When you lose all confidence in a club, what do YOU do?

[One Planer]

I suppose this happens to us all from time to time, but how do you deal with it.

Over the last 6-8 months, I've had a love/hate relationship with my Scotty Cameron putter.

I was fitted for this putter in 2012 and for the best part of 2 years it's served me very well, although recently I'm having a crisis of confidence with it.

Putting has always been one of the strong points of my game, but over the time frame in paragraph two, it's deteriorated to a point where I was missing the simple 1ft-2ft'ers that were the difference between bogey and par.

I tried everything, I even read a book (Dave Pelz Putting Bible), which is very unlike me, but did give me something to work with. In the end I decided to bite the bullet and decided pay a visit to my pro.

He was, to my surprise, actually quite complimentary about my stroke. He suggested, and I implemented, a few set up changes that would improve my consistency. Played with the changes for the fist time 10 days ago.

He was right. My putting was a hell of a lot more consistent, but the putts still weren't dropping . During that round, every putt I hit literally trickled by the edge of hole, or lipped out :angry:

This was better as before my lesson, where I was missing the hole by quite a bit.

Played last Saturday and, again, putting was much improved again. Pace and line were again better and the odd ball started to drop. Even when lagging I was never more than a few feet away.

Although the putting is better, my confidence is still fragile, but no doubt that will improve over time if I keep and practice the changes that were suggested.

How do you deal with a loss of confidence in a particular club?

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Boring answer, it's always me.

 

[Agent Pies]

Just throw it up the fairway in temper until I've calmed down a bit. Then I casually pick it, put it back in the bag and don't touch it again until I get home.

When I get home, I remove said club and hacksaw it down into small pieces. At this point I then use a large hammer to smash it into smaller pieces still. At this point I log on to my computer and start searching online for the best current replacement.

 

[Birchy]

Sell it and buy another.

Simples

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I always know that a poor shot is my fault, that isn't to say that I don't want a new driver.
I've been driving pretty badly of late, a push that turns into a slice, which is then countered by a hook.
It's not the driver's fault it's mine.
I want a new driver because, well just because I do! I hit my 3 wood a long way, as far as my playing partners' drivers at the weekend, but a good driver only just went past their drivers. As such for some reason I'm not gaining much extra distance with the driver. So, I'll go to see the TM rep' when he comes to Kedleston and see what he can offer me in terms of additional distance.
So perhaps the driver has it's limitations at present, but the bad shots are all me!

 

[drdel]

This may be a stupid suggestion as it depends whether you have contact lenses or glasses but I found my putting accuracy changed after I'd visited the optician. The revised prescription changed my dominant eye. Once I knew this I was able to check my putting line with the dominant eye.

 

[Stuey01]

Could it be that the problem is the read, not the club or the stroke?

 

[pingwizard]

Just throw it up the fairway in temper until I've calmed down a bit. Then I casually pick it, put it back in the bag and don't touch it again until I get home.

When I get home, I remove said club and hacksaw it down into small pieces. At this point I then use a large hammer to smash it into smaller pieces still. At this point I log on to my computer and start searching online for the best current replacement.

Classic

 

[fundy]

its always me not the stick, unless its a putter, and in that case I get another one

 

[Slicer30]

When My putting goes bad I get too focused on the technical side, then it gets even worse.

all of my best putting comes after I read "Bob Rotella - Putting out of your mind". Sounds like the perfect option for you, he purposely does not discuss the putting stroke techniques but focuses on how to improve your mindset.

In fact - its time I read it again !

 

[bladeplayer]

Practice Gareth practice ,, if you lose faith or cant play a certain shot/club . practice it until it comes good ..


then you get that right and another part of the game goes walkabout

 

[clubchamp98]

This may be a stupid suggestion as it depends whether you have contact lenses or glasses but I found my putting accuracy changed after I'd visited the optician. The revised prescription changed my dominant eye. Once I knew this I was able to check my putting line with the dominant eye.

Mine is totally the opposite . I was a good putter when I wore glasses. I have had Laser eye surgery and now cant hit a cows arse with a banjo dont know why as the rest of my game is fine.

 

[Martin70]

If you've been fitted for a very good putter like that and you know it's worked well before then it's very likely to be practice and lots of.

 

[Spear-Chucker]

Seems to be a cyclic thing with certain clubs only; driver, putter? I just play through it and it goes away quickly enough. Putting problems are usually solved by forgetting everything and just thinking about the line to the hole - the more I think the worse it gets.

With any confidence loss the pattern follows thusly: I usually spend a few days quietly muttering under my breath between practice sessions - Mrs Chucker responds accordingly and is quite superb at feigning interest with gems such as 'really, Dear?' and 'you poor thing' whilst undertaking far more important activities such as squashing spiders. I then quit moaning and just get on with it.

 

[Alex1975]

I cant vote as I do different things depending on what club it is. If I can see that the club flight does not suit me, lets say a driver, than I will replace it but if I can see that I am struggling with my 4 iron or 3 wood I will work on it as that's me and not a club head combo thing.

 

[Paperboy]

Went from hitting driver pretty well, to not being able to hit it at all. Had a lesson after a couple of weeks as was getting quite down on myself about it.

Lesson he saw the problem in a shot. Now been working on it for almost two weeks, three 30 minute practice sessions on it each week. Confidence is beginning to come with driver again, even won the long drive yesterday with my society at Tidworth garrison

 

[StrangelyBrown]

I used to get wound up with the mechanics of putting. I had a lesson last year where I tweaked my grip and was told that my set up and stroke were fine.

Now I just trust that everything 'mechanical' is ok, get set up so that I'm comfortable, have three practice strokes while looking at the hole, then address the ball and let it go.

 

[bernix]

i don't lose confidence in equipment, it's always me. if that doesn't help i make a practice session. if that doesn't help either i'll buy a new peace of equipment.
i have a couple of putters that i interchange occasionally

 

[Papas1982]

When I first started I'd happily try new equipment, hoping I'd find my match and it would click. Unfortunately now I know it's just me. My game cycles, I'm usually acceptable 2/4 (driving, irons, short game, putting) and shocking at the other 2. I tend to fall apart on an aspect so practice loads, improve on them but fall away on the others as I've neglected them during said practice!

 

[Hallsy]

For some reason i recently lost all confidence in my 5 iron. Couldnt hit it at all. So i went out and bought a mizuno jpx 5 fli hi hybrid and started to use that. Problem was in the back of my mind i knew i could hit the 5 iron well and felt id just given up without trying. So practiced with the 5 iron only for a week or so and its probably my confidence club now. If it worked originally it should work again. But if not just go out and buy some new shinies