Have you ever experienced overtraining from golf?

Finally hit a wall today. I've been hitting 400+ balls per day for a few months now, and this last week I was probably at around 700 per day trying to groove a swing change. Played a round today and the club felt like it was dragging behind me all day. My driver was more than 12mph lower than normal on SSR. Just checked my resting heartrate and it was 112, my normal is mid 60s.

Anyone else experienced anything like this? How long was recovery?

700 balls a day...you're practicing wrong.

This can't be real. If it is, it's nuts.

> @Buckets2 said:

> 700 balls a day...you're practicing wrong.

This.

> @Buckets2 said:

> 700 balls a day...you're practicing wrong.

I know. I just cant force myself to not do it that way. The only thing that makes it less bad is that it is spread out over the entire day. I work from home most days. It isnt like I'm doing 400 ball sessions.

> @MountainGoat said:

> This can't be real. If it is, it's nuts.

>

Unfortunately it is real. Heartrate has come down a tad more, but still over 100.

Wes - you are not alone. I can't help myself either, when I have issues like I've been having lately - I can't stay away. I have a mat and net in my backyard, also work from home at times, and will bang out shots in the early AM, again at Noon, and then for an 1-1/2 to 2 hours at night listening to a ball game honing a swing or a new fix. Or I'll work on short game or certain fundamentals or try to find a fix for the flavor of the day. Just the way I'm wired, I can't help myself. Then again it has paid off at times.

> @Wesquire said:

> > @MountainGoat said:

> > This can't be real. If it is, it's nuts.

> >

>

> Unfortunately it is real. Heartrate has come down a tad more, but still over 100.

I meant the 700 balls a day is nuts. One a minute would take over 11 hours.

Lots of causes for tachycardia. You need a doctor.

That’s Moe Norman ball-count territory.

You should see a doctor to make sure you’re ok, in all honesty.

700 balls a day is the opposite of ingraining change.

> @MountainGoat said:

> > @Wesquire said:

> > > @MountainGoat said:

> > > This can't be real. If it is, it's nuts.

> > >

> >

> > Unfortunately it is real. Heartrate has come down a tad more, but still over 100.

>

> I meant the 700 balls a day is nuts. One a minute would take over 11 hours.

> Lots of causes for tachycardia. You need a doctor.

I probably hit 3-4 per minute for 20-30 minutes each session. 4-8 sessions per day. Just went through my 5th net so far this year.

> @PowderedToastMan said:

> That’s Moe Norman ball-count territory.

>

> You should see a doctor to make sure you’re ok, in all honesty.

Called my friend that is a doctor. Said it is probably overtraining syndrome. Heartrate is still slowing dropping. If it doesnt get back to ~90 I'll go see a doctor.

I can’t imagine exerting enough physical effort hitting golf balls to truly be “overtrained” but I can’t really imagine hitting that volume of balls at full tilt either so ?‍♂️?‍♂️

> @Wesquire said:

> > @MountainGoat said:

> > > @Wesquire said:

> > > > @MountainGoat said:

> > > > This can't be real. If it is, it's nuts.

> > > >

> > >

> > > Unfortunately it is real. Heartrate has come down a tad more, but still over 100.

> >

> > I meant the 700 balls a day is nuts. One a minute would take over 11 hours.

> > Lots of causes for tachycardia. You need a doctor.

>

> I probably hit 3-4 per minute for 20-30 minutes each session. 4-8 sessions per day.

That’s not practice. That’s machine gun golf. Put the club down between shots and go thru your whole routine. More than one a minute is too fast.

See a doctor. Could be something simple like too much caffeine or something more exotic.

> @MadGolfer76 said:

> 700 balls a day is the opposite of ingraining change.

I know I'm ingraining sloppy unfocused shots. Once I recover I'm going to try my best to stay under 100 balls per day, or at least no more than 1 ball per minute.

