The "OMG I didn't think one could suck at golf this much! Positive thoughts don't leave me now!" thread

[RFKFREAK]

So, I don't know if this thread is going to take off or not but figured I'd start it anyway as at times I think most of us could use some positive reinforcement.

So, after a long winter and a stretch there where all I did was work, I've found myself trying to learn the correct way to swing a club and between Wednesday and yesterday, I've felt deflated.  Not that with my old swing I did that great but I felt I was making better contact (revisionist history?).

I know that it's process to learn a new swing and I have the folks at Evolvr helping me out but I have to be honest, I'm a little worried about stepping out onto the course when they finally open around here because I feel like my swing is worse, nothing feels natural, and when I'm hitting into my net, I haven't seen improvement.

Granted, like I said, I haven't been able to dedicate the amount of time that I should so this should not be construed in anyway that makes it seem like the folks at Evolvr can't be of help but over the last two days, my God, I feel like I can't do anything right!

[Ernest Jones]

Half swings and punch shots to help you get around the course.

For me, the MOST important though on the course is "never stop playing golf". What I mean by that is to basically stay in the moment. It doesn't matter how shit your last shot was, your next one is an opportunity to get closer or into the hole. Keep grinding ALWAYS until the final putt drops. Always think about the shot in hand and never give up on a hole.

[RFKFREAK]

  Ernest Jones said:

Half swings and punch shots to help you get around the course.

For me, the MOST important though on the course is "never stop playing golf". What I mean by that is to basically stay in the moment. It doesn't matter how shit your last shot was, your next one is an opportunity to get closer or into the hole. Keep grinding ALWAYS until the final putt drops. Always think about the shot in hand and never give up on a hole.

Well, so far I haven't played this year so I don't know what my reaction will be on the course.

For now, using my net, I don't feel confident at all with how I'm striking the ball.

I was presupposing (maybe I shouldn't have) that others have struggled in learning a new swing and lost some confidence along the way.

[Ernest Jones]

  RFKFREAK said:

Well, so far I haven't played this year so I don't know what my reaction will be on the course.

For now, using my net, I don't feel confident at all with how I'm striking the ball.

I was presupposing (maybe I shouldn't have) that others have struggled in learning a new swing and lost some confidence along the way.

Oh, definitely, it's part of the process, even for the pros albeit with very different expectations.

My point was that once you're on the course you have to kind put all that shit out of your head and just grind at getting that ball in the hole. Screw the style points, just keep working your way towards the hole.

[RFKFREAK]

  Ernest Jones said:

Oh, definitely, it's part of the process, even for the pros albeit with very different expectations.

My point was that once you're on the course you have to kind put all that shit out of your head and just grind at getting that ball in the hole. Screw the style points, just keep working your way towards the hole.

Ahh.

Yeah, but should I try and incorporate the new swing into this?  I guess I'm somewhat worried since I don't feel like I have any control over where the ball is going whereas with my old swing, at felt like I had some sense.  Haha

[3putter]

Playing my first round this weekend. I visited the range the past two days to chip, pitch, hit half shots. Weirdly, the best strikes I had were the 5 balls I hit with my 3 wood to imagine my first tee shot. I plan to grind through the course with my short game

[Ernest Jones]

  RFKFREAK said:

Ahh.

Yeah, but should I try and incorporate the new swing into this?  I guess I'm somewhat worried since I don't feel like I have any control over where the ball is going whereas with my old swing, at felt like I had some sense.  Haha

Just go out and play. Don't think about what you're working on too much or you'll be a mess out there. Find one swing thought that encapsulates what your working on and that's it. You'll find that all the slow-motion mapping, drills and partial swings will slowly but surely bleed over into your regular swing until your regular swing starts to resemble what your working on but it takes time and on the course is NOT where you want to be thinking about that or working on anything. Just swing, go find it, swing again until your close enough to chip, pitch or putt.

Also, never try to figure out what you did wrong after a bad shot, just do what you know is right on the next shot.

