Having a nightmare at the moment

[Chico84]

Get yourself a playing lesson on the course. Best value for money lesson you can get and it would seem ideal for your current issue.

 

[Crow]

Are you over thinking it when playing the shot, I know for sure this is one of my biggest problems and I get too stiff and mechanical.

Have a watch of this video, sounds good to me and I'm going to try it next time out.
(It's a long watch for the short tip like most YouTube tips!)

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Bit of an update, not great news unfortunately.

Played 2 weeks ago today, hit it well for 37 points, thought that's it, all sorted.

Since then it's been downhill. Next 2 rounds were awful. Took a few days off as was sick of it. Went to the range last Saturday, couldn't get it off the ground at all. Booked a lesson for Wednesday. Decided on the spur of the moment to go to the range again on Monday. Hit it great, maybe 1 bad shot out of 50. No idea what was different from Saturday.

Went for the lesson on Wednesday and hit every ball lovely, same as the last lesson I had. Pro said it was the best he'd seen me swing. Only change he suggested was to move the ball a touch toward as some shots were leaking a bit right (not much, maybe 5-10% offline at worst).

Suitably encouraged, went out myself first thing yesterday. You've guessed it, absolute rubbish, only hit 2 decent irons in 12 holes before walking off in disgust.

I'm convinced this is a mental issue, but have no idea how to fix it. I'm also massively frustrated that I can't replicate it during a lesson, am sure the Pro thinks I'm either a time waster or a show off!

Playing with a mate later today, fortunately he is very understanding. God knows how it will turn out.

Set the bar low. Very low. Go out and enjoy your mates company and just play.

I played shockingly bad last weekend and stood on the range on Wednesday feeling totally lost about how to swing the club effectively. I've checked out a couple of youtube videos which I hope will help at the range tonight. The forecast for the weekend is crap so going out with no expectations and just to hit it, find it and repeat. If it stays crap I'll invest in a lesson but as I had been hitting OK recently I feel it has to be close and I'm just doing something daft I shouldn't. At least thats the hope.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Bit of an update, not great news unfortunately.

Played 2 weeks ago today, hit it well for 37 points, thought that's it, all sorted.

Since then it's been downhill. Next 2 rounds were awful. Took a few days off as was sick of it. Went to the range last Saturday, couldn't get it off the ground at all. Booked a lesson for Wednesday. Decided on the spur of the moment to go to the range again on Monday. Hit it great, maybe 1 bad shot out of 50. No idea what was different from Saturday.

Went for the lesson on Wednesday and hit every ball lovely, same as the last lesson I had. Pro said it was the best he'd seen me swing. Only change he suggested was to move the ball a touch toward as some shots were leaking a bit right (not much, maybe 5-10% offline at worst).

Suitably encouraged, went out myself first thing yesterday. You've guessed it, absolute rubbish, only hit 2 decent irons in 12 holes before walking off in disgust.

I'm convinced this is a mental issue, but have no idea how to fix it. I'm also massively frustrated that I can't replicate it during a lesson, am sure the Pro thinks I'm either a time waster or a show off!

Playing with a mate later today, fortunately he is very understanding. God knows how it will turn out.

Stick with it. I’m struggling to get out of 20-30pts stableford and have been for a couple of months - but I’m not hitting the unmentionables - and that for me means not trying to play anything clever - and by that I mean not having any swing thoughts at all - instead I focus on the clubhead hitting the ball. Swing thoughts make me instantly relapse to swinging the way that causes me to hit one. And I am not actually bothering that much about how many points I score as long as I keep away from the unmentionables. For me at the moment it’s all about conquering my head - and so it’s only about getting round 18 holes without one round after round - so that when I stand over the ball my first thought is not...well you know what it is.

it’s a real struggle but I am convinced I will get there and all of a sudden half decent scoring will click.

 

[rudebhoy]

Are you over thinking it when playing the shot, I know for sure this is one of my biggest problems and I get too stiff and mechanical.

