Have you ever experienced golf burn-out?

[BuckeyeNut]

I can't say that I've ever experienced burnout..........

For me, practice is work so I never do it.  I just play.....and I play a lot.  Playing = fun so I don't know how I will ever burn out.  Even if I just have an hour or so I hit the course. (not the range)

[Spyder]

I have 3 herniated discs and "spondylolisthesis" from an old football injury (a condition where the spinal column slips forward or backward and compresses a nerve, usually the sciatic nerve - the vertabrae is literally overhanging the one below it by up to 5-70%). I have been on everything known to man... oxy, vicodin, percs, morphine, demerol(sp?), naproxen, Bacardi 151, Bud Light, Stone Arrogant Bastard/Ruination (you see where this is going) and almost every kind of anti-inflammatory (both OTC and prescription) known to man - with no relief. In a month, there may be 3 days where I am almost pain free while walking. Every other day is simply a pure hell with the pain. The sciatic pain that is involved with this really makes it hard to concentrate sometimes and I'll often get "golf burnout" as a result. Kind of hard to be excited about an activity when you know that within 30 minutes it will feel like a molten hot screwdriver is being stabbed and twisted into your hip and thigh.

Long story short, my mother-in-law gave me some Bayer Back and Body to try. I laughed when she gave it to me thinking it would do absolutely nothing (when compared to the narcotics mentioned above and some that were not mentioned). I swear by Bayer Back and Body now. 2 tablets prior to golf or bowling, or any activity in general and I'm feeling like I did when I was playing football 10 years ago.

The relief of the pain has honestly rejuvenated my golf bug 100x over and I cannot wait until this coming summer. Given, I may be a 1 time a week hack this coming year with a son on the way!

[inthehole]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I have 3 herniated discs and "spondylolisthesis" from an old football injury (a condition where the spinal column slips forward or backward and compresses a nerve, usually the sciatic nerve - the vertabrae is literally overhanging the one below it by up to 5-70%). I have been on everything known to man... oxy, vicodin, percs, morphine, demerol(sp?), naproxen, Bacardi 151, Bud Light, Stone Arrogant Bastard/Ruination (you see where this is going) and almost every kind of anti-inflammatory (both OTC and prescription) known to man - with no relief. In a month, there may be 3 days where I am almost pain free while walking. Every other day is simply a pure hell with the pain. The sciatic pain that is involved with this really makes it hard to concentrate sometimes and I'll often get "golf burnout" as a result. Kind of hard to be excited about an activity when you know that within 30 minutes it will feel like a molten hot screwdriver is being stabbed and twisted into your hip and thigh.

Long story short, my mother-in-law gave me some Bayer Back and Body to try. I laughed when she gave it to me thinking it would do absolutely nothing (when compared to the narcotics mentioned above and some that were not mentioned). I swear by Bayer Back and Body now. 2 tablets prior to golf or bowling, or any activity in general and I'm feeling like I did when I was playing football 10 years ago.

The relief of the pain has honestly rejuvenated my golf bug 100x over and I cannot wait until this coming summer. Given, I may be a 1 time a week hack this coming year with a son on the way!

my back ailments surely aren't the likes of yours, but I can relate.     I'm so used to advil or motrin after  a round ... I'll definitely try the Bayer Back & Body - thx for the tip.

[montru]

I get burn out at least twice a year, I go to AZ every Sept for a big golf ass reunion, we get golfers from all over the place, Canada, US and UK. We play a three round tournament but we play on all the other days we are out there. Last year I played 9 rounds in 11 days with 2 days traveling from FL. I was completely burned out and didn't touch a club for two weeks when I got back home.

I do the almost the same when I go back to the UK for vacation, but over there I'm walking every round. When I get back home I don't even think about golf for a couple of week, it can be tough though, as I live on a golf course and I have golfers passing my backyard all day!

[RFetters]

I find if I play three days in a row, the fourth day, I lose interest about 1/2 thru the round.  I normally walk and carry so fatigue also becomes a factor on the 4th day.

Now my normal schedule is play three days, rest a day.  Retired, so playing 6 days per week is plenty, even if I miss a day doing something else.

[clarkgriswold]

I am not mentally fried...but my body is telling me to shut it down for a bit.  My swing has totally devolved as I have just plain hit too many balls and I think I am getting lazy with my swing.   So some time off seems to be in order and I will just putt for a couple weeks.

We have Golfchannel on 16 hours a day at the simulator...and I do get tired of  "Playing Lessons with the Pros" re-runs and awful commericals for Cialis and the like.  But it hasn't changed my enthusiasm for the game.  Yet.

[johnny_14424]

i am glad i found this thread. I been practicing / playing 5 - 6 days a week plus I work 8 - 5 monday thru friday. Since mid May I been getting to the course around 5:30 every night and staying till dark; it's the best time to use the practice range and get 9 holes in. Now I feel completley burned out and my game is suffering. I'm at a point where i can't grind anymore.

