My game is in ruins

[richy]

Im not normally a fan of posts that are all doom and gloom but I couldn't help posting this as I sit here a broken man. My game is in ruins.

Over the past 3-4 weeks my game and my scores have been getting steadily worse ending with a 99 on saturday gone. Im currently having lessons off a good pro and Im practicing a few times a week but now I cant hit a ball for toffee. I know it isn't a case of bedding changes in as about 2 months ago I was striking it lovely.

I honestly dont know what to do, its like Ive never hit a golf ball before in my life.

Do I go to another pro? - I left a message with my pro after my game on sat as I wanted to clear a few things up with him. Still waiting for his phone call
Have a break from the game, which I really dont want to do as the way I feel at the moment Im worried I'll never start up again.

I really need help

 

[pokerjoke]

Its tough mate when things get so bad you cant see a
way back.
You have to stick with what your pros trying to teach.
Im sure he can take one look and see the problem.
Get him to take you through the basics,grip alignment etc.
Start building again from the beginning.
When things get really bad,remember theres always someone
worse off,imagine how he feels.
Im sure if you keep working hard there will be light at the end of
the tunnel,good luck

 

[In_The_Rough]

Give your Pro another ring or pop into the shop and see him personally. Some of them are just bad at returning calls/e-mails etc. Probably something simple that has screwed your game up it will get better

 

[Curls]

My game is in ruins. its like Ive never hit a golf ball before in my life.

I really need help

I was right where you are about August last year. Only that I quit the club I was at and went to a much better course I might have thrown my hat at it, the new course gave me a new interest and then I read a book that changed everything. I was taking lessons from a good pro, nice fella, and at first made good progress. Then it just seemed I would make a bit of progress on my own and every time I went to him I would take a massive step backwards. I thought if I stuck with it it would be worth it, but I got sick of getting worse. At one point I was shooting worse than when I started lessons and wondered if I'd ever progress at all.

I haven't taken a lesson since, decided to go out and play golf instead of working tirelessly and without rewards on some seemingly impossible perfect swing. I read and tried to follow Zen Golf by Joseph Parent and more recently Putting Out of you Mind by Bob Rotella. If you haven't read anything like this I'd urge you to, theyll cost about a fiver - what have you got to lose? Zen Golf made me change the way I looked at golf, and Rotella about putting (thought this is only in the last few weeks since I read it). Won the first medal of the year a couple of weeks back and played the best golf of my life, and I really wasnt thinking very much about technique at all, just about seeing the shot and being in it to make it. If only I had read the putting book I might have hit more putts to make them, and holed more as a result

Is your head filed with technique? What are you thinking about when you swing? Probably about 10 things. There are far more qualified people to talk about golf on here but speaking as someone who felt their game going backwards and turned it around to some degree this is what needs changing, you can hit a golf ball pretty well, you did a couple of months back, so stop getting in your own way and play golf for the reason we're supposed to be playing it - to enjoy it. Zen golf, its not mumbo jumbo, its common sense, but put brilliantly. If your pro hasnt responded maybe look at the message you sent - either he feels bad that hes failing you or you might have been so despondent in your text he feels he cant contact you for fear of a melt-down. Just tell him youre taking a break from lessons, take a ball and a wedge and knock it around a field if possible, remember what its like to strike a ball and send it to its target and try to wipe your mind of as much of this technique thats overcrowding it as you can, you can introduce one or two things later, but for now just see the ball going towards the hole and make it happen.

When I feel comfortable in my game Ill go back to the pro, there's always stuff to be learned, but Ill do it differently next time, youll know what I mean.

Chin up buddy, like I say, I was there and Ill wager theres plenty more on here the same, everyone will have their own advise but mine is this: go out and play and have fun, forget about technique and even scoring, who knows after a few holes you might start enjoying yourself and the scores will tumble with it. Next month you'll be on here saying how you smashed it.

 

[richy]

Thanks lads. I never normally feel down but these past few weeks have been hard. Gonna try the pro again tomorrow and I think I'll have at those books mentioned

 

[HomerJSimpson]

See the state of your game and raise it my short game. Thought I'd had it sussed after Sunday but back to square one tonight. Head a mess, heart heavy and soul destroyed.

 

[Imurg]

Worst of the bunch is a 99 playing off 19.......

OK it's well over handicap but it's not that bad.
We all go through bad patches. I'm struggling to break 80 a lot of the time at the moment but it'll come.
Trust your swing, clear your mind of all the negative waves and have fun hitting the ball. Laugh at the bad shots, don't scowl at them.

 

[seochris]

It happens to us all at some stage.....I try and go and work it out on the range by myself. I think if you can work it out by yourself then there is more chance of correcting during a round and better understanding your swing. Get somebody to video your swing on the range from the back and side so that you can see it for yourself. You will be amazed at what you see....what you think you are doing is nowhere near what you are actually doing! If all else fails...go see the pro!

 

[sweatysock41]

Laugh at the bad shots, don't scowl at them.

My philosophy exactly. If golf was my living then it may be different but for us lot it isn't (Bobmac stand fast) so why tie yourself in knots over a bad shot - life's too short.

 

[Whereditgo]

Definitely get back to see the pro again asap. it could be that you've altered something slightly (real and feel) away from what he has been trying to get you to do, plus it really is quite normal for things to get worse before they get better.

As Imurg says, 99 off a 19 handicap is not really disastrous, even if it feels like it is.

 

[Bobirdie]

your probably trying too hard mate. try doing what your pro told you in your practice swings them step up to the ball and hit it.its easy to over complicate the swing. muscle memory is a great thing.use it in your pre shot routine

 

[joma1108]

For me when things go bad i resort to what im good at (short game) chipping, pitching etc, this takes away the anxiety that you are probably feeling (at the moment) and then loosens you up.

after that i will go to the longer shots and then full shots.

At any time i start to hit the bad shots again i go back to the pitch and chip and work back and forwards until i feel comfortable in my swing again.

It wont work for everybody but it does for me.

p.s. when im playing really bad its usually due to coming too far inside and i work on that too.

Hope you get back to playing well again soon

 

[NorfolkShaun]

Had a bit of this myself lately, changed to a new pro recomended by a friend and he is much close to home, he has picked up about me bringing the club outside the line of the ball causing a slice. Been trying to fix it. Playing today kept trying and could not clear my head thinking of so many things when addressing the ball, had a really bad first 7 then cleared my head just thought about getting a nice steady clean strike and got some quite good scores for the rest of the round.

Tough to play golf when thinking of ten diffrent things to do when swinging the club.