Catastrophic Breakdown of Swing

[IrishAndy]

So, I'm 41 and getting back into golf after a few years away.

Finally my wife has the golf bug, so now golf is something she fully supports vs. railing against.

Background: Always had an in-to-out swing.  When I've played well I've been able to draw to a target.  When I'm out of practice or playing poorly it's a straight block or strong draw which make the margins of error outside the confines of a fairway.  Been getting back into it over the last few months I've been doing what I always do, and throw everything into practice.  I use a laser level in the hotel when traveling to make sure my putter alighnment is improving... It's like that.  I've always loved golf but I have no desire to play it really badly.  It's just not fun... I'm sure there are others who feel the same way.

So, getting back into it.  Practicing every chance I get, and only have time to play 9 holes at a time, and each 9 holes is enough to expose a catastrophic breakdown in my swing.  Recent example.  Not playing. Hero golf, do I'm hitting a 4-5 hybrid off each tee and expecting to get to greens in 3.  2 putts equal bogey golf on par 4s.  Par 3s and 5s give opportunities for pars.  That's sow thing I'll take right now until my swing (and swing speed) are back.

 

So, last round example using the 'green in three' approach: bogey, bogey, bogey, par, par.  No hero shots and no great shots (not expecting to reproduce what I have on the range), just sensible golf IMO for someone trying to get back into the game and not suck.  Hole 6.  Block with a hybrid off the tee, 20 yards forward and 40 degrees right, straight along the ground into water.  Then another exactly the same.  Then a weak toe shot 150 yards out, but at least I'm past the ladies tee box.  Similar swing breakdowns result in a 10.  Then a double on the next,  then another par, finishing with a triple due to similar tee box antics.  I try to swing more upright, straight through, on plane, whatever, but it's not working mid-round.  Eight her a divot before the tee on the tee box heading severely in-to-out or I manage to get to the ball and then drive it into the turf after the tee in a similar in-to-out path.  Depending on when you watched my in a round you'd either think I was shooting in the high eighties, or had never held a golf club in my life!!  Thoughts?  Help!!!!!

 

[RandallT]

First, welcome!

A familiar story around here. Quite a few golfers returning to the game can play decent holes, bit get incredibly frustrated by the blow up holes.

My take is one you won't like: your swing probably isn't as good as you think it is. You are consistently swinging the same way, but that swing has and likely will lead to inconsistent results. 

I think you'll need someone to look at your swing and propose a way forward. 

My recommendations:

- take a look at the member swing forum here. Consider posting yours.

- read up on practice techniques after you've had your swing diagnosed and stick with it: 

You'll need to "change the picture" which isn't easy. Some good  resources on swing threads and other instruction content here:

The other option is to keep doing what you're doing, and perhaps you can groove a swing on your own with your own practice techniques, but I'll say that route didn't work for me. 

[No Mulligans]

When my swing goes south mid-round I go back to the thoughts of steady head and weight forward at impact.

[IrishAndy]

3 hours ago, RandallT said:

My take is one you won't like: your swing probably isn't as good as you think it is. You are consistently swinging the same way, but that swing has and likely will lead to inconsistent results. 

I think you'll need someone to look at your swing and propose a way forward.

Hey, thanks much for the advice and pointers, Randall - very helpful!  The Five "S"s makes complete sense to me.  I actually love practice and repeating small components until they're ingrained.  I have lots of reading to do!

I wouldn't say I think my swing is 'good' at all.  To me a 'good' swing is one that will generally play within the margins of the fairway for 18 holes, and with reasonable distance control... I'm just not there yet.  I would say, though, that I've seen huge improvement in the last 8 weeks and am starting to get some distance control back.  It's just not a functional swing yet, hence the driver doesn't even go in the bag and I'm not swinging for the fences.

This level of breakdown is weird for me, though.  Back in the past I've hit plenty of horrid tee shots, but it was typically more obvious what was happening (e.g. trying to swing too hard with too much of an inside-to-out swing I'd actually lose my balance on longer clubs.  In this case the breakdown isn't so glaring in terms of what my body is doing differently.

I'll definitely post my swing.  I'd like to post both an 'OK' one and one where it just breaks down (I really want to see that).  I may just get my wife to video my tee shots for 9 holes.

With regard to instruction, I'm endeavoring to get my local pro out on the course for 9 holes.  I think a pro needs to see this happening to be able to get the gist of what's breaking down (and thus how to train it out of my move).  I haven't had complete success with lessons in the past, but we'll see.

Thanks a lot for all of the pointers, and the welcome!

