Does Everyone Lose Their Swing From Time to Time?

[ZANDER1994]

So the weather has been impeccable in Minnesota these past few weeks and I have been playing/practicing nearly every day. I am a 15 handicap but last week I shot my best score ever of 81. I was super excited about that and ended up hitting 3 or 4 buckets this week when suddenly… shanks. 

Today and yesterday was like I’ve never played golf in my life. I hit it fat, I thin it, I shank it, or I slice it so badly the ball goes 50 yards forward and 100 yards right. I tried stepping back from the ball, stepping closer, doing loosey goosey swings etc. Nothing fixes it. 
 

Now I am no stranger to this. I’d say once a year this happens. It always seems to happen when I’m playing a lot (like 4+ times a week) and the solution is always the same; I take a week or two off and the issues magically disappear.

The only conclusion I can make is that I’m tired. But I don’t FEEL consciously tired. I’m a healthy 27 year old guy in pretty good shape. All the talk I see of people “losing their swing” online seems to be about mid-round occurrences. Just wondering if I’m the odd man out with this. Does everyone lose their swing this badly from time to time? How do you tend to fix it?

[Zippo]

2 hours ago, ZANDER1994 said:

So the weather has been impeccable in Minnesota these past few weeks and I have been playing/practicing nearly every day. I am a 15 handicap but last week I shot my best score ever of 81. I was super excited about that and ended up hitting 3 or 4 buckets this week when suddenly… shanks. 

Today and yesterday was like I’ve never played golf in my life. I hit it fat, I thin it, I shank it, or I slice it so badly the ball goes 50 yards forward and 100 yards right. I tried stepping back from the ball, stepping closer, doing loosey goosey swings etc. Nothing fixes it. 
 

Now I am no stranger to this. I’d say once a year this happens. It always seems to happen when I’m playing a lot (like 4+ times a week) and the solution is always the same; I take a week or two off and the issues magically disappear.

The only conclusion I can make is that I’m tired. But I don’t FEEL consciously tired. I’m a healthy 27 year old guy in pretty good shape. All the talk I see of people “losing their swing” online seems to be about mid-round occurrences. Just wondering if I’m the odd man out with this. Does everyone lose their swing this badly from time to time? How do you tend to fix it?

I don’t know if everyone loses their swing or not but some good advice I read here is to find a backup swing. Something you can count on when things go wrong. For me that’s a slower rhythm and 3/4 back swing. Of course, I don’t always remember this advice but it’s still good advice, I think. 

[dennyjones]

 

 

 

YES!

 

 

 

 

[Vinsk]

6 hours ago, ZANDER1994 said:

So the weather has been impeccable in Minnesota these past few weeks and I have been playing/practicing nearly every day. I am a 15 handicap but last week I shot my best score ever of 81. I was super excited about that and ended up hitting 3 or 4 buckets this week when suddenly… shanks. 

Today and yesterday was like I’ve never played golf in my life. I hit it fat, I thin it, I shank it, or I slice it so badly the ball goes 50 yards forward and 100 yards right. I tried stepping back from the ball, stepping closer, doing loosey goosey swings etc. Nothing fixes it. 
 

Now I am no stranger to this. I’d say once a year this happens. It always seems to happen when I’m playing a lot (like 4+ times a week) and the solution is always the same; I take a week or two off and the issues magically disappear.

The only conclusion I can make is that I’m tired. But I don’t FEEL consciously tired. I’m a healthy 27 year old guy in pretty good shape. All the talk I see of people “losing their swing” online seems to be about mid-round occurrences. Just wondering if I’m the odd man out with this. Does everyone lose their swing this badly from time to time? How do you tend to fix it?

When this happens I just practice putting then go home and watch The Legend of Baggar Vance.

[gjunkie57]

Yes! Stepping away for awhile helps me.  

[imsys0042]

9 hours ago, Vinsk said:

When this happens I just practice putting then go home and watch The Legend of Baggar Vance.

Tin Cup for me….

[Esox]

I have been a slow starter the past couple of years. Double bogey-bogey-bogey start till I settle in. Yesterday I was absolutely horrid for the first 6 holes, not one shot hit solidly. tops, hooks, shanks, just ball carnage.. I was ready to pack it in. Then I was taking a practice swing with my 6 iron on a par 3, and the club somehow fell into the slot. I remembered how to swing..... Ended up with a 54 on the front. (yes, it was that brutal). Got somewhat squared away on the back side but for 3 lost ball penalties for plugged balls that should have been in the middle of the sloppy fairways after all the rain we have had recently and we couldn't find... shot a 44...

[Beyondtherough]

I lose my swing from hole to hole…😂 

Can’t say I know enough for any real input other than it seems to be a mental issue for me. 

[billchao]

On 8/15/2021 at 9:54 AM, Beyondtherough said:

I lose my swing from hole to hole…😂 

Can’t say I know enough for any real input other than it seems to be a mental issue for me. 

I’d bet it’s not. You’re fairly new at the game so your ballstriking is going to behave greater variation from swing to swing. Even as a 12, I can be wildly inconsistent.

I do make mental mistakes, but I’d categorize very few of my misses on the course as a mental issue.

[Never3putt]

I don't think it's uncommon for people to "lose their swing" from time to time.  Even lower handicap players will have bad days when things just don't go right (or they do go right, and left, and....).