Have a watch of this video, sounds good to me and I'm going to try it next time out.
(It's a long watch for the short tip like most YouTube tips!)

Interesting and makes sense, will give that a try.

 

[Orikoru]

Why don't buy a little tripod for your phone, then every time you're in a spell of hitting badly, record a video of some shots so you can show the pro later on. Since he's seen you swinging well, he'll surely be able to tell you what you're doing differently on the video that was making it go wrong.

 

[jim8flog]

I remember years ago one of the best lessons of my life- I only hit about 10 balls and the rest of the time was spent discussing the psychology of a good score/round.

I was having horrors on the outward 9 and coming back in about par.

My fundamental problem was essentially expecting a really good score before I had even hit a ball. The pro taught me about one shot at time and playing without expectation.

The days of the really bad scores are still there (21 over in the last medal) but I have learnt to stop worrying about them as the next time I play it will be a totally different round.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

...it’s a real struggle but I am convinced I will get there and all of a sudden half decent scoring will click.

...well there you go...had a knock this afternoon and quite out of the blue I shot 4 over gross and 5 under my handicap. Best I’ve played for eons (a long time) and not a single unmentionable stuck it’s ugly head over the parapet - so @rudebhoy - persevere and keep the faith...the corner is there to be turned but when things are dark we don’t see it until we are going round it.?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I remember years ago one of the best lessons of my life- I only hit about 10 balls and the rest of the time was spent discussing the psychology of a good score/round.

I was having horrors on the outward 9 and coming back in about par.

My fundamental problem was essentially expecting a really good score before I had even hit a ball. The pro taught me about one shot at time and playing without expectation.

The days of the really bad scores are still there (21 over in the last medal) but I have learnt to stop worrying about them as the next time I play it will be a totally different round.

Daft thing was a few years back I was doing some work for a now defunct online golf magazine called Golf Hacker and was starting to do some NLP and on course strategy work. It was starting to make some real progress and one bad shot didn't lead to a meltdown and two or three poor ones after https://threeoffthetee.blogspot.com/2018/06/so-much-going-on.html

I am sure a lot of the problems in my game are in my head and getting in my own way too often or over thinking it. I am trying (no really) to simplify it. Winter might be the time to dig out my notes and the course material I had and re-read it again

 

[rudebhoy]

...well there you go...had a knock this afternoon and quite out of the blue I shot 4 over gross and 5 under my handicap. Best I’ve played for eons (a long time) and not a single unmentionable stuck it’s ugly head over the parapet - so @rudebhoy - persevere and keep the faith...the corner is there to be turned but when things are dark we don’t see it until we are going round it.?

Thought I might have started to turn the proverbial corner on Friday. Went to the practice ground for half an hour before playing, and was hitting the ball consistently well. Went out to play, and continued to hit it well for the majority of the round. Didn't score well - 26 - but at least I was hitting it properly.

Hadn't intended playing yesterday, but in light of the lockdown, decided to get as much in as possible before Thursday. Went to the practice ground beforehand, started hitting it well, but then something went wrong and everything started going well right, must have a lost a dozen balls in the long grass! By then it was time to head to the first tee, did so with some pretty negative thoughts. Duffed my drive, then had 3 terrible attempts with my irons before picking up as it was embarrassing.

Same pattern continued for the next 2 holes, only thing I could do right was chip and putt. Said to my PPs I'd give it another 2 holes, and then pack in if no improvement (the 6th tee is pretty close to the car park so it seemed a good point to walk in). Cue more of the same for the next 2 holes, and me walking off having played 5 holes. Was totally sick.

am going up to the range later today, and am due to play tomorrow, but tbh, it feels like a month off golf might be a very good thing at the moment.

 

[patricks148]

get one of your PP to video you while playing

 

[pendodave]

This sounds grim. Sorry to hear it.
When this has happened to me I revert back to playing with my feet together on all shots. It reduces the tendancy to sway about (you'd fall over) and allows the club to swing a nice arc.
Lots of people use it as a drill, or warm up, but it works equally on the course and at least allows me to keep playing and enjoying my company.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Thought I might have started to turn the proverbial corner on Friday. Went to the practice ground for half an hour before playing, and was hitting the ball consistently well. Went out to play, and continued to hit it well for the majority of the round. Didn't score well - 26 - but at least I was hitting it properly.

