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It's Not You, It's Me......

Antihero

Antihero

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Hypothetical question:

Imagine you started playing about a year ago.

Started taking lessons from a PGA pro about 10 months ago.

Took about 14 or so lessons during that year

Went from no cap to a 26 then reverted back to about a 31.

Imagine you play an average of 7 rounds a month and hit the range about 7 times as well.

At what point would you "explore other coaching options?"

Or would you assume to stink this bad is normal?

For you would it be time for the "it's not you, it's me" discussion?
 
From no cap to 26 and back to 31 is very normal. The amount you’ve played really doesn’t mean anything. And it really doesn’t reflect your skill level or lack of skill. Keep doing what you’re doing and you will improve and you will regress. It’s normal and should be expected.

One day you’ll jump into the teens and won’t know why. Then you’ll fall back to the 20s. But then you’ll progress to a mid teen cap and stay there for a while. The key is keep doing what your doing and keep seeing your pro.

As people on THP like to say, golf is hard. But the route you’re on will be very rewarding, I promise.
 
I don’t know... you could be a clutz after all and simply not have the coordination to be a good golfer! Or you might have seriously bad swing fundamentals. Or you may just need to work on your short game. You really need to know where you’re bleeding strokes on the course.

If you’re generally in the vague vicinity of the green (50 yards) by regulation (2 shots on a par 4) then you need to work on pitching/chipping/putting. Some instructors only teach the full swing but golf should really be taught green to tee, not tee to green.

But if you’re not normally somewhere in the general area of the green in regulation (within 50 yards) and you usually don’t even get on the green until par (takes you 4 shots to get on the green on a par 4) then you have long game woes.

Or you could be bad all around. Do you know where your strokes are coming from? Lots of OB drives? Duffed or fat pitches? 5 shots to get out of the sand? Water hazard hunting? 3 putts most holes?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Unless there is some specific reason you don’t like what your pro is teaching, i’d Say stick with him/her. Don’t judge the quality of the instructor by the rate at which your handicap improves. You need to be taught the right way to play and then the scores will eventually follow.
 
I sucked when I started. Some days I still do. Golf is hard. You don’t have any other teammates to pick you up or pick up your slack when you make a mistake. There are enough reasons that you improve and regress from physical to mental that it would take too much time to explore it all.

I’d talk to him and get his thoughts. If you haven’t, maybe try a playing lesson to see where he thinks you’d get the most benefit in your scores. I had to lower my expectations to see improvement. I’m still fairly new to the game and had very high and unrealistic expectations that bled into stress and tension in my game. It’s a process. Work on the range, have fun in the course.
 
No matter how dedicated to getting better. Not every golfer is destined to be good.
 
Antihero said:
Hypothetical question:

Imagine you started playing about a year ago.

Started taking lessons from a PGA pro about 10 months ago.

Took about 14 or so lessons during that year

Went from no cap to a 26 then reverted back to about a 31.

Imagine you play an average of 7 rounds a month and hit the range about 7 times as well.

At what point would you "explore other coaching options?"

Or would you assume to stink this bad is normal?

For you would it be time for the "it's not you, it's me" discussion?
Click to expand...

dude the fact you got to a 21 in a year is solid. so you backslid. it happens. stick with it and it will click.

i shot 72 last year. i haven't broken 85 in like 5 consecutive rounds. golf is wonderfully vexing. that's part of why we love it so much.
 
I would say that the path to success isn’t a straight line...

46bff6_b078b16822d64357a413bd1cf7fe2de3~mv2.png
 
Tadashi70 said:
From no cap to 26 and back to 31 is very normal. The amount you’ve played really doesn’t mean anything. And it really doesn’t reflect your skill level or lack of skill. Keep doing what you’re doing and you will improve and you will regress. It’s normal and should be expected.

One day you’ll jump into the teens and won’t know why. Then you’ll fall back to the 20s. But then you’ll progress to a mid teen cap and stay there for a while. The key is keep doing what your doing and keep seeing your pro.

As people on THP like to say, golf is hard. But the route you’re on will be very rewarding, I promise.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I hope you are right!

I'd be happy this year if I could just get to about a 22 cap and stay there.
 
BluesManDan said:
I don’t know... you could be a clutz after all and simply not have the coordination to be a good golfer! Or you might have seriously bad swing fundamentals. Or you may just need to work on your short game. You really need to know where you’re bleeding strokes on the course.

