Things ground to a halt. Now the club feels strange in my hands.

[GonnaBreak70]

God! I just want to roll over right now.

I started playing a little more than 2 years ago and loved the challenge when I started. I've posted a few threads on this site talking about my progress and how well my game was advancing. Now I'm lost and kinda hate to play. (when playing poorly) I started off playing a lot, practicing a lot, and took a few lessons. I was able to get down to a single digit handicap in about a year, and shot par in a little less than 2 years. From there though, things quickly ground to a halt and now I'm going backwards. (even typing that pisses my off so bad)

After shooting my 72, I decided to change my ball flight from fade to draw and haven't come close to par since. My swing can be so hit or miss, so random and inconsistent that you might see me on the range one day and think -that's a scratch or better player- the very next day I'll look like a 20 handicap.

My last 4 rounds have been in the 80's including an 87. I know to some people that's low, others its high but the point is I'm not having fun. For comparison I recently shot a 75 in a tourney and a 33 for 9 holes. In all fairness I think the main reason for my inconsistency is a huge left lateral hip move I have on the downswing. It requires perfect timing and when I'm off, I'm embarrassing,

I am currently a 5 handicap but I FEEL like I should be scratch. Yeah right. Today for example I shot an 82 from 6200 yards and hit a huge hook off the tee all day.

Sorry for the rant. I guess what I'm looking for is a way out of this rut. Its frustrating, embarrassing, and no fun at all.

Suggestions from someone who has been where I've been would be appreciated. PLEASE

Note: I will post a few videos of my swing soon

[Audaxi]

I tried to switch from a draw to a fade. I ended up toeing the ball a lot to achieve this, and it got to the point where I was shanking it off the toe. Just relax and hit your fade. Contrary to popular belief, pros will hit the same shape of shot, the one they're comfortable with, most of the time when it can be used effectively to get the ball where it needs to go. Just groove a single shot shape that works for you, which appears to be a fade by looking at your post. No shame in fades, and not much of a loss of distance (Bubba Watson prefers a fade).

[GonnaBreak70]

My swing [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEpwxOIF_lI&feature;=youtube_gdata_player[/VIDEO]

[JetFan1983]

My two cents:

Take some chill pills.

Your swing is great for two years.

Your hip slide is one of the reasons you are good. Keep sliding. Especially with the longer clubs. It'll reduce hook as long as your head stays stable the whole time. Read this thread on why sliding your hips on the downswing is good.

Also, it looks like you are playing the ball too far back with the longer clubs. I'd move it forward a little. See how that does.

[MacDutch]

Going to single handicap in one year and to scratch in two is only possible for the 'happy few'. All others struggle a lot more and hit the brick wall more then once on the way to a lower handicap.

Hitting the wall, you need mental flexibility to overcome. I've hit it once and played for a couple of months no where near my handicap of 22 at that time. Like 25 rounds in a row 10+ strokes compared to handicap.

What did I do?

- started playing rounds and compared it to my all times avarage.

- started playing rounds and gave myself 4 mulligans

- took a fitting session

- bought a new set of clubs

- played Stableford and scored against HCP 36

The ending of this dreadfull period was when scoring a couple rounds of 50 points Stableford against HCP 36. After this period, starting in july I lowerd my handicap from 22.9 to 16.9 that year.

[Jeffrey71]

Originally Posted by GonnaBreak70

God! I just want to roll over right now.

I started playing a little more than 2 years ago and loved the challenge when I started. I've posted a few threads on this site talking about my progress and how well my game was advancing. Now I'm lost and kinda hate to play. (when playing poorly) I started off playing a lot, practicing a lot, and took a few lessons. I was able to get down to a single digit handicap in about a year, and shot par in a little less than 2 years. From there though, things quickly ground to a halt and now I'm going backwards. (even typing that pisses my off so bad)

After shooting my 72, I decided to change my ball flight from fade to draw and haven't come close to par since. My swing can be so hit or miss, so random and inconsistent that you might see me on the range one day and think -that's a scratch or better player- the very next day I'll look like a 20 handicap.

My last 4 rounds have been in the 80's including an 87. I know to some people that's low, others its high but the point is I'm not having fun. For comparison I recently shot a 75 in a tourney and a 33 for 9 holes. In all fairness I think the main reason for my inconsistency is a huge left lateral hip move I have on the downswing. It requires perfect timing and when I'm off, I'm embarrassing,

I am currently a 5 handicap but I FEEL like I should be scratch. Yeah right. Today for example I shot an 82 from 6200 yards and hit a huge hook off the tee all day.

Sorry for the rant. I guess what I'm looking for is a way out of this rut. Its frustrating, embarrassing, and no fun at all.

Suggestions from someone who has been where I've been would be appreciated. PLEASE

Note: I will post a few videos of my swing soon

Do you play in tournaments such as a state am ? Maybe it's time for a new "challenge"? No offense intended, just a thought.

[Audaxi]

You could also just try to set goals for specific areas of your game. Currently, GIR is a weakness of mine and that's what I am working to improve. What dropped me from a 14 to my current handicap was living for the short game to try to make up for hitting fewer greens (being less consistent then), but now I need to make more birdies to lower my handicap further. Just focus on one area of your game that is hard for you and try to improve it, rather than looking at your score as a whole.

[GonnaBreak70]

UPDATE: I read the replies to my OP and before going out to play today, I decided to hit nothing but a small cut. I normally hit draw off tee, cut into greens and I believe this causes inconsistency for me at least.

On the range it felt great. Really fantastic! I was hitting it much, much better than I have in a while and was also hitting it higher. (I struggle with a low ball driver) End of story I shot 75 and actually TOLD my brother before I teed off that I was feeling like I'd score a 75 today.

LESSON LEARNED. I think I will never resist my natural ball flight again. A high little cut. I still have the draw in the bag when necessary, but it simply doesn't work well enough to play it as my primary shot type.

Thanks again to the guys who suggested playing my cut. One more question though... Why do people (me) feel it necessary to change something when they perform there best. In my case I shot par and decided I needed a better swing, but I often here about players who play well then change swing. Like Martin Kaymer who won a major, got to #1 then changed swing. Why? Why is that the automatic instinct when we do well???

[Audaxi]

Originally Posted by GonnaBreak70

UPDATE: I read the replies to my OP and before going out to play today, I decided to hit nothing but a small cut. I normally hit draw off tee, cut into greens and I believe this causes inconsistency for me at least.

On the range it felt great. Really fantastic! I was hitting it much, much better than I have in a while and was also hitting it higher. (I struggle with a low ball driver) End of story I shot 75 and actually TOLD my brother before I teed off that I was feeling like I'd score a 75 today.

LESSON LEARNED. I think I will never resist my natural ball flight again. A high little cut. I still have the draw in the bag when necessary, but it simply doesn't work well enough to play it as my primary shot type.

Thanks again to the guys who suggested playing my cut. One more question though... Why do people (me) feel it necessary to change something when they perform there best. In my case I shot par and decided I needed a better swing, but I often here about players who play well then change swing. Like Martin Kaymer who won a major, got to #1 then changed swing. Why? Why is that the automatic instinct when we do well???

I'm not sure as to why, but you're certainly not the only one. I, too, will hit a fade naturally, and I've also gotten it into my head that I needed to hit a draw. I'm not sure why I thought this, because even Tiger plays a fade nowadays, but I think it had something to do with Rory Mcilory winning by 8 strokes at Olympic Club. Either way, 6 months later I learned my lesson and just hit whatever felt good that day.