Why can't we play 'well' all the time?

[2bGood]

I guess this is the biggest question in golf. How come we aren't able to find 'it' all the time? And what is 'it'?

 

My game ranges from around even par to mid 80's. It seems I have 4 modes in can be in:

 

1. I have 'it' and I feel like I can't hit a bad shot AND I catch breaks. When this happens I can challenge par and the game feels pretty effortless. Some times I find 'it' from my first swing, sometimes later in the round. Luckily for me when I find 'it' I don't really lose 'it' for the rest of the round.

 

2. I have 'it' but I don't catch breaks, it is not a tidy round, and I have to grind a bit. I can still go low, but more likely I mid 70's.

 

3. I don't have 'it' and I have to focus like crazy - grinding and manufacturing some game out of what I do have that day. I am not going to challenge par but mid 70's are still in the mix if I put the effort in and catch a few breaks - high 70's could also been the cards.

 

4. I don't have it and I just don't have it I me to grind that day. I am going to go high. I might have fun doing it as I may write off the round and just relax and try some fun shots or I might be miserable as I want to play well that day but can't.

 

For me defining 'it' it pretty elusive. It partly physical and partly mental, but it seem pretty random when it shows up, but once/if I find it, I am able to keep it going form the round.

 

 

[Myherobobhope]

I'm not sure if this is what makes golf great or terrible, honestly... my "it" is also different than yours, but a slight variation... I can have IT on the greens or on full swings, but they aren't necessarily correlated... I get hot with my putter much less frequently than I get hot with my full game. 

 

On my long game, I just feel loose and confident and it builds on itself. I convince myself I'm going to hit a good shot, and it is more than likely to happen... the bad shots drop from my memory pretty quickly, and I recover. Mediocre days, I know where my miss is going to be and compensate for it... I take safer lines and make sure to keep my ball in play. I can switch between these modes relatively easily... some days, I just don't trust my swing / feel that great... those days, I just grind through and do what I can. 

 

On the putting front, it's been exhausting... It's one of those things where I finally admitted I had a problem and have been actively working on improving... going to get fit for a putter tomorrow... Even on good days, I'm a bad putter... If I actually successfully improve my putting, I'll be down from a 6 to a 3-2 quickly (seriously... I average 36 putts a round. It's embarrassing). On my 32 putt rounds, I feel like the hole is bigger and I have much more confidence in my speed... I think it comes down to fine motor control. Some days I'm just more ON than others... If you know what speed you are going to hit the ball, you can better judge the break and sink more putts... 

 

Golf is a feel game at the end of the day... you aren't going to deliver the same swing time and time again, and have to trust your body to make the small micro adjustments to play well... A difference in 1 degree in path is like 10 yards difference left-right on a 250 yard drive. 1 degree is not much. To a certain extent, getting into a "groove" is more hitting that same degree over and over more than anything else. 

 

Honestly, it makes me wonder if launch monitors might launch a major improvement in golf training... Immediate feedback on whether or not a swing was "the same" in terms of path could lead to some interesting results... I'm hoping my club installs ours this winter, and plan to try to use them to better groove a swing. We shall see what happens.

[Soloman1]

Because golf is the best damn game ever invented.

[Hawkeye77]

Change that to "almost even par" and that's me! I snuck in a 4 over last night on a tranquil fall evening and an almost empty course after leaving mid-round with some friends around lunchtime because I not only didn't have "it", I had absolutely nothing and was just short of 50 for the front 9.  Add to that the frustration of being behind some extremely slow folks with nobody ahead of them for miles and I knew I'd be no fun for the 2:45 it was going take to play the back 9, and I'd chunked one really bad and lit up my elbow, so headed for home to mow, meditate and watch the U.S. Open and not be a wet blanket.  Handicap has fluctuated from 6+ to 5+ now back to 8+ this summer.  

 

Mental is part of it.  Swing issues this summer part of it.  Left arm still part of it. But I think a lot of it for me is a casual approach to playing more often than not, maybe because I don't want to focus and challenge myself, who knows.  Finding fairways (a huge key for playing well for me), swinging within myself, not taking too many chances, taking enough club instead of trying to force it - that was last night.  Can't do it every night, and could probably go out tonight and shoot 82, but I like my chances better with me and a scorecard and keeping a few stats and just enjoying an evening, hearing the last putt on every hole hit the bottom of the cup. 

 

So I guess I have the same question (but kind of know the answers if I want to admit them).

