Have you ever 'lost' your swing?

mr.hicksta

Golf->Tacos->Gainz
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While I had a great time in Tahoe, my game was complete trash and I truly feel like I lost my swing. As some know, I've been working on my swing with an online coach for over a year now and to date I've made a lot of progress. But the current issue we've been looking at has proven to be more stubborn than the others and I think my pursuit of the change actually hurt my game. A few months back I was comfortable with my swing (flaws and all) and was making pretty consistent contact with all my clubs. That all went the window last weekend and I was battling the shanks in a bad way. Once that started it was a wrap and it was a grind the rest of the time. I'm posting this because I'm curious what others have done when issues like this arise. Do you fall back on old habits? Keep working on the new technique? Look for quick fixes? I was pretty discouraged, but in hindsight I'm hopeful what happened was rock bottom. I'm interested to hear how others would approach this situation!
 
It absolutely occurred to me about a month ago. I completely eliminated every (I mean every) technical thought and just played two rounds with 3/4 speed swings. I focused only on tempo, balance, and having fun (dropped an extra ball when a bad shot happened and just moved on). I broke out of my slump after the rounds and have been slowly building back up from there. It stinks and will linger a bit but you will come out the other side. And remember what works for the next time you have to grind.
 
Oh yeah, big time. I wanted to straight up quit the game.
 
Yup. Last year, mid June. Out of nowhere, every hit was a shank. Absolute rubbish. Put the clubs away for the remainder of the season. The break definitely helped.
 
Last weekend it was playing hide and seek the whole round especially with the big dog. The last couple years the late summer and early fall have been rough. I get out of sync and start getting to mental
 
Absolutely lose it from time to time. It can last a few holes, a few days. When it comes back I have no idea where it has been.
 
Still have yet to find it :). Played in a scramble tournament the other day and was dreadful until the last 4 holes where I ended up saving us to get the win, by that time I had nothing left to lose and just started to rip without much setup and turned it around.
 
I lose mine about every other round or at least weekend it seems like. I was shooting in the mid 80's then next thing I know I am mid 90's. Back and forth it goes. If it isn't one swing issue it is another. Crazy game for sure.
 
While I had a great time in Tahoe, my game was complete trash and I truly feel like I lost my swing. As some know, I've been working on my swing with an online coach for over a year now and to date I've made a lot of progress. But the current issue we've been looking at has proven to be more stubborn than the others and I think my pursuit of the change actually hurt my game. A few months back I was comfortable with my swing (flaws and all) and was making pretty consistent contact with all my clubs. That all went the window last weekend and I was battling the shanks in a bad way. Once that started it was a wrap and it was a grind the rest of the time. I'm posting this because I'm curious what others have done when issues like this arise. Do you fall back on old habits? Keep working on the new technique? Look for quick fixes? I was pretty discouraged, but in hindsight I'm hopeful what happened was rock bottom. I'm interested to hear how others would approach this situation!

What's your focus? When my game goes astray, best thing for me to do is to make sure my focus is in order.

If my focus is on my takeaway, or my left hip, or any other body part, I'm done.

To have success, I need to put my focus on my task: allowing the club to cut grass across the intermediate point.
 
I went through a very similar situation earlier this season. It was like I was just starting the game, my swing felt soooo clunky and bad. About that time I got busy with a few other projects and family stuff and was really forced in to a little break and didn't play much. I tried grinding on the driving range when I could but that seemed to make me more frustrated. That little break did wonders and it seemed to reset me.
 
On my pursuit to get to a single digit I came into a rough patch where I would fat or straight up shank 6-7 iron shots a round. I lost my confidence and would try to avoid certain shots because I just knew I would mess it up. I ended up taking 2 weeks off from picking up a club to clear my head. That ended up helping me refocus and to remember it was just a game and I'm not going to be on any tour. I'm very competitive so it was nice to take a breather and go back to why I play golf.
 
Yes, just this morning in fact. For some reason just gripping the club felt totally unnatural and I wasn't sure why.
 
While I had a great time in Tahoe, my game was complete trash and I truly feel like I lost my swing. As some know, I've been working on my swing with an online coach for over a year now and to date I've made a lot of progress. But the current issue we've been looking at has proven to be more stubborn than the others and I think my pursuit of the change actually hurt my game. A few months back I was comfortable with my swing (flaws and all) and was making pretty consistent contact with all my clubs. That all went the window last weekend and I was battling the shanks in a bad way. Once that started it was a wrap and it was a grind the rest of the time. I'm posting this because I'm curious what others have done when issues like this arise. Do you fall back on old habits? Keep working on the new technique? Look for quick fixes? I was pretty discouraged, but in hindsight I'm hopeful what happened was rock bottom. I'm interested to hear how others would approach this situation!