What many of you fail to understand, and I have made the same mistake, is that you can hit hundreds of balls, it does not mean you will get any better. And you can take lesson after lesson, it does not guarantee anything. To a large extent, it is about talent and hand to eye coordination. I am an 80s-90s shooter, occasionally have moments of brilliance in the high 70s, but that is it. I don't believe i have the talent to go any further. And I give no credibility to these gurus who infest these forums and say otherwise, and I give no credibility to the latest claims by the manufacturers of equipment and balls. None of us are entitled to a game at a high level, and hard work does not guarantee much. You get to the point where you just get out and enjoy the company, and the scenery, and the 19th hole that follows. Just like work, there are people that get ahead because of their skills and talents and it seems effortless, there are some that try and try, they go no where. No guarantees with anything in this life, golf is but one example of that.

> @Wesquire said:

> Anyone else experienced anything like this?

Yes but that was during my Ironman and ultra-running years. If your physical activity is limited to hitting golf balls and you have an elevated resting heart rate, I suggest you see your doctor.

> @dasams said:

> > @Wesquire said:

> > Anyone else experienced anything like this?

> Yes but that was during my Ironman and ultra-running years. If your physical activity is limited to hitting golf balls and you have an elevated resting heart rate, I suggest you see your doctor.

I also lift weights, play 2 hours of basketball 4 days per week, and I walk about 3 rounds per week. Just never really had an issue until this week when I ramped up on hitting balls even more. Havent even played basketball this week.

> @Wesquire said:

> > @MadGolfer76 said:

> > 700 balls a day is the opposite of ingraining change.

>

> I know I'm ingraining sloppy unfocused shots. Once I recover I'm going to try my best to stay under 100 balls per day, or at least no more than 1 ball per minute.

Wes, I would focus on the heart stuff first. I hope you are feeling better by now.

lets guess this guys handicap

> @MadGolfer76 said:

> > @Wesquire said:

> > > @MadGolfer76 said:

> > > 700 balls a day is the opposite of ingraining change.

> >

> > I know I'm ingraining sloppy unfocused shots. Once I recover I'm going to try my best to stay under 100 balls per day, or at least no more than 1 ball per minute.

> Wes, I would focus on the heart stuff first. I hope you are feeling better by now.

>

Yeah it is slowly trending back. At around 90 now. Doctor friend said the slow heartrate recovery is very indicative of overtraining, overreaching, or just a lot of cumulative fatigue.

> @Wesquire said:

> > @MadGolfer76 said:

> > 700 balls a day is the opposite of ingraining change.

>

> I know I'm ingraining sloppy unfocused shots. Once I recover I'm going to try my best to stay under 100 balls per day, or at least no more than 1 ball per minute.

You've said "I know" to the above and that you couldn't stop yourself in another comment. Discipline seems to be an issue. You need quality over quantity and you are simply making things much harder than they should be.

Don't try, do it. You are making Yoda sad.

Practice with a purpose and focus or don't bother.

> @Wesquire said:

> > @dasams said:

> > > @Wesquire said:

> > > Anyone else experienced anything like this?

> > Yes but that was during my Ironman and ultra-running years. If your physical activity is limited to hitting golf balls and you have an elevated resting heart rate, I suggest you see your doctor.

>

> I also lift weights, play 2 hours of basketball 4 days per week, and I walk about 3 rounds per week. Just never really had an issue until this week when I ramped up on hitting balls even more. Havent even played basketball this week.

Goodness. Do you work? What kind of stay at home job allows all this? Day trading?

> @MountainGoat said:

> > @Wesquire said:

> > > @dasams said:

> > > > @Wesquire said:

> > > > Anyone else experienced anything like this?

> > > Yes but that was during my Ironman and ultra-running years. If your physical activity is limited to hitting golf balls and you have an elevated resting heart rate, I suggest you see your doctor.

> >

> > I also lift weights, play 2 hours of basketball 4 days per week, and I walk about 3 rounds per week. Just never really had an issue until this week when I ramped up on hitting balls even more. Havent even played basketball this week.

>

> Goodness. Do you work? What kind of stay at home job allows all this? Day trading?

I'm a solo practice attorney. Most of my work is done in the courtroom. If I dont have court that day, I generally only have about 2 hours of work. On the other hand, if I've got a jury trial coming up, it's about 100 hours per week for two weeks leading up to it.

> @Wesquire said:

> > @MountainGoat said:

> > > @Wesquire said:

> > > > @dasams said:

> > > > > @Wesquire said:

> > > > > Anyone else experienced anything like this?

