I am so frustrated and want to quit golf

[carefreechris]

Honestly bro, it's all about the way you learn.  Far too many golfers and far too many instructors just throw a bucket down on the grass and tell the student to start hitting balls.  They're selling themselves as good instructors, so they dig in and start looking for swing positions that are out of place, or movement directions that are in the wrong direction.  After a few swings they tell you with confidence what you are doing wrong, and then proceed to show you the correction.  And this visual demonstration of the correction alone, in their brilliant worlds of 'teaching' golf, you are supposed to practice....maybe they give you a couple of drills for that move...then off you go, after you pony up the $50-100 for the lesson.. months later and maybe half a dozen more wallet cleaning lessons later, you see very little improvement.  Their words of wisdom are "hang in there, it will get better, it can take years depending on how much time you have".  This is the best that most instructors can do for a student...To think, that's almost all of them LOL.

Here's where most golf instructors completely fail a golfer in a lesson... One's best golf shots all manifest in your mind.  The entire swing process in it's entirety is a packet of orders and signals organized by your mind, then sent out to your body.  Thus there are 2 ways to learn and practice golf -- by watching and hitting balls with your muscles, or by learning the swing process, and swinging the club with your mind.  I've helped golfers improve their swing process without even picking up a golf club lol.  If you have an inconsistency in the results of a certain type of shot, it's almost always your mind's interpretation of what it 'thinks' is the best process, be it through hacking a few buckets, or be it the information you received from your lessons.

If something doesn't physically feel right during the swing, or chip, or pitch, or putting motion, it's really your brain doing the best it can to fill in the information gaps that arise from misconceptions.

It's at the very foundation of the problems with most instructors - they only instruct physical movements and motions, and have no idea how to explain 'why' in a way to get through to the golfer's brain function.  You're basically trying to fast-track for short term fixes and improvements when you take a lesson from most any instructor these days.  If you were studying for a college math test next week, and your teacher just flat-out gave you the answers to all of the questions prior to the exam, how well do you think your brain would process those answers if you don't give yourself the due time to work out 'how' and 'why' those answers are correct?  How long do you think you would hold onto those quick answers?

Point being, if you don't find a way to get through to yourself properly in the learning process, to mentally understand with certainty the physical movements and positions, then your brain will either bounce around in limbo pretending to understand & not hold onto the information, or will fill in the subtle misunderstood gaps with its own interpretation of how to perform the movements and how to get to the positions that you strive for. Do you have a point in your swing where it feels like you are blanking out, when you swear you kept your view point on or near the ball, but can't for the life of you remember seeing the ball leave your line of sight?  That's an example of an information gap.  Your brain doesn't truly grasp 'how' to make a certain move happen correctly, so it throws together a quick patch to solve the most basic instinct puzzle - make contact with the ball.  That quick patch of signals usually involves some fast twitch muscles in your torso, arms, or hands/wrists.  It doesn't 'feel' right, so the mind needs to come up with a quick solution to return the clubhead to the ball.

How many times have you taken a lesson, where the instructor uses the same terminology and words to describe certain processes in a golf swing?  Fine in it's own bag of bolts, but where they can cripple a student's golf foundation is when they don't stop to ask the goddam student what that means to them, how it makes them feel, or how they are interpreting it.  ie - one person's interpretation of 'down' outputs one way in their mind, but another person's mind might interpret that literally, and gap-fill this misconception by literally forcing a movement straight down, or dip something straight down.  ie 2 - when an instructor tells a student to reach for the flag, or push the back of your lead hand toward the target on the forward swing; after just telling them to swing on plane lol.  Have you ever tried to reach for the flag after impact?  lemme know how you make out with that, and how successful you are at maintaining your spine tilt and sound shoulder frame rotation LOL.  There are very few exceptional teachers that have an understanding of mental game and mental process, and have an arsenal of descriptions to share with the student depending on what 'way' the student needs to hear the information.  They all teach in the same exact way with the same words and phrases - whatever that instructor's way or technique may be...

The golf swing really starts between your ears... make it feel right up there by understanding the biophysics of the motion...  decode your mind's swing 'blueprint', everyone's is different, everyone processes information differently,,, then work on reconditioning your muscles with the right signal patches.

