BigTerp's swing journey

[TheDeanAbides]

5 minutes ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Yeah, you nailed it pretty good. I'm trying to "finesse" the half swing shots and don't finish them. I've been doing some work on this to get it engrained, and really working on cast B here forces me to finish and hit through the ball rather than slowing up at the last second because I'm trying to finesse it. Similar to what happens when you slow down through a chip shot and end up digging the club and chunking the chip. @TheDeanAbidesgave me the idea of having a single swing thought of "finish the shot" or "hit through the ball". It's worked well for getting all the other crap out of my head with full swings and with half swings it's actually what I need to do. Going to continue with that type of swing thought for everything. When I think about it, half shots and even pitches and chips I've got too much going on in my head.   

There's a hell of a lot of wisdom in just taking dead aim. 

[BigTerp1524]

4 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

There's a hell of a lot of wisdom in just taking dead aim. 

Yep!!

[BigTerp1524]

Spent about 45 minutes hitting Birdie Balls in my yard last night. 90% of them were working on half swings with my PW and 7i. Struggled a bit at first pushing and slicing shots to the right. As @betarhoalphadelta said I'm not closing the face and on a half swing with black club heads on a white strikepad hitting white Birdie Balls it was plain as day to see it at impact. I needed to find my feel for these shots. The thought was simply just "finish the shot". That swing thought helped me get through impact properly and finish better resulting in perfect impact and (birdie) ball flight. The Birdie Balls pretty much fly about the same distance with irons and even with half versus full shots. But lateral flight is greatly effected by swing path and face angle, just like a real ball. After getting my "feel" for my half swing, 10 out of 10 shots were within feet of each other. Very consistent. Going to continue working hard on these half shots. I think they will really help my approach game moving forward.

 

 

[bortass]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Spent about 45 minutes hitting Birdie Balls in my yard last night. 90% of them were working on half swings with my PW and 7i. Struggled a bit at first pushing and slicing shots to the right. As @betarhoalphadelta said I'm not closing the face and on a half swing with black club heads on a white strikepad hitting white Birdie Balls it was plain as day to see it at impact. I needed to find my feel for these shots. The thought was simply just "finish the shot". That swing thought helped me get through impact properly and finish better resulting in perfect impact and (birdie) ball flight. The Birdie Balls pretty much fly about the same distance with irons and even with half versus full shots. But lateral flight is greatly effected by swing path and face angle, just like a real ball. After getting my "feel" for my half swing, 10 out of 10 shots were within feet of each other. Very consistent. Going to continue working hard on these half shots. I think they will really help my approach game moving forward.

 

 

They should help your approach game. I'd be dead without a fairly reliable partial shot since I use them more than full shots when it comes to hitting greens. That may change as I get in range to hit greens in regulation more often but until then a partial shot has been a lifesaver. The partial shots will also help if you're in trouble. It can make it easier to get out of trees etc with a partial shot.

 

It sounds like your 'finish the shot' is the same thing I was told in my lesson. Get to that golf trophy pose at the end and hold it a bit.  That alone made a big difference with my full swing and partial swing.  Adding in cast B  changed it even more for me. I got rid of the pushes by adding the cast which is something I still need to think about.

[BigTerp1524]

1 minute ago, bortass said:

They should help your approach game. I'd be dead without a fairly reliable partial shot since I use them more than full shots when it comes to hitting greens. That may change as I get in range to hit greens in regulation more often but until then a partial shot has been a lifesaver. The partial shots will also help if you're in trouble. It can make it easier to get out of trees etc with a partial shot.

 

It sounds like your 'finish the shot' is the same thing I was told in my lesson. Get to that golf trophy pose at the end and hold it a bit.  That alone made a big difference with my full swing and partial swing.  Adding in cast B  changed it even more for me. I got rid of the pushes by adding the cast which is something I still need to think about.

