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when you know you shouldn't swing but you swing anyway

rollin

rollin

"Just playin golf pally"
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Just for conversation, It can happen any place but when it does, usually for me its in the tee box. I have seen and heard many do this many times. Every so often you may set up to address and you feel like something isnt right. Perhaps your too far from the ball, or too close, or your feet/legs dont feel like in the correct place. In other words whatever it is, you know it aint right, your not comfy and you know it. You should pull away and reset but you swing anyway as if its gonna be OK.

Its rare that you may get lucky and have a so called "good miss" but not usually. Usually you end up with a bad shot and you say to yourself and maybe outloud to your mates - " I knew it, I should backed off and reset".

Perhaps you dont want to take up time or perhaps you just think you can correct it while your swinging, or whatever the reasons, you basically lose a stroke or more depending on where the ball ended up. All ya had to do was reset but something inside just says "Naa , I'm here, swing anyway"

Is it pacience?, stubborness? ,not caring enough? You certainly wish you didnt do it. Then it may possibly happen again at some point later in the round or even a week later in another round. You remember the last time it happened and knowing you did it and the bad result but you still stubbornly manage to swing anyway like as if again it will be Ok and its not.

Its almost a bit humorous but its really not cause it costs strokes. It doesnt really get me angry but you just kinda want to knock yourself one for being stupid. Does it happen to you? I'm sure it happens to many, but do you reset? or sometimes still stubbornly swing anyway? And then wish you didint?
 
I have tried very hard this year to step back if I don't feel right and it's helped. It's a hard thing to do, but I'm not sure I can tell you why.
 
Hawk said:
I have tried very hard this year to step back if I don't feel right and it's helped. It's a hard thing to do, but I'm not sure I can tell you why.
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I am the same way. The ProMental Coach has helped me with a pretty consistent pre-shot routine, but at times I will still feel a bit weird standing over the ball. I usually step back and take a breath and readdress the ball. It is really difficult to do, and I still sometimes forget to do it, or just don't and the results are usually pretty bad.
 
I do this all the time and never hit a good shot....perhaps I didn't find a good spot on the tee box and my foot is in a hole, or I am too close to the ball or what ever. I need to become disiplined enough to back off and start over again,.
 
I do it. I put it down to the lack of a consistent pre-shot routine. One you stick to no matter what. If it's ingrained, then any interruption is more likely to break your concentration to the point where you want to start again.
 
TripleBogieTim said:
I do this all the time and never hit a good shot....perhaps I didn't find a good spot on the tee box and my foot is in a hole, or I am too close to the ball or what ever. I need to become disiplined enough to back off and start over again,.
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I said stubborn but I think (discipline) is a great term to describe this isssue
 
rollin said:
I said stubborn but I think (discipline) is a great term to describe this isssue
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The minute I swing and the ball goes flying the wrong direction the first thing out of my mouth is always "I knew I shouldn't have hit that, because ___________" and I list the My foot was in a hole, just didn't feel comfortable, the ball was too close...whatever it is.....back away and reset...it's so simple yet we don't do it.
 
This happens sometimes to me at the range, also. I'm trying to learn to back off, and start over. I hope to carry that over to the course.
 
TripleBogieTim said:
The minute I swing and the ball goes flying the wrong direction the first thing out of my mouth is always "I knew I shouldn't have hit that, because ___________" and I list the My foot was in a hole, just didn't feel comfortable, the ball was too close...whatever it is.....back away and reset...it's so simple yet we don't do it.
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maybe we should go back to using stubborn lol
 
Sometimes I stop in the middle of my backswing. That's always awkward.
 
I did it twice during the last round I played a few days ago. Once on the tee and another over a long iron shot into the green. Something just did not feel right with my alignment so I backed off and started all over again. Both shots turned out well.
 
I think using a 'trigger' before you take a swing might be an idea. Like maybe completing one breath before swinging. This might focus the attention a little more and make you feel more 'ready'.
 