[looseleftie]

To the OP, I have started playing a year and a half ago, I have quit the game two or three times already :)

But I keep coming back, had some lessons, in hindsight, they were an absolute WASTE OF BLOODY TIME, I was shown a technique (right sided swing) that it hard on your body, and just plain difficult, despite the teacher saying that this is the easist golf swing out there...

Now, I found this site, and some other quality instruction, check out Shawn Clement You Tube also, simply brilliant!!!!!

Taken strokes of my game truly..

I have only begun in the last couple of months begin shooting under 36 handicap, and I come from a sporting background, but golf is "the beast" of a sport...Most people seemed to progress a heck of a lot quicker than me.. I have resigned myself to being in this game for the long haul!! Whats the hurry!!

Please, u said u love it, hang in there, work at your game, I did, and persist, the journey is all part of your golfing voyage...

I think mechanics of the swing, are a big part of the golf swing, perhaps take a lesson or two, if u don't get anything out of their lessons, find someone else, OR another option post videos of yourself here, there are many well trained eyes here to help..

You do not suffer alone my friend, hand in there, it will get better..

My advice please, do yourself a favour and check out "perpetual motion" by Shawn Clement on You Tube to get u going, and look at several of his videos.. If I can improve, then anyone can!! Please look into it mate .

[ScoggDog]

Well ... here I go again.

Put my clubs in protective custody after last year's melt down.  Going to go back out for a supervised visitation in a couple weeks.

But I'll be damned - after I decided to give it one more try, if I didn't find myself surfing different swing sites during lunch.  As if it would help.  This is my problem.  I'm sure of it.

[ScoggDog]

Or maybe it's just that I'm a choker and a shanker ...

[Brakkus]

I quit after 3 years. Had a horrible time one round. Just frustrated that I couldn't play often enough. I literally play once a month at best. Fortunately I have good hand eye and games like tennis, snooker were always my favourites. The key to both those games is practice. You gotta love it. Golf is no different. Any task you do automatically is done everyday. Driving a car is complex set of movements done consciously and unconconciously. Yet we can do it because we spend hours every week and passing year doing it. Golf is the same the body will learn it doesn't distinguish between golf and driving a car. It learns. Take pressure off yourself and just allow learning to take place. Your body is more intelligent than you are and it will process what it needs to do. Your job is to expose it to the proper instruction. Show it and it will learn. Seems simplistic but respect the amazing machine of the human body take your concious ego out of it and let good golf come to you. It can't be forced.

[Royster1984]

I've been playing just over a year now and I had similar issues after six months too, when my shot shape changed over night to a power hook. It's hard work when thing's are not going right in golf but when thing's are going good, there is no better feeling than hitting a shot in close to that pin.

Learn what your doing wrong and fix it, then learn the next thing that is broke, thats golf and why we love it.

[TripleBogeyRule]

It sounds like you are expecting perfect results after only a short time of playing.  There are people who play their entire lives and are terrible and there are people who are great after only a year of playing.  I know Im not very good and probably never will be.  Accepting this fact has probably improved my golf game more than anything thing else in a way that I now enjoy playing and no long freak out if I have a bad shot (or multiple bad shots in a row).  Try enjoying the game and you will see positive results.  Worked for me at least.

[MS256]

One day I had the worst case of the shanks EVER. On the sixth hole (a par 5) after my tee shot (which was no problem) I told my playing partner that if I hit one more bad shot I was quitting the game, and I was dead serious. On the next shot I hit a 3 iron to 6 inches from the pin, looked at my playing partner, and said the golfing gods won't even let me quit this game.

[fredzout]

The best day of my life was the afternoon when I was almost done with my round. I was sitting in the cart after putting out and thinking to myself," I can't wait for thus to be over." It was right there that I decided to give the game up for good. I hot home and put my clubs and spikes in the back of the garage with no regrets. I'm 49 years old and gave been playing sporadically for many years with the same frustrating results. Now I can laugh at my friends and neighbors that are spending $100's to play and be frustrated. My life is much better. There is life after the links.

[Hammer 4]

The best day of my life was the afternoon when I was almost done with my round. I was sitting in the cart after putting out and thinking to myself," I can't wait for thus to be over." It was right there that I decided to give the game up for good. I hot home and put my clubs and spikes in the back of the garage with no regrets. I'm 49 years old and gave been playing sporadically for many years with the same frustrating results. Now I can laugh at my friends and neighbors that are spending $100's to play and be frustrated. My life is much better. There is life after the links.