> > > > Yes but that was during my Ironman and ultra-running years. If your physical activity is limited to hitting golf balls and you have an elevated resting heart rate, I suggest you see your doctor.

> > >

> > > I also lift weights, play 2 hours of basketball 4 days per week, and I walk about 3 rounds per week. Just never really had an issue until this week when I ramped up on hitting balls even more. Havent even played basketball this week.

> >

> > Goodness. Do you work? What kind of stay at home job allows all this? Day trading?

>

> I'm a solo practice attorney. Most of my work is done in the courtroom. If I dont have court that day, I generally only have about 2 hours of work. On the other hand, if I've got a jury trial coming up, it's about 100 hours per week for two weeks leading up to it.

Thanks. That explains a lot. Carry on.

I have had this issue before. In fact, a couple of years ago I was using a Trackman and measured my club speed throughout a long training session where I hit 400 balls with no warmup.

I found that without a warmup, my club speed would be about 10 mph less in those initial swings. Then at the end of hitting 400 balls, the swing speed would drop about 4-8 mph.

Years before this, I would hit a ton of golf balls and the main problem I had with hitting that many golf balls was my lower back would start to hurt and I would get blisters (I used to never wear a glove back then). But over time I started to see some other issues with hitting that many golf balls doing some trial and error and also talking with neuroscience and skill acquisition experts. Essentially, it's very easy to develop worse swing mechanics when hitting too many golf balls. It's easier to ingrain bad habits and studies show that it can hurt confidence and a negative state of mind has shown to worse brain functionality by 35%. Moe Norman would routinely hit 800 balls a day, but he had a very positive state of mind and a really darn good swing, so he was the case of a player that benefited from that. But I don't think there are many people like Moe in this world. Even Hogan was reportedly known for practicing, but not hitting a ton of golf balls and instead making each golf swing count.

Anyway, as far as the swing speed drops I can see part of that being about ingraining some poor mechanics. But for me, I tend to hit it the best when I pivot well in the backswing and really utilize my legs in the downswing. If I were to hit 800 balls in a day, I'm going to get tired and my pivot action will suffer and I won't be able to utilize my legs as well after a while.

RH

OP hits a bunch of balls every day, plays a couple of hours of basketball every day, plays golf 2-3 times a week, lifts to some extent ... and his body is apparently giving out. Dude, take a vacation. A real vacation, where you lay on a beach and do nothing for a couple of weeks.

Pulse is back under 70 and closer to normal, so it is looking like it might not be all that serious (in terms of overtraining syndrome). Think ive just really overloaded my CNS recently and it was telling me to cut it out.

I do not think the speed drop was from mechanics. I've been working with Monte for about a year now and my swing has never been in a better place. Recently I've been able to get the green superspeed stick up into the 140s on SSR, and it was around 112 yesterday.

> @TheSouthernGentleman said:

> What many of you fail to understand, and I have made the same mistake, is that you can hit hundreds of balls, it does not mean you will get any better. And you can take lesson after lesson, it does not guarantee anything. To a large extent, it is about talent and hand to eye coordination. I am an 80s-90s shooter, occasionally have moments of brilliance in the high 70s, but that is it. I don't believe i have the talent to go any further. And I give no credibility to these gurus who infest these forums and say otherwise, and I give no credibility to the latest claims by the manufacturers of equipment and balls. None of us are entitled to a game at a high level, and hard work does not guarantee much. You get to the point where you just get out and enjoy the company, and the scenery, and the 19th hole that follows. Just like work, there are people that get ahead because of their skills and talents and it seems effortless, there are some that try and try, they go no where. No guarantees with anything in this life, golf is but one example of that.

I honestly couldn't disagree more. The genetic lottery does play a role in your ability to get better but there is so much more to golf than physical attributes. Countless players fail to get to their full potential due to their head getting in the way. Call me old school but I still believe hard work pays off.

Shut everything down for a week and you'll be fine. Then don't make the same mistake again.

Yes you can overtrain just golf. All the other things you're doing along with this is too much.

But you knew that.

So what are you going to do differently?