Not thinking happy thoughts

[thumper07]

Sorry this is so long,

Well for the last two years i have been consistintly shooting in the mid to low 80's. My last 4 rounds after not playing for a month are 84,98,93,91. I dont know what happened. My driver has suffered the worst. I used to hit it normally arround 250-280. Now i am barely hitting the ball . I am using this little hack swing where i dont even break my wrists just so i can hit the ball in play about 210-230 but slices every now and then. basically the same thing is happening with my irons. my 3-6 iron i cant even hit anymore. i feel like i'm in the movie space jam and some alien stole all my talent. all except my short game. i'm getting up and down over 50% of the time. i have had only 2 3putts in those four rounds. 2 rouds i had less than 30 putts. i have been playing golf for 10 years and i'm 21. i've tried all my little tricks that usually fix my problems but nothing. now i tried to change so much i forgot what my original swing felt like. i've only had 2 lessons in my life but i'm thinking of going out and getting some because i am at a loss, i just dont get it. anyone ever has this problem?

thanks for any help

-matt

[thumper07]

Well i went to the range the last three days in a row and hit two buckets each day. well i did very well today. i didn't shank any and now i'm just down to a little 5yd fade which was very consistent so i can play with that. my driver is still kook-koo. apparently i was rolling my left hand wat over my right hand opening the face up big time. to much i couldn't catch up at impact but i was working on that and saw good results. i have a lesson on thursday to work on my driver. i'll keep you guys updated.

-matt

[Shindig]

Sorry this is so long,

Lessons are a good thing; if nothing else, you pay some money and someone who actually knows golf shows you what, if anything, you're doing wrong. If thoughts are the problem, go read a Bob Rotella book. Seriously; Golf is not a Game of Perfect gives you some excellent thoughts during a round (and has great non-mechanical suggestions to improve your game, too). If you don't like the above two suggestions, go rent Peter Pan on DVD. Watch until the children fly to Neverland. They find out that they can fly by thinking happy thoughts. And really, is there any experience closer to flying than playing great golf? Think happy thoughts.

[Leek]

Sorry this is so long,

Most of the time, you can get it back by practicing punch shots. It's a compact swing with a late release. It helps with many things. IT's a tip I got from an unbelievable instructor. He told me to start all practice sessions with 30 punch shots with an 8 iron.

[thumper07]

Well guys i just got back from my lesson. i am in total shock. 3 balls and i was hitting my 9iron 150yds with a nice little draw. all he did was change my grip where i use to have my club at the base of my fingers he now has it at my finger tips. it feels weird but extremely effective. he didn't change anything else. i was hitting my driver to the end of the range(which is 250yds to a dropoff) about 20yds still in the air. He said that they would have went about 290-310. he said with that grip i should easily get my handicapp down to atleast a single digit by the end of the year. i have a tee time saturday so we'll see what happens.

-matt

[Scratch-Hopeful]

Most of the time, you can get it back by practicing punch shots. It's a compact swing with a late release. It helps with many things. IT's a tip I got from an unbelievable instructor. He told me to start all practice sessions with 30 punch shots with an 8 iron.

I'm going to have to try that sometime. It seems to make sense. Thanks.

[thumper07]

well i played yesterday and my dad said it was like paying with a different golfer. i shot 43(35) and 42(37) to an 85. one of my best rounds this year. i had two doubles, 5 pars and a birdie. 30 putts and no penalty strokes. i was very happy with the improvement i've made after the lesson.

-matt

[thumper07]

well it held up for 2 rounds just shot a 82 yesterday. god it feels good to be back.

-matt