fallback, did it happen to you and how did you deal with it?

[DutchGolf]

So first things first, it was my first year golfing, a year of great improvement and moving to a 25 handicap with a (for me) easy feeling swing. However last few weeks I suddenly can't swing anymore. Every time I go out there it seems to get worser and worser and I feel thinks I never fueled in my swing. It also causes me to have no confidence anymore and keep overthinking everything. It gets me so frustrated that after last practice session I considered stopping the car near the lake and dumping the golf clubs. Not that I really want to quit, but I wonder if you guys ever experienced the same type of fallback for multiple weeks, where it feels like you are swinging the club for the first time. And if it happened to you, how did you deal with it? Any tips to have confidence and to keep the tensed, forced motion away?

Right now I just want to start enjoying the game again!

[Lihu]

So first things first, it was my first year golfing, a year of great improvement and moving to a 25 handicap with a (for me) easy feeling swing. However last few weeks I suddenly can't swing anymore. Every time I go out there it seems to get worser and worser and I feel thinks I never fueled in my swing. It also causes me to have no confidence anymore and keep overthinking everything. It gets me so frustrated that after last practice session I considered stopping the car near the lake and dumping the golf clubs. Not that I really want to quit, but I wonder if you guys ever experienced the same type of fallback for multiple weeks, where it feels like you are swinging the club for the first time. And if it happened to you, how did you deal with it? Any tips to have confidence and to keep the tensed, forced motion away?

Right now I just want to start enjoying the game again!

Welcome to the world of golf.

As far as getting your confidence back, try hitting only your SW or PW for a few practice sessions. Then work your way up the bag as you get comfortable. Look at the 5SK. Make sure your head is steady first, it really helps.

[Patch]

Put your clubs away for a couple of weeks, and go fishing. When you come back, just try nice, easy swings. That's what I did when it happened to me. You most likely just need some time away from the game.  Remember, golf is just a game, and suicide is not an option. Even when playing poorly there are still positive things happening. You are golfing.

When I would put away my clubs for a while, when I returned, I would first go to the practice facility. I would start with my putting. Once I knew I could still putt, I would move to my chipping game. Then pitches,  If I was OK hitting pitch shots, I would move to longer shots. and eventually work my way from there to my driver.

I am a firm believer that good putting leads to good chipping, which leads to good pitching which leads to good full iron shots, that leads to good metal wood shots. The shorter strokes compliment the longer swings.

[Big C]

Put your clubs away for a couple of weeks, and go fishing. When you come back, just try nice, easy swings. That's what I did when it happened to me. You most likely just need some time away from the game.  Remember, golf is just a game, and suicide is not an option. Even when playing poorly there are still positive things happening. You are golfing.

When I would put away my clubs for a while, when I returned, I would first go to the practice facility. I would start with my putting. Once I knew I could still putt, I would move to my chipping game. Then pitches,  If I was OK hitting pitch shots, I would move to longer shots. and eventually work my way from there to my driver.

I am a firm believer that good putting leads to good chipping, which leads to good pitching which leads to good full iron shots, that leads to good metal wood shots. The shorter strokes compliment the longer swings.

Good advice. I started taking golf seriously (i.e. maintaining an index and competing in some tournaments) in 2011. I worked on my game a fair amount and built myself to a respectable 9'ish handicap. Then in early 2012, the wheels fell off. I can't explain why, but I almost literally forgot how to hit a golf ball. Big hooks, banana slices, bladed chips, (fill in crappy shot here) all became a regular part of my game. By mid year, my index was up to  13.8 and I wasn't enjoying the game anymore.

I took a 3-4 week sabbatical and didn't pick up a club during that time. When I finally teed it up again, it was in a casual round with my dad and uncle. I literally had no expectations other than to have fun and enjoy their company.

Somehow, some way, my swing clicked that day. I shot an even par 36 on the front nine on my way to an index busting 76.

All I can say is that when your frustration level reaches it's peak, sometimes a little time away from the game can do wonders.

[DutchGolf]

Thanks for the replies guys , maybe I should take a break, or at least only do the things I was doing good, compared with people of the same handicaps, so focus on my "strengths" putting and chipping, to regain confidence (and fun), from there extending the swing more and more (hopefully together with the confidence). As I was (relatively) quite good at those points, it almost got no attention in practice over the last few months.