As a matter of fact, I seemed to have misplaced mine in the last couple of weeks. You didn't happen to find it, did you?
 
On my pursuit to get to a single digit I came into a rough patch where I would fat or straight up shank 6-7 iron shots a round. I lost my confidence and would try to avoid certain shots because I just knew I would mess it up. I ended up taking 2 weeks off from picking up a club to clear my head. That ended up helping me refocus and to remember it was just a game and I'm not going to be on any tour. I'm very competitive so it was nice to take a breather and go back to why I play golf.

That makes me feel better. I've been going through much of the same on and off all summer. I know I've got a better game in me. I just need to figure out how to get it to come out.
 
Ask anyone at the gauntlet two years ago.

The answer is yes .


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totes mcgoats yes, it has happened to me. the one time i went to the gethering, we had a friendly competition and i was paired with @vman as my teammate. i was annihilating driver that day, and my irons were good, but i shanked every single wedge shot. it was so embarrassing.

fortunately in a fitting it was diagnosed, and i now know what to monitor so it hopefully doesn’t happen again.

i’m envious of people who can maintain their swing year in and year out.


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I lost it for 3 years. This is the first year after 5 that I feel I am finally back.
 
A primary benefit to relying on sound address fundamentals (grip-posture-alignment) is that from there a player's own fundamentally sound swing naturally emerges.
So, on a day when the ball striking is a bit off, correcting address fundamentals will likely solve any swing-ball-striking problem.
 
totes mcgoats yes, it has happened to me. the one time i went to the gethering, we had a friendly competition and i was paired with @vman as my teammate. i was annihilating driver that day, and my irons were good, but i shanked every single wedge shot. it was so embarrassing.

fortunately in a fitting it was diagnosed, and i now know what to monitor so it hopefully doesn’t happen again.

i’m envious of people who can maintain their swing year in and year out.


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I had this short wedge yip thing happen last weekend. Just the 58* which I use for most shots 50 yards and in.

Started mid round Saturday and persisted the whole round Sunday. Absolute scorecard killer.

The other clubs were decent (as decent as they ever were, anyway).

I'm playing Saturday and still have no idea if the problem exists (this awful rain prevented me from hitting the range and taking a lesson).

How'd you get rid of the wedge shanks?

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5 years ago I took 3 lessons from a local assistant pro. He had me change my takeaway and my wrist cock at the top of my swing.
Even though I knew it would take a few weeks to get used to the changes and I kept at it, my swing was gone.
After 2 months of going to the range 3 times a week and playing rounds on the weekends, I just couldn't get the swing changes to work and my game was in the toilet.
I gave up on the changes, went back to my old takeaway and wrist cock and it only took me a month and a half to get my game back.
 
Honestly... I haven’t felt 100% comfortable with my swing in at least 3 years. It’s not even on the back of milk cartons at this point.


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Yes, I think it happens to most of us. I'm playing better now than I have in a couple of years, and I was losing confidence with all the shanked shots I was hitting. I didn't go back to my old way of swinging because the new way makes more sense. What I think is causing the problems is that parts of my body such as hand and wrist motion weren't in synch with the new swing path. So my recommendation is that if your new swing seems logical and right, then stick with it. You'll be able to handle the mechanical problems and set things right again.

You didn't ask for specific advice, but as an experienced shanker here's what I'm doing to rectify:

I realized that I was getting way too ball-focused and not nearly enough target focused. Make sure you pick a specific target out in the distance and swing through the ball with your attention on sending the ball to the target. What I was doing was trying to "hit the ball with the bat", and of course the shaft is the bat.

I'm positive that you'll get it figured out, this stuff means too much to you for you to not enjoy playing. So just relax, don't overswing and remember the ball isn't the target.
 
At least one aspect of my game seems to leave me, always. And it's a rotating thing. Driving, chipping, and putting will be solid, but I'll tug all my irons left. By the time I straighten the irons out (usually a few rounds later), nothing feels right with the driver and I go from not missing fairways, to not finding them. Then I'll have the round where the driver and the irons both seem to be working, but I'll have the worst putting performance in months.

That's golf, I know. But I've yet to ever play a round where it felt like everything was working.
 
How'd you get rid of the wedge shanks?

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it was as easy as ball position. it had crept way too far back and i had no way to get to my left side. i had to flip hard at impact to make decent contact. massive forward shaft lean. start with feet together and ball in center, make sure you are aligned correctly, then spread feet to desired width. now it creeps a little too far forward at times, but i’d rather hit it fat than thin and in the heel.


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Yes for sure, it has happened twice this year, once with the wedges and once with the driver. The driver I replaced, and the wedges I just took a lesson and that helped big time.
 
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