Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

[chrish8]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

Thanks all of the replies and tips/posts. Thinking the time off is the current route to go. Seriously do not need the stress/anger I went through last night again can't be good physically or mentally.

.......... only caused me to get increasingly angrier (like wanting to toss clubs) Don't need that kind of stress...

After yesterday's round the stress I had last night was unbearable. When I got home all I did was open the trunk and just threw the entire golf bag into the garage. Clubs flew everywhere and not even sure if any clubs or bag broke haven't went into the garage yet to clean up.

When I play right now I haven't been keeping score and just try and enjoy myself.

Another thing to do is to just go out and not keep score - that can put a lot of pressure on you mentally.

Playing without keeping score is something I may try when i get back to it. Just not sure mentally how that would play out if I know I'm not hitting well.

IMO, at this point, playing is not helping. You need some range time to reinforce some fundamentals and maybe shed some bad habits.

^^^ this is the biggest problem. My range sessions are great. I can pick any club in my bag and hit 85%-90% at my targets with the ball flight and distance I would expect.
So after a great range session fast forward to the 1st tee. I have been able to hit a somewhat good tee shot but then comes the 2nd shot.
Last several rounds (5 or 6) only once did I have a ball in play after the 2nd shot and downhill from there. It really sucks knowing I'm 6-10 over and still have holes 7, 8, and 9 to play. Then it's a thought of scramble no worse than bogey and get the hell home.

Wow, I thought this was the season I would finally break 80 again....
...shot a few scores in the low 80's (and even an 80)...but that was back in June!
...Penalties have killed my game, and now I'm struggling to break 100
...but I won't give up, because it's all I really want to do on a nice day
Damn You Golf!

Have you been following me around? that is 100% me.

[jimfastcar]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

Just go out and play a solo round with nobody watching.
Your thinking too much
Hit multiple balls and relax

Didn't some golf announcer once say about Tiger that he was playing swing instead of playing golf ?
I am playing much better since I have allowed myself to produce the outcome i have visualized. (Be mindful I am a low 80's player, so all relative)

[4wedges]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

Been there. Nothing worse than dreading playing. I find that taking a break is the first step, especially if I am not enjoying the game - which it appears has happened to you. This is a game that is supposed to be fun.
Then , as has been said before go practice with a club or two that you know you can hit with confidence and start from there.
I know the initial instinct, for me anyway, is to go to the range and figure out what is wrong, however too often we only serve to reinforce what we are doing wrong. After a break I find that I have cleared my head of the mistakes of the past and can start fresh.

[Marty Canuck]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

My Dad used to say that if you want to beat someone at a sport, give them pointers while playing them. It will fill their head with too many thoughts and they'll start to make a lot of errors.

What I'm saying to you is that maybe too many lessons from too many people has your head so clouded you can't focus on simply swinging the club.

[chrish8]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

Enjoy the fact that you can play.

This is the upsetting part I don't even enjoy being out right now. As I said before my thoughts once it gets bad is get off this course ASAP. Last few times I planned to go out to practice just thinking of driving to the course was stressing me out so I was coming up with excuses not to go.

Been there. Nothing worse than dreading playing. I find that taking a break is the first step, especially if I am not enjoying the game - which it appears has happened to you. This is a game that is supposed to be fun.
.

just thinking of taking time away is already calming me down.

[Cabralicus]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

I think you answered your own question right there. Take some time off.

Do you ever find that you were working on a crossword puzzle and couldn't solve the whole thing. Walk away and eat, etc. Come back in a couple of hours and everything just seems to fall into place? Your mind seems to be too active and anxious right now. It needs some rest and everything will be processed in the background of your subconscious.

Go the driving range after this rest period and just do half swings with your favourite club. Hit 3 in a row pretty good? Go 3/4 swing for a few more tries. At the driving range there isn't the same stress of having to perform well as there is on the golf course. Go a few times to the driving range and build up your confidence. Then go out on your own for 9-holes and go from there.

[Pingeye2_fan]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

just thinking of taking time away is already calming me down.

Don't take too long, the season is short enough up here.

[hoganapexplus]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

All things considered, I say take a week off. Don't read about it, don't watch it on TV. Do everything but. Then start off at the range and maybe a quick twilight round by yourself.

Difficult to do but unlearn what your 2 lessons alluded to and go back to hitting it like you used to. The approach shots will come.

Good luck.

[nearace]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

Come golfing with me,hit 7 iron all day ,you'll be fine

[AdiosAmigo]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

Take a few days man. Relax a bit, sounds like your expectations are out-of whack. Hit a confident club a bunch of times in a row. Gotta get the confidence back and that won't come unless you work through it.

Ef the range just golf

[The Troll]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

This is where I am out now after yesterday's episode.The stress I had last night was unbearable. When I got home all I did was open the trunk and just hurled the entire golf bag into the garage onto the concrete floor. Clubs flew everywhere and not even sure if any clubs or bag broke haven't went into the garage yet to clean up.

You've always seemed like a good guy so I'll stick with WOW.

Try this, just put irons in your bag and go play 18 for a round or two. Just hit good shots and stop caring about score. My iron only days are fun and very stress free as I have no expectations of breaking the course record.

[Cdntac]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

After yesterday's round the stress I had last night was unbearable. When I got home all I did was open the trunk and just threw the entire golf bag into the garage. Clubs flew everywhere and not even sure if any clubs or bag broke haven't went into the garage yet to clean up.

Sounds like you need a couple of rabbit days off work.

[mstram]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

this is the biggest problem. My range sessions are great. I can pick any club in my bag and hit 85%-90% at my targets with the ball flight and distance I would expect.

