darnall
New member
So two years ago I was playing 3-4 times per week consistently, and shooting good scores (breaking 80) pretty much every round. Everything was pretty consistent, and even if I had a bad day in one aspect of my game another aspect was usually solid enough to cover it.
Last year I didn't play as much, and would have some really good days and some really bad days. Shot par a couple times but also had rounds where 90s happened. Toward the end of the year in an attempt to "fix" some problems I started trying different balls and tinkering with my swing...limiting the backswing, buying balls that minimized sidespin, etc etc. What I didn't realize was that one or 2 bad shots were getting stuck in my head and that was all I could remember about the round, so I started trying to fix something that was actually a rare occurrence.
The more I tried to tinker with my swing the worse it got, and the more apt I was to hit really really fat or not get the face squared worth a darn at impact. The more this happened, the more I questioned everything, and my game continued to spiral out of control.
This year, up until last weekend, things had continued to be a mess. No consistency with my ball striking. Driver was pretty much going straight but I had lost 40 or more yards over what I used to get out of the driver. This had me hitting more long irons instead of mid-short irons. The added length and decreased loft in the longer irons allowed me to spray them a bit, which made me want to ease up on those swings, which made it very difficult to make consistent contact. Choking up on them to try to help impact screwed up my posture and made me hit way way fat more often than not. I ended up getting a bugaboo in my head that anytime I grabbed my 5 iron I started to worry. The snowball just kept rolling and rolling and getting bigger and bigger.
Then I thought of a correlation to racing. With racecars and drivers, your instinct is to try to improve on weak areas when you should actually be doing things to make your strengths stronger. Your strengths are what make you successful, and if you go changing stuff to try to bandaid your weaknesses you will end up hurting the areas you are good in.
So I decided to wipe the slate clean with my golf game and go back to what I was doing 2 years ago.. one thing was the balls I play... I went back to more of a tour type ball. I had lost tons of distance in an attempt to hit a "Straight" ball straight. No ball is going to fix a block, push, or one bad swing, but a ball can limit a good swing by not letting it carry as far as it should or by not biting and sticking on a good approach.
I also quit trying to "ease up" to minimize the damage from a bad swing. I decided to go ahead and move the ball back in my stance a bit and get back to my aggressive, committed swing from 2 years ago. The driver swing that had me consistently at 245-250 carry with decent rollout. The 7 iron that was carrying 165ish and sticking like a dart. I decided that I will probably spray a couple shots in a round, but when I do a chip back into a good spot will only cost me a stroke or 2, whereas easing up was costing me way more shots in lost distance ( FW approaches instead of 5 irons, 5 iron approaches instead of 8 irons, etc) fat 6 irons that only go 90 yards, 60 yard pitches that barely got to the front of a green with a back pin, etc etc.
Finally, I had gotten to the point that I was having a hard time pulling the trigger once i was over the ball. Nothing like Kevin Na, but I just couldn't get comfy with my alignment and had too many thoughts in my head. Now once I step into position over the shot, I look at the ball and clubface, look at the target and do a quick visualization of the how i want the shot to fly, look back at the ball and do a very very minimal forward press as a trigger to start the backswing. That little trigger seems to be a great way to start my movement and have consistent tempo.
I played my 3rd "post epiphany" round yesterday. The first one was last weekend and I did feel some improvement. Played Friday and got in the high 70s without any birdies. The round yesterday was one I was really really proud of. I made good crisp contact on every shot. No ridiculously fat shots, no blades, no decelerating through chips etc. Had a couple shots that faded more than I wanted but still ended up in a playable spot. Had one "Blowup" hole that happened because I misjudged a tailwind a flew and approach over a green and down a 40 foot embankment behind it. Stuggled with the shot back up to the green, didn't quite get it on, and then 2 putted after a chip rolled out too far for double bogey... only had one birdie, a few bogeys, and lots and lots of routine pars. Got hammered with a huge thunderstorm just as I teed off on 17... rushed through it for a par but saw lightning as I was walking off the green so I didn't get to play 18, but even a double bogey on 18 was still going to give me a 77 for the day...a par would have given me 75...it's a par 70 course but my gosh after the struggles I have had over the last year or so a day at 5-7 over par felt like a 59 to me.
