The more I play, the worse I get...

BoardsMember

Is anyone else like this?? I dont touch September to February, have a couple of warm up games in March, and by early April my game is good - hitting fairways, striking the ball well, short game a bit rusty, but that's to be expected. Pretty muc playing to h'cap (9).

So it's now June, I rarely hit a fairway when I hit driver, still striking the ball well, short game better. So scoring about the same as April. The harder I try, the worse I get off the tee with a driver. Luckily I am member of a short course, so only need driver maybe 5 times a round, otherwise I hit rescue. But my driver is either miles left (due to right shoulder coming over the top from the top of the back swing, possibly contributed to by grip), or miles right. Sometimes it's down the middle.

I was out last night for a bit of practise, if I hit three tee shots, I could pretty much guarantee one would be left, one right, one down the middle. Is anyone else like this? I have had 1 lesson in my life, none recently. I am really reluctant to go for lessons, I worry what it might start. But I'm not sure I can solve my consistency without expert input. My low score was 2 years ago, one over gross. Have had a good few other mid to late 70's rounds, so I know I can do it. But maybe I need to commit to lesssons.

Sorry for blabbering on. What I'm interested in is if anyone else has been in similar situation re consistency off the tee with driver, and how they dealt with it.

hades

Lessons is your only man, i was in the exact same predicament recently and my average points on a round went from 30 down to barely 18...

I went for a lesson, and while i was doing everything right, i had a developed a little flex of my left knee in my back swing meaning i was coming off the ball on my follow through. I would never have spotted it, only for the pro. Even all the guys i played with, never spotted it. Now that i know what it is, i rarely have the issue, and when i do, i can pinpoint it straight away,

I bet your doing something as small, and for the sake of the cost of a lesson, it would save you a load of heartache in the future.

k.p.h

I think it's back to something I said here in another thread. A golf swing need constant maintenance .

I believe what happens is at the start of the season you take a little while to find your swing and what works and then you end up going to far.

For instance a friend of mine got told by a pro that he needed to get his hands deeper at address. So when he done this as if like magic his striking was seriously improved but after a while whenever he hit a bad shot he must have thought hands were not deep enough so he got his hands deeper. This eventually led him to taking the club back on the outside and a heap of problems ensued.

The thing is like anything too much of something is bad. I started bumping my hips on the downswing last year to generate power . Worked like a charm. But now this year I am struggling because I have my weight outside my left foot at impact (Very nasty) .

So either video the swing or get a pro to take a look the right way to do it. I think maybe some really low handicap players can monitor their own swing from experience. But I now know for a fact that I can't. At some one stage their last year I thought I was like Bubba.. No need for lessons blah de blah ... What a fool I was.

A lot of lads say to me they were swinging great before and they don't have a clue whats after happening. Now I just think to myself, you didn't mind it , nurture it, and bring it to the doc when it was sick.

Think I'm going to call the RSPCGS.;)

Jul3s

I'm the same, I play off 9 now was off 7 6 months ago, I find the more I play the worse I get and the worse I get the more I play, it's a vicious circle.

BoardsMember

Thanks for the input lads. Now to find the right teacher! Might just give the club pro a go. I'm dreading him picking too many things up, like grip change etc, but posts are 100% sensible and difficult to ignore! I suppose the swing is always a work in progress, and we need someone to make sure it's progressing in the right direction. If the effing wind would quiet downa a bit I might struggle through to next week before a lesson!

ssbob

BoardsMember wrote: »

Thanks for the input lads. Now to find the right teacher! Might just give the club pro a go. I'm dreading him picking too many things up, like grip change etc, but posts are 100% sensible and difficult to ignore! I suppose the swing is always a work in progress, and we need someone to make sure it's progressing in the right direction. If the effing wind would quiet downa a bit I might struggle through to next week before a lesson!

