About ready to quit golf again...

[TIM929]

OP, hope you get 100% soon.

 

did you learn the GG pivot/rotation move from GG, GG instructor, or paid instructional site where someone is watching your swing?

 

[DloS]

Interesting read. I think we've all been through this before. I had tennis elbow in both my elbows about 8 months ago myself. From my experience, my golf suffered from this. You may think you're fine, but your body is subconsciously compensating. As for the pulls, I get those when I dont complete my backswing and turn enough on my downswing causing my hands to get ahead of me = pull. If I don't complete my backswing (more noticeable on the longer clubs), the club doesn't "set" causing an out to in swing. I find that I lose my balance and fall back when I'm a) too close to the ball and trying to avoid the fat shot. b) trying to over swing. c) too chicken s**t to make a divot. d) too much weight on the heels of my foot during the swing. Or e) not keeping flex in the knees (straightening the legs) on the downswing. Hope this helps.

[Cpr3584]

Agree with most other users here.

You are playing swing, not golf.

You go to the first tee with all those thoughts in your head, its not going to be a good round.

Work on those things at home or on the range until its comfortable to you and you can swing without thinking about it

 

[LeftDaddy]

An update of sorts, since many of you have been nice enough to encourage me and give some advice, etc.

 

I haven’t played a hole of golf in what feels like a month now. Probably is almost a month. Some of it has been work and weather related, and some family related, and some just avoiding playing because I’m hurt or because I know I won’t be very good on the course. Add to my “misery” that I got passed over for a big promotion recently that I totally deserved. I had been working so hard to earn it, and that cut into my golf time. Well screw that now... I’m cutting out early the next time I feel like playing again, damnit.

 

Anyway, I have gone to the range a few times and I also have a 3rd floor where I can hit whiffle balls. So I’ve started focusing almost solely on impact, and boy did I get some ‘a ha’s. My impact position has gotten so bad. No wonder I had played so poorly. My big ‘A ha’s have been two things. First, to foster earlier rotation, for me I need to put all of my weight right down into my trail (left) knee and go “weightless” almost on my right foot. That allows me to stay behind the ball and pivot and swing the club what feels like around my body. Second, I realized that in order to get “behind” the ball I had been trying to turn way behind it and put all of my weight behind my left foot. But oddly, as I started to pivot to impact I was back ahead of the ball, and i only realized why a couple of nights ago. It was because the rotation away from the ball was putting me into front bend, just well behind the ball. When I rotate, that puts my head in front of the ball, and then I had to go into back extension really hard to try to hit the ball. So I’ve been hitting these half swings starting from impact and working my way backward on my 3rd floor and it has done wonders for my path and ball contact. I can only hit wedges up there, so I haven’t tried any of this yet with longer irons or a driver. I’m definitely curious as to how it will work. I will say that the back extension on the backswing feels a lot like a reverse pivot, so I’m worried about that. But I’ll figure it out.

 

Oh, and a quick update on the pinched nerve. Still not 100%. Most of my pain is now in my left elbow, and my left index finger is still numb. But it is still better than it was the last time I wrote about it. It is improving slowly every day. I feel like I could actually play 18 holes now, if only my swing were “fixed” (and not to mention the holidays and travel upcoming, work, cold weather, etc.). Might be a good thing to spend a lot more time on the range actually.

[Sean2]

This is a difficult game. We all struggle with it...some of us more than others. Usually when we put a lot of effort into something we generally see some kind of results. Golf might be a bit of an exception. A person puts all that work into the game and doesn't see much improvement, that is very frustrating.

 

The USGA says for golfers that keep a handicap the average is around a 15. The National Golf Foundations says that 45% of all golfers can't break 100.

 

So, don't be too hard on yourself, keep working at it and you will improve.

 

I work hard at this game, and still struggle. One thing I have found helpful is to develop a good short game, it can save a lot of strokes. And, the beauty of developing a good short game is a golfer doesn't need to be young or athletic to develop one.