[saevel25]

  Ernest Jones said:

Just go out and play. Don't think about what you're working on too much or you'll be a mess out there. Find one swing thought that encapsulates what your working on and that's it. You'll find that all the slow-motion mapping, drills and partial swings will slowly but surely bleed over into your regular swing until your regular swing starts to resemble what your working on but it takes time and on the course is NOT where you want to be thinking about that or working on anything. Just swing, go find it, swing again until your close enough to chip, pitch or putt.

Also, never try to figure out what you did wrong after a bad shot, just do what you know is right on the next shot.

I'll expand on this a bit. I would go out with ONE swing thought that can drive the swing. For example, mine is half swing. My backswing will fix over time, but my length of the swing I can control on EVERY swing. Really keeping the swing shorter helps facilitate my backswing change because my right arm getting really stuck was also caused by a flat swing and an overswing.

Though I do tend to try to get a few extra practice swings in there with a different feel, just to keep it fresh, but just one primary thought when I am actually taking a shot.

Yeah, key to it all, KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID MONKEY!!!

[GangGreen]

I'm in the same boat, tomorrow's my first round of the year (seems like I've been saying that for weeks only to get rained out) and I have no idea what to expect. I too have been working on swing changes with an instructor but this will be the first time seeing how it translates onto the course. Honestly, I can't wait. I know there's a real good chance I'm going to struggle mightedly tomorrow but I knew when I started taking lessons that it was for the long term and the improvements were going to take time to sink in with plenty of set-backs along the way. My 4th lesson was this past Wednesday and before I left I asked my instructor for any swing thoughts I should take with me on my first round. His advice was to take whatever club I would normally hit for a given distance and go up one club and only take a 3/4 swing. Granted, that might only be applicable for what I'm specifically working on, but seems to be sound early season advise in general.

[hackerandloveit]

I went through a similar issue when I was rebuilding my swing.  I was having major issues with slicing the ball.  I was getting decent distance but I was coming over the top way to much with my hands open.  As I worked on straightening out my swing I shortened it up, stopped all body movement and worked on swing path.  I eventually got to where I was hitting the ball straight with a very slight draw or fade each time.  I sacrificed a lot of distance to achieve this though.  As I started working on getting the power back into the swing I had a period of about 4 to 5 months where my swing just got up and took a vacation on me.  I was all over the place.  It was getting really bad.  Horrible contact, inconsistent swing path (sometimes inside out with a big draw and then over the top with a huge slice.)  I stuck with it and kept practicing.  I eventually got it straightened out and have now shot two rounds under 80 for the first time in my life.  Both in the last month.  Before that the lowest I was able to achieve was 82 quite a few times.

Stick with it and just keep practicing.  It takes something like 3k balls to get a swing locked into muscle memory.

[RandallT]

Great topic! I last played in October, I started Evolvr about 6 weeks ago, and my first round of 2014 is this weekend at the TST Mid-Atlantic Outing. New people, new course, new season, new swing. Recipe for interesting outcomes. I'll try to take to heart the idea to relax and just get around the course with whatever works. I won't expect a solid round, but I'll enjoy the day with new friends. I'll try to incorporate my new posture at a minimum, but I won't be surprised or too discouraged with lots of OB swings off the tee. On a positive note, my last range session was encouraging. Maybe I'm not "changing the picture" enough!!

[RFKFREAK]

Some great posts here; thanks, everyone. I think I'll feel a bit more confidence once I see some improvement rather than feel like I'm regressing. I know logically I'm going to regress at first because I'm doing something my body doesn't feel is natural. I guess I'm being impatient and would like to see some positivity in my swing since the courses will be opening up in the next couple of weeks and I'd like to do well when I finally get out there. Haha

[madolive3]

It's very important to stay the course, no pun intended. I changed my swing last Sept. my thinking was that i wasn't going to ever break 80 so I changed. My scores went from upper 90s low100s before the change to 140s right after the change, it was brutal. So for the next couple of months it was 130s and 120s. As I struggled I learned and the light bulb slowly came on.

I'm making strides and I have to play pretty bad to shoot over 100 now. In fact, I haven't scored over 100 in over a month now, shot a 90. Keep the faith, Find some fundamentals to fa;ll back on and stick with it.  Good luck.