Agreed about the partial shots. I just need to get it consistent. But it's a much more compact and controlled swing which should greatly increase accuracy over a full swing. Once I got it dialed in last night it was such a repeatable and easy swing. I read the below thread that  Monte started the other day which really got me thinking about getting better with and utilizing more a half/partial swing for approach shots.

 

 

 

My issue with these shots is I feel like I try to finesse them too much, much like my issues with chipping/pitching. Which causes several issues that all result in the open face at impact and the ensuing push/slice. I need to treat it like a full swing but just shorten the backswing to desired length for distance control. I got a really good feel for it last night. Hopefully I can build on that.

 

You mention cast B and when I tried to focus on this it was an insta-hook, LOL!! I seem to have cast B pretty much engrained and the above caused me to over do it. I noticed when I was doing these partial shots I wasn't rotating my hips back much at all. So arms were starting behind. Combine that with me trying to "finesse" the shot and you've got a recipe for a wipe open face at impact. Short, deliberate backswing with an aggressive downswing and good finish was the ticket for me. 

[BigTerp1524]

Have been doing some reading on partial wedge shots this morning. This quote from a Golf Digest article sums it up pretty well for me.

 

Quote

Most golfers hate partial wedge shots because they don't have a good plan for playing them. They tend to make too big a backswing and then have to decel at impact to avoid smashing the ball over the green. When you slow down like that, everything gets out of sync, which makes it tough to catch the ball solid.

The secret to these shots is making a shorter, wider backswing (above, left), so you can accelerate through the ball. You want to be able to rotate your torso and swing your arms faster on the downswing—that's an athletic move that produces more consistent results. When everything moves through the shot together, you can make a firm strike and not worry about putting too much on it.

 

[bortass]

My partial wedge shot is pretty basic. My backswing is to roughly shaft parallel with a little weight shift. Then it's swing through the ball to the full finish. Cast B helps prevent me from leaving the club too open but I also tend to suck it inside and hold off on a release.  Granted I used to hit these shots a lot when I was playing years ago and practiced them quite a bit.

 

Have you ever read Pelz's Short Game Bible? It talks quite a bit about partial wedges and was a driver to the multi wedge and shot distance concepts. It's a good read IMO. It was published in the early 2000s, so you may not see anything new but he does talk about technique in it. Along with how certain conditions affect shots. Green above you will roll out while a green below will stop faster, etc....

[BigTerp1524]

2 minutes ago, bortass said:

My partial wedge shot is pretty basic. My backswing is to roughly shaft parallel with a little weight shift. Then it's swing through the ball to the full finish. Cast B helps prevent me from leaving the club too open but I also tend to suck it inside and hold off on a release.  Granted I used to hit these shots a lot when I was playing years ago and practiced them quite a bit.

 

Have you ever read Pelz's Short Game Bible? It talks quite a bit about partial wedges and was a driver to the multi wedge and shot distance concepts. It's a good read IMO. It was published in the early 2000s, so you may not see anything new but he does talk about technique in it. Along with how certain conditions affect shots. Green above you will roll out while a green below will stop faster, etc....

I'm working on a left arm parallel partial wedge. I hit a TON of these shots when I first starting rebuilding my swing doing the 9 to 3 or L to L drill. Just feels like a comfortable spot to stop my backswing. I figure once I get that dialed in I'll be able to adjust more or less backswing for various distances.

 

I keep seeing Pelz's name come up while I was reading up on these shots. Thanks. I'll check it out.

[bortass]

 Here';s the general idea

Edited July 15, 2021 by bortass
fixed link

[betarhoalphadelta]

4 hours ago, BigTerp1524 said:

 

My issue with these shots is I feel like I try to finesse them too much, much like my issues with chipping/pitching. Which causes several issues that all result in the open face at impact and the ensuing push/slice. I need to treat it like a full swing but just shorten the backswing to desired length for distance control. I got a really good feel for it last night. Hopefully I can build on that.