 

Good luck!

 

 

[PowderedToastMan]

> @LeftDaddy said:

> An update of sorts, since many of you have been nice enough to encourage me and give some advice, etc.

>

> I haven’t played a hole of golf in what feels like a month now. Probably is almost a month. Some of it has been work and weather related, and some family related, and some just avoiding playing because I’m hurt or because I know I won’t be very good on the course. Add to my “misery” that I got passed over for a big promotion recently that I totally deserved. I had been working so hard to earn it, and that cut into my golf time. Well screw that now... I’m cutting out early the next time I feel like playing again, damnit.

>

> Anyway, I have gone to the range a few times and I also have a 3rd floor where I can hit whiffle balls. So I’ve started focusing almost solely on impact, and boy did I get some ‘a ha’s. My impact position has gotten so bad. No wonder I had played so poorly. My big ‘A ha’s have been two things. First, to foster earlier rotation, for me I need to put all of my weight right down into my trail (left) knee and go “weightless” almost on my right foot. That allows me to stay behind the ball and pivot and swing the club what feels like around my body. Second, I realized that in order to get “behind” the ball I had been trying to turn way behind it and put all of my weight behind my left foot. But oddly, as I started to pivot to impact I was back ahead of the ball, and i only realized why a couple of nights ago. It was because the rotation away from the ball was putting me into front bend, just well behind the ball. When I rotate, that puts my head in front of the ball, and then I had to go into back extension really hard to try to hit the ball. So I’ve been hitting these half swings starting from impact and working my way backward on my 3rd floor and it has done wonders for my path and ball contact. I can only hit wedges up there, so I haven’t tried any of this yet with longer irons or a driver. I’m definitely curious as to how it will work. I will say that the back extension on the backswing feels a lot like a reverse pivot, so I’m worried about that. But I’ll figure it out.

>

> Oh, and a quick update on the pinched nerve. Still not 100%. Most of my pain is now in my left elbow, and my left index finger is still numb. But it is still better than it was the last time I wrote about it. It is improving slowly every day. I feel like I could actually play 18 holes now, if only my swing were “fixed” (and not to mention the holidays and travel upcoming, work, cold weather, etc.). Might be a good thing to spend a lot more time on the range actually.

 

Your use of language about not getting the promotion reveals a bit about your mind and probably why you frequently consider quitting golf.

 

This might sound harsh, but I think the earlier you can realize that humans essentially “deserve” nothing in life, the more you’ll be able to enjoy what you have. If you have an attitude of feeling like you deserve something, golf in particular is going to mess with your brain. I get feeling passed over, I get the feeling of working hard for something and feeling disappointed about the result, but I don’t believe athletic performance, or even mental health in general, does well with a “deserve” attitude. Nobody is entitled to shoot a certain golf score or entitled to a certain golf game.

 

Golf, or life in general, doesn’t owe any of us anything and we can’t change that fact no matter how hard we might try to fight it. In fact, every golfer I’ve ever seen who’s learned to submit has not only enjoyed the game more but usually ends up being a better, more resilient player.

 

I hope you don’t take this post too critically. I could be totally wrong, but maybe you’ll find some truth in it and maybe it will help out your enjoyment of the game.

 

[LeftDaddy]

> @PowderedToastMan said:

>

> Your use of language about not getting the promotion reveals a bit about your mind and probably why you frequently consider quitting golf.

>

> This might sound harsh, but I think the earlier you can realize that humans essentially “deserve” nothing in life, the more you’ll be able to enjoy what you have. If you have an attitude of feeling like you deserve something, golf in particular is going to mess with your brain. I get feeling passed over, I get the feeling of working hard for something and feeling disappointed about the result, but I don’t believe athletic performance, or even mental health in general, does well with a “deserve” attitude. Nobody is entitled to shoot a certain golf score or entitled to a certain golf game.

