasion from my mate and racked up my second worst score of the year. It would have been my worst score but a few weeks later at Linden Hall in very windy and wet conditions, losing 20 balls I went a worse score better. I knew I was in for a hiding on that round as the first two balls of the first tee were straight pushes OOB.
 
What a lovely support group this is.

My name is Curls and I lost it once.

About 6 months in after a 15 year break I was making some progress when I decided to get some lessons. At first they were good, at least while on the range with the pro! Big changes were made, mainly grip and posture. I practiced and we got the fundamentals down when we started working on the backswing. Cue the worst golf I'd played since my return, I would say the ball could go anywhere but that's not true as it was never likely to go towards the target. Tied myself up in knots mentally, it wasn't until I was able to completely clear my mind while addressing the ball that I started to hit golf shots again. Main reason why I'm afraid to go back to lessons (though I know I probably should to continue my improvement).

You are not alone. I am here with you.
 
i lost it in a fourballs match once. just couldn't take the club away from the ball without stnading twitching for about a munite and a half.

our opponents were guys i'd never played with before so they were wondering what was going on and i was constantly apologising. no idea what my partner was thinking. but the guilt at letting him down was pretty bad.

a swift dog licence would have put me out of my misery but my partner took it down the 19th. an agonising round of golf.
 
I think we have all lost it haven,t we? Usually happens to me on the second day of a golf trip away when i have tried to drink the bar dry the night before! What puzzles me is why i think i can play golf at all the next day?

Once had a shock with a partner who was a steady 9 and has been for decades - then one day he started shanking and couldn,t work it out. It was embarasssing and worrying for all of us because none of knew where it came from or if it would go away. Lasted a couple of rounds then dissappeared and that was two years ago. He thought at the time maybe he was having a stroke - but he wasn,t. We never could explain it - scarey!
 
Although i am sorry to hear about other forumers strugling...... part of me is pleased that it is not just me !!!

I can go to the range sometimes and not manage to hit 1 of the 50 balls properly or after 30 balls just loose it completly and have no idea what i am doing wrong...... this has also happened to me on the course... playing well get the 13th and if you were watching me you would have wondered how the hell i had got that far round or being commenting on how well i must be able to count... is was as if i hadn't seen a club before, i was almost missing the thing......

Still, there is always something on each round that has us coming back for more !!!!
 
Stay calm and serene. Your body knows how to hit a ball. You just got to let it do it. I went through a period of disintegration - and I solved it by running (literally) to the first tee, Teeing the ball up as quickly as I could stood back and hit it. I rushed everything about my prep to minimise time for negative thoughts to get in. Only thoughts in my head were 'get to the tee, get to the tee...'; tee the ball up, tee up, tee up'; 'hit it, hit it'. And it broke the 'curse'.

BTW - I'd also suggest that you try and cleanse your mind of the s***k word - don't say it, don't even think it. And don't allow anyone to say it within your earshot - and if they do ask them politely to refrain. I'm not the only person who finds the word a complete game wrecker.
 
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