The season is winding down anyways. Less daylight to work with after I get out of work and soon I will be limited to playing on just the weekend. And then it will be stuck inside until April.

I've experienced burnout by end of August the last two seasons. I think next year I will have breaks during the season.

[Rick Martin]

My question to all of you, especially the better players and/or the ones that have really worked hard to get better at the game, is this: Have you ever 'burned out'? Felt like you've hit a wall or a plateau based on mental stuff and not physical? If so, what did you do? Share your story. I feel like I could have written a book on the topic, and almost did...just feeling bad about my game and, in some respects, myself and my own actions since I've become such a mope about a game that should be fun.

My burnout started last summer - haven't touched a club since June-ish......and it was not only playing golf, but watching golf. I think I watched just a couple of minutes of the Ryder Cup - an event that I hadn't missed since I started watching in '91.  I did get to see US Open Practice rds at Pinehurst last summer and remember leaving early because I was just tired of watching so much golf......  Pretty sick of golf for the first time since I started playing in the 80s.......I think it's because I live in FLA and have too much golf available.  Also that I couldn't get the game below a 9 HCP w/ short game problems (yips) that I couldn't cure, making the game no fun.

Today I tried to watch the WM event and found myself switching channels to crime reality shows.......

I have several free tickets to PGA events coming up in March/May (Tampa, Orlando, and TPC Sawgrass) and I'm not sure if I'll even use them.........

[bkuehn1952]

There are times when I am playing poorly that I don't have a great desire to play; that feeling might last a couple days or a week.  That said, I can't recall ever putting the clubs away when it was still playable.  Maybe that is the beauty of a weather-enforced off season.  Perhaps I would burn out if I played 12 months a year.

[phan52]

I don't know if I would call it burnout, but I go through a period of indifference every year, usually in August. I'll put the sticks away for a couple of weeks and get them back out after Labor Day, with new energy and interest.

[Torres9]

Definitely. I was almost scratch at one point (almost playing daily) and stopped playing for a long time. I am ready to regain my stroke.

[Rick Martin]

There are times when I am playing poorly that I don't have a great desire to play; that feeling might last a couple days or a week.  That said, I can't recall ever putting the clubs away when it was still playable.  Maybe that is the beauty of a weather-enforced off season.  Perhaps I would burn out if I played 12 months a year.

This could be very true - because for me, I've pretty much always have had a winter off-season - even in Augusta, GA had to put away the clubs for awhile due to coldness/frost and even a little snow/sleet......but since 2009, I played all the time for nearly 5 yrs - with a lot of time on the practice tee, short game areas and video taping the swing and taking lessons - guess I may have given up out of frustration as well

[WUTiger]

I think we all have hit that wall. The obvious reply to your situation is taking time off from the game. ... .

But take your time, people need time and space to decompress and put things back into perspective. IMO, burnout is at it's core is a loss of perspective, ...

I'm not nearly as good as the OP, but I have weeks here and there during the summer  when I can really work on my game.

I'll have a week where I'll have consecutive rounds in the low 90s, and then I'll fall apart for a couple of rounds. I go to the range, and hit two good shots and then two bad misses. Repeat and rinse...

The solution is just to take a week off.

After the break, I go out to the range, and in about a dozen shots I've figured out what the problem was..

Usually the fizzles are caused by what I call beehive brain . I start trying to think how I can improve every shot, and destroy my rhythm.

If I have  couple of rough holes, the best way out is to just line up the shot and hit it.: Trust your training.

[Rick Martin]

I wonder if the lack of variety of golf courses that I play have anything to do with it. I enjoy playing a variety of courses and it seems here in FLA, many of courses are similar -

[RH31]

I used to get bored and my scores would show it sometime in August every year. That's back when I used to play 100 or so rounds.

I'd just hang em up for two weeks,  then try to play some different courses or different formats. I'd usually be over the boredom by the time the fall tournaments started.

[taxgolf]

A burn out. I have never experienced one. Let alone a golf burn out. I hope I never experience a burn out of whatever. I think it was October 2014 that I played 18 holes. Somehow, the weekends were busy and I couldn't find the time to fit in some holes in the weekend. At some point, I didn't miss it. Talked a bit about golf, watched golf on tV, but that was it. No urge to go, nothing. A few weeks back, I went to the range. Nice weather, had a hour to spare. Out of the blue. Really no specific goal, just get the feeling of hitting balls. Picked a flag and tried to get the balls as close as possible. I have an Epon driving iron in my bag. I have to get friends with. I striped it. So much fun. I realized what I missed. The feeling that you have when that ball, that one, just flew of the face. You couldn't do better. I don't think i even comes close of a burn out.

[jsgolfer]

No and I hope I never do.

[Scotsclaff]

Think I got the right thread this time #### knows what happened.

I don't think I'm good enough to experience burnout.

Maybe that's what happened to Tiger Woods.