I just have to remember... forget the bad swing as soon as it happens and continue to swing aggressive at conservative targets.
Last year I didn't play as much, and would have some really good days and some really bad days. Shot par a couple times but also had rounds where 90s happened. Toward the end of the year in an attempt to "fix" some problems I started trying different balls and tinkering with my swing...limiting the backswing, buying balls that minimized sidespin, etc etc. What I didn't realize was that one or 2 bad shots were getting stuck in my head and that was all I could remember about the round, so I started trying to fix something that was actually a rare occurrence.
The more I tried to tinker with my swing the worse it got, and the more apt I was to hit really really fat or not get the face squared worth a darn at impact. The more this happened, the more I questioned everything, and my game continued to spiral out of control.
This year, up until last weekend, things had continued to be a mess. No consistency with my ball striking. Driver was pretty much going straight but I had lost 40 or more yards over what I used to get out of the driver. This had me hitting more long irons instead of mid-short irons. The added length and decreased loft in the longer irons allowed me to spray them a bit, which made me want to ease up on those swings, which made it very difficult to make consistent contact. Choking up on them to try to help impact screwed up my posture and made me hit way way fat more often than not. I ended up getting a bugaboo in my head that anytime I grabbed my 5 iron I started to worry. The snowball just kept rolling and rolling and getting bigger and bigger.
Then I thought of a correlation to racing. With racecars and drivers, your instinct is to try to improve on weak areas when you should actually be doing things to make your strengths stronger. Your strengths are what make you successful, and if you go changing stuff to try to bandaid your weaknesses you will end up hurting the areas you are good in.
So I decided to wipe the slate clean with my golf game and go back to what I was doing 2 years ago.. one thing was the balls I play... I went back to more of a tour type ball. I had lost tons of distance in an attempt to hit a "Straight" ball straight. No ball is going to fix a block, push, or one bad swing, but a ball can limit a good swing by not letting it carry as far as it should or by not biting and sticking on a good approach.
I also quit trying to "ease up" to minimize the damage from a bad swing. I decided to go ahead and move the ball back in my stance a bit and get back to my aggressive, committed swing from 2 years ago. The driver swing that had me consistently at 245-250 carry with decent rollout. The 7 iron that was carrying 165ish and sticking like a dart. I decided that I will probably spray a couple shots in a round, but when I do a chip back into a good spot will only cost me a stroke or 2, whereas easing up was costing me way more shots in lost distance ( FW approaches instead of 5 irons, 5 iron approaches instead of 8 irons, etc) fat 6 irons that only go 90 yards, 60 yard pitches that barely got to the front of a green with a back pin, etc etc.
Finally, I had gotten to the point that I was having a hard time pulling the trigger once i was over the ball. Nothing like Kevin Na, but I just couldn't get comfy with my alignment and had too many thoughts in my head. Now once I step into position over the shot, I look at the ball and clubface, look at the target and do a quick visualization of the how i want the shot to fly, look back at the ball and do a very very minimal forward press as a trigger to start the backswing. That little trigger seems to be a great way to start my movement and have consistent tempo.
I played my 3rd "post epiphany" round yesterday. The first one was last weekend and I did feel some improvement. Played Friday and got in the high 70s without any birdies. The round yesterday was one I was really really proud of. I made good crisp contact on every shot. No ridiculously fat shots, no blades, no decelerating through chips etc. Had a couple shots that faded more than I wanted but still ended up in a playable spot. Had one "Blowup" hole that happened because I misjudged a tailwind a flew and approach over a green and down a 40 foot embankment behind it. Stuggled with the shot back up to the green, didn't quite get it on, and then 2 putted after a chip rolled out too far for double bogey... only had one birdie, a few bogeys, and lots and lots of routine pars. Got hammered with a huge thunderstorm just as I teed off on 17... rushed through it for a par but saw lightning as I was walking off the green so I didn't get to play 18, but even a double bogey on 18 was still going to give me a 77 for the day...a par would have given me 75...it's a par 70 course but my gosh after the struggles I have had over the last year or so a day at 5-7 over par felt like a 59 to me.
I just have to remember... forget the bad swing as soon as it happens and continue to swing aggressive at conservative targets.
