The "feel" for the touchy chips/pitches can come and go....

rollin · Jul 14, 2015

......and unfortunately lately it went lol
I know it will come back because this is nothing new and it happens but I find it strange how one day or even several the touchy/feely greenside "feel" just seems to be there and you are comfy with most of the attempts

and yet there are days when you just cant grab a feel for any of it at all. Not just the stroke itself , but the whole comfort of the stance, the judgment, and everything about it just doesn't jive.:confused2: I think it usually starts with not being able to get comfy with the setup and of course from there nothing else afterwards can be right.

Just for reference when I say greenside I do mean greenside and not 20 or 30 yards out but you know may be 10 and down to anything closer.

I know some good advice is sometimes to just sort of take a safe putting stroke. It may not be the best thing but it does usually prevent very poor play until you get comfy again. But my last round I was faced with quite a bit of tricky scenarios where such a stroke wasn't possible. Many sloped lies up and/or down hill and also sloped left or right too, and some heavier rough and any combo of those things can make it hard to even get a comfy stance in order to obtain a "feel" for the shot in the first place. Add that to the fact that the sense for good "feel" that day just isn't with you to begin with and it just makes it all that much worse.

Not that i'm looking for any magical answers here. I mean practice, practice, practice, but just that I find it strange how this kind of thing can leave you. The mojo, the force, the feel, whatever for the touchy feely just sometimes goes on vacation. Its sort of mindboggling where you've had good "feel" for a while but then one day its gone and may be even for more than one round but then it magically comes back. I guess in a way its also like putting which you can also lose a feel for. With you one day and gone the next.:confused2:

Anyway, just throwing it our there

CBaker · Jul 14, 2015

That's golf for ya. For me it's usually not the feel for the distance or speed, it's the contact that goes for me and I start hitting the ground first. When that happens I just focus on the front of the ball instead of the back and try to make sure I get the contact right. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't haha.

wadesworld · Jul 14, 2015

Here's what Shawn Clement would say, and he's absolutely right: There is one and only one constant force in the golf swing: gravity. When we as golfers decide to swing the club with our muscles (aka manipulation) rather that utilizing gravity, our body loses its ability to judge how much momentum is needed to carry an object a certain distance. To get your "feel" back, stop trying to do the work yourself and let gravity do it.

tequila4kapp · Jul 14, 2015

An instructor once told me to not hit the shot until you've taken enough practice swings to feel the shot your mind sees.

Tadashi70 · Jul 14, 2015

Technique takes away the loss of feel. I know if my positions and technique are sound that I won't have issues. The minute I go away from that, it's anyone's guess. Through position I ma able to hit a wide range of shots and know I will be close to what I am looking for.

rollin · Jul 14, 2015

tequila4kapp said:
An instructor once told me to not hit the shot until you've taken enough practice swings to feel the shot your mind sees.

wadesworld said:
Here's what Shawn Clement would say, and he's absolutely right: There is one and only one constant force in the golf swing: gravity. When we as golfers decide to swing the club with our muscles (aka manipulation) rather that utilizing gravity, our body loses its ability to judge how much momentum is needed to carry an object a certain distance. To get your "feel" back, stop trying to do the work yourself and let gravity do it.

I here ya both and certainly the vid is spot on imo. Its what I sort of feel when I have it and I can relate to it very much. But its still doesn't flow when ya just lose it. At those times it then becomes much easier said than done. And I can assume its mostly mental which prevents one from naturally and/or physically flowing with the shot but what can ya do, ya just tend to sometimes lose it anyway even though you can understand it. I did mention stance in my open and its a lot like what he mentions in the vid in a way and its like struggling in finding that balance point for the beginning of the shot at hand. That's probably the part (as I mentioned) which starts the swing to begin with. Cant find that and your not going to find the rest. And sometimes I just cant find it. Understand it, but still can disappear somewhere. When it comes back i'm happy but still leaves to question "well, where did it go before?" had it before and now have it again but where was it the last two rounds? lol.

rollin · Jul 14, 2015

Tadashi70 said:
Technique takes away the loss of feel. I know if my positions and technique are sound that I won't have issues. The minute I go away from that, it's anyone's guess. Through position I ma able to hit a wide range of shots and know I will be close to what I am looking for.