 

You mention cast B and when I tried to focus on this it was an insta-hook, LOL!! I seem to have cast B pretty much engrained and the above caused me to over do it. I noticed when I was doing these partial shots I wasn't rotating my hips back much at all. So arms were starting behind. Combine that with me trying to "finesse" the shot and you've got a recipe for a wipe open face at impact. Short, deliberate backswing with an aggressive downswing and good finish was the ticket for me. 

 

Yep. We try to "finesse" the shot because we're worried about knocking it 30 yards past the target. So we try to steer it, or we decel into impact and chunk it, or we fail to complete the swing and leave the face open...

 

I don't have any tips other than practicing partial shots on the range and getting a lot of on-course practice to develop feel. The more I play, the more confident I am in what swing will produce what trajectory and distance. And when I'm confident, I accelerate through impact and square up the face the way we're supposed to. 

[TheDeanAbides]

With partial wedges I just use the exact same idea as Monte recommends with the short game. I feel like I'm underhand lobbing the ball to the target. "It's about this far" kinda deal..

[BigTerp1524]

16 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

I don't have any tips other than practicing partial shots on the range and getting a lot of on-course practice to develop feel. The more I play, the more confident I am in what swing will produce what trajectory and distance. And when I'm confident, I accelerate through impact and square up the face the way we're supposed to.

 

Yeah, this will be a bit of trial and error in terms of figuring out distances. I plan to hit a SMALL (LOL!!) bucket of balls before my round on Sunday to get warmed up and to help get a little feel for these partial wedges. Trajectory is something I think I'm not quite ready to start playing with yet. But, it is simply just adjusting ball position a bit further back in the stance for a lower ball flight? I play everything, minus my driver, in line with the middle of my left pec.

[BigTerp1524]

4 hours ago, TheDeanAbides said:

With partial wedges I just use the exact same idea as Monte recommends with the short game. I feel like I'm underhand lobbing the ball to the target. "It's about this far" kinda deal..

This has definitely worked well for me with pitch shots. I figured my distance control was something that would take some time to get dialed in. But using this method worked extremely well right out of the gate. 

[BigTerp1524]

Worked on my putting last night. I'm getting pretty comfortable with my new setup and a small routine at address is getting it well engrained and consistent already. I've been using a mirror with a gate for the putter head and it's really making a difference on delivering a square putter face. I'm able to get a perfect end over end roll most of the time. Watched a few of Monte's putting videos that are part of the UTB 2.0 series. One that stuck out to me was hip rotation and how you should have none. I thought I did not have any, but found I had more than just a little. Focusing on this is was quite a difference hitting solid, square putts. I consider myself a decent putter, but struggle with speed control. I can tell there is much better feel when I keep my hips quite. Hopefully working on my hips will help with my speed control.

[betarhoalphadelta]

3 hours ago, BigTerp1524 said:

 

Yeah, this will be a bit of trial and error in terms of figuring out distances. I plan to hit a SMALL (LOL!!) bucket of balls before my round on Sunday to get warmed up and to help get a little feel for these partial wedges. Trajectory is something I think I'm not quite ready to start playing with yet. But, it is simply just adjusting ball position a bit further back in the stance for a lower ball flight? I play everything, minus my driver, in line with the middle of my left pec.

 

Oh, I'm not saying that I'm flighting balls higher or lower on any consistent basis!

 

I'm saying that with more practice, I know what the trajectory and distance will look like for a stock partial wedge swing, not that I'm actively manipulating it. 

 

[BigTerp1524]

1 minute ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Oh, I'm not saying that I'm flighting balls higher or lower on any consistent basis!

 

I'm saying that with more practice, I know what the trajectory and distance will look like for a stock partial wedge swing, not that I'm actively manipulating it. 

 

Got it. Makes sense.

[bortass]

5 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Oh, I'm not saying that I'm flighting balls higher or lower on any consistent basis!

