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What's holding you back and why haven't you fixed it?

On the green and around the green from 50 yards in. Laziness is holding me back as I'd rather play than practice.
 
right now it's short game short game short game. did i mention short game? bunker play is horrendous. pitches aren't close enough, and contact on chips isn't good enough. putting just isn't where i'd like it. i probably threw away 5-6 shots today just around the greens.
 
Missed putts inside 10'. I miss more putts for birdie inside 10' then I care to to and it keeps me in the 4 to 5 over range. One or two made putts per round makes a big difference.
 
Great thread - for a while its been my swing and failure to get off of the tee. I estimate Im losing 10-14 shots a round between tee shots going into undesirable areas or penalty strokes. The problem is that I still have a typical over the top with an open club face swing. Some refer to it as a slice, some call it an exaggerated fade.

The reason its not fixed yet is three fold - at the moment I have an injured wrist so Im looking forward to getting back after it recovers. Also, I obviously need to invest more practice time - Ive spent a ton of time on my chipping and putting and not nearly enough on my full swing. The last one is mental/grooving - I comprehend not coming over the top, but not fully the part about "releasing" the club that so many emphasize. So even when I come from the inside the face is wide open and Im still going right (without the initial pull though).

Obviously I have a lot to work on.
 
Borss said:
The mental game. I lose focus sometimes. Get frustrated. I've been reading books. I'm working on it.
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which books have you been reading? i personally really liked "golf is not a game of perfect" - Rob Rotella, really helped me with my mental strength
 
It's not in the pages of a book. Those are guides, ask yourself what is making you lose focus. When does it happen and how do you get it back?
Borss said:
The mental game. I lose focus sometimes. Get frustrated. I've been reading books. I'm working on it.
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My biggest issue this year has been finding the time to practice my shots < 70yd shots. The good thing is that I'm playing my game around that flaw as much as possible. I have found myself trying to play my approach shots to be somewhere between 80-150 (58* - 8/9).
 
Miller Time said:
See, I'm starting to fight with this a little. 250 out on a par 5, I'm learning I have just as much chance to get up and down from laying up than when I try to go ahead and give it a go. Of course, the proximity of hazards and OB make the decision easier sometimes, but there are times when I mishit a mid-iron and I'm stuck in a bad spot on my 3rd. I used to never be able to hit FWs and hybrids very well, but as that part of my game has improved, I've started to see my par 5 scores improve by giving it a go and just keeping it in play. Now I'm getting up and down for birdie instead of getting up and down for par from 120 and in. There are a TON of factors to determine with that, but that's the mindset I've been having lately.
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Me too dude. I'm starting to learn that being a little daring sometimes is a component of good golf - it's about knowing when to. I'd try to miraculously get to the green after hitting a crap drive on a par 4 into the long rough, and then not go for from a green light lie in the fairway from 250 on a par 5 because I was "playing it safe". Just silly, really.
 
What holds me back is I play golf for fun, so when I hit a shot into the trees or have 250 yds in on a par 5 I am trying to hit a shot I have very little chance at being successful versus doing the smart thing (punching out/laying up). My mindset is a little different in the few tournaments I play in - but I only get to tee it up once a week and I go out firing at pins vs hitting the safe shots.
 
The ability to adapt my swing to accommodate all 13 clubs in my bag in the same round is what's holding me up. I'm either hitting my irons how I want but getting off the tee like garbage, or the opposite. I'm struggling to recall the last time I did both consistently in the same round. I haven't fixed it because my practice habits are garbage. I find it too easy to burn through a bucket of balls getting just the right flight out of my 6 irons rather than move through my bag and always have to adjust my stance/ball position to deal with a different club. I also have the terrible habit of using my warm up before a round to be when I try something new with my swing, so by the time I head to the tee box I'm a pile of swing thoughts and positions I'm not terribly confident in.

All in all I am rarely a free-swinging, confident guy through 18 holes.

My other reason is club #14. I simply don't dedicate enough time and effort to putting to save myself very often.
 
Michigan Slice said:
Flexibility.
I do stretches, and while I have seen better flexibility, at my age it's slow coming.

Also, I have my blow up holes,and sometimes it comes from laziness. For example yesterday a poor approach shot left me with a tree guarding my third shot into a par 5. I had to walk because the hole was closed to arts because of rains the previous day. I flubbed (twice) the 7i runner shot I thought I needed to hit when in reality, it was open for a wedge shot.

Also in Pittsburgh, I had a tough lie and went after a Heavenwood, flubbed it (again twice) before getting back to the fairway. Bad decisions are hole killers!

I'll work on better decision making!
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Yoga should Cure your flexibility issue
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
The bolded are very true for me as well. I have to be very meticulous about checking my alignment or it can get bad. I now check both my clubhead line and my feet line immediately before swinging, and it seems to be helping.
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I'll third this... Alignment has really hurt my consistency getting off the tee. I've now started to tee up behind a divot in line with where I want to hit. Club face then feet follow. It's helping, although I still sometimes adjust back to bad habits mid set up:banghead:
 
Ole Gray said:
Making bad mental decisions especially around the greens. I have some physical issues like an ongoing bad knee and since I broke my hip, well it's been a pain in my arse, however the knee and hip only affect my long game. It's the scoring game where I seem to screw up the most and now that I know some good techniques, (thanks to a recent Dave Peltz school) and I practice this stuff all the time, it's the damn mental screw ups that hammer my scores. Putting has always been a thorn in my side and as I get older, the yips just keep kicking my arse.