I don't know why people (myself included) do this. This is something that I've really tried to get better at this past year. Any number of things can be wrong. If I'm uncomfortable I back off, take a breath, recheck my line and address the ball again. If I'm on the teebox and it's something like I'm unhappy with my tee position or something, I might let someone shoot in front of me while I move it. Don't always catch myself, but I'm better about it than I used to be. Usually when I don't back off, bad things tend to occur. :D
 
stepping back off of a shot is something that kills me. I know I don't do it enough. I have gotten a little better, but instead I'll just try to fix something mid swing. Usually it's an aim issue for me. So if I think I am aiming too far right, I'll try to really hook the ball by rotating my wrists hard through impact, and if I think I'm too far left I'll do the opposite. It really doesn't work out as much as I'd like. It is something I've gotten better at like I said, but still it's a work in progress.
 
This happens to everyone at some point. I played ina men's league night a few years back. I was playing very well. Well enough where i was going to win some loot. I had a couple of strokes on everyone in our group going into 18. Just needed to par a birdieable par 5. I put my peg in the ground and set up. My hands were sweaty and my feet were uncomfortable. I swung anyway and hit a bit block into the trees and lost my ball. I was done. Later in the clubhouse, we were recounting our round and i told the story. The Pro just happen to hear and turned and looked at me, "How long does it take to wipe your hands off? You're an idiot!" He was right. I get in a rush and really there's no point. If you're not comfortable, it takes 30 seconds to re-tee. If you're on the course for 4 hours, what's 30 seconds.
 
This is the number one thing I have tried to work on with my game this year. I had such a habit of swinging away even when my grip felt off or my feet felt mis-aligned. I always said in my head "I'll just compensate for this mid-swing". Seriously, what the hell was I thinking?

Finally started making conscious decisions to just completely reset if I did not feel comfortable prior to starting my backswing. I don't overthink things with any sort of mental checklist prior to my swing, but I do make sure that I am now 100% committed to the shot I am about to hit prior to starting the swing.
 
I absolutely HATE when I don't feel quite right yet pull the trigger anyway and hit a bad shot. Drives me nuts! I've tried hard to get that out of my system and just take an extra second or two to get comfortable and ready before I swing. It doesn't happen real often, maybe once every few rounds so it's not a big deal to just reload and start fresh. No Kevin Na....that's overboard.
 
As we all know, you need to feel confident over a shot, envisioning success. If we don't, the results are likely to be poor. There's absolutely no way to be confident if something feels wrong.

But, I've certainly been guilty of not stepping away, so I think it just takes an active focus on developing the self-discipline to do it.
 
When something does not feel right I force myself to step off it even though my instinct says "Hit it...Idiot, your gonna miss the short sutff anyways".
 
I do this about once every other round of golf. Something will be bothering me but instead if starting over I swing. A case of stubbornness on my part. I tell myself "this shouldn't bother me" and go for it, usually with bad results.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk 2
 
As most of you, I too keep struggling with this. It happens way too often that I know there's something wrong, but I swing anyway. I started to fix this from the green backwards...now I'm at chipping / 120 yards. I've gotten waaaay many par's & birdies by stopping the putting swing, and by beginning it again. The line, and power are usually ok, but if I start feeling that I am not focusing, I need to start my putting routine again. And I make.

Same goes for all the other shots, but the hardest to stop, or restart is the drive.
 
Castor Hades said:
As most of you, I too keep struggling with this. It happens way too often that I know there's something wrong, but I swing anyway. I started to fix this from the green backwards...now I'm at chipping / 120 yards. I've gotten waaaay many par's & birdies by stopping the putting swing, and by beginning it again. The line, and power are usually ok, but if I start feeling that I am not focusing, I need to start my putting routine again. And I make.

Same goes for all the other shots, but the hardest to stop, or restart is the drive.
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yea and whats even harder is when ya see guys who may actually stop while right in the middle of actually swinging. Now thats what i'd call discipline, and almost impossible. I cant recall if I've ever done that.
 
At least you have the option before you start your swing to step back. This past weekend I felt great during my setup, would get to the top of the backswing and just feel that something isn't right. Not being Tiger, I am not able to suddenly stop myself once the downswing has started.
 
For me it's standing too far from the ball or standing in a divot (my course's tee boxes are terrible, and finding either a flat spot to stand or a spot without divots is nearly impossible).
In the spring, the red squirrels go nuts and make this really loud and obnoxious chirping. Sometimes they do it in my backswing and I just can't bring myself to stop unless it's very early.
 
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