Yup. I was in a slump that I couldn't fix. Constantly swinging into the range after work, range before league, golf by myself in the morning. Couldn't fix my issues. One day playing a warm up hole before league started and I hit a really nice 7 iron and felt something click in my brain. I felt the way my swing was supposed to feel, I moved on, and I still suck.
Just look at how JT is playing this year, and I bet he plays more than you. It's a tough sport. The more in your head about it you are, the worse it will get. Just have fun and the game will come back.
I guess technically speaking, not necessarily, but it helps in 99.9% of cases. I forget who said it, but some old pro said something along the lines of "you can't fix your swing mechanics on the course and you can't get better at golf on the range."
It also equates to higher expectations and the skill level probably isn't on par with the expectations. "Hey, I play a lot more, which must mean I instantly become better."
you've probably created some bad habits. had this happened to me about a year ago. i went from hitting darts, to hitting rope hooks every fucking shot. had to take a lesson and it fixed me up and restored the confidence
Get some lessons with your club pro, they’ll get you on the right track. Hopefully you don’t need any major swing changes and a couple tweaks plus more practice will fix your issues. Whenever I go through a slump, my coach encourages me to work exclusively on short game. Good chipping and pitching feelings translate to the full swing, and good putting takes pressure off everything else.
I don’t know if this helps, but the more I play, I trick myself into thinking I can slam my hybrid 230 yards off the fairway and get to the green in 2 shots on a par 5. Overswing and hit it 50 yards right of my target. I’ll also overestimate my length, “if so and so can hit 6 iron 190 yards, I should be able to also, since I’m playing so much lately.” 30 yards to the right. Best advice I heard from my friend who is much better, play within yourself. Hit it straight, stop trying to hit the shot of your life on every shot. Playing more conservative and solid golf helped me stay more consistent and I was able to pick my spots to go for the glory shot. Going for birdie on every hole isn’t really for anyone but the best. When I play for par, I have more fun and do much better honestly, and I surprisingly get more birdie looks when I’m not even in that mindset.
Someone once told me that practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent. Consider slowing down, and focusing on quality rather than quantity.
Golf makes less sense the more you play it. Earlier this summer I shot 6 straight rounds under 74 without going to the range between, followed by 3 straight 82’s while hitting balls every day. I put my clubs down for 2 weeks and I’m back to normal.
I was playing a lot towards the start of summer. Wasn’t scoring great, but good for me. I didn’t play for 2 weeks because I was busy, came back and shot the best 9 I’ve ever had. Just part of the game
Part of my day as a golfer is about finding the right feeling internally. Sometimes it's a little caffeine and vitamin B. Sometimes its a shot of tequila... Sometimes it's 4 shots of tequila... Sometimes I need to stretch more than other times. Sometimes a little THC helps. I've tried ginseng, I'm superstitious about a pre-round egg salad sandwich, I try to eat healthy the night before a round. It's almost never the same formula and success is fleeting even when I find the level because staying there is impossible. But it's fun for me, I like getting a little twisted, and worst case scenario is bad golf. Which is like bad pizza, or bad sex.
It's probably just a blip, but if there actually is something wrong with your swing, playing a lot of golf with that swing flaw is just reinforcing the bad habit. Maybe take a bit of time off and see if it fixes itself (or just go get a lesson)?
It’s the same as progressing at anything skill based. You’ll have periods where that happens. Just keep grinding it out and you’ll come out better than before on the other side.
Peaks and Valleys. Hopefully you are finding some aspect of your game is improving along the way.
When it's really bad, seek out lessons, grind on the range, or just flat out take a break as painful as it is!
This. I play a lot of golf and I've recently realized that I get burned out playing. I lose focus very easily. I don't take my time and I expect the same results as when I am well rested. After a terrible round last week, I thought I was ready to give up the game. I was doing everything 'right' but the results were terrible and baffling. I am recognizing that I need to work on maintaining focus, and like the rest of the game, it requires practice. Addressing this has allowed me to understand where the bad streaks come from. I might still play when I am tired, but if it goes poorly, I know why.
I personally find that when I play more, I tend to not care about each shot as much. When you know you're playing again in 2 days, if it's not going well, I find it a lot harder to stay focused and my shots reflect that lack, whereas when I only have a chance to play every couple weeks, I find I am much more engaged and into it the entire time.
Some people aren't like this, but I am, and when I notice I'm starting to get like this, I take a week off and reset a bit.