If you’re generally in the vague vicinity of the green (50 yards) by regulation (2 shots on a par 4) then you need to work on pitching/chipping/putting. Some instructors only teach the full swing but golf should really be taught green to tee, not tee to green.

But if you’re not normally somewhere in the general area of the green in regulation (within 50 yards) and you usually don’t even get on the green until par (takes you 4 shots to get on the green on a par 4) then you have long game woes.

Or you could be bad all around. Do you know where your strokes are coming from? Lots of OB drives? Duffed or fat pitches? 5 shots to get out of the sand? Water hazard hunting? 3 putts most holes?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

OB drives and putting are biggest culprits.
 
Antihero said:
OB drives and putting are biggest culprits.
Click to expand...

I totally read that as you putting out of bounds and I laughed really hard.

Your home course has some really slick greens. You're gonna have three putts on there if you miss in the wrong places, and if you just can't get your touch down on them. Also, that course is pretty unforgiving off the tee, so you're gonna have issues there too. When in doubt, work on your short game and putting and you can knock a few extra strokes off quick. Maybe some course management lessons if you're a go for broke kinda guy as well?
 
Antihero said:
Hypothetical question:

Imagine you started playing about a year ago.

Started taking lessons from a PGA pro about 10 months ago.

Took about 14 or so lessons during that year

Went from no cap to a 26 then reverted back to about a 31.

Imagine you play an average of 7 rounds a month and hit the range about 7 times as well.

At what point would you "explore other coaching options?"

Or would you assume to stink this bad is normal?

For you would it be time for the "it's not you, it's me" discussion?
Click to expand...

The best thing you can do is have an open and honest relationship with your Tour Pro and let him know how you are feeling. When you don't get something or it's not working for you speak up right then and there. Put everything on the table and don't be shy.

I myself have told coaches that I just prefer not to do something the way they were suggesting and asked if there was another way to approach the problem, they never took any issues with it and we eventually found a good solution. Sometimes you just can't wrap your head around a concept and addressing it a different way may be the best solution for both parties.
 
MWard said:
I totally read that as you putting out of bounds and I laughed really hard.

Your home course has some really slick greens. You're gonna have three putts on there if you miss in the wrong places, and if you just can't get your touch down on them. Also, that course is pretty unforgiving off the tee, so you're gonna have issues there too. When in doubt, work on your short game and putting and you can knock a few extra strokes off quick. Maybe some course management lessons if you're a go for broke kinda guy as well?
Click to expand...

Lol! I have not actually managed to putt one OB but wouldn't put it past me.

You're absolutely right about the fast greens. Downhill putts on certain holes there are really tough (for me at least).

I have been trying to work on some course management and played a recent round with a plus HC.

It was interesting to learn what a good player is thinking when picking shots. Hope to do a playing lesson or two to get an even better grasp in the near future.

Your observation about the trouble potential off the tee is spot on as well. Sometimes I keep hitting the driver when I should just move to a 5 wood or 4 hybrid (I actually get pretty good distance--just "dispersionally challenged").

And you're right--I too often hit the low % her shot that usually doesn't end well.

Nowhere to go but up!
 
This guy seems to know what he's talking about :angel:

I was 31 then 21 then 28 then 25 then 18 then 15 then 21 then 17 then 14 then 13 then 12 then 11 then 10.9 then 10.5 then 10.2

Of course my goal for this year is a single digit. It will always vary, but once you get your practice schedule down and your approach to each part of the game settled, it will probably start looking more like linear progress (if you're anything like me).
 
Antihero said:
Thanks.

I hope you are right!

I'd be happy this year if I could just get to about a 22 cap and stay there.
Click to expand...

Try this mindset, instead of looking for a number, just play and practice hard. This will allow you to get as good as your suppose to get based on the effort put in.
 
Tadashi70 said:
Try this mindset, instead of looking for a number, just play and practice hard. This will allow you to get as good as your suppose to get based on the effort put in.
Click to expand...

What he said ^^^. I’ve read things similar to this advice before and eventually had success with it. I just had to understand that “just play” didn’t mean “don’t care”. I had to internalize that just play meant don’t stress the bad shot or hole. I just need to play and let the score take care of itself. It was tough for me to do and in some ways still is.
 
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