First round disaster

[Ernest Jones]

Hi All

So I played my first 9 of the year and it was horrible. After 2 back to back snowmen I stopped counting and just concentrated on making some good swings.

The course was really soggy and soft. I've been working on hitting down with my irons but I think this lead to the problems I had today. Some swings that felt really good had terrible results and instead of divots I had what looked like deep ball tracks, I think because the turf was so soggy my strokes were driving the ball into the muck and eating up all the velocity of the ball resulting in crappy worm burner type shots.

I guess my question is: Do you guys modify your swing under these types of circumstances to be more of a sweep? I really want to develop a consistent swing but I'm pretty sure some of my better swings today were adversely affected by the turf conditions. Should I work on something different for these kinds of conditions or should I just not play golf on a course that is overly soggy? Or is it just a question of me sucking and a good consistent swing will work under ANY course conditions?

I'm always wary of changing my swing because of poor results because that may be misleading, point in fact -  one day this year I went to the range on a frigid morning and my first couple of swings (7 iron) only went about 100 yrds whereas my normal 7 iron is around 140 yrds, I adjusted and started swinging out my shoes with predictably disastrous results, lots of slices and assorted other crap. When I got home and thought about things I realized that my first few swings that went 100yrds were nice and straight and that the loss of distance was probably 100% related a) frozen range balls b) frozen me = lose of swing speed - I suspect that I should have continued to swing as I always have and just accept the loss of distance as the result of poor conditions?

Anyway, just trying to find some consistency that will let me PLAY  golf instead of WORKING on my swing while I walk around the course, and I think I have a fairly consistent swing and would like to believe it works and that today was a case of poor conditions more than poor mechanics. I know I'm capable of a good swing because I've had some very good sessions at the range and I'm at the point where I can really FEEL when my swing is correct and when its not but today a lot of my swings felt RIGHT but the results weren't there. Any insight, encouragement or chastising will be greatly welcomed.

I really don't care all that much about my score but I would like to PLAY GOLF instead of WORKING ON MY SWING WHILE WALKING AROUND A GOLF COURSE!!!!

[Tifosinumerouno]

You don't really "compress" the ball into the ground by hitting down on it. It sounds to me like you were flipping at it, catching it above the equator of the ball, causing top spin, and driving it down into the ground, or just below the equator and causing it to run low along the ground. If you catch the ball properly, BEFORE the turf (or bottom of the swing arc), it doesn't matter if the ground is swamp land or concrete, you will get (roughly) the same results.

[zeg]

Tifo has it right. If you're making proper contact, you should be able to hit the ball in most conditions without much effect. A lot of players, though, catch things a bit fat every time, and if that's the case you can get away with it in dry conditions but will suffer when things get soggy. There's definitely a big psychological effect, though, and I don't know how to help you with that because I haven't figured it out myself. I agree with your desire to play, because when you're constantly working on your swing, you're going to find it hard to be consistent. It's hard, though, and I can't make it happen on command. Something that sometimes works for me is, on a day where things are not working real well, just to remember that if you're trying really hard and hitting bad shots, you don't have much to lose by just relaxing and swinging loosely. Sometimes you continue to hit badly, but sometimes that little bit of relaxation helps find your natural swing. Even if it's not technically solid, it can often be better than an over-thought, overly-mechanical swing.