At least it is good to know others have experienced the same, and that there are different ways of dealing with it. If there are more people who experienced this and come over it and would like to share their story, speak up!

[uitar9]

Yup, that's golf

25 H here.

There are days when I think I got it...sneak under 90...then throw a 118 in the next round. Got the lessons...got the clubs built for me...hello, I'm 62, fourth year in, never gonna make a tour...

Gotta remember it is a game.

[JonMA1]

Yup, that's golf

25 H here.

There are days when I think I got it...sneak under 90...then throw a 118 in the next round. Got the lessons...got the clubs built for me...hello, I'm 62, fourth year in, never gonna make a tour...

Gotta remember it is a game.

I'm almost at the same point you are - HC, scoring, age, etc. The drive to get better is easy. Accepting that this is just a game and it shouldn't matter as much as it does... not so easy.

To the OP, I'm at a point where I'm starting to do some things right, but I've been down this road before. I can go back to last year's posts and see how confident I was that I'd finally found a swing, only to announce a month later that I've lost it.

Success this year may be based a lot more on the keys. I have a tiny bit more of an understanding of the 5SK system and can often make a correction or improvement upon one of those when I start to go off track. I know there will be bad golf ahead. Two small steps forward, one giant step back . The confidence comes in believing I no longer have to start from scratch when that happens. We'll see.

Good luck @DutchGolf .

[DutchGolf]

I'm almost at the same point you are - HC, scoring, age, etc. The drive to get better is easy. Accepting that this is just a game and it shouldn't matter as much as it does... not so easy.

To the OP, I'm at a point where I'm starting to do some things right, but I've been down this road before. I can go back to last year's posts and see how confident I was that I'd finally found a swing, only to announce a month later that I've lost it.

Success this year may be based a lot more on the keys. I have a tiny bit more of an understanding of the 5SK system and can often make a correction or improvement upon one of those when I start to go off track. I know there will be bad golf ahead. Two small steps forward, one giant step back. The confidence comes in believing I no longer have to start from scratch when that happens. We'll see.

Good luck @DutchGolf.

Thanks, agree with you that it is hard to accept it is just a game when you want to improve and working hard at trying to achieve that. It is always very nice to see your improvement from time to time. Let's hope I can bounce back and become a better golfer.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonMA1

I'm almost at the same point you are - HC, scoring, age, etc. The drive to get better is easy. Accepting that this is just a game and it shouldn't matter as much as it does... not so easy.

To the OP, I'm at a point where I'm starting to do some things right, but I've been down this road before. I can go back to last year's posts and see how confident I was that I'd finally found a swing, only to announce a month later that I've lost it.

Success this year may be based a lot more on the keys. I have a tiny bit more of an understanding of the 5SK system and can often make a correction or improvement upon one of those when I start to go off track. I know there will be bad golf ahead. Two small steps forward, one giant step back. The confidence comes in believing I no longer have to start from scratch when that happens. We'll see.

Good luck @DutchGolf.

Thanks, agree with you that it is hard to accept it is just a game when you want to improve and working hard at trying to achieve that. It is always very nice to see your improvement from time to time. Let's hope I can bounce back and become a better golfer.

Most definitely. . .

[DrvFrShow]

I feel the pain. Hit the long drive in the fairway. Your longest ever and you're within a short iron distance of the green on a par 5 only to chili dip your 8 iron 25 yds. But all is not lost, you can still make that GIR, so you pull out your PW and chunk that, too for another 25 yds. Feeling the hole slip away, you take out your sand wedge and get ready to hit your up and down and skull the shot over the green into the rough. Then finally chip on within 6 feet of the hole and two putt for double bogey.

Yep, I did that on the fifth hole at Allenmore Golf Course in Tacoma.

You know, the season is nearly over, so for the rest of the season, I'd just play fun golf and not worry about score. At 29 HC you shouldn't be worried about score anyway, although I know you just want to get under the 100 mark right now. I remember what that was like. It will happen. I'm a 90s golfer right now and there's nothing wrong with being a 90s golfer. It's a hard game. I'd like to be an 80s golfer, but that's going to take some work on my short game.