Andy

 

 

3 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

When my swing goes south mid-round I go back to the thoughts of steady head and weight forward at impact.

Thanks very much - I don't see how that could hurt to try!  Somehow I'm dropping back more and then not getting the arms through... excess shift, or moving the hips through too quickly are both things I've been guilty of, but I'm not self aware enough to be able to detect what is going on on-course, so simple thoughts will probably help! 

[Midpack]

I can relate. I had 12 good or better holes yesterday, and 6 where 3-wood and/or putter killed me. But I keep trying to figure out why I can hit irons but I'm wild with woods & hybrids.

[IrishAndy]

11 hours ago, Midpack said:

I can relate. I had 12 good or better holes yesterday, and 6 where 3-wood and/or putter killed me. But I keep trying to figure out why I can hit irons but I'm wild with woods & hybrids.

I hear you!  I can typically limp around with my irons when the wheels fall off, but don't know why.  The last time I had the golf bug the wheels falling off would be represented by draws turning into hooks.  Right now it's represented by the ability to block straight right, or duff so much that the ball doesn't even make it to the Reds.  I'm actually embarrassed to play with other people right now!

[IrishAndy]

I wanted to update this as I had continuing issues, followed by a solution!

Continuing Issues

I was hitting the ball well again at the range last week, to the point that two random people actually commented on my swing.  One said "I wish I could hit a nice baby draw with the driver like you can", to which I replied "Don't worry... I can't hit it at all right now on the course!  I'll take your baby fade any day!"  On a separate occasion an older gentleman literally got out of his car at the bag drop and came over to comment on how nice and compact my swing was, said he worked at the club and would love to play a round with me some time.

Well, 1 hour after that I played 9 holes and the wheels were straight back off again.  Topping it off the tee box... taking 45 degree divots with the driver a foot before the ball on the tee box... And still no idea what was going wrong or how to recover.

In the meantime I'd contacted the local pro and explained how I could swing fine on the range, but the wheels were coming off in a bog way on the course.  Told him I needed a lesson on the course as I needed him to actually see the 'bad' version when the wheels were off.

The Solution

The solution actually arose from one of my most frustrating and despairing moments in golf, ever.

I was playing on Friday evening and went to the range in advance to get a little practice in.  Well, I couldn't hit the driver at all.  At all!  The wheels finally fell off on the range.  I'm trying everything to fix it, but to give you an idea one of my better drives hit the 100 yard marker on the range... after landing.  Panicked, I pull out a 'safe' club... my 4/5 hybrid.  I can barely hit a shot.  Top after top.  I'm ready to jack this game in, and then I remember I saw the pro earlier in the clubhouse.  I run up, find him, and tell him if he ever wants to see the wheels fall off that this is the perfect time if ever there was one.  I ask for 30 seconds.  He says he'll give me 30 seconds, so out we go.

He tees up a ball: "Hit a drive".  I flub it.  He says OK, you swing in-to-out but you're now swinging in from like five miles.  Now, hit another but feel like you're taking it waaayyy out on the backswing and coming across through the ball.  "Like I'm trying to hit a cut?"  "Yes, but you won't"

I pipe the drive straight down the middle of the range with no curvature.  "Good, now do it again"  Same thing.  Piped down the middle.  "OK, see you Sunday"

Literally fixed in 30 second with one swing thought.  I took that thought out on Friday and Sunday.  Most drives piped, with my two worst flubs still going straight about 150 yards.  I scored well for me, but I find it much harder to hit greens with mid irons until this thing beds in.  The iron miss is slight left to slight right, so a workable 2-way miss, but I'll be thankful to put in more time and start hitting greens again.

I had a good swing, but it was on the extreme of being playable... a little bit more in-to-out and it became devastatingly unplayable.  A good pro got the wheels back on in 30 seconds, and it's a fix that I can absolutely reproduce.  PHEW!!

[IrishAndy]

Divot direction at 45 degrees to target, just to give a sense of how bad this was...

[IrishAndy]

Well, with a good coach and systematic practice techniques my swing rarely goes too far off the rails now, and when it does, I can recover it with simple swing thoughts.  More importantly, I'm hitting enough good shots that, when the bad shots come, they don't affect my mood.  I still have fun and enjoy the round, without those feelings of utter helplessness.

I still have lots of work to do, but in little over a month my 9 hole scores have gone from 56, down to the low 50s, then into the high 40s, and then two consecutive 44s.  In the last 44 I was triple bogey and double bogey on the first two holes, but I recovered my game, with 4 pars after that; so this is probably the most functional golf game I've ever enjoyed.

Putting it down to a good coach, and some good advice here on how to attack practice.