Does Everyone Lose Their Swing From Time to Time?

[Esox]

On 8/19/2021 at 9:23 PM, StuM said:

 

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

It happens to me when I think too much and swing the clubhead instead of thinking of grip path..

[Vinsk]

24 minutes ago, Esox said:

It happens to me when I think too much and swing the clubhead instead of thinking of grip path..

Thinking of grip path isn’t thinking too much? Damn. You’ve got some serious focus.

Edited August 21, 2021 by Vinsk

[Esox]

2 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Thinking of grip path isn’t thinking too much? Damn. You’ve got some serious focus.

Simplifies matters for me. The clubhead follows the grip in all aspects, so I concentrate on the source, not the result.

[woodzie264]

I played today for the 2nd time in 3.5 months. Obviously had lost swing on front 9 with a 48, but found it on the back with a 38. Night & Day. 

[saevel25]

On 8/14/2021 at 3:00 PM, ZANDER1994 said:

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. 

If this is the case, and your handicap is 15, you live on the edge with your swing. Meaning, you probably swing in a way that sends the sweet spot out past the ball to much, and some days you just send it it out far enough to hit shanks. 

I would say, being a 15, that sometimes the swing is more likely to have these extreme days than not. There is something in the swing that just causes an extreme result versus someone who has a lower handicap.

[WUTiger]

Yes, I lost my swing when I was up in Jefferson City, MO playing with my brother. I asked him to ship it to me if he can find it.

[ZANDER1994]

Just wanted to note here for anyone else this may be happening to - it helps to have video of your swing when you are hitting it well. Three days after I made this thread  I came back to the range and still hit a couple shanks right away. I immediately stopped and pulled out my phone and recorded my swing to see what was up. Then I compared it to other videos of my swing. 
 

I usually play with a ‘flying elbow’ like Bubba or Fred Couples. When I saw my swing on this particular day my elbow had for some reason decided to stay at my side (something I have never seen in my swing in all my life). Changing this immediately returned my swing to its happy place (: 

This is an especially good learning lesson in my opinion, because I now know for the future I have a tendency to get lazy with the arms when I am tired. If this issue returns that will be my first check point. 

[Vinsk]

13 minutes ago, ZANDER1994 said:

Just wanted to note here for anyone else this may be happening to - it helps to have video of your swing when you are hitting it well. Three days after I made this thread  I came back to the range and still hit a couple shanks right away. I immediately stopped and pulled out my phone and recorded my swing to see what was up. Then I compared it to other videos of my swing. 
 

I usually play with a ‘flying elbow’ like Bubba or Fred Couples. When I saw my swing on this particular day my elbow had for some reason decided to stay at my side (something I have never seen in my swing in all my life). Changing this immediately returned my swing to its happy place 🙂

This is an especially good learning lesson in my opinion, because I now know for the future I have a tendency to get lazy with the arms when I am tired. If this issue returns that will be my first check point. 

Did/could you post these videos in a swing thread so we can see? That would make for a good visual learning experience to others. It’s pretty unusual to have such noticeable changes to a swing without even trying. Hell, many of us can’t change the picture even we’re consciously trying to.

[ZANDER1994]

1 hour ago, Vinsk said:

Did/could you post these videos in a swing thread so we can see? That would make for a good visual learning experience to others. It’s pretty unusual to have such noticeable changes to a swing without even trying. Hell, many of us can’t change the picture even we’re consciously trying to.

Photo on the left is the top of my usual backswing. I sifted through 6+ years of footage of my swing and this is my position in every single video without fail. I usually have very high hands. 
 

Photo on the right was the top of my back swing on this particular day. It was significantly shorter, and my hands are significantly lower. As soon as I saw this, I made the adjustment and the issues disappeared  

Edited August 24, 2021 by ZANDER1994

[Vinsk]

I’m not an instructor by any means. What made you position your hands so much lower? Also, it appears your club face is quite closed on the picture on the right, but on the left I can barely see the club head but it appears closed as well but really down far like at head level. You must have pretty good control to deliver a good shot from the position you’re in on the left. I would think the pic on the right has better arm position being that your left arm is pretty parallel to your shoulders. But I may be completely off. Pretty cool to see the comparison. Thanks!

[ZANDER1994]

52 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

I’m not an instructor by any means. What made you position your hands so much lower? Also, it appears your club face is quite closed on the picture on the right, but on the left I can barely see the club head but it appears closed as well but really down far like at head level. You must have pretty good control to deliver a good shot from the position you’re in on the left. I would think the pic on the right has better arm position being that your left arm is pretty parallel to your shoulders. But I may be completely off. Pretty cool to see the comparison. Thanks!

Just being tired and hot after playing several days in the row in 95+ degree weather. Other than that, I have no explanation why I was not getting my hands up on this particular day.
 

To your point, the photo on the right might not be a bad backswing position at all. But I’d definitely say the hands have less distance to travel than the photo on the left. My guess is, this caused timing issues as I had made no changes to how fast my hips/shoulders were firing. 
 

Lastly, personally I would say my clubface is square to the target at the top, not closed. To my understanding, there are two “types” of release. Most players (especially those taught before the early 2000s) learn a traditional release that involves opening the clubface to the target in the backswing and subsequently slamming it shut as they move through the ball. It arguably produces some additional speed at impact. The other method (Dustin Johnson is a good example) is simply never opening the face on the backswing (hence his ‘shut’ clubface at the top). Players that do this keep the face on the target line throughout their entire backswing. When they swing, they “hold” their face in position for as long as possible, and do not release the club until well after impact. Some argue this is a “new” method that arguably produces more consistently straight shots. Neither is incorrect, they’re just different ways of getting a job done. I wasn’t taught to do this, I just always have. Here’s a cool video on the topic:

At the 7:57 mark in this video Dustin Johnson describes this as well. 
 

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by ZANDER1994

[Vinsk]

20 minutes ago, ZANDER1994 said:

Lastly, personally I would say my clubface is square to the target at the top, not closed.

I struggle with perception at times. This is what I see; I assume the back of your lead hand is to face the target at impact and therefore your face will be parallel with the back of your lead hand. Look at the back of Reed’s lead hand in relation to the bottom edge of his club face compared to yours:

[GolfLug]

Yes, just about everyone finds their swing from time to time. 

[iacas]

Your face is definitely “closed” particularly given the cupped wrist.

[The Flush]

I found my swing (probably temporarily) for 9 holes last night. It's a wonderful feeling. Instead of pull hooks with my irons I was hitting baby draws and hitting it far enough that I took one less club for most shots.  No driver slices, although I got in trouble with a pull on one hole.

As a bogey golfer, I shot a 43 on a course with a 93 bogey rating (par 71, but I played the side with par 36 instead of 35). 4 GIRs (all pars, including the last 3), 4 nGIRs (1 double due to 3 putt or bad chip which was also the first hole played, the rest 2 putt bogeys), and 1 other on which I salvaged a double with a long putt after taking 2 chips to get on.