What the hell?

[Bucki1968]

Okay...I'm sure that this happens to other golfers but I guess I'm curious to hear some other stories/commiserates. How often have you played a round of golf and hit it great, putted well, chipped/pitched well, and then played the very next day and couldn't do anything well? Or have you every been hitting your driver long and down the middle all day and then suddenly on the last couple holes, hit it sideways? I'm sure there is some different explanations but I guess I'm just curious to hear some.  

[Club Rat]

Sure, it happens often to many golfers.

Golfs a funny game.

I've had "One Swing" ruin many great rounds.

On the other hand had "One Swing" win some Beer money from my Buddies....

[Bucki1968]

1 minute ago, Club Rat said:

Sure, it happens often to many golfers.

Golfs a funny game.

I've had "One Swing" ruin many great rounds.

On the other hand had "One Swing" win some Beer money from my Buddies....

Yea I guess that's why I'm posting this topic. Played on Saturday, shot one under on the front 9 was even through 6 holes on the back and then....suddenly hit a couple tee shots way right (draw all day) and blew up to 40 on back.

[GolfLug]

If nothing very obvious that is not apparent then I think mechanical repeatability in our bodies can 'creep' mid round or next day, i.e., for example for me usually tad bit more sway (weight shift) creeps in regardless of how rigorously I go through my mental checklist of keys. Affects club path and face just enough to not be diagonosable on the fly and yet drive you nuts.    

[saevel25]

42 minutes ago, Bucki1968 said:

Okay...I'm sure that this happens to other golfers but I guess I'm curious to hear some other stories/commiserates. How often have you played a round of golf and hit it great, putted well, chipped/pitched well, and then played the very next day and couldn't do anything well? Or have you every been hitting your driver long and down the middle all day and then suddenly on the last couple holes, hit it sideways? I'm sure there is some different explanations but I guess I'm just curious to hear some.  

Depends on your handicap. I've seen scratch golfers top a drive, or a fairway shot. This happens very rarely, but it happens. It obviously happens more often as the golfers handicap goes up.

From Trackman, https://blog.trackmangolf.com/face-to-path/

With a 5 degree to path difference, a ball that carries 275 yards will go 44 yards offline.

With a 5 degree to path difference, a ball that carries 220 yards will go 33 yards offline.

5 degrees it isn't much. When you consider that higher handicap golfers have a higher rate of closure than lower handicap golfers, they are not helping themselves in being able to consistently hit with a smaller path to face angle.

[Marty2019]

34 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Depends on your handicap. I've seen scratch golfers top a drive, or a fairway shot. This happens very rarely, but it happens. It obviously happens more often as the golfers handicap goes up.

From Trackman, https://blog.trackmangolf.com/face-to-path/

With a 5 degree to path difference, a ball that carries 275 yards will go 44 yards offline.

With a 5 degree to path difference, a ball that carries 220 yards will go 33 yards offline.

5 degrees it isn't much. When you consider that higher handicap golfers have a higher rate of closure than lower handicap golfers, they are not helping themselves in being able to consistently hit with a smaller path to face angle.

I was out at the Player's Championship during a practice round, and I saw Phil Mickelson top a shot from the fairway.   He made a full swing, 200 or so yards from the green, and the ball rolled on the ground about 20 yards.   I guess it's possible he was just joking around.  

1 hour ago, Bucki1968 said:

Okay...I'm sure that this happens to other golfers but I guess I'm curious to hear some other stories/commiserates. How often have you played a round of golf and hit it great, putted well, chipped/pitched well, and then played the very next day and couldn't do anything well? Or have you every been hitting your driver long and down the middle all day and then suddenly on the last couple holes, hit it sideways? I'm sure there is some different explanations but I guess I'm just curious to hear some.  

My theory is, there are many components to a golf swing- the hands, the arms, the hips, the legs, the posture, etc etc etc, and for a casual golfer, all these components are in motion, like the planets.  From one day to the next, these components are slowly moving.   Occasionally, all the planets line up, and everything works, all day, but what you don't realize is, everything is still in motion, and the next day, all those planets are no longer lined up; they've moved, and now, things are back out of sync. 

 

Edited January 22, 2018 by Marty2019

[Patch]

Yeah, I have done that quite a few times during my golf journey.  I jokingly call it the "Eastwood Syndrome". The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly. All three of those shots reside inside me. 

In my case,  I just chalked it up to mental fatique. Maybe a little physical fatique.

My initial fix was not to give it much thought. I was still playing golf. I would just smile, shake my head, and move on when I had a run of poor ball striking.  No worries. 

I would most likely play through it, or if it became a  really big issue, maybe take a day, or three away from my game. 

I tend to believe some amateur golfers take their game too seriously. When the wheels momentarily come off, they freak out. They start looking for a fix, and the search for those fixes creats new problems, which creats a new search...etc

 

[Yukari]

Happens every season.  Playing along really well for a few weeks and then out of no where, I start playing like a beginner.  It takes a while to get back on track, but some how, I can't seem to avoid the down-turn during any given season.

[Hoganman1]

Yep, we've all experienced this at one time or another. Yesterday, I was even par on our fifth tee. Out of nowhere I made two doubles (one on a par five). I took a deep breath, reset my goals, and almost made birdie on the next hole (lipped out for par). After 50 years of playing I've learned that Bagger Vance was right. "Golf is a game that can never be won, only played". Think about how many times you've seen a tour player shoot 62 and follow it up with a score in the 70s. A friend of mine once said that nothing ruins a good golf swing more than a night's sleep.

[Fairway_CY]

Definitely frustrating.  Someone here once told me to step away for a few days and let your body re-calibrate.  Dunno why... but it sees to work.  

CY

[dbuck]

I have "all" the shots in my bag.

As a bogey golfer, the change can be even more pronounced. Some days/holes I feel like I am holding the wrong end of the club.

[RussUK]

On ‎22‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 2:33 PM, saevel25 said:

Depends on your handicap. I've seen scratch golfers top a drive, or a fairway shot. This happens very rarely, but it happens. It obviously happens more often as the golfers handicap goes up.

 

Very true. When someone asks me what my handicap is i normally respond with "lack of skill"

[NM Golf]

Happens to the best of us, think about Greg Norman's meltdown at the 1996 Masters or Rory's debacle in 2011. That's why winning multiple tournaments is difficult on any level, golf is hard and putting together multiple good rounds is not something that happens every week.