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I'm about ready to give up.

UCChris

UCChris

Hack of the worst kind...
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
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Location
Utah
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Hey guys. Somewhat new here. I have been "golfing" for about 4 years now, but I use that lightly. Up until this year it was always go to the driving range four or five times a season and play maybe a round or two. I'd hit about 120-125 on a round of 18. Super casual. Well, this year I caught the bug hard. I went to the driving range for the first time on May 6 and I've been 8 times since. I'm going about twice a week. I was progressing nicely each time, starting to understand how to fix my swing and get more consistent. I went out this past Sunday and was absolutely nailing my shots. Everything was going straight and my swing started feeling normal. It was great. I've been using a decade old Connexion set of clubs and I was starting to feel like I was swinging well enough to warrant buying a set of Nike Covert irons that I've been eyeing. Fast forward to today and, out of the ~100 balls in my bucket, I hit maybe 10 shots that felt good. Everything went to **** and I have no idea why. My swing felt fine, but my club impact on the ball was all over the place and I couldn't get a decent shot to save my life. I'm about to just throw in the towel and go back to my other hobby. So, my question is, should I hold off on buying new clubs and spend $100 at the local GolfTec for a swing evaluation? And then spend more on future lessons? I feel like I've been doing great with online videos and methodical range trips, but it all went to hell today.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
 
Golf is a great game and hard as hell and we all have bad days. Go get a few lessons and keep working on it.


Good luck.
 
UCChris said:
Hey guys. Somewhat new here. I have been "golfing" for about 4 years now, but I use that lightly. Up until this year it was always go to the driving range four or five times a season and play maybe a round or two. I'd hit about 120-125 on a round of 18. Super casual. Well, this year I caught the bug hard. I went to the driving range for the first time on May 6 and I've been 8 times since. I'm going about twice a week. I was progressing nicely each time, starting to understand how to fix my swing and get more consistent. I went out this past Sunday and was absolutely nailing my shots. Everything was going straight and my swing started feeling normal. It was great. I've been using a decade old Connexion set of clubs and I was starting to feel like I was swinging well enough to warrant buying a set of Nike Covert irons that I've been eyeing. Fast forward to today and, out of the ~100 balls in my bucket, I hit maybe 10 shots that felt good. Everything went to **** and I have no idea why. My swing felt fine, but my club impact on the ball was all over the place and I couldn't get a decent shot to save my life. I'm about to just throw in the towel and go back to my other hobby. So, my question is, should I hold off on buying new clubs and spend $100 at the local GolfTec for a swing evaluation? And then spend more on future lessons? I feel like I've been doing great with online videos and methodical range trips, but it all went to hell today.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Get that swing down, then treat yourself to some clubs. New clubs wont turn that 10/100 into 60/100
 
Swing first - clubs second.

Make a goal with the swing then reward yourself when accomplished.
 
itsOpeningDay said:
Get that swing down, then treat yourself to some clubs. New clubs wont turn that 10/100 into 60/100
Click to expand...
See, that's why I'm frustrated. I thought I had my swing down! I know I have a tendency to push the shot right, so I started leading the downswing with the hips less and it worked! I was constantly topping the ball even when I made sure to watch the ball through the hit and bend my knees, so I moved the ball back in my stance just a bit. It worked! I know I have a tendency to swing the club like a bat and come down on the ball instead of swing around the body, so I focused on a more outside back swing and it worked! But now I have no clue why I'm not making good contact. Everything feels good. I guess lessons are in order.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
 
UCChris said:
See, that's why I'm frustrated. I thought I had my swing down! I know I have a tendency to push the shot right, so I started leading the downswing with the hips less and it worked! I was constantly topping the ball even when I made sure to watch the ball through the hit and bend my knees, so I moved the ball back in my stance just a bit. It worked! I know I have a tendency to swing the club like a bat and come down on the ball instead of swing around the body, so I focused on a more outside back swing and it worked! But now I have no clue why I'm not making good contact. Everything feels good. I guess lessons are in order.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

See if you can get a video of your swing from behind and face on and post it here:

https://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?29-Swing-Tips-With-Freddie-Kong

Freddie might be able to give you some easy tips/fixes to focus on and it will cost you nothing.
 
Nate said:
Swing first - clubs second.

Make a goal with the swing then reward yourself when accomplished.
Click to expand...

What Nate said. Get your swing right so you can really enjoy those new sticks!
 
UCChris said:
See, that's why I'm frustrated. I thought I had my swing down! I know I have a tendency to push the shot right, so I started leading the downswing with the hips less and it worked! I was constantly topping the ball even when I made sure to watch the ball through the hit and bend my knees, so I moved the ball back in my stance just a bit. It worked! I know I have a tendency to swing the club like a bat and come down on the ball instead of swing around the body, so I focused on a more outside back swing and it worked! But now I have no clue why I'm not making good contact. Everything feels good. I guess lessons are in order.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yah, give the lessons a try. You might be surprised what you learn.
 
Even the best golfers in the world don't always have their best swing. It's golf. We all go through the bad days. Take a couple of lessons, learn how to diagnose and self correct, then get some nice clubs.

Sent from my 6045O using Tapatalk
 
Lessons. Otherwise you just spend more money to play poorly. Ask me how I know.
Lessons helped me so much this year.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
Okay, gonna schedule a swing analysis, post my swing for Freddie to check out, and hold off on the new clubs until I see some consistent progress.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
 
Can you do both?

