Ive lost my swing completely

[USER1999]

Surely contact and direction are a good place to start. Both WILL get you round a golf course. Distance alone won't. I can shoot a perfectly acceptable score driving with a 5i.

I have played quite a few rounds in the past with high handicapped golfers who lash every thing, lose 8 balls in the round, take 5 hours hacking round because they spent 40 minutes looking for balls, and sap my will to live. If they hit a more controlled swing, then maybe, just maybe, they would finish the round with the same ball. This would lead to lower scores. It has to.

Maybe they then work on power away from the golf course (Timgolfy?), until they master it. But on the course, contact and direction must be more important.

And yes, I'd rather be 250 and in the rough, than 220 and on the fairway. However, 250 and in the trees, ponds, ob, no.

 

[Baldyeagle]

There's only 2 things to worry about in golf.
The contact and the direction.

...and the power.

...and the shame & humiliation (what else have the Romans done for us then?)

 

[jammag]

I think what the point is that if you have a good contact with the ball then it makes the distance control easier, you can swing at 100mph every swing and get a different distance and direction every time if you are hitting a different part of the clubface each stroke. Most people would rather the ball in play to make the next stroke easier than have a dodgy lie in the rough, obviously this isnt the same for everyone as they would rather get it as close to the hole as possible and maybe take a gamble or two in doing that. Which may mean they are not as consistant as others but may have some extremely good results followed by some poor results.

 

[bobmac]

I'm just curious as to why you don't think that distance control is not relevant to golf, but contact and direction is?

Because with contact and direction, there is no distance control.

If you swing a 5 iron at 110mph with a perfect swingpath and clubface position and duff it, you will not hit your target.

Anyway, this thread isn't about power, it's about recognising and fixing a swing problem.

 

[timgolfy]

But if you face a 100 yard shot which is midway between your PW and SW, then some form of power control is required.

 

[G_Mulligan]

But if you face a 100 yard shot which is midway between your PW and SW, then some form of power control is required.

No it does not, it takes distance control. You cant control power but you can keep the same power and vary the length of your swing. Like I said it takes finesse and timing not power and strength.

 

[USER1999]

Yep, you can fat the pw or thin the sw. Same result.

 

[timgolfy]

I clearly don't do golf speak.

 

[haplesshacker]

Murph. Firstly apologies for 3 years ago at Crowborough. You've just described my rather bad day!!

Though I concede that distance control is as important.

 

[USER1999]

I'm still mentally scarred from that round! It put me right off. Might not have needed a count back to win if I had been able to concentrate.

 

[haplesshacker]

Back to the thread though.

The problem I've had is that when things start to go bad on the course I used to make matters worse by trying to solve the issue by over complicating what I need to do and over correcting it, thereby creating another problem. In other words over analysing the issue, which in turn causes me to think about what I'm doing too much. Not a good recipe whilst on the course! It's as though all natural ability (of which there's not much to start off with) deserts me.

I now consciously only try to check a few things, grip and aim predominantly. If I think about the swing itself, all timing goes out of the window. Easier said than done though.

The other thing I do is to remind myself that I'm not a scratch player, so there will always be bad shots during a round.

 

[rickg]

If anyone wants to see great power control in action without looking at a pro's swing, take a look at Snelly's swing in Bob's Woodhall Spa video.

The guy is a genuine 300 yard hitter, but if you watch his swing, it is so in control and looks so effortless. He rarely misses the fairway and is one of the longest hitters I have played with.

His positional play off the tee with his irons at Woodhall was exemplary and he didn't find many bunkers.

Since we came back from Woodhall, and after something Snelly mentioned, I have slowed my swing down a bit and added a tiny pause at the transition. I managed to win the Sunday swindle and the Monday Texas scramble, reaching our par 5 8th in 2 on both occasions......I'm sticking with it

 

[thecraw]

What if I didn't have a swing to start with?

To be fair you don't!

 

[bobmac]

I have slowed my swing down a bit and added a tiny pause at the transition.

When I saw Snelly hit his tee shot on the first at Woodhall, the first thing I said to hime was "Lovely seperation at the top. (a slight pause). It's something alot of golfers would do well to copy.

 

[TriggerTech]

Bob - the slight delay - would you recommend this for irons as well? Just finished reading "nail it" and my contact has come on leaps and bounds - however always looking for improvements
Cheers

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Golf has never come easy to me and so I put a lot of practice in. If I hit a bad shot on the course I don't think it is a "lost swing" or a mjor fault but usually down to user error (too quick in the tempo usually). I trust my swing and accept that off 13 there will be some bad shots. The thing that gets me more annoyed is there is usually a half of good/bad shots and the second nine is reversed. I don't find or lose my swing per se but can't repeat it for 18 holes

 

[bobmac]

It's not so much a delay, more of a feeling of letting the backswing finish before you start the downswing.
I feel this stops the lower half spinning out too early in the swing leading to blocks and hooks.
And yes, all clubs

 

[kid2]

Have you ever been for a lesson when the pro changes something very small. Maybe a tweak to the grip, more/less hip turn, different follow through?
How difficult is it to make such a small change and how different does it feel?

So how is it that most golfers at some stage claim they have lost their swing completely?
It would be impossible to lose all idea of how to swing a club, especially when it feels as if you are swing it in the normal way.

If you have an off day, don't panic. Don't start changing everything, because everything isn't broken.
The chances are it's a very small change that has occured, more often than not a timing issue.
None of us have a perfect swing so when we play well, our swing quirks work together, when we play badly the balance has gone.

There's only 2 things to worry about in golf.
The contact and the direction.
If something has gone awry, try and work out what it is and seek help. Don't spend ages trying to fix it with half a dozen cures.

And most of all, don't panic... you haven't lost your swing completely.

Golf mental guru to the peasants

I couldnt agree more Bob....
Iv never directly been to a pro for a lesson but have had one look at my swing
It happened me last week.....Iv started using my driver again for more than the 4 par 5's at our course....

I rarely use it off the 1st tee either its a relatively short par 4 at 320 mtrs off our white tee's...
Anyhoooo i hit it last weekend with thye only thought in my head being ease the ball out there...What transpired was me dropping the ball at exactly 100mtrs from the green...Right at the marker...I swung nice and easy and i suppose in balance and everything seemed to work fine....A nice soft high fade....I carried this on for the front 9 but on the way back thingsd started going pear shaped.....

All i can really put it down to was that i was rushing my swing maybe that little bit extra and it just had a knock on effect for the rest of the round..The nice soft fade started to unravel..I couldnt stop it so just Hacked my way home ...

 

[RGDave]

What if I didn't have a swing to start with?

You could borrow Smiffys.
No wait, that would be worse

or worse still, wake up with my swing...

mine's like Tiger's, only slower, and with a no width, and a bad grip, and a rubbish take away, and poor balance.

See, it's just a few tweaks away when we think about it.

 

[JamesS]

I find it takes a few rounds to get used to a new technique. What I try and do is go for a lunchtime game at the local nine-hole to get that extra practice in before the weekend at my main course.