 

I'm saying that with more practice, I know what the trajectory and distance will look like for a stock partial wedge swing, not that I'm actively manipulating it. 

 

Same here. My basic half wedge is a high shot that drops. It's not the flight you'd get throwing say a football or baseball a long distance. I also know my AW is around 80 yards and SW around 70. I'm not trying to flight anything or change distances. It's just a stock shot and if I get inside 70 yards, it's time to use my SW and go more by feel.

 

I also hit a lot of these shots on the range and it's what made this a go to shot for me.

Edited July 16, 2021 by bortass

[BigTerp1524]

Carded a 105 yesterday. Although it was my best score at this particular course by 5 strokes, I left a TON of strokes on the course. First off my putting was horrendous, all 42 of them, LOL!!! Was my first time playing with my new putter and it's going to take some time getting used to the much hotter face and heavier head. Speed control was all over the place. This will work itself out, but man was it frustrating. I did roll nearly every putt true, so I'm striking it good. Just need to dial in the speed. I had 4 three putt bogeys yesterday. 4!!! That's brutal!!! 

 

My chipping wasn't nearly as good as my last round out when it was my strength for the day. I had quite a few tough lies (thin and downhill) that didn't help and lead to skulling the ball across the green. But that's part of the game and not an excuse. Also need to do better with my approach game and I won't have to deal with those types of chips. Speaking of approach, I'm still getting my distances dialed in with my wedges. Hit them well, but left a few short and a few long just because I don't have those 1/4 and half swing distances quite figured out yet. That'll come, and I'm still happy with how I'm hitting them.

 

Driver was OK. I'm still struggling with an inconsistent shot shape to it which leads to some issues. My main shape is a nice baby fade. But there were a few holes where I lined up down the left of the fairway to play the fade and I crushed it straight. By far the most inconsistent club in my bag. I'm still hitting it much better than 3 months ago. No more terrible slices and I didn't hit a single one OB yesterday, and this course is tight with OB everywhere. I also had a handful of drives over 300 yards yesterday. I'm not a distance chaser my any means, but my driving distance is slowly and consistently increasing, which tells me my swing with it is also slowly improving. Still making progress, so it's not all negative.

 

I hit my irons GREAT yesterday. #2 par 4 I was 170ish out from the left short rough. Stuck my 7i on the green at 176 yards. The next hole is a 125 yard par 3. Took my 1/2 swing PW and stuck it. 5i on the green from 180 out on #5. Hit the green with my 6i from 165 yards out on #16 and striped my 4i on the green from 190 yards out on #18. This might be average play for most guys, but for me it's very encouraging and reinforces that I'm continuing to improve. My miss right is starting to go away as well and I'm actually starting to hit the ball where I'm aiming much more consistently. I still have a few topped and chunked shots, but they are becoming fewer and further between. The most encouraging part of my iron play was how well I hit my long irons and hybrid. No chance I'm hitting them well with a swing breakdown. So overall I was swinging it pretty good yesterday. 

 

Scoring breakdown:

 

Pars - 1

Bogeys - 10

Doubles - 2

Triples - 1

Quads - 4 (yikes!!)

 

So, as per the usual a +100 round but still plenty of positives to take away.  The quads were a combination of a few bad hits tied together, bad luck and poor putting. I had 10 bogeys, which is the most I've had in a round by a decent margin. I left myself plenty of chances yesterday and if I putt anywhere near my potential I have several more pars, maybe 2 triples and 1 quad and easily break 100. I realistically had less bad holes (for me) than what the score breakdown shows. Poor putting really exacerbated the rest. It's easy to look back at your round and say "if I did this or that better I'm shooting close to my goal". But for me it was simple things yesterday that swelled up the score. Things that are much easier to fix than full swing issues. I really feel like my swing is in a good place. Just need to tighten up the putting and short game and things will fall into place. 

 

Getting another round in on Wednesday. Rather optimistic for it.