Sometimes having something new keeps you interested in the hobby.
 
-CRW- said:
Can you do both?

Sometimes having something new keeps you interested in the hobby.
Click to expand...
Both?

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
 
-CRW- said:
Can you do both?

Sometimes having something new keeps you interested in the hobby.
Click to expand...

I assume he means get some new golf clubs and start taking lessons.
 
Agree with everyone else and get a few lessons. But also maybe don't keep score? Just try to enjoy the game. I had to do that this week, was getting super obsessed with my shots, and my scores which are all over the place. Ended up playing nine holes on Tuesday and instead of keeping score we decided to play a scramble and see how low we could score. We ended up with a 40, with everyone contributing shots, and we all had a great time. I felt so much better afterwards.
 
Chris,

**** happens. When golf kicks you in the mouth (speaking from experience) you got to pull yourself off the mat and keep grinding.

I was a self taught golfer and took pride in that. Hindsight being 20/20, I'd be a hell of a lot better today (15 years or so) had I started taking lesson. I find it easier to learn new things without having to rid myself of bad habits that have been groomed over years.

I hope you stick with it. Get some lessons and reach the potential you have. Golf is a great game that no one will ever master.
 
I could do clubs and lessons.

I'll try to relax when I go again.

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
 
Lessons are better if you are ready to go down the path of making swing changes and accepting that it may get worse before it gets better. Don't think of lessons as a quick fix to end these frustrations.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Lessons are better if you are ready to go down the path of making swing changes and accepting that it may get worse before it gets better. Don't think of lessons as a quick fix to end these frustrations.
Click to expand...

I would agree to an extent. If there is something fundamentally wrong (i.e. bad grip), yes it's going to take time/get worst before it gets better. On the other hand, it might be a simple fix.
 
I've been exactly where you are. The good happens with the bad. Something as little as taking a weekend off would be huge. Reset the batteries, get the itch to practice again, exhale and say "It's just Golf."

Two things recently stood out to me from a PGA Pro and a THPer. JB Holmes had the lead going into Sunday at ThePlayers and while he hoped to win he said "It's Just Golf." He isn't going to change his lifestyle and he's still going to put each leg in each pant leg the next day.

The other was from a THPer. Yeah we are all trying to break 100,90,80,70, etc. We all want to play to our capabilities. But what stood out is he said we don't do this for a living, and if we did fire a 68 one day then how would that change you? I would put so much pressure playing to a number that now the game is more enjoyable because it's just Golf.

Stick with it!! It'll be worth it in the long run.
 
sandiegonative said:
Chris,

**** happens. When golf kicks you in the mouth (speaking from experience) you got to pull yourself off the mat and keep grinding.

I was a self taught golfer and took pride in that. Hindsight being 20/20, I'd be a hell of a lot better today (15 years or so) had I started taking lesson. I find it easier to learn new things without having to rid myself of bad habits that have been groomed over years.

I hope you stick with it. Get some lessons and reach the potential you have. Golf is a great game that no one will ever master.
Click to expand...
This 100 times over. I was in your shoes last year. Just started taking golf seriously and was a self diagnoser making a tweak here or there to "fix" my bad shots. Struggled mightily all year and almost gave up.

Fast forward to this year, went out and shot some better scores but knew I was missing something. Found an instructor and have taken two lessons thus far, have already shot a PB and started seeing massive improvements. I kick myself for not doing this last year...
 
My advice, if you can get some help, either with a lesson in person or post something here to get some ideas. I tried to self diagnose for a long time and developed so many compensations I am still trying to undo them. I think of it like a kink or a knot in a cord. If you straighten it out quickly it will be pretty easy to smooth it out. the longer it is there the harder and longer it is going to take to fix.

As far as struggling, sadly most of us have taken 1 step forward, 2 steps back. In my personal experience, it is when I think I have it all figured out, I stop focusing on the little things I did to get my swing in a repeatable place. You get frustrated and start searching for other fixes, when likely it is just a little backslide on something you have already addressed in your swing and have gotten lazy about.

good luck and hopefully you get that swing in a place you are happy with as well as a new bag of sticks you love.
 
You can join in the hijinks at the "Breaking 100" thread! We're very supportive.
 
Swing first! Clubs will always be available.
 
A couple of thoughts . . .

First, like someone already said . . . golf is hard as hell! Consistence comes from practice and lots of playing. I'm certainly not there yet . . . but I practice three days a week and play three days a week!!! And I still suck!! But I'm sucking less all the time! Improvements come . . but there is plenty of back-sliding.

Second, remember the bell curve! Distribution around the average (mean)! My average score is around a 90. And most of the time I end up with somewhere between an 89 and a 92. BUT . . . sometimes I play WAY, WAY worse! High 90s and even low 100s every so often! But, I also have some good days where I'll be in the low to mid 80s . . . like today I shot an 84! You just have to suck it up on those bad days and enjoy the hell out of the good ones.

Your average will come down over time, so hang in there! Keep at it!!

The last thought is my game at least, improved in plateaus. 100s for a pretty long while. Then, finally in the 90s and the 100s became more rare! Took me forever and a day to finally score in the 80s!! But then, once I broke through it became much, much easier!!! My goal now is to get into the 70s! I've been close but just can't seem to break through . . . YET!!!
 
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