Hmmm, 49 was about when I first started playing. I use to road race motorcycles, and the rush was unmatched compared to golf, but spending roughly 1000.00 per race was out of my budget, so I came back to golf. No where near the rush, but a satisfaction when you flush a 6i or any club for that matter. Yes, there is life after golf, but life is meant to be lived and have fun, not just to watch life go by. Hope you have a new hobby. I find odd that your First post was the above.

[Patch]

Quitting golf, the game you say you love, out of frustration is like committing suicide...............it's not an option.  Just go out and have fun with what you got for right now. Swing easy and hit the ball, go find the ball, and hit it again.

My guess is you have set your sites to high for you ability.......for the time being.

Study up (google) on a good grip, and a one piece take away. IMO those are two of the most basic parts of the golf swing. You are going to a new instructor. Ask that instructor of the importance of those two golf swing issues.

I have been golfing for almost 50 years, and I still hit fats, tops, and slices from time to time. I don't have that chicken wing thing, but I do have a good release through the impact zone. 6 months is not enough time to develope a decent game, unless you have natural golf abilities. The fact you can't do  what your instructor is saying is nothing more than a communication problem. Make your instructor help you to do what he/she is saying. You'are paying for a service, and the instructor is your employee.

Trust me. Life is too short, and important to give up something you love to do.

[fredzout]

Thanks for the feedback Hammer4. I have taken up ice hockey. Much more satisfying. I'm here to let folks know it's okay to let go of golf.  Every post here gave a million reasons or suggestions to keep being frustrated with their lives. It's okay to let go.

[fredzout]

Do yourself a favor Ruger..Give your clubs a life sentence and move to something else. I did and life is much better.

[MS256]

So your comments are a public service announcement. Thanks. If I ever get frustrated enough I'll keep ice hockey in mind. :roll:

[Hammer 4]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredzout

Thanks for the feedback Hammer4. I have taken up ice hockey. Much more satisfying. I'm here to let folks know it's okay to let go of golf.  Every post here gave a million reasons or suggestions to keep being frustrated with their lives. It's okay to let go.

So your comments are a public service announcement. Thanks. If I ever get frustrated enough I'll keep ice hockey in mind.

WTF does that suppose to mean.with the rolling eyes smiley..?

[Moppy]

OK, If it weren't for the fellowship on the course, I would just rent a furnace sure to melt them and burn my clubs in a crucible.

Maybe I am overmatched by the course, Binks Forest, in West Palm Beach. Here is the ratings info:

White

72

6141

69.3

124

The course I play in the summer up north, where I have come close to breaking 100 has length of 5958, a rating of 67.3 and a slope of 115.  Maybe I have improved, I feel like I have, but my score doesn't show it, my scores are noticeably worse here even though I feel that my "ball striking" is noticeably improved.

Is there that large a scoring difference between the two courses?

[dkolo]

OK, If it weren't for the fellowship on the course, I would just rent a furnace sure to melt them and burn my clubs in a crucible. Maybe I am overmatched by the course, Binks Forest, in West Palm Beach. Here is the ratings info: [TR] [/TR]

White

72

6141

69.3

124

The course I play in the summer up north, where I have come close to breaking 100 has length of 5958, a rating of 67.3 and a slope of 115.  Maybe I have improved, I feel like I have, but my score doesn't show it, my scores are noticeably worse here even though I feel that my "ball striking" is noticeably improved. Is there that large a scoring difference between the two courses?

10 points of slope is a lot for a high handicapper. I play a 6000 yard 113 course and a 6400 124 course and the harder course really makes me work hard and local knowledge is the biggest reason I can shoot similar scores to the other one. I feel like I'm playing not to screw up on it as opposed to attacking every hole on the shorter, easier course. A score can get away fast on the harder course. Things like 220 yard uphill carries to the fairway on a par 5 are a big deal for us.

[Moppy]

I guess I know every hole on the easier course, where I tend to miss, what clubs to use on all of the par threes, and where to aim, plus the distances are more suited to me. Maybe now, with fewer slices into the woods and ability to hit the green more often from greater distances, I will notice the improvement when I get back. Hope springs eternal.  I am, however, putting the clubs away until spring up north. My last outing was just brutal and I need to recover.