For me, it's falling back on the fundamentals to get me back on track.   Go back to your fundamentals.  Grip, posture, ball position, etc.  I often allow the ball to move further back or my alignment gets too far to the right, or some other similar, easy to lose sight of, factor that sets me up for poor ball striking.  When I'm striking it poorly, these are the things I check.

[Darkfrog]

On 8/14/2021 at 12:00 PM, ZANDER1994 said:

Does everyone lose their swing this badly from time to time? How do you tend to fix it?

This happens to me, and I would assume it happens to all golfers with varying severity, depending on their ability to recognize and correct the problem.

For me, almost without fail, it is caused by a mechanical issue in my swing, usually in the backswing, that suddenly manifests itself in a way that cannot be effectively compensated for in the downswing. My theory is that initially the issue starts off minor enough that it can be masked by compensation, but eventually gets to a point where it is impossible to compensate for, and suddenly it feels like I've never held a club before.

If it gets really bad, I start using a 3/4 swing to just make solid contact and advance the ball in the general direction of my target.

[ChetlovesMer]

So, this happens to me often.
I've played golf with a handicap anywhere from 7 to 30. I've had stretches of really good golf and stretches of terrible golf. 

The best advice I can give you is find a coach you can trust. 

The second best advice I can give you is to find a coach you can trust. 

The third best advice I can give you is to find a coach you can trust. 

Yes, sometimes you "seem" to "find" your swing half way through a round. What's more likely (if you are like me) is that you've made some slight compensation that works for a while. Until you lose it again and make some other compensation. After a while (again, if you are like me) you will be compensating for a compensation which you made because of a compensation. Suddenly you look up and everything is totally out of whack. Sometimes I even shoot good scores with everything out of whack. But it's like balancing on a tight rope. Eventually I'm going to fall off and lose it again. 

Find a coach you can trust that will do one of two things for you. 

Either 

1 - Help you make some slight fixes that get you back to where you were. You can go see this coach when ever appropriate and keep yourself in the game.  

2 - (In my opinion the better choice) Help you build a solid, high quality swing where you can fall back on fundamentals when stuff gets off the rails. 

I don't subscribe to the tired theory. I subscribe more to the "I made a slight compensation that caused me to hit a good shot so I started repeating that compensation." theory. 

Either way, good luck. Life is better when you are playing good golf. 🙂

[Esox]

35 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

So, this happens to me often.
I've played golf with a handicap anywhere from 7 to 30. I've had stretches of really good golf and stretches of terrible golf. 

The best advice I can give you is find a coach you can trust. 

The second best advice I can give you is to find a coach you can trust. 

The third best advice I can give you is to find a coach you can trust. 

Yes, sometimes you "seem" to "find" your swing half way through a round. What's more likely (if you are like me) is that you've made some slight compensation that works for a while. Until you lose it again and make some other compensation. After a while (again, if you are like me) you will be compensating for a compensation which you made because of a compensation. Suddenly you look up and everything is totally out of whack. Sometimes I even shoot good scores with everything out of whack. But it's like balancing on a tight rope. Eventually I'm going to fall off and lose it again. 

Find a coach you can trust that will do one of two things for you. 

Either 

1 - Help you make some slight fixes that get you back to where you were. You can go see this coach when ever appropriate and keep yourself in the game.  

2 - (In my opinion the better choice) Help you build a solid, high quality swing where you can fall back on fundamentals when stuff gets off the rails. 

I don't subscribe to the tired theory. I subscribe more to the "I made a slight compensation that caused me to hit a good shot so I started repeating that compensation." theory. 

Either way, good luck. Life is better when you are playing good golf. 🙂

    Great advice till your age starts with a 6 or higher. My huge variations in consistent ball striking are directly related to an arthritic spine I was diagnosed with a a scratch golfer at 32. And my arthritis has since  developed just fine in other joints.......... I was still scratch at 40  when I hung them up for 20 years after a wrist injury ( 5th broken left wrist) blew me up to double digits in short order. Now decidedly a senior discount qualifier, my game is as inconsistent as my body allows from day to day, I have days I can easily keep up wiuth the young 'uns, unless they have a 300 hitter, my best days are 265-280. I have other days hitting anything 150 seems impossible till the 7th tee.. But I don't quit trying on those days, because once you quit moving because it hurts too much, they throw dirt on you.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Esox

[StuM]

I’ve been trying to walk my league the past 5 weeks and what I notice is good start, s&@$ finish.  I think my conditioning is just not up to par. Once things start to go wrong I begin to think about my swing and it gets worse.  I may also have two great rounds then start bad and start to over think my swing and totally collapse.

So yes, you can lose your swing. For me I think it is a lot of over-thinking my swing.

[ChetlovesMer]

8 hours ago, StuM said:

For me I think it is a lot of over-thinking my swing.

My high school football coach used to tell me "Don't think. It can only hurt the team." 

[Bucki1968]

One of the things I have learned lately (playing with some guys who do it for a living) is that you really just have to not think "swing" on the golf course. They make a couple practice swings that they think feel right and pull the trigger and let the chips fall where they may. It seems to work pretty good for them. I'm still working on it. I've always wondered how to build confidence when your not playing well or can't seem to find a swing? Kinda like the chicken and egg thing.

[pganapathy]

If the very best pro's in the world can lose their swing from time to time, though admittedly they are much better at finding it again, and much quicker than amateurs, then no amateur is immune to this.  Essentially golf is an individual sport where a touch of timing being off can make a huge difference

[imsys0042]

Can confirm.....yes.