DaveyG
Challenge Tour Pro
So I know myself from being on this site a while its quite a generic thread to post "Why cant I play like I do on the range"
and although this is linked I guess its not exactly what I mean.
I honestly cant stop trying too hard... When I am practising whether its on the range/practice area/shortgame area or in my garden I can execute the shots I want most of the time on command... I can go round the course on my own and knock it round no problems at all but as soon as I am playing with others or in a comp I completely change... everything gets faster and out of sync.
Most commonly I will become alot more rigid and lose my balance on near enough any full shot... not to the point I fall over but I cant hold the pose and have to step out sideways... My short game becomes awful until I get on the putting green...
Another example is today after hitting a few balls at the range I went to the short game area with a couple of lads I play with, the short game area at the belfry is brilliant with about 8 pins to aim at and its all floodlit. We played a game where we had 1 shot at each of the pins from various different distances and lies.... I did pretty well but never won overall... What I did notice is there wasn't one shot I played which wasn't within 10ft of the pin with the majority less than 5ft from the pin... Now I know there was no pressure etc. which led to me hitting it so close but why cant I do it on the course... I know I don't have 10 chips in a row on the course before someone says it and I honestly think with me it is 99% mental...
The lads I play with all bomb it down there but said today they don't try and hit the ball... I however cant stop myself from trying to hit the ball hard... Someone once said you cant hit the ball hard you can just swing fast which is a fair point but if we are talking about feel that is exactly what I do and just cant stop myself from doing it...
I feel like I hit the ball best when I don't even try but how can stand on the tee and tell yourself not to try!
Appreciate this is turning out to be abit of a rant but does any body else feel like this...
Its as if whatever I do/tell myself before a round or during practise its impossible for me to use it in the round something just takes over and I completely seize up and go at every shot trying to force the ball?
and although this is linked I guess its not exactly what I mean.
I honestly cant stop trying too hard... When I am practising whether its on the range/practice area/shortgame area or in my garden I can execute the shots I want most of the time on command... I can go round the course on my own and knock it round no problems at all but as soon as I am playing with others or in a comp I completely change... everything gets faster and out of sync.
Most commonly I will become alot more rigid and lose my balance on near enough any full shot... not to the point I fall over but I cant hold the pose and have to step out sideways... My short game becomes awful until I get on the putting green...
Another example is today after hitting a few balls at the range I went to the short game area with a couple of lads I play with, the short game area at the belfry is brilliant with about 8 pins to aim at and its all floodlit. We played a game where we had 1 shot at each of the pins from various different distances and lies.... I did pretty well but never won overall... What I did notice is there wasn't one shot I played which wasn't within 10ft of the pin with the majority less than 5ft from the pin... Now I know there was no pressure etc. which led to me hitting it so close but why cant I do it on the course... I know I don't have 10 chips in a row on the course before someone says it and I honestly think with me it is 99% mental...
The lads I play with all bomb it down there but said today they don't try and hit the ball... I however cant stop myself from trying to hit the ball hard... Someone once said you cant hit the ball hard you can just swing fast which is a fair point but if we are talking about feel that is exactly what I do and just cant stop myself from doing it...
I feel like I hit the ball best when I don't even try but how can stand on the tee and tell yourself not to try!
Appreciate this is turning out to be abit of a rant but does any body else feel like this...
Its as if whatever I do/tell myself before a round or during practise its impossible for me to use it in the round something just takes over and I completely seize up and go at every shot trying to force the ball?