 

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Sounds like it's coming together... Especially when you're dialing in feel shots like pitching/chipping and a new putter, those mistakes definitely add up to the high numbers, but they're also the easiest to bring back down. 

 

I played 9 at the short course yesterday thinking I wanted to "get used to" my wedges... Hit my wedges BEAUTIFULLY but couldn't putt for squat, and I haven't changed that in my bag. In 9 holes I had three 3-putts, two of them for bogey. I don't have an explanation for my putting.

[BigTerp1524]

2 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Sounds like it's coming together... Especially when you're dialing in feel shots like pitching/chipping and a new putter, those mistakes definitely add up to the high numbers, but they're also the easiest to bring back down. 

 

I played 9 at the short course yesterday thinking I wanted to "get used to" my wedges... Hit my wedges BEAUTIFULLY but couldn't putt for squat, and I haven't changed that in my bag. In 9 holes I had three 3-putts, two of them for bogey. I don't have an explanation for my putting.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. There were some pretty rough spots yesterday, but most of what can be easily corrected. Especially when comparing it to a swing re-haul. Pretty happy with my swing, in general, yesterday. First time I can remember being relatively accurate with my irons. My wedges feel great, I swing them good and hit the ball solidly with them. Just need to get a better feel for those approach shots inside 100 yards.

 

Awesome that your wedges are hitting great for you from the start. Those 3 putts can be maddening, especially when they are for bogey!!

[TheDeanAbides]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Carded a 105 yesterday. Although it was my best score at this particular course by 5 strokes, I left a TON of strokes on the course. First off my putting was horrendous, all 42 of them, LOL!!! Was my first time playing with my new putter and it's going to take some time getting used to the much hotter face and heavier head. Speed control was all over the place. This will work itself out, but man was it frustrating. I did roll nearly every putt true, so I'm striking it good. Just need to dial in the speed. I had 4 three putt bogeys yesterday. 4!!! That's brutal!!! 

 

My chipping wasn't nearly as good as my last round out when it was my strength for the day. I had quite a few tough lies (thin and downhill) that didn't help and lead to skulling the ball across the green. But that's part of the game and not an excuse. Also need to do better with my approach game and I won't have to deal with those types of chips. Speaking of approach, I'm still getting my distances dialed in with my wedges. Hit them well, but left a few short and a few long just because I don't have those 1/4 and half swing distances quite figured out yet. That'll come, and I'm still happy with how I'm hitting them.

 

Driver was OK. I'm still struggling with an inconsistent shot shape to it which leads to some issues. My main shape is a nice baby fade. But there were a few holes where I lined up down the left of the fairway to play the fade and I crushed it straight. By far the most inconsistent club in my bag. I'm still hitting it much better than 3 months ago. No more terrible slices and I didn't hit a single one OB yesterday, and this course is tight with OB everywhere. I also had a handful of drives over 300 yards yesterday. I'm not a distance chaser my any means, but my driving distance is slowly and consistently increasing, which tells me my swing with it is also slowly improving. Still making progress, so it's not all negative.

 

I hit my irons GREAT yesterday. #2 par 4 I was 170ish out from the left short rough. Stuck my 7i on the green at 176 yards. The next hole is a 125 yard par 3. Took my 1/2 swing PW and stuck it. 5i on the green from 180 out on #5. Hit the green with my 6i from 165 yards out on #16 and striped my 4i on the green from 190 yards out on #18. This might be average play for most guys, but for me it's very encouraging and reinforces that I'm continuing to improve. My miss right is starting to go away as well and I'm actually starting to hit the ball where I'm aiming much more consistently. I still have a few topped and chunked shots, but they are becoming fewer and further between. The most encouraging part of my iron play was how well I hit my long irons and hybrid. No chance I'm hitting them well with a swing breakdown. So overall I was swinging it pretty good yesterday. 

 

Scoring breakdown:

 

Pars - 1

Bogeys - 10

Doubles - 2

Triples - 1

Quads - 4 (yikes!!)