[mvmac]

So first things first, it was my first year golfing, a year of great improvement and moving to a 25 handicap with a (for me) easy feeling swing. However last few weeks I suddenly can't swing anymore. Every time I go out there it seems to get worser and worser and I feel thinks I never fueled in my swing. It also causes me to have no confidence anymore and keep overthinking everything. It gets me so frustrated that after last practice session I considered stopping the car near the lake and dumping the golf clubs. Not that I really want to quit, but I wonder if you guys ever experienced the same type of fallback for multiple weeks, where it feels like you are swinging the club for the first time. And if it happened to you, how did you deal with it? Any tips to have confidence and to keep the tensed, forced motion away?

Right now I just want to start enjoying the game again!

When things get off for me I'll just do some drills and/or make shorter swings. I focus on the pieces I know will help me hit the ball solid again.

Set yourself up for success when you practice.

[MrDC]

Yup, I'm in the middle of it now, happened at this time last year as well, I call it "The Stall" (bbq reference) I'm not cooking anymore for some reason.

I think it happens when I play too much, I get burned out and my body responds with a no mas.

So I take a break, I won't play this weekend for the first time this season, since April, it stings but it has to be done, I've accepted The Stall and will just try to relax and get charged up for next week, and hope I can rebound.

[mcanadiens]

As an idiot on a budget, I've been wandering around the golf wilderness for four years. Progress has been slow, but its come. In that time, I've come from a complete 135-shooting newb to a mid-90s type shooter, But the progress (at least from a score standpoint) has ground to a halt this year. The main goal this year was to lengthen my swing. I've done that. Now my straight shots are great, but mishits are round killers. Instead of popping on into the near rough, I'm in bandit country. The frustration boiled over about a month ago. Instead of not playing, I just stopped scoring for a few weeks and since the club championship was over, I let the HI go. The score itself was getting to be too important. Chucking the score card has helped me relax. I've scored a few rounds in the last couple of weeks and it's a bit better.

[metbid]

I know that when things start to go bad for me, it's because I have read too much, practiced too much, watched to many videos.........then when I play, I have so many swing thoughts in my head I get tied in a knot.  The best advice in the previous posts is take a short break, then when you play again don't worry about your swing, just enjoy the walk.

[dkolo]

So first things first, it was my first year golfing, a year of great improvement and moving to a 25 handicap with a (for me) easy feeling swing. However last few weeks I suddenly can't swing anymore. Every time I go out there it seems to get worser and worser and I feel thinks I never fueled in my swing. It also causes me to have no confidence anymore and keep overthinking everything. It gets me so frustrated that after last practice session I considered stopping the car near the lake and dumping the golf clubs. Not that I really want to quit, but I wonder if you guys ever experienced the same type of fallback for multiple weeks, where it feels like you are swinging the club for the first time. And if it happened to you, how did you deal with it? Any tips to have confidence and to keep the tensed, forced motion away?

Right now I just want to start enjoying the game again!

Being a high handicapper myself, I can attest that our swing mechanics are generally not great. We make a lot of compensations to achieve functional shots, but they're not fundamentally sound. You'll find something click on the range one day and feel helpless the next day. The swings you're making aren't dramatically different the two days, but you might stumble upon a good timing mechanism on the good day that you can't replicate the bad day. Work on making actual progress. Take some video of your swing and make a my swing thread in the Member Swings section. Lots of very qualified people who are happy to get you going in the right direction for actual, sustained improvement.

[DutchGolf]

Sorry for not responding for a while, was trying to take some days of from the game and not reading to many stuff that gets in the head when I swing.

Impressive how many helpful people are replying on my question on this forum. Really nice to see, thanks!

I think what @metbid mentions also applies to me, once i read to much, I have to many things to think about in my swing. If I think about all this stuff I tend to tense up, which basically destroys my swing. It is all about make my head empty when I swing, do not play golf swing when on the course, play golf. Anyway, practiced for a hour and a half at the range today after some days away from the game. Started with trying to make short and slow swings, not caring about where the balls were going. Gradually extended my swing. Swing was way better than the last times. Not as good as it was before, but at least I had an idea what I was doing. It was nice to have some some confidence again.