 

 

[Hawkeye77]

4 minutes ago, Soloman1 said:

Because golf is the best damn game ever invented.

 

Yep!

[andrue]

When I lose 'it' it's usually because I stop doing a full shoulder turn. Shortly after that my confidence fails and I start being unable to chip or putt. Sometimes I can recover but it's not easy.

[Justsomeguy]

I Our bodies aren't the same day in and day out, and they're always getting generally worse from age.

I think the variations in having "it" are attributable to not only technique consistency (skill), but more often bodily consistency.

I think that even the pros that aren't the picture of health have honed muscles and cartilage and in general have a wolverine recovery ability that the average good player doesn't have.

It's like when the nba stopped being about finesse in the late 80s early 90s. Suddenly every single player was a high caliber athlete, with size and speed, and artful guys like Stockton and Hornacek and Penny and Rice just couldn't get free the way their scorer predecessors could. And this new wave weren't necessarily great shooters or dribblers or passers, they could just motor other guys. Think Ron Artest.

I think some guys heal better and faster and have more glycogen and they'll always have better resiliency to fatigue and hence inconsistency.

I think the bodily variations account for a lot of the day to day scoring differentials in non elite athletes.

[Tax77]

Tempo

[b.helts]

You can! Just buy my latest book “Play ‘Well’ All the Time”

 

It’s available at WRX Publications. I accept trades. Add $5 West of the Mississippi.  

[HackDaddy360]

I’d say it’s at least 75% mental.  
 

when you have “it”, you just do.  Everything just kind of happens and things work.   The “zone” if you will.  Your mind is quiet.   
 

when you don’t have “it”, you start thinking about “it”, why you don’t have it and what you need to do to get it.  Or you’re writing off your round and grinding.  
 

Golf is a game of confidence - whatever you need to do to be confident on the course and have a quiet mind in terms of negativity or fear - go do that.  You’ll play better more consistently.  

[juststeve]

Golf is no different than any other sport.  Even Cy Young award winning pitchers don't have their best stuff every time the go out.  Why?  Don't know but it's true.

 

Steve

[msg]

For me it's all mental. I mean I know what I can do physically is capped out. My swing is as good as it can get right now, unless I really take the time, money and effort to make it better, which I do not have the luxury to do so. One day I would be slicing my driver, I usually have a tiny fade when I am playing well and still shoot low 80's and high 70's because I accept what I have brought to the course on that day. The next day, same thing but shoot in the 90's because suddenly, I get irritated with my slice and can't seem to stick in my head the thought of accepting what I brought! It is so stupid when I think about it when the game is over. 

 

I remember what my buddy told me last night, he said, "Try this one when your drives are slicing again, next time we play. Tell yourself, for today, I will be the best slicer that I can be." LOL 

Edited September 21, 2020 by msg

[SNIPERBBB]

For some of us, I think our swings are just held together with spit and duct tape that it's hard to stay consistent.

 

Had a round yesterday that I just felt like I didn't have it at all starting out...nearly whiffed a drive on #1 that went almost straight right across neighboring #18 fairway, across the 30ft ditch, across the road, into the rough on 12. Had to hit 2h,3w,54* to get on the green and miss the par putt. Proceeded to low hook driver on 2 into the 1yard ditch and make par. Basically missed all but one fairway on the front , darn near topped the ball off the tee on 8 with 3w. Managed a 40 on the front. Proceeded to double bogey 10 then finished the 9 three under for a 75.

[andrue]

I got 'it' back on Sunday..for a while. Played a course I know really, really well. Quite a long course and one I've only broken 90 on once. Sunday though started out with a par which is practically unheard of for me and my mate. In fact despite playing that course for over a decade that might be the first time I ever parred it. It's a 430 yard fairly straight par 4 but for someone whose drive rarely finishes much beyond 200 yards, given the hazards around the green (including no space off the back of it) and it being the first swing of the day it's a challenge. Driver, 3w then an LW that left the ball a foot from the pin.

 

Then I parred the second hole. That's not quite so difficult but still not parred all that often. Oddly this went much like the first hole. Only difference was that my drive was a bit fady but my 3w got me nicely past a hedge and again my LW dropped me on the pin.

 

Then I parred the third hole. At this point my mates were stunned. It's only a par 3 but has sloping edges and the green slopes away from the tee so stopping your ball on the green requires levels of accuracy and back spin that we don't possess. Instead I managed to drop my ball onto a small outcropping just in front and right of the green. Chipped on nicely and one putted.