>

> Golf, or life in general, doesn’t owe any of us anything and we can’t change that fact no matter how hard we might try to fight it. In fact, every golfer I’ve ever seen who’s learned to submit has not only enjoyed the game more but usually ends up being a better, more resilient player.

>

> I hope you don’t take this post too critically. I could be totally wrong, but maybe you’ll find some truth in it and maybe it will help out your enjoyment of the game.

>

 

I think you probably are being a little too harsh, but I also know what you mean. Or maybe I should say that that one phrase doesn’t encapsulate me and how I view the world. Let’s just say that I have worked hard for a long time for this job, and I was the most qualified candidate. But oftentimes in corporate America decisions like that aren’t made for all of the “right” reasons, and these decisions are often made by the “wrong” people too.

 

Anyway, enough about that. It makes me angrier the more I think about it.

 

I do get your drift overall, though, but I guess my pushback might be that I don’t consider it unreasonable to ask yourself occasionally whether you are getting out of something what you are putting into it...golf included. It might be the case that golf is giving me back more than I’m “accounting” for, and so maybe I should appreciate those things a little more. That I can agree with. And I guess I could be a little more happy-go-lucky, but that just ain’t me...

 

Thanks for your post, though. I do get what you are trying to say.

 

[BB28403]

Sometimes you have to turn off old Seinfeld re runs for a few months before they become funny again.

 

Same with lots of things...

[Doucer]

Your story really hit home for me. I was going through the same thing the last 2 years. I was golfing so bad I wanted to quit. I was no fun to be with in the golf course. Took lessons and nothing helped. Worst of all I developed the shanks. It was embarrassing.

 

I don’t have any real advice other than don’t quit. For me I love getting outside and hanging with good friends. I started by not keeping score which took away the pressure. Then I kept telling myself how lucky I was to be able to afford to play golf. Then I watched a couple of YouTube videos which helped eliminate the shanks. Gradually my confidence came back. I finally accepted I am a high handicapper and I’m good with that. Golf became fun again.

 

I don't know if this helps but I did read your story and feel for you. Hang in there. It’s a great game.

[Tanner25]

> @juststeve said:

> LeftDaddy:

>

> You have too much stuff in your head. You have seen too much you tube and you are trying to force elements together that don't belong together. Let's just try to get you swinging the club.

>

> 1. Address an imaginary golf ball. You are relaxed, tension free.

>

> 2. Swing the golf club back with your hands until over your trail shoulder.

>

> 3. Then swing the club forward, brushing he ground and finishing with the club over your lead shoulder.

>

> Just let your body respond to the swinging of the club. Don't do anything with your body, just allow it to respond naturally. Your focus is on balance and rhythm.

>

> When you can do numbers 1-3 consistently put a ball down where your club brushes the ground, try to ignore the ball, and just make the swing brushing the ground.

>

> You will be amazed hos little you have to think about, how little you need to consciously control, to hit good golf shots.

>

> Steve

>

>

 

Steve,

 

Do you swing the club head back and the entire club through? A light bulb went off thinking this is great swing for my son who only plays once or twice per year.

 

Tanner

[juststeve]

> @Tanner25 said:

> > @juststeve said:

> > LeftDaddy:

> >

> > You have too much stuff in your head. You have seen too much you tube and you are trying to force elements together that don't belong together. Let's just try to get you swinging the club.

> >

> > 1. Address an imaginary golf ball. You are relaxed, tension free.

> >

> > 2. Swing the golf club back with your hands until over your trail shoulder.

> >

> > 3. Then swing the club forward, brushing he ground and finishing with the club over your lead shoulder.

> >

> > Just let your body respond to the swinging of the club. Don't do anything with your body, just allow it to respond naturally. Your focus is on balance and rhythm.

> >

> > When you can do numbers 1-3 consistently put a ball down where your club brushes the ground, try to ignore the ball, and just make the swing brushing the ground.

> >

> > You will be amazed hos little you have to think about, how little you need to consciously control, to hit good golf shots.