Hadn't intended playing yesterday, but in light of the lockdown, decided to get as much in as possible before Thursday. Went to the practice ground beforehand, started hitting it well, but then something went wrong and everything started going well right, must have a lost a dozen balls in the long grass! By then it was time to head to the first tee, did so with some pretty negative thoughts. Duffed my drive, then had 3 terrible attempts with my irons before picking up as it was embarrassing.

Same pattern continued for the next 2 holes, only thing I could do right was chip and putt. Said to my PPs I'd give it another 2 holes, and then pack in if no improvement (the 6th tee is pretty close to the car park so it seemed a good point to walk in). Cue more of the same for the next 2 holes, and me walking off having played 5 holes. Was totally sick.

am going up to the range later today, and am due to play tomorrow, but tbh, it feels like a month off golf might be a very good thing at the moment.

I was just like that down the range...as soon as i thought I was getting on top of things I started just tweaking what I had been doing - even although I was hitting it ok it would not have been quite what id want and so thoughts like ‘maybe if I do this..’ entered my thinking - and of course my muscle memory of how to do ‘this’ would immediately drop my back into the swing that causes the ‘Lucy lockets’. Nightmare. So on the range I have dumped any notion or form of tweaking. I keep it very simple. And repeat.

So when I did my good knock on Friday I just contented myself with taking the stance and address that I am confident is ok - the one I take on the range that works - and then just hitting the ball. No clever thoughts - and if that meant not trying to - say - put a bit of fade onto the ball as I might have done in the past and as a result hitting it straight but well - and missing the green - then so be it.

It was all very simply about hitting a shot and not ‘doing one’ - one shot at a time - NOTHING else mattered to me. No matter how poor the shot might be...or whatever the ball finished up. My objective EVERY shot was to hit it without doing one. And then to the next shot, look where I want ball to head (nothing more or cleverer than that), take stance, address ball, pause and focus on ball - hit it - and repeat.

 

[rudebhoy]

I was just like that down the range...as soon as i thought I was getting on top of things I started just tweaking what I had been doing - even although I was hitting it ok it would not have been quite what id want and so thoughts like ‘maybe if I do this..’ entered my thinking - and of course my muscle memory of how to do ‘this’ would immediately drop my back into the swing that causes the ‘Lucy lockets’. Nightmare. So on the range I have dumped any notion or form of tweaking. I keep it very simple. And repeat.

So when I did my good knock on Friday I just contented myself with taking the stance and address that I am confident is ok - the one I take on the range that works - and then just hitting the ball. No clever thoughts - and if that meant not trying to - say - put a bit of fade onto the ball as I might have done in the past and as a result hitting it straight but well - and missing the green - then so be it.

It was all very simply about hitting a shot and not ‘doing one’ - one shot at a time - NOTHING else mattered to me. No matter how poor the shot might be...or whatever the ball finished up. My objective EVERY shot was to hit it without doing one. And then to the next shot, look where I want ball to head (nothing more or cleverer than that), take stance, address ball, pause and focus on ball - hit it - and repeat.

this is definitely a part of the problem, whenever I hit a bad shot, I immediately think "what am I doing wrong?" and try to tweak things. then it goes from bad to worse, vicious circle.

I was describing this to the pro last week, and he said "you've got an analytical mind, which is not an advantage for a golfer'!

 

[rudebhoy]

This sounds grim. Sorry to hear it.
When this has happened to me I revert back to playing with my feet together on all shots. It reduces the tendancy to sway about (you'd fall over) and allows the club to swing a nice arc.
Lots of people use it as a drill, or warm up, but it works equally on the course and at least allows me to keep playing and enjoying my company.

will give that a go, thanks for the tip.