To the fix my main issue (mental screw ups) would be to have a game plan before I approach the shot. Maybe while riding up in the cart have some thoughts going on so when I get over the ball, I don't draw a blank. Why is making up your mind over a shot so hard? If you're not going to be committed to a process, it will rarely work as planned. One of my issues is know what club to choose for different lies around the greens and where to land the ball. I practice shots like this but somehow when it's game time, actual execution of the proper shot seems to go out the window. :at-wits-end:
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I hear you on the short game mental screw-ups. I think that's my main thing too. Just careless mental errors - also when reading greens - like not noticing how much of an uphill or downhill putt it is, so I'm throwing strokes away. Another example in today's round: I was 10 yards off the green, short sided. Should've been an easy little 58* wedge, but I ignored the fact that the shot was directly into the grain of the grass. Caught it thin and sent it back over the green and down hill 30 yards away. I could've played it entirely different - and I need to both notice these situations and practice them.

Ole Grey if you haven't read it, you might want to pick up a copy of
"The Unstoppable Golfer" by Bob Rotella. It focuses mainly on short game stuff. I'm still reading it but I think it really applies here.
 
My swing is holding me back.
Putting is good short game has improved but my swing itself has gotten worse so it's been a grind.

This year I haven't had time or funds to take lessons so it's going to have to be something I either deal with or grind to improve on my own
 
Keeping my head still ... if I knew the answer as to why I can not ... I'd fix it. Its so stinking simple, but evades me especially on a harder shot ... or short shot to the green.
 
Consistency. I just posted about this in the Range thread, but it's something that plagues me. A lot of changing that will simply come from more time on the course... which is tough to come by. Right now I'm only getting in 2-3 rounds per month, so the bulk of my time is spent at the range. However I've noticed that better shots and consistency start taking hold when I'm on the course, playing from different lies, remaining target focused on every shot, etc.

I know this is how things are going to be for a bit, my kids are still relatively young and in a lot of activities, so I'll be coaching their teams, going to their competitions, etc. for a while. It's a slower trend for me, I'm sort of OK with that, but it can get frustrating at times (like today).
 
mikedean441 said:
My swing is holding me back.
Putting is good short game has improved but my swing itself has gotten worse so it's been a grind.

This year I haven't had time or funds to take lessons so it's going to have to be something I either deal with or grind to improve on my own
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I could have written those exact words Mike. I feel your pain. I don't think my swing has ever been this out of sorts. We had a pretty good discussion in the MD tjread about my lack of work to fix it....thanks Kevin for being you and keeping it real :)
 
Grins said:
I hear you on the short game mental screw-ups. I think that's my main thing too. Just careless mental errors - also when reading greens - like not noticing how much of an uphill or downhill putt it is, so I'm throwing strokes away. Another example in today's round: I was 10 yards off the green, short sided. Should've been an easy little 58* wedge, but I ignored the fact that the shot was directly into the grain of the grass. Caught it thin and sent it back over the green and down hill 30 yards away. I could've played it entirely different - and I need to both notice these situations and practice them.

Ole Grey if you haven't read it, you might want to pick up a copy of
"The Unstoppable Golfer" by Bob Rotella. It focuses mainly on short game stuff. I'm still reading it but I think it really applies here.
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Thanks buddy, I will definitely pick one of these up :thumb: It seems like I'm always somewhere close to the green in regulation so getting up and down more often would put me in the sub 80 rounds....
 
Putting. I five putted from the fringe last week

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
T2GRN18 said:
For me personally it's all mental. It's been my absolute focus. I know I have the ability to play to a low caper but I get in my own way.
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Same here. My mind is the only thing that keeps me from being a single digit player.
 
mikedean441 said:
My swing is holding me back.
Putting is good short game has improved but my swing itself has gotten worse so it's been a grind.

This year I haven't had time or funds to take lessons so it's going to have to be something I either deal with or grind to improve on my own
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do you think it's your swing overall or just your tee shot? In Pitt you hit some really good iron shots but a few bad ones like most of us have a tendency to do.
 
The two biggest things holding me back right now are my putting and the inability to hit anything between driver and 5 iron...I don't even try. Another is hitting my irons off to the right quite a bit. I have a lesson scheduled for tomorrow and will hopefully address one of those.
 
During my golf lesson last night, my instructor was surprised that I wasn't shooting in the 90's on a regular basis. Sadly, it's struggle to break 110. I just can't hit solid shots when I play. So there must be something I'm doing on course that's leading me astray. Darned if I can figure it out, though.
 
Bone spurs on the left leg under the patellar tendon that cannot be surgically removed. Bone spurs in my shoulders. I have to make compensations in my golf swing just to play the game. So perhaps this summer when I start playing again I'll be working My Golf Swing ver 3.0. Basically how to swing a club that doesn't hurt. I don't think any lessons are going to help me at this point.

I may need to replace my R flex with senior flex depending upon how much my SS has slowed.
 
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