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When did you find your feel?

russtopher

russtopher

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OK serious question, I know there's going to be a few "Been playing 20 years and I haven't found it yet!!:banana:" answers, but still :D

When did you finally get that feeling that clicked for you and helped you groove your swing? Or if you haven't found it fully yet, when did you realize you had stumbled upon a move or trigger feeling that helped you be consistent from the range to the course?

I'm still looking for the right feel that helps me gain some consistency. I hit decently at the range last week but it didn't translate at all to the course, which seems to be the usual for me. Every time I feel like I've found something to help trigger the downswing or a thought to get started, it turns out it was WOOD (works only one day). I can go to the range and just pound the ball, but as soon as I get on the course I'm thinking about conditions, scoring, my partners, etc.

With Regional Rivalry 4 months away, I'm looking to solidify my game as best as I can, and I feel like part of that is finding that right feel to take onto the course to help ease my swing thoughts and play golf, not golf swing.
 
Worked at a golf course (the Warren at Notre Dame) the summers after my senior year of high school and freshman year of college. Got to play/hit balls every single day and thats when my golf game turned from no-chance-novice to never-ending struggle for improvement.
 
feel isn't real
 
Some find it young, some chase it for years and some never get it.
 
I think it comes and goes. :banghead:
 
Every 3 rounds...
 
Mine is a constant back and forth. Although for the spring/summer last year I felt like I had things going good.
 
I'm just trying to find that trigger thought or feeling that makes my brain & body go "ok here's how it's supposed to go" when under pressure or in an unfamiliar situation.


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Got my "feel" last year and it was really just golfing my ball and keeping it in front of me and not taking any penalties ir losing balls
 
July 2015. A round at JC Melrose. It was a big turning point
 
I've found the feel, and probably was within the last 2 years. However, it has a tendency to come and go. I know I can put a decent move on the ball, but there are times I also know I'm just off. Finding it is great, but knowing what it is when is comes and goes is worth more than anything for me.
 
I solidified my game after taking a series of lessons close to 20 years ago. The lessons got me from scoring in the 90s to scoring in the 80s consistently. It wasn't a feel thing, it was working on my swing. Have gotten myself into single digit handicap range, but the consistency seems to come and go a little more than it used too.
 
I would say on full swings I found my "feel" this past summer. I got to where I could "feel" things that I did wrong as soon as I did it. I new what worked for me and was able to realize when I was not doing it and how to get back. Now with chipping my "feel" comes and goes. I think my "feel" with chipping comes and goes because I fight picking my head up to see what I did and I lack the confidence there more than other shots.
 
I have had glimpses of it over the last couple years, started to really find it early last summer, then completely lost it until very late in the year.
 
cbaker2882 said:
Care to elaborate? Curious to see why you think this way, as I very much disagree.
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What we feel while swinging is often way off from what we are doing. Looking on video and tracking club data is better. I golf my best once I am playing often enough where I just swing and don't think about anything and when I watch good swings on video multiple swings are the same. Then again most people would just say their swing is grooved so we might agree on most of what you meant.

This is just how I golf though. I have never tried to learn how to "teach" others and such so I could be way off
 
Feel could be different things to different people.

Feel for me is good, solid contact and making the ball behave the way I want to. Since I fixed my swing 3 years ago my good shots now come more often. While I set up every shot aspiring for that feel, it doesn't happen all the time, I'd say lately it's 1 shot out of 3. My aim is to make that come more often.

But I'm happy where I am shot-wise. The ball is starting to go where I want it to go. There's also the element of confidence that's important.
 
russtopher said:
I'm just trying to find that trigger thought or feeling that makes my brain & body go "ok here's how it's supposed to go" when under pressure or in an unfamiliar situation.


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Click to expand...
I've chased this for many years, still do. I'll often use a thought and/or do something that works really well, but only for a short time. Then the wheels start to slip a little, and I'll usually tend to over exaggerate my 'cure' trying to put em back on. That causes things go bad fast and I'm back to square one, chasing my next 'cure'. Been doing it so long that I often cycle through old 'cures' several times a season.
 
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Right about when I'm close to finishing a round, usually.


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I wouldn't call it "feel," but I have found a few triggers over the last few years that seem to help me out. The biggest problem for me, is that the trigger I'm looking for usually isn't the one that helps, but it's a new one I find accidentally that straightens me out.

So I'm up to 4,179 triggers…
 
4 years ago I was on the range, trying desperately to fix my slice and terrible distance.... I realized I had a bad reverse pivot and found the "gate" routine to help me not come OTT. It took a few range sessions, but that set the foundation to better golf for me
 
I'm not sure I've found 'it' yet... but I've recently been working on some fundamentals, such as my grip, and I've been making much better contact. Like others have mentioned, I tend to find a key that works for me on the range during my warm-up sessions prior to rounds, and I try to carry that with me to the course.

I get to hit about 100 balls a day now, so that's helping things to feel much more consistent and I can kind of tell when I've made a poor swing even prior to seeing the flight of the ball. I know it feels off, and then when I see it, that's confirmation that it was off.
 
When I was 16 or 17 and I truly learned how to change my angle of attack and compress the ball properly. I was lucky to be introduced to the game at age 12 and find my swing shortly after that while spending thousands of hours practicing and playing every summer.
 
My game came around a couple years ago. I had a huge gut and had to actually swing around it. In 2014 I lost 30lbs and basically had to regroove my swing. Another thing that has helped is I had WAYY too many swing thoughts causing me to stand over the ball too long. Now it's pick target, align clubface, step in and go.
 
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