 

So, as per the usual a +100 round but still plenty of positives to take away.  The quads were a combination of a few bad hits tied together, bad luck and poor putting. I had 10 bogeys, which is the most I've had in a round by a decent margin. I left myself plenty of chances yesterday and if I putt anywhere near my potential I have several more pars, maybe 2 triples and 1 quad and easily break 100. I realistically had less bad holes (for me) than what the score breakdown shows. Poor putting really exacerbated the rest. It's easy to look back at your round and say "if I did this or that better I'm shooting close to my goal". But for me it was simple things yesterday that swelled up the score. Things that are much easier to fix than full swing issues. I really feel like my swing is in a good place. Just need to tighten up the putting and short game and things will fall into place. 

 

Getting another round in on Wednesday. Rather optimistic for it.

 

 

It's definitely coming together.. Don't sweat the putter. I played to single figures with putting like that. 😆

[bortass]

Congrats on the 10 bogeys. 18 of them will yield a smooth 90 on a par 72 course. The pattern I've noticed with myself is I may have scores that aren't changing but the composition of the round is. But stringing together those 10 bogeys is the foundation to breaking 100. Keep doing that and you'll have a round where you are able to limit the bad holes to doubles and maybe a triple and have some pars help offset things.

And it really is about limiting the damage. It's harder to recover from a blowup because it takes better than average golf to overcome it for a particular player. If I have to offset a couple triples and break 90, I will need to get more pars than bogeys which is doable but rare and a challenge. Now if I just don't get those triples, it's so much easier because my normal game will get me there if I don't screw up.

[BigTerp1524]

1 hour ago, bortass said:

Congrats on the 10 bogeys. 18 of them will yield a smooth 90 on a par 72 course. The pattern I've noticed with myself is I may have scores that aren't changing but the composition of the round is. But stringing together those 10 bogeys is the foundation to breaking 100. Keep doing that and you'll have a round where you are able to limit the bad holes to doubles and maybe a triple and have some pars help offset things.

And it really is about limiting the damage. It's harder to recover from a blowup because it takes better than average golf to overcome it for a particular player. If I have to offset a couple triples and break 90, I will need to get more pars than bogeys which is doable but rare and a challenge. Now if I just don't get those triples, it's so much easier because my normal game will get me there if I don't screw up.

Thanks. I was surprised I had 10. Didn't realize that until I counted them up today.

 

You said it all pretty well. I actually saved a few of those bogeys with better than average, for me, play. Hitting the green with a variety of irons, a few from far out of what I would consider my "scoring zone" and just playing a bit smarter. The good shots are starting to happen more and more often and that'll start to turn the pars into an occasional birdie, the bogeys into a few pars, etc. Like you said, the composition of my rounds are changing in a good way. Eventually that'll reflect in the scores. It's not going to take too much to align for me to be in the 90's. All the parts are there. I just gotta get them all working a bit more together.

 

[BigTerp1524]

Took some video last night for the first time in a few weeks. Not a ton to report. Things look fairly good to my eyes. I look to be taking the club back a tad better and not as far inside as I was before, which is something I've been working on. I do seem to be getting a little long at the top again, which is a continuing problem for me. One thing I did notice is my lower body/legs/feet are pretty passive in the downswing. After noticing it on video, I can feel it as well. I seem to get a decent weight transfer at the top and get the "push down" or "squat" that Monte describes with the weight transfer to the front leg, but I do not really get the push off with the back leg coming into impact. I feel that's leaving some power on the table as well as not allowing my hips to rotate through impact as well as they could. Part of the problem is it could be coming from my main fault of long in the backswing and spinning my shoulders out in transition. This leaves my hands a little behind and I have to stall a bit with the lower body to give them a chance to catch up/get through.  Not something I'm going to overanalyze though, or even work on. Just an observation. Plan to get together with Monte again for a lesson before I start working on anything that could be detrimental. In the meantime I'm going to continue working on a better takeaway (less inside), eliminating the overrun with the hands/arms at the top, keeping my shoulders closed a bit more in transition to allow my hands to drop down versus out and focus on hitting through the ball. Pretty much everything I've been working on since my lesson with Monte. Anything else that needs work I'll let Monte point out and address when I get the chance to catch up with him again for a lesson.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Ordered a 75g counterweight for my putter grip yesterday. The head is 375g on a 37.5" shaft, so it's a bit heavy in the SW category. Thinking that is part of my issue with controlling the speed of my putts. Hoping the counterweight will make the head feel a little lighter and help me control it a bit better. For a few bucks, it's worth the experiment. 