So after a great range session fast forward to the 1st tee. I have been able to hit a somewhat good tee shot but then comes the 2nd shot.

Last several rounds (5 or 6) only once did I have a ball in play after the 2nd shot and downhill from there.

>(not) a "ball in play" after 2nd shot.

Is this always at the same course?

If so, is it a long-ish second shot? Or over water?

If so, maybe try playing the next set of tees forward, for a couple of rounds, to get a different "look" at the hole

It sounds like 2nd shots are where you are putting "pressure" on yourself, and /or thinking a lot differently than when you are on the range.

Odds are, you are relaxed and "not caring" on the range, and fall into the "now it counts" frame of mind on the course.

"Now it counts", "get serious", also tends to increase the tension levels for most.

Tim Gallwey's "Inner Game of Golf", has lots of good examples of how to manage your tension levels, starting from the mental :
"Why is (this activity)(golf shot etc), now "important", to physical relaxtion techniques :

"hang(fingers, hands, jaw) loose", "open your eyes", "smile", "shrug your shoulders

You need to have the same relaxed, have-a-goal-but-care-but-dont-care attitude on the course. Like throwing a piece of paper into a trash can. You want to "make the shot", but don't "care" much, if at all if you miss.

"care", typically means, get upset, angry, .. some other adverse emotional reaction to the miss.

You might also have a more simple swing key(s) on the range than on the course. Whatever your "key" for that day is, take it to the course.

Does your range have grass tees ? If not, that might also be part of the problem.

.. took another lesson for ball position and address. Since then my game has diminished all together.

IMO, a relatively simple adjustment of ball position / address, should yield instant improvement. If not, I would go back to what was working. Or find your own ball position, by taking practice swings, brushing the ground, place the ball appropriately.

My basic "go-to" swing thought, when I mess my swing/head up, is a practice-swing-cutting-dandelions motion, finishing as perfectly balanced as I can.

An important detail of that motion, is to let / "throw" the club head through the ball, with as much freedom of motion as possible.

Another great quote from Tim Gallwey (Inner Game of Tennis actually, but still applies "Forget everything you think you know about how to "hit a tennis ball" (make a golf swing). I.e. just swing without any thoughts.

[neova]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

Don't give up!

You just need to break down the issues into more manageable components so you have something small and specific to work on.

I also had some swing issues mid season so it happens to everyone!

When you are chasing breaking 80, you focus on learning a new thing or two that will help you get across the line, but i bet you totally forgot what got you to be shooting 80's in the first place - the fundamentals like grip, setup, ball position, tempo, swing plane.... you already know what to do, otherwise, it's not possible to shoot 80's!

So go back to what you were doing PRIOR to the lessons and see if you can get back to shooing 80's first.

To help you gain confidence, I have a routine i use ON THE COURSE

• Play from the front tees
• Tee off with an iron (your most reliable club)
• Forget distance, just hit the tee shot in play
• If you need to hit an extra shot to hit the green, so be it
• limit yourself to two putts for now
• keep playing holes this way until you par a hole
• go back to your regular tee and play normally
• if you start having a bad streak (seveal blow up holes in a role), go back to playing front tees with irons only and 2-putt rule

The reason I recommend doing this routine on the actual course is because no amount of lessons or driving range drills will give you confidence because it's not the real thing! I have been a long time driving range champ, flushing many shots in practice, but only in the past 3-5 years I was actually able to translate that performance onto the course.

Good luck and I hope you get back to playing good golf soon!

Breaking 80 is not about skills, it's about avoiding your big miss, playing to your strength, and a lot of course management.

Looking for some advice from others that may have experienced the same thing and what you did.

A bit of background;
Up to June 28th my highest round for the year was 87; everything else was between 80-85. I felt I was just missing out on breaking 80 due to stray approaches shots so decided to take lessons.

The lessons improved ball contact (more solid striking and less toe shots) and scores stayed between 81-83, however I was still missing greens so took another lesson July 10th or 11th for ball position and address.

Since then my game has diminished all together and I am struggling to even keep a ball in play let alone hit something towards a target. My best round since the last lesson was an 85, other than that I have not been able to break 90 with my last 4 rounds being 95, 95, 93, 98.

As things got so bad I went for another lesson with a DIFFERENT teacher in August which has not helped out either things are just as bad as before if not worse.

To expand on how bad it is;

Yesterday was a fun-mini event at the course. We started on hole #5 by the time we hit #14 I was so nervous from the previous holes (6 OB’s with 4 lost balls to this point) I was shaking so bad I could not even swing a club. --- you read that correct I am literally shaking at address.

Needles to say I currently have zero confidence and I am completely embarrassed to be out on the golf course.

So my question is;

1. Give up for the rest of the season?
2. Take some time off (days/weeks) ?
3. Stick with it and get out and try to fix it?

I am open to #3 my only concern is with how frustrating the game is right now I do not even want to be on the golf course and feel it would affect the way I play. Eg. some of my solo 9 hole rounds I am just trying to make it to #6 because it goes back to the club house and I know I can walk off if things are bad.

[TheBaconator]

Re: Advice Needed – quit, time off, or stick with it?

I had a similar issue earlier this year where I was having trouble hitting the ball anywhere near my intended target. I was missing both ways with the driver and my irons. The frustration was causing me to tighten up, making the problem even worse.

I don't really enjoy whacking balls at the range, but spent some time straightening out my driver. I also spent some time at a par-3 course nearby that allowed me to work on my approach shots and my short game. I didn't bother keeping score, I just worked on getting solid contact and a decent result.

After a couple of times at the par-3, my confidence with my irons improved and I found much better results when I returned to a full size course.