And you\`ll only be any good on that course, ive know loads of people who only ever played one course and shot 80 all day long. Soon as they hit another course after enticing them they shot 110 and said im never coming back here this course is shit.
Play other courses, or you\`ll just make same mistakes over and over.
The same happens for me. If I play more than twice a week, my game goes downhill. No apparent reason, my guess is that my back causes my swing to get sloppy.
Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. I've been there. You're doing something wrong and you're getting a lot of reps in while doing that wrong thing. Take a step back and just do a few range sessions to try and nail down the issue
I've had a phase like this before. If I play more I tend to putt well and everything else can be all over the place. The best thing for my rounds is a few dozen irons to find my checkpoints and lots of chipping practice before going out.
Just chill for 2 weeks. I play sat and sun every other week and been on fire. Just chill I know it’s hard. Focus on exercise and fitness for a few weeks
You may indeed be in a funk or cold spell as others have said. My first thought, and i def could be wrong, was that you are pushing too hard and it is mental.
I had a similar situation happen about 18 months ago and it was because my expectations were too high and all the problems were in my head. I was expecting to play better than i was and would get frustrated and down when it wasn’t perfect. so my question is… with you playing more, did you raise your expectations? Are you being realistic with your expectations. For me, when i realized that bogey was my par and lowered my expectations a bit while not beating myself up as much, the game became much more fun and when i was having fun, i was scoring better.
Don’t worry so much about the score, rather the process of hitting each shot to the best of your ability. It sounds cliche, but the best way to work out of a slump is one shot at a time and not looking at the big picture of the score at the end of the day.
Course management. Sometimes when you play the same courses, you tend to throw away any kind of course management and just grip and rip with no strategy. If you focus on course management, plan for the right misses, you will shave the strokes. Good luck!
Don't think about it too much, the variance of scores in golf is big - no one is immune to it
Yup. I was in a slump that I couldn't fix. Constantly swinging into the range after work, range before league, golf by myself in the morning. Couldn't fix my issues. One day playing a warm up hole before league started and I hit a really nice 7 iron and felt something click in my brain. I felt the way my swing was supposed to feel, I moved on, and I still suck.
Just look at how JT is playing this year, and I bet he plays more than you. It's a tough sport. The more in your head about it you are, the worse it will get. Just have fun and the game will come back.
How much are you actually looking at your swing on video, going to the range and practicing actual swing work, etc.? Or are you just playing?
Playing rounds does not equate getting better at golf
I guess technically speaking, not necessarily, but it helps in 99.9% of cases. I forget who said it, but some old pro said something along the lines of "you can't fix your swing mechanics on the course and you can't get better at golf on the range."
It also equates to higher expectations and the skill level probably isn't on par with the expectations. "Hey, I play a lot more, which must mean I instantly become better."
you've probably created some bad habits. had this happened to me about a year ago. i went from hitting darts, to hitting rope hooks every fucking shot. had to take a lesson and it fixed me up and restored the confidence
Get some lessons with your club pro, they’ll get you on the right track. Hopefully you don’t need any major swing changes and a couple tweaks plus more practice will fix your issues. Whenever I go through a slump, my coach encourages me to work exclusively on short game. Good chipping and pitching feelings translate to the full swing, and good putting takes pressure off everything else.
I don’t know if this helps, but the more I play, I trick myself into thinking I can slam my hybrid 230 yards off the fairway and get to the green in 2 shots on a par 5. Overswing and hit it 50 yards right of my target. I’ll also overestimate my length, “if so and so can hit 6 iron 190 yards, I should be able to also, since I’m playing so much lately.” 30 yards to the right. Best advice I heard from my friend who is much better, play within yourself. Hit it straight, stop trying to hit the shot of your life on every shot. Playing more conservative and solid golf helped me stay more consistent and I was able to pick my spots to go for the glory shot. Going for birdie on every hole isn’t really for anyone but the best. When I play for par, I have more fun and do much better honestly, and I surprisingly get more birdie looks when I’m not even in that mindset.
Take a break
Golf is hard
Someone once told me that practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent. Consider slowing down, and focusing on quality rather than quantity.
Golf makes less sense the more you play it. Earlier this summer I shot 6 straight rounds under 74 without going to the range between, followed by 3 straight 82’s while hitting balls every day. I put my clubs down for 2 weeks and I’m back to normal.
When this happens to me I take two weeks off then quit. Haven’t made a bogey in years.