[BigTerp1524]

Shot a 108 yesterday. If the course I was playing wasn't so wide open, it would've been much worse. Such a frustrating round!! Started off on the first tee by pulling my drive way left 270 yards into a pond. Took my drop and proceeded to top my 8i across the pond and into the far bank of the pond. At least I found that one, but this pretty much summed up the rest of the day for me. My driver was extremely inconsistent. So much so that on one hole I sliced a drive OB right, teed up my third to re hit and crushed a straight pull left. Just cannot get even a remotely consistent shape out of it. I had a ton of topped, chunked and other mishits yesterday. All of these mishits leave SO many strokes on the course. Just couldn't get comfortable over the ball on pretty much every shot for whatever reason. Yesterday was the first time in awhile I really felt like I took a huge step backwards. Extremely disappointing. I've got a lesson with Monte scheduled for Wednesday evening. Going to hang up the clubs until then. I need a good break and reset before I start re-evaluating and getting back to work. Hopefully Monte can at least get me back on the right track!! 

 

Scores from yesterdays round:

Par - 1

Bogey - 7

Double - 4

Triple - 3

Quad - 3 

Edited July 22, 2021 by BigTerp1524

[bortass]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Shot a 108 yesterday. If the course I was playing wasn't so wide open, it would've been much worse. Such a frustrating round!! Started off on the first tee by pulling my drive way left 270 yards into a pond. Took my drop and proceeded to top my 8i across the pond and into the far bank of the pond. At least I found that one, but this pretty much summed up the rest of the day for me. My driver was extremely inconsistent. So much so that on one hole I sliced a drive OB right, teed up my third to re hit and crushed a straight pull left. Just cannot get even a remotely consistent shape out of it. I had a ton of topped, chunked and other mishits yesterday. All of these mishits leave SO many strokes on the course. Just couldn't get comfortable over the ball on pretty much every shot for whatever reason. Yesterday was the first time in awhile I really felt like I took a huge step backwards. Extremely disappointing. I've got a lesson with Monte scheduled for Wednesday evening. Going to hang up the clubs until then. I need a good break and reset before I start re-evaluating and getting back to work. Hopefully Monte can at least get me back on the right track!! 

 

Scores from yesterdays round:

Par - 1

Bogey - 7

Double - 4

Triple - 3

Quad - 3 

Sorry to hear it. I had this happen to me sometime in the last two months. Had been playing well and one day things didn't feel correct over the ball and it was a disaster. I never figured out what it was but it was a one off situation. The break is probably all you need. Some people would try to work through it but I could see myself getting in a deeper hole if I tried that path and it didn't clear up quickly. Tinkering with changes would ensue.

[BigTerp1524]

5 minutes ago, bortass said:

Sorry to hear it. I had this happen to me sometime in the last two months. Had been playing well and one day things didn't feel correct over the ball and it was a disaster. I never figured out what it was but it was a one off situation. The break is probably all you need. Some people would try to work through it but I could see myself getting in a deeper hole if I tried that path and it didn't clear up quickly. Tinkering with changes would ensue.

