Who else fights a constant swing flaw?

I have only taken golf seriously (as in I want to improve a LOT) for around 6 months. I've swung a club off and on for 25+ years, played now and then in the military with some friends who were a lot better than me but never actually played regularly until May of this year. 

The mess I'm in right now is lifting my head to watch ball flight. I'm not sure what triggers it but I know I do it and it cause short/thin shots like mad. When I do this I swing out to in, top the ball etc and there goes my confidence for the day, when I concentrate on it and keep my head on the ball through the swing and follow through, I get good distance, good divot, and the ball goes generally where I want it to but I constantly slip and find my head chasing the swing. 

Anyone else have an almost permanent swing fall they are trying to overcome?

Quote:

Originally Posted by colin007 

i flip.  i flip worse that a politician.  other than that, im awesome.  oh, and i have a two way miss.  so ive got that going for me, which is nice.

When I lift my head, I flip BAD, my chasing the ball with my eyes compounds into so many other flaws it's absolutely atrocious. 

I had such an up and down round this afternoon it was painful, 1 birdie, 4 pars, and 8 penalty strokes caused by..... lifting my head. 

I botched 2 drives on a hole that's up hill with a water carry and OOB on the right, ALWAYS gets in my head because I need to hit if pretty far to clear the water but if I try to crush it I always push right and there is OOB so I try to find a happy medium, 1 OOB, 3 went swimming, and 5 was perfect ...

Did the same thing on a par 5 with a water carry to the green on the 3rd stroke. 152 yards to the pin, easy 7i swing, nope, came up both times topping the ball and dropped right in the water about 130. Walked onto the green hitting 7 and so rattled I three putted with TWO lip outs. Thank god that was 18 hahaha. At least there's tomorrow. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by iacas 

Everyone.

Glad it isn't just me. Of course I played a round with a "scratch" golfer last Thursday and I barely broke 100 (lifted my head 97 times hahaha) and he shot a 93 so I don't feel too bad. At least I'm honest with my scoring and don't have to make an excuse every shot as to why I'm 25 strokes off my norm. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu 


I sometimes pause too long at the top, then everything suddenly disconnects. If the swing goes well, I feel like someone else hit it.
Does this happen to anyone else as well?

Monday afternoon round, my irons were fighting me so bad the 2 GIR's/Pars I managed to hit were actually surprising to me. I hate days like that. If I don't make a move in the right direction my handicap is about to jump up to a 25/26 again. I was consistently shooting high 80's until last month when the train came off the track and I haven't seen a round better than 95 since. Today would have been a 92 without the idiotic 8 strokes I lost to penalties that should have never occurred. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by joekelly 

I see SLODSM has a 20 hcap, yet hits the 7i more than 150 yds.  If that is consistent, that seems very good, but where are U losing strokes? 

It's consistent in 2 places, the driving range and a layup on a par 5 to put me in gap wedge distance. If I have a 145-155 par 3, I'll usually choke, a 145-155 approach shot, I'll choke, anytime I'm approaching the green I seem to choke. Once I get on I'm pretty decent with the putter and can typically 2 putt everything with the occasional 1 putt or blow up 3-4 putt but I lose all my stroke by rarely GIR'ing a hole. Yesterday I GIR'd 3 on the back nine but if I could learn to keep my head down my GIR would go up and my handicap would drop. Stress makes me want to see the ball I think. Every other sport I've played the more pressure I put on myself the better I did and the more drive it gave me but that isn't working well in golf.