> >

> > Steve

> >

> >

>

> Steve,

>

> Do you swing the club head back and the entire club through? A light bulb went off thinking this is great swing for my son who only plays once or twice per year.

>

> Tanner

 

Tanner:

 

You have correctly described how I think about the swing. The reality however is that you can't swing just the club head back. If the club head is swinging back the grip and the shaft are swinging back as well. Similarly when I think about swinging the whole club forward the club head is swinging forward as well. The difference between Ernest Jones, swing the club head back and forth, and Manny, swing the club head back and the whole club forward, may be more a matter of how the motion is described than a real difference in the motion itself.

 

Steve

[Hackattack1]

was ready to break my irons last week. shot -2 for 9 holes yesterday which is a personal best this yr for me at my home club. golf is a SOB. i went back to basics: grip, setup, alignment, and getting a little more upright in backswing (i get flat, quick, and stuck which kills my game from time to time) and feel like a golfer again. keep it up golf ebbs and flows like the universe.

[Tanner25]

Thanks, Steve!

[LeftDaddy]

Another quick update.

I’m clawing my way back. I discovered that, in an effort to get “behind the ball”, I had started to flatten my shoulder turn a lot (and had also stopped turning my shoulders in favor of more of a shift away from the ball). So by the time I got to the top of my backswing, I was into more front bend than extension of my back, and I also didn’t have enough side bend. It’s no wonder now that I felt I was having such a hard time getting the club to the ball in time. I was having to try to catch up a ton with side bend and extension of my back, so my weight would end up on the inside of my back foot.

Anyway, this is why although I have a coach, I also resort to YouTube. My coach just said “you need to turn your shoulders more” but he didn’t really have much more for me than that. I needed to understand the whys...why do I need to turn my shoulders more and why wasn’t I turning my shoulders more? I think (hope) I’ve figured it out. He’s as good as most coaches, I just find that so few of them understand or focus on the causes vs the symptoms. Anyway, I digress.

It’s so counter-intuitive that a turn that feels to me like a reverse pivot is actually creating more space for me behind the ball. That’s been my experience with virtually everything about golf, though. When you try to fix something, the “fix” you apply is often the exact wrong thing.

I still haven’t been able to play any holes to test it all out. Have had some range time and that looks better each time I get out there. That said, my pinched nerve was acting up quite a bit after I hit the range earlier this week. A few days of rest and it all feels better now, but I guess I need to try to take things slowly. Good thing the holidays are coming up I guess.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Unfortunately, the “whys” depend upon the person, and are something you need to discover in yourself. Once you “get” it though, you’ll wonder why it was so hard?

Cheers

[jimb6golf]

All sounds too familiar as I've gone through a similarly disappointing last season. My swing got really flat and I found that I was rotating my upper body instead of turning my shoulders resulting in getting stuck on the downswing. Worked through a lot of issues with a golf pro, from slow swings to half swings, etc., but it still falls apart pretty quickly. Overall it was getting better but this past weekend I could barely hit the ball and ended up topping and duffing my way around the course with only a few good swings. I think with all the winter clothes/ layers on I ended up swinging too flat again with little side bend. After the round I tried swinging, with less layers on, and it seemed better but just can't trust my swing at the moment. Time to go back to the pro and figure it all out again. It's disappointing as I was shooting very good scores, albiet with a bad looking swing, but I had to change to save a bad back from getting worse but now I'm shooting 10-20 shots higher than I was before the swing changes. After working very hard on my swing it's really disappointing to play so poorly. The next lake I pass might get a new set of clubs (ha ha).