Yeah, a break is definitely needed. I don't have the chance for another round until the middle of next month, so no need to keep grinding after the disaster I had yesterday. Especially considering I have a lesson with Monte next week. That'll give me some reassurance that I'm not going down the wrong rabbit hole and help solidify my practice routine. The lesson is coming at a perfect time.

 

It's weird. I just couldn't get comfortable over the ball no matter what club I had in my hand. Nothing I could figure out, so the majority of the time I swung anyway. More often than not the result wasn't ideal. I did step away from the ball with my 4h in hand. It was my second shot on a par 5 after a good drive down the middle. Just felt really off. Stepped back up, felt more comfortable and roped a 210 yard shot to within 45 yards of the green. That's the only shot that I can recall from my round that I stepped away, refocused and then executed. Just a rough round all together. 

[bortass]

The following is something I think I read. I say think because it was many years ago and maybe I'm wrong and making it up or butchering it. When we learn a new skill new neural pathways are created in our brain and nervous system to perform that skill. Sometimes we hit a situation where the skill that's being worked on regresses because our brain and central nervous system is in the middle of making a change. The analogy I'm making up is when DOT is doing major work on a highway and route some north bound traffic across the median into the southbound lanes while they widen a bridge. For a period of time it's a mess but once the work is done things are better than before. So a break might be all you need to let your system process everything and grow.

 

Or maybe I'm wrong and made that all up to shield myself from reality when I have an off day 🤪

[betarhoalphadelta]

1 hour ago, BigTerp1524 said:

Shot a 108 yesterday. If the course I was playing wasn't so wide open, it would've been much worse. Such a frustrating round!! Started off on the first tee by pulling my drive way left 270 yards into a pond. Took my drop and proceeded to top my 8i across the pond and into the far bank of the pond. At least I found that one, but this pretty much summed up the rest of the day for me. My driver was extremely inconsistent. So much so that on one hole I sliced a drive OB right, teed up my third to re hit and crushed a straight pull left. Just cannot get even a remotely consistent shape out of it. I had a ton of topped, chunked and other mishits yesterday. All of these mishits leave SO many strokes on the course. Just couldn't get comfortable over the ball on pretty much every shot for whatever reason. Yesterday was the first time in awhile I really felt like I took a huge step backwards. Extremely disappointing. I've got a lesson with Monte scheduled for Wednesday evening. Going to hang up the clubs until then. I need a good break and reset before I start re-evaluating and getting back to work. Hopefully Monte can at least get me back on the right track!! 

 

Scores from yesterdays round:

Par - 1

Bogey - 7

Double - 4

Triple - 3

Quad - 3 

 

Yeah, if you recall a couple months back I had two rounds where I felt like I couldn't even hit a golf ball. I shot a 121 on a par 72 course, managing 3 pars and 2 bogeys, and everything else worse. 

 

I think that was honestly the "turning point" in my game though.

 

Prior to that, I had been working on the drills from Monte for about 6 weeks, but the idea was to drill on the range, and just play on the course with whatever swing I had that day--usually my "old" swing not incorporating the new movements. I think that round (and the one after it, where I didn't score nearly as badly but still didn't hit the ball well) was where my body on the course was trying to incorporate the new move, but it just was in limbo between old and new.

 

Ever since those two rounds, I've been hitting the ball SO much better and feeling like I'm actually doing the move from Monte on the course, not just on the range. 

 

But like you, after that 121 I took a little break out of complete disgust. I didn't even want to drive past the driving range lol!

[BigTerp1524]

@bortass and @betarhoalphadelta, thanks. I agree with what you both said. It's funny how you all mention regressing. I hadn't sliced my driver (which is my miss), at all, the past 3 rounds. Not even once that I can remember. Yesterday the slice came back with a vengeance. It was certainly disappointing and frustrating but that's part of the process. I'm certainly not giving up by any means. Just need a good break, mostly mentally, from golf. I'm sure I'll feel refreshed after my lesson with Monte next week and be ready to get back to work.