Thank god for the wonder cure of golf..

[jas80s]

With so much good instruction available on line it becomes so easy to start tinkering with new drills and techniques trying to improve your results hitting the ball.  Unfortunately, it becomes easy to get too many thoughts swimming around in  your head and before you know it, the ball is going everywhere and, in the words of the great Roy McAvoy "your swing feels like an unfolded lawn chair!"

Well, that was me standing on the range today...and then I cleared my head and thought "left arm straight"....Left arm straight on the take away, left arm straight on the down swing...left arm straight, left arm straight.....and it all came back.  I'm no single digit handicapper here, but solid strikes, good general direction, every club.....Thank god.

It's a pretty simple game sometimes...Now, why after 30 some odd years of playing that is NOT the one simple swing thought in my head when I'm over the ball????  I don't know, but when I play tennis I don't look at the ball as I go to hit it and like every pro in the history of the universe does that, so it's safe to say I'm a bit of a sports moron....

[Lihu]

What’s funny is lead arm straight isn’t even an absolute requirement for a good swing, but then again there’s a lot of swing thoughts that people say to themselves...

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, jas80s said:

Now, why after 30 some odd years of playing that is NOT the one simple swing thought in my head when I'm over the ball????  I

Because tomorrow you’ll do that one thought and your shots will be all over the place. Then it’s back to the drawing board.

[jas80s]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

What’s funny is lead arm straight isn’t even an absolute requirement for a good swing, but then again there’s a lot of swing thoughts that people say to themselves...

First I thought, that's so true.  Then I thought, what if I am not even REALLY keeping my arm straight!  Then I just sat there...mind...blown.

13 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Because tomorrow you’ll do that one thought and your shots will be all over the place. Then it’s back to the drawing board.

I think you nailed it, there has to be a reason that it hasn't made its way to the top of my swing thought list.

If nothing else, it seems to clean up the clutter and gets me back to my mediocre swing when I am really struggling to get the feel...when I was younger I thought I would NEVER be happy about something like that, but many years later I am thankful for the smallest of victories...

Anyway, I just kind of threw it out there wondering if the experience seemed familiar to anyone else and if they too had a story of how to get themselves out of an overflow of swing thoughts and ideas...seemed pretty universal.

[Vinsk]

5 hours ago, jas80s said:

First I thought, that's so true.  Then I thought, what if I am not even REALLY keeping my arm straight!  Then I just sat there...mind...blown.

I think you nailed it, there has to be a reason that it hasn't made its way to the top of my swing thought list.

If nothing else, it seems to clean up the clutter and gets me back to my mediocre swing when I am really struggling to get the feel...when I was younger I thought I would NEVER be happy about something like that, but many years later I am thankful for the smallest of victories...

Anyway, I just kind of threw it out there wondering if the experience seemed familiar to anyone else and if they too had a story of how to get themselves out of an overflow of swing thoughts and ideas...seemed pretty universal.

For me the only way I can get multiple swing thoughts out of my mind is to simply not swing a club. Unfortunately  like you most of my golf life was before the use of video (at least for us weekend warriors.) Since joining here and using video I learned that feel is not remotely real. I also learned that what I thought was a well timed and powerful swing that just needed tweaking was actually a disgrace to the Gentlemen’s sport. So these days I fumble around with my phone trying to film my swing which is in itself quite a chore for me. I can’t see the screen due to glare, inevitably screw up the angles. Yeah I’m with you friend. Just need to clean that attic and hit the damn ball. Well not hit...it’s more of a collision with the club while on its path, which should be in to out. Swing through the ball, steady head...oh for cryin out loud......

[Patch]

Swing thoughts are for practice time. Playing is a time for relaxation. Swing thoughts, and relaxation don't collide well with each other. 

I always looked at golf as either being at work, (practice) or being on vacation (playing). 

[Zeph]

14 minutes ago, Patch said:

Swing thoughts are for practice time. Playing is a time for relaxation. Swing thoughts, and relaxation don't collide well with each other. 

I always looked at golf as either being at work, (practice) or being on vacation (playing). 

Each to their own, but many like having a swing thought when playing golf. It might even help some relax by forcing other thoughts out of the head when you focus on one thing.

 

[RussUK]

1 hour ago, Patch said:

Swing thoughts are for practice time. Playing is a time for relaxation. Swing thoughts, and relaxation don't collide well with each other. 

I always looked at golf as either being at work, (practice) or being on vacation (playing). 

I need to follow this advice more often myself. Good advice

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, Patch said:

Swing thoughts are for practice time. Playing is a time for relaxation. Swing thoughts, and relaxation don't collide well with each other. 

I always looked at golf as either being at work, (practice) or being on vacation (playing). 

 

38 minutes ago, RussUK said:

I need to follow this advice more often myself. Good advice

I wouldn’t go overboard this way either, you have to think a little bit.

[RussUK]

Just now, Lihu said:

 

I wouldn’t go overboard this way either, you have to think a little bit.

I was thinking along @Patch's lines of "Playing is time for relaxation". Sometimes i take it far too seriously.

[ghalfaire]

For me mechanical thoughts, like keep the left arm straight, just don't work.  I know they do for some, but not me.  I try to follow a routine of stand behind the ball and pick a line, try to "see" the shot as best I can, step up to ball from behind and take my stance, check grip pressure (I tend to choke the club), then swing.  My only swing thought is either a song in my head or (this sounds stupid, but works for me), "be the ball".  No I'm not putting you on.

[Vinsk]

3 hours ago, Patch said:

Swing thoughts are for practice time. Playing is a time for relaxation. Swing thoughts, and relaxation don't collide well with each other. 

I always looked at golf as either being at work, (practice) or being on vacation (playing). 

I really wish I could have this mindset. Problem for me is how much I enjoy playing well and how much I loathe a bad round. A bad day at golf is not better than a good day at work for me. And really for me it’s all because the golf gods cursed me in 1991 with the shanks and they remain to this day. My bad rounds are because of them. Not pushing, pulling, hooking or slicing. Shank. And unless you’re just an amazingly blissful person, hitting shanks all over the course is difficult to enjoy.

[millsan1]

When playing, I do my best ot get swing thoughts out of my head.  It almost always goes poorly for me if I do not do that.

There are times, when my head doesn't cooperate.  If that is happening,  I sometimes resort to walking up to the ball and striking it right after setting up, not allowing my brain to get in the way, no waggle, no practice swing, no nothing, just set, and hit.  Most times that goes well.

[308 Ragin Cajun]

I try to keep my swing thoughts down to 2-"Tempo" and "Turn!", the exclamation point after Turn  is because I have a habit of picking up the club on the backswing, and making a false turn, the result of which is usually a pop fly to right field.  It's easy to get too many thoughts cluttering your head while trying to hit  golf ball. When i keep it down to these 2 thoughts, my results ausually much better.

[NM Golf]

My only thought when I take it back is what number I have to the hole, nothing else. If I let other things creep in, its normally counterproductive. I am about as non technical as someone can get.