That sounds perfect. I feel what you say here is in line with what I got from the vid (although not mentioned outright).
Its also what I been (in underlying thought) implying with the fact that (when this happens) I just cant get comfy with any of it. There's no technique at all when this happens. The technique gets lost like as if I never did it before. But I can relate to that - "no technique = no feel" which you imply. Just strange how the technique can be ok to offer good feel one day but than on another its just not there. Weird no? Even you say here "the minute you go away from that, its anyone guess"
So I can only assume that me being at a much higher cap than you, that if you can fall away from your technique that I will simply fall away from mine much more often.lol

golfinFF · Jul 14, 2015

If I'm not practicing or playing much my feel/touch slips away.

Trying to force that warm cozy/fuzzy feeling with those shots just makes it worse for me. So when I'm not feeling it I try and relax more and let what happens happen.

I'll play to a safe spot with a club I'm comfortable with using a shot that maybe isn't ideal but I can pull off with confidence that combo is a 60* and a high floater.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

emart2173 · Jul 14, 2015

i try to keep my routine and setup the same everytime to avoid the losing the feel...for me its become more about executing the shot than losing feel.

rollin · Jul 14, 2015

emart2173 said:
i try to keep my routine and setup the same everytime to avoid the losing the feel...for me its become more about executing the shot than losing feel.

For me it really becomes about finding the balance point with the feet and body. Once I have that, the rest than allows for a pretty good feel. But at times I don't find that balance and especially when on sloped surfaces makes it worse. Without that initial balance there is just no technique , tempo, smoothness, and so I then cant obtain any feel during those times.

Tadashi70 · Jul 14, 2015

What I meant was, by relying on technique I just look for the results. If I have a 10' chip to get on the green and the pin is 20' on the green, I know where to land it. It's not a feel shot, it's repetitive technique. I may hit it perfect and it goes in, I may miss it by a fraction and am left with 5'. Through solid technique I can assess what may have gone wrong and don't have to look for a feeling. The results speak volumes.

Are there 'feel' shots, yes. But these are few and far between in comparison to the straight forward shots I am left with around the greens.

rollin said:
That sounds perfect. I feel what you say here is in line with what I got from the vid (although not mentioned outright).
Its also what I been (in underlying thought) implying with the fact that (when this happens) I just cant get comfy with any of it. There's no technique at all when this happens. The technique gets lost like as if I never did it before. But I can relate to that - "no technique = no feel" which you imply. Just strange how the technique can be ok to offer good feel one day but than on another its just not there. Weird no? Even you say here "the minute you go away from that, its anyone guess"
So I can only assume that me being at a much higher cap than you, that if you can fall away from your technique that I will simply fall away from mine much more often.lol

kerrmoore · Jul 14, 2015

Tadashi70 said:
What I meant was, by relying on technique I just look for the results.

So true - Of all areas in golf!

rollin · Jul 14, 2015

Tadashi70 said:
What I meant was, by relying on technique I just look for the results. If I have a 10' chip to get on the green and the pin is 20' on the green, I know where to land it. It's not a feel shot, it's repetitive technique. I may hit it perfect and it goes in, I may miss it by a fraction and am left with 5'. Through solid technique I can assess what may have gone wrong and don't have to look for a feeling. The results speak volumes.

Are there 'feel' shots, yes. But these are few and far between in comparison to the straight forward shots I am left with around the greens.

Well, I misunderstood you. And to think I thought I had something good to understand. Go figure.
I guess my technique is just not as set or as second natured as yours and/or other much better players. All I can say is that I require a feel for the shot at hand and there are times prior to the swing where (during the practice swinging) I just cant get comfy for the shot and it seems to come and go round to round or so. But as said it does than come back only to again one day leave. As time goes on and I slowly improve it stays for longer periods but not at the point yet where it stays for too many rounds. I do know I need to practice them more and more. I am guilty of not enough shorty practice.