Feel as frustrated as you although not as low a handicap, at the end of March and all through April, i have been Driving woefully but really hitting my irons crisp with a slight fade, short game not up to scratch..............then all of a sudden two weeks ago, started hitting driver unbelievable following a tip from a buddy, but I have developed a straight hook left with my irons and can't get rid of it....................Played an open on Monday and reckon I hit probably about 10/14 fairways and ended up with 17 points...................whats wrong with me?

k.p.h

Nothing wrong with you or any of us ssbob its just golf is really hard . Like really really hard. It's what makes the game great and also what makes it so frustrating.

stockdam

Do you tamper with your swing as soon as you have a bad day? Are you trying too many things? If you play off 9 then your swing is pretty decent already. I'd go for a lesson and hopefully he/she will point out something; my gut feel is that you don't have a repeating setup and you are maybe trying to manipulate the ball flight with your hands/shoulders. Or you have to much movement and you need to quieten something down.

I sometimes do this.......I don't really have a picture of what to do so I aimlessly aim. I play better if I think about my setup and aim down the right hand rough and draw the ball back in. If I aim left then I often double-cross and get a pull-hook. So rather than plonk myself down behind the ball, I take aim and then grip in a way that suits my natural ball flight. Aiming down the right makes me aware that I cannot let the shot leak to the right and I must make it come back by aiming the clubface at the target (closed to my shoulder line); sometimes I may get it wrong but at worst the ball ends up in the right hand rough. I find that I have all the fairway to go over before I end up in the left rough so in theory I have more room for error.......well that's my theory (wish I could play as often as you do).

BoardsMember

stockdam wrote: »

Do you tamper with your swing as soon as you have a bad day?

eh no, as soon as I have oine bad drive

stockdam wrote: »

my gut feel is that you don't have a repeating setup and you are maybe trying to manipulate the ball flight with your hands/shoulders. Or you have to much movement and you need to quieten something down.

I sometimes do this.......I don't really have a picture of what to do so I aimlessly aim. I play better if I think about my setup and aim down the right hand rough and draw the ball back in. If I aim left then I often double-cross and get a pull-hook. So rather than plonk myself down behind the ball, I take aim and then grip in a way that suits my natural ball flight. Aiming down the right makes me aware that I cannot let the shot leak to the right and I must make it come back by aiming the clubface at the target (closed to my shoulder line); sometimes I may get it wrong but at worst the ball ends up in the right hand rough. I find that I have all the fairway to go over before I end up in the left rough so in theory I have more room for error.......well that's my theory (wish I could play as often as you do).

Good advice, something new to try in the morning, thanks!! That's actually what I decided on my last drive on Tuesday night, aim down the right for a draw, it worked perfectly, having hit the first one miles left, and the second down the middle.

Hunter21

Best thing you can do is spend time at the range. Practice first hitting a few long irons and then onto rescue and fairway woods. Make sure your hitting these consistently then move onto the driver.

Working your way up will gain the feel for it. More likely the driver will act up again, then just start placing the ball at address in different positions. More often then not bad drives are caused by ball in wrong place at address and swinging too quick. Drivers are not made to bash balls at break neck speed!
When starting the backswing count number "1"
When finished saying number 1 say number "2" hold this position!!
Then to start the downswing count number "3" this will give you a start on ryhthm and you will hit the ball better. Its worked wonders for my game and a couple of mates.

Its all about trying to repeat the same thing (this is where ryhtym comes in easily replicated in every shot) and the ball position is like when a door in your house hits the door frame. It hits it squarely same principal to the swing- you want the club to meet the ball squarely. Imagine your standing in a door frame swinging.

Best of luck, keep me updated on how you get on..

M

ssbob

I think this may be my problem, I have totally given up the driving range in favour of the golf course, I never enjoy the range but tolerate it in the evenings......................guess I need to go work on my long game again :(:mad::(:(

Hunter21

ssbob wrote: »

I think this may be my problem, I have totally given up the driving range in favour of the golf course, I never enjoy the range but tolerate it in the evenings......................guess I need to go work on my long game again :(:mad::(:(

I feel a golf course isnt a place to practice long game simply because on a parkland course there is a feeling of claustraphobia- I must hit the ball on the fairway (40yards wide at that) I must hit it up between this narraw avenue of trees etc etc. The range is a bit more easy going on the brain
Plus hitting 3 or 4 balls off each tee box would be frowned upon.