[LeftDaddy]

Something of an update:

Pinched nerve appears to be worse than I expected. Saw a specialist today and still more tests to be done, etc but surgery was mentioned. I’m worried about this, and won’t find anything out for two weeks. But I will be glad to finally get some relief. In retrospect, I’ve had neck and shoulder problems for years but I guess for some reason I just thought it was somewhat normal. Maybe this has a silver lining. On Cyber Monday I signed up for Gankas’ new program. I guess if I had known I might have surgery in my near future I might have waited to sign up in the spring. That said, so far it is really good stuff. It can be a little repetitive, and if you are already a Gankas aficionado then it might not seem all that new. But it is well organized, and I’ve already learned a handful of things that hit me like “Oh, so that is what it should feel like” or “oh, that is why my flattish shoulder turn was such a killer”. I guess it could be a good thing, that with perhaps limited golf in my near future I will get to dive into a lot of swing theory and at least be “mentally” ready for when I come back (though I think a big part of the benefit of the program is posting swings and stats etc). Thanks again to everyone for the responses, etc.

[LeftDaddy]

Oh, forgot to add that I came across some videos of my swing from just less than a year ago when I felt like I was hitting it decent, and at one point it did lead to a 79 for me. It looked horrible. I literally had zero hip turn at impact. I had been working back then on getting less in to out because I got underneath the plane too much and contact suffered a lot. But my “fix” appeared to be standing more upright at address and focusing on keeping the club “outside” the ball. It was a miracle I was hitting it as good as I did.

I look at my current videos and see a lot of good things. Hips are rotated somewhat at impact (still need more though), and now I’m more above the plane than below. So the good news is that I “corrected” some of the old faults and am getting closer to a better impact position.

And I guess I see now why all of this focus on rotation seems to be creating less space for me behind the ball. I was so used to, for so long, swinging the arms at the ball from well behind it. Now I have to get used to letting the body move my arms into position, and then swinging the club through impact. I’m at least feeling positive that when I do get back to playing I’m on the right track to improvement.

[aggiegolfer21]

It sounds like you are experiencing inconsistency in the placement of your center of mass at impact. Whenever I do this it's because I am shifting left too late which is difficult to time. The video below from athletic motion golf provides some excellent thoughts on the timing of your shift and how to work on it. Regarding your pinched nerve, I always find it fun whenever my back is sore or hurting to bend both my elbows at address and do what I call the "senior swing" (shorter backswing and swing much slower). I see how well I can play with that swing and don't worry too much about distance or apex height. It makes me get more creative and hit some different shots. Maybe move up a tee box or two as well and just have fun with it.

[ShootzGolf]

New member here and my first thought on reading this was Tempo. No mention of tempo and working on tempo. Tempo seems to be your issue. Tempo will time all of these swing mechanics you are working on.

[LeftDaddy]

More updates:

Gankas' program is amazing, if you are wondering whether to sign up. I am only about 1/3 of the way through section 3 (section 1 is overview, 2 is backswing, 3 is downswing) and I captured on video for the first time in my life an essentially "perfect" swing from me. Now, I know it isn't perfect. I am sure as I learn more I will find a million things I want to change, but I went from about the worst swing I've ever captured on video about two weeks ago now to one that looks amazing (and I was finally compressing the ball again, etc.) I had reservations about signing up because I figured the last thing I needed was more swing advice / information. But it has worked somewhat "opposite" for me, where I have finally found something that addresses all of my questions. I'm the kind of person that needs to know "why" wand "what for" when someone tells me I should do something. My current coach would tell me to rotate my hips more, but not give me great reasons as to "why". He would give some tips on "how" but they never worked for me, and Gankas has taught me that it isn't because I'm a moron or inflexible that I can't move my hips. It is because my foot and leg work and balance points etc were off.

I've had two other nagging issues in my swing for years but never knew how to fix them (my coach identified one but not the other). As I took the club back,I would take the club outside the plane, and my head would "fall" toward the ball, which created a loop as I went back and some funky hip action to rebalance myself. I never considered those things "imperative" for me to fix. But Gankas has already addressed both of those issues, and now I know how to fix them very simply.

Anyway, it seems that for me, Gankas explains what he likes and why, and why it matters to ball striking, and this incredible amount of detail has been perfect for me (at least thus far).

I absolutely cannot wait to get on a golf course again (but I also cannot wait to get my cervical radiculopathy fixed)!!!