What Things Have You Tried That Have Destroyed Your Game?

[RayG]

took my first actual "paid for" lesson. Haven't been the same since. Should have realized it right away when he ignored what I was looking for, and just had me hit 5 irons with a new grip setup. Lost my natural feel and I am still looking for the old me to show up. This was 25 years ago... 

[Groucho Valentine]

Ive never really had a thing or gimmick that totally derailed my game. Inactivity has been the major culprit. But ive known a couple of good players that got lost with their games after experimenting with that stack and tilt stuff, too. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Groucho Valentine

[cutchemist42]

Not getting a lesson sooner a few years back. Chased a bad hook for months and wasted lots of money at the range thinking I could figure it out.

I'll admit part of my fear though was not knowing who to go to and feel I wanted money on bad instruction.

I think going too long without making videos was a slight mistake.

[tehuti]

I don’t know about “destroyed” my game, but I did waste a lot of time trying to tame hybrids. I eventually found the Tour Edge HL3 and Bazooka iron-woods that fill those slots. 

Prior to that I spent countless hours hitting hybrids at the range until I thought I had them figured out. Then I would completely unravel during a round and my confidence was shot. I literally have no idea where my ball is going to go when I hit hybrids, but most likely it won’t be going in the direction I am aiming.

As long as I continue to confidently hit these iron-woods I am done with hybrids.

Edited May 22, 2019 by tehuti
Typo

[MOODY]

The channel lock swing on youtube.  Fell for it, the first round a first couple of practice sessions were great.  

It led to lower back issues quick, to the point that I almost gave up the game this year.  Nothing like that pain radiating to your balls to make you go, I need to quit this game.

[Nail]

I’d say watching YouTube videos. While they certainly helped when I started out as a complete noob, I should have stopped there. 

Now I just can’t stop watching them and diagnosing swing faults I probably don’t have. 

[Wally Fairway]

another vote for marriage and children
although really it is more the children, with their sports & activities and then college tuition/room/board/books and most recently grandkids.....what was I thinking???

 

[Hugh Jars]

On 5/20/2019 at 9:51 PM, RayG said:

took my first actual "paid for" lesson. Haven't been the same since. Should have realized it right away when he ignored what I was looking for, and just had me hit 5 irons with a new grip setup. Lost my natural feel and I am still looking for the old me to show up. This was 25 years ago... 

Nothing to do with 25 years of reinforcing poor habits?

[RayG]

Went from an 8 to a 15 in the blink of an eye after that fiasco. Every time I tried to go back to my "feel" swing, his "advice" would creep in and just make the issue worse. Went from trying to minimize a 'slight' pull with the shorter irons with 'my' swing, to fighting full on snap ducks after. I've been able to slowly get back some measure of control, but a quacker shows up way too often. 

Last year I had a video evaluation and was informed I tended to keep too much weight on my heels which probably was the original issue. If Dingus Pro had said that while working WITH my swing instead of trying to change everything to get more money out of me, I'd be a much happier guy.

[garyt]

On 5/20/2019 at 9:51 AM, RayG said:

took my first actual "paid for" lesson. Haven't been the same since. Should have realized it right away when he ignored what I was looking for, and just had me hit 5 irons with a new grip setup. Lost my natural feel and I am still looking for the old me to show up. This was 25 years ago... 

Same thing happened to me except I did it to myself, no instructor involved. I was an 8 hdcp with a swing where all I thought about was picking my arms up and hitting the ball. Whatever happened after that just happened. I decided to find a "proper" swing and down the rabbit hole I went, Never been better than a 12 since and often much worse and can't go back to just swinging for whatever reason.

[Keasbey Peppers]

"Shallowing the club". I've tried for years to do that whole shallow move you see so many golfers on Youtube do. It ends up making me keep my weight back and getting stuck. I even go to the range 3+ times a week and can't figure it out. 

In the last two years, I've had 18 in-person lessons with one pro, and my handicap kept going up [despite putting the work in], then I switched coach's and had another 10 in-person lessons, and the handicap is still 20+. 

I honestly think I was hitting the ball better before any instruction at all.

[iacas]

9 minutes ago, Keasbey Peppers said:

I honestly think I was hitting the ball better before any instruction at all.

Then either you’ve found two bad coaches or you’re a bad student.

Try this: https://evolvr.com.

 

[Slim_Pivot]

“Accelerate through the putt” hurt me a lot.