[boogielicious]

  RFKFREAK said:

Some great posts here; thanks, everyone. I think I'll feel a bit more confidence once I see some improvement rather than feel like I'm regressing. I know logically I'm going to regress at first because I'm doing something my body doesn't feel is natural.

I guess I'm being impatient and would like to see some positivity in my swing since the courses will be opening up in the next couple of weeks and I'd like to do well when I finally get out there. Haha

Swing easy too.  Club up and swing at 60% on the first few holes just to relax yourself.  Nice and smooth.

[RFKFREAK]

  madolive3 said:

It's very important to stay the course, no pun intended. I changed my swing last Sept. my thinking was that i wasn't going to ever break 80 so I changed. My scores went from upper 90s low100s before the change to 140s right after the change, it was brutal. So for the next couple of months it was 130s and 120s. As I struggled I learned and the light bulb slowly came on.  I'm making strides and I have to play pretty bad to shoot over 100 now. In fact, I haven't scored over 100 in over a month now, shot a 90. Keep the faith, Find some fundamentals to fa;ll back on and stick with it.  Good luck.

At the end of the season last year, I was shooting between 105-115 and had broken 100 twice. You've pretty much confirmed one of my greatest fears, that I'll revert to shooting in the 130's like I did in the beginning of last year. But, I guess if that's what might happen, I should face that and accept it. [quote name="boogielicious" url="/t/73687/the-omg-i-didnt-think-one-could-suck-at-golf-this-much-positive-thoughts-dont-leave-me-now-thread#post_972197"]Swing easy too.  Club up and swing at 60% on the first few holes just to relax yourself.  Nice and smooth.   [/quote] Hadn't thought about clubbing up and swinging at 60%. Will likely do that when I finally get on the course. Thank you!

[RandallT]

Well, I just played my first round of the season yesterday and I shot about 18 strokes over my average from last season. Whew. My biggest takeaway is that it will take time on the course to get my off-season work on my swing through video lessons to show up. I played easy irons off the tee. I tried to overclub shots and swing controlled and easy. I started well actually. On the front, I shot about bogey golf, and that was with a 4-putt snowman. Nearly all pars and respectable bogeys. At the turn, however, my swing feel vanished. I felt confused over the ball and none of my drills could snap me back. I've had rounds where my swing disappeared but was still able to hack it around. Not so yesterday. Lots of tops into waste areas that added penalty shots off the tee. My thought is that I just stay the course. Keep doing drills and a little range work, but most importantly, get to the course to solidify the current focus of lessons. No sense moving on to any new material until I execute on the course what I'm practicing. Keep the feel for 18 holes. At the moment though, I can hardly imagine shooting the scores I shot last season. A bit humbling but no reason to get too frustrated yet.

[GangGreen]

Got my first round in yesterday and shot a 104 which was about 8 strokes worse then my best last year but still 10 strokes better then my opening round a year ago. All-in-all I was thrilled with how my "new" swing is starting to translate on the course. I was fairly pleased with my irons and was hitting my hybrids great, although I seemed to be leaving a lot of shots short of the green which probably reflected me deliberately keeping the swing short and what turned out to be a pretty windy day. Still struggled off the tee, although not nearly as bad as last year so I'm optimistic that that part of my game will get better with more work. My worst hole was a short (130-ish) par 3 that a shanked 2 balls into the waste area and ended up taking a 7. My buddy commented that that was the first hole he had seen me "revert" back to my "old" swing (all arms, very verticle and over the top) only reinforcing how much better I was hitting the ball with new swing. Forecast is for high 60's to low 70's this weekend and I can't wait to get back out there!

[RFKFREAK]

Oh, what a difference an Evolvr lesson can make! The folks at Evolvr have me working on key #4 and whereas the other day I felt like I couldn't do anything correctly, I just hit into my net for forty five minutes to an hour and worked on what I was told to concentrate on and it felt great! I felt like I was hitting more balls on average better and am feeling 180* different about going on the course. I'll try and get two or three more days of practice after work and hopefully go to my girlfriend's folks this weekend and try and get her father to play a round with me Saturday. I know I shouldn't get too high and that there will be more frustration ahead as I hopefully get better, but I really don't want this feeling to go away anytime soon, haha.