 

Then it was a couple more bogeys and one more par. Outrageously good. Suddenly braking 90 looks like a certainty and my mates understand why I now play off 16 instead of the 22 I started August with ?

 

But then we run into the back of a society. I think it must have been the Society-for-slow-and-rubbish-players-who-nonetheless-play-off-the-tips. I mean this is a fairly long course. It's 6,900 of the standard tees. Off the tips it's 7,000 yards. So we get to watch people turning par 4s into par 5s and exploring parts of the course where one can imagine hitherto unknown species of creature and possibly entire civilisations hang out. Then they get to the green and it's time to cry. Everyone has to stand still and do nothing while the other members of their group attempt to make a putt. At one hole we timed it 15 minutes from arrival at the green to putting out.

 

My game pretty much collapsed at that point. Fifteen minutes waiting at the tee and once or twice two groups on the tee and four on two holes in total just wrecked my mental state. As we reached the driveway on the back nine we all agreed to quit without completing the 14th hole.

 

Thankfully that kind of thing is pretty rare but we've never known it that bad at that course. Most courses in the UK don't have marshals because they don't need them but thanks to Covid I think they only had one member of staff on site so it was totally unpoliced. I just have to hope I can find that form again next time.

Edited September 21, 2020 by andrue

[platgof]

Anxiety and last nights sleep are the big factors for me. I wish I had OP's scores. 

[rwc356]

For me the difference seems to be whether I step up on the first tee and feel comfortable over the ball or whether I immediately find myself checking alignment, checking ball placement and reminding myself to turn the left should under and start my backswing with tempo. As I was typing this it seems pretty amazing I can even hit a ball if I start such a checklist every time I start a swing. Why do I feel comfortable some days and not on others ...... maybe that was Hogan's Secret!

[naval2006]

On 9/20/2020 at 9:42 AM, 2bGood said:

I guess this is the biggest question in golf. How come we aren't able to find 'it' all the time? And what is 'it'?

 

My game ranges from around even par to mid 80's. It seems I have 4 modes in can be in:

 

1. I have 'it' and I feel like I can't hit a bad shot AND I catch breaks. When this happens I can challenge par and the game feels pretty effortless. Some times I find 'it' from my first swing, sometimes later in the round. Luckily for me when I find 'it' I don't really lose 'it' for the rest of the round.

 

2. I have 'it' but I don't catch breaks, it is not a tidy round, and I have to grind a bit. I can still go low, but more likely I mid 70's.

 

3. I don't have 'it' and I have to focus like crazy - grinding and manufacturing some game out of what I do have that day. I am not going to challenge par but mid 70's are still in the mix if I put the effort in and catch a few breaks - high 70's could also been the cards.

 

4. I don't have it and I just don't have it I me to grind that day. I am going to go high. I might have fun doing it as I may write off the round and just relax and try some fun shots or I might be miserable as I want to play well that day but can't.

 

For me defining 'it' it pretty elusive. It partly physical and partly mental, but it seem pretty random when it shows up, but once/if I find it, I am able to keep it going form the round.

 

 

You’re 4 states of the game can be applied to most golfers who already have a game. 

 

I think there are so many variables that it’s hard to explain why not. There’s a lot of feel in this game and it’s different every round. There’s a greater possibility of repeating good rounds with a big deal of practice, but not even that grants you a path to regularity. I sometimes feel there’s a type of personality prone to that: the Nicklaus type. Very hard to find.  But we’ve seen bad rounds by Nicklaus too.  So this thread should be moved to the philosophy section LOL. 

[nitram]

On the days I've gone really low in tourney/money rounds there are zero swing thoughts. When I'm "on" I really don't have to think about it other than I wanna hit it "there" and it happens. On days when I don't have it, it's usually because I don't have a "free mind" and thinking about more than "see ball, hit ball".

[2bGood]

2 hours ago, nitram said:

On the days I've gone really low in tourney/money rounds there are zero swing thoughts. When I'm "on" I really don't have to think about it other than I wanna hit it "there" and it happens. On days when I don't have it, it's usually because I don't have a "free mind" and thinking about more than "see ball, hit ball".

 

I am a bit different, on days I go low I just have one 'pure' swing thought (for each part of the game). It is maybe a placebo, but for 18 holes I believe I figured out the game of golf, and if I make this one move I can't hit bad shots/chips/putts. The thought is not l always the same but it is like I found or re-found the secret to golf.

Edited September 26, 2020 by 2bGood