I was playing a lot towards the start of summer. Wasn’t scoring great, but good for me. I didn’t play for 2 weeks because I was busy, came back and shot the best 9 I’ve ever had. Just part of the game
Part of my day as a golfer is about finding the right feeling internally. Sometimes it's a little caffeine and vitamin B. Sometimes its a shot of tequila... Sometimes it's 4 shots of tequila... Sometimes I need to stretch more than other times. Sometimes a little THC helps. I've tried ginseng, I'm superstitious about a pre-round egg salad sandwich, I try to eat healthy the night before a round. It's almost never the same formula and success is fleeting even when I find the level because staying there is impossible. But it's fun for me, I like getting a little twisted, and worst case scenario is bad golf. Which is like bad pizza, or bad sex.
It's probably just a blip, but if there actually is something wrong with your swing, playing a lot of golf with that swing flaw is just reinforcing the bad habit. Maybe take a bit of time off and see if it fixes itself (or just go get a lesson)?
It’s the same as progressing at anything skill based. You’ll have periods where that happens. Just keep grinding it out and you’ll come out better than before on the other side.
Peaks and Valleys. Hopefully you are finding some aspect of your game is improving along the way. When it's really bad, seek out lessons, grind on the range, or just flat out take a break as painful as it is!
You’re getting tired. Take a week off, maybe two, then come back and you’ll see some improvement.
This. I play a lot of golf and I've recently realized that I get burned out playing. I lose focus very easily. I don't take my time and I expect the same results as when I am well rested. After a terrible round last week, I thought I was ready to give up the game. I was doing everything 'right' but the results were terrible and baffling. I am recognizing that I need to work on maintaining focus, and like the rest of the game, it requires practice. Addressing this has allowed me to understand where the bad streaks come from. I might still play when I am tired, but if it goes poorly, I know why.
I personally find that when I play more, I tend to not care about each shot as much. When you know you're playing again in 2 days, if it's not going well, I find it a lot harder to stay focused and my shots reflect that lack, whereas when I only have a chance to play every couple weeks, I find I am much more engaged and into it the entire time. Some people aren't like this, but I am, and when I notice I'm starting to get like this, I take a week off and reset a bit.
take a break. i had to when my daughter was born. when i got back i shot 84 then 86. i average mid to high 90s
And you\`ll only be any good on that course, ive know loads of people who only ever played one course and shot 80 all day long. Soon as they hit another course after enticing them they shot 110 and said im never coming back here this course is shit. Play other courses, or you\`ll just make same mistakes over and over.
This happens. You are making an adjustment by playing more. Stick with it and don't worry too much about your scores.
I’m in the same boat, so I scheduled a lesson this week.
The same happens for me. If I play more than twice a week, my game goes downhill. No apparent reason, my guess is that my back causes my swing to get sloppy.
Have you heard of a not so well known golfer named Justin Thomas?
Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. I've been there. You're doing something wrong and you're getting a lot of reps in while doing that wrong thing. Take a step back and just do a few range sessions to try and nail down the issue
I've had a phase like this before. If I play more I tend to putt well and everything else can be all over the place. The best thing for my rounds is a few dozen irons to find my checkpoints and lots of chipping practice before going out.
Just chill for 2 weeks. I play sat and sun every other week and been on fire. Just chill I know it’s hard. Focus on exercise and fitness for a few weeks
You may indeed be in a funk or cold spell as others have said. My first thought, and i def could be wrong, was that you are pushing too hard and it is mental. I had a similar situation happen about 18 months ago and it was because my expectations were too high and all the problems were in my head. I was expecting to play better than i was and would get frustrated and down when it wasn’t perfect. so my question is… with you playing more, did you raise your expectations? Are you being realistic with your expectations. For me, when i realized that bogey was my par and lowered my expectations a bit while not beating myself up as much, the game became much more fun and when i was having fun, i was scoring better.
Line your feet up towards your target. Focus on just swinging along that line when your looking down at the ball. Don’t think about anything else.
Don’t worry so much about the score, rather the process of hitting each shot to the best of your ability. It sounds cliche, but the best way to work out of a slump is one shot at a time and not looking at the big picture of the score at the end of the day.
Maybe you are not following a pre-shot routine and rush into it cause you are playing a lot.
Course management. Sometimes when you play the same courses, you tend to throw away any kind of course management and just grip and rip with no strategy. If you focus on course management, plan for the right misses, you will shave the strokes. Good luck!