Considering Starting Over

[cac022]

If I was starting over or my advice to someone that was just starting out, it would be to to start off playing cack handed (cross handed). Something about swinging that way that makes sense. I've incorporated it into my practice sessions now. 

 

Of the few I've played with most were single digit and a couple got to scratch. One got to scratch as a junior and turned to normal grip over the winter as he wanted some more distance. Was still off scratch...

[FewerThan14]

10 hours ago, cac022 said:

If I was starting over or my advice to someone that was just starting out, it would be to to start off playing cack handed (cross handed). Something about swinging that way that makes sense. I've incorporated it into my practice sessions now. 

 

Of the few I've played with most were single digit and a couple got to scratch. One got to scratch as a junior and turned to normal grip over the winter as he wanted some more distance. Was still off scratch...

I think trying this just now chipping with a wedge in my living room broke my brain. But the ball did go where I wanted it to go...

[golf-RN]

On 7/25/2023 at 12:23 PM, Kai Slater said:

I started over after quitting the game and a 15 year layoff.....

 

I played a TON of golf back in the early 1990s to about 2008.  I reached the point  where I could and would shoot mostly in the 78-84 range on any given round.  I even had a few rounds of 76.  I was in my 20s and early 30s, strong, flexible, former track/field state champ, baseball player, etc....golf was "easy" for me, and I would get mad at myself when I didn't play well or hit the ball well. 

 

I took it pretty seriously until it all came crashing down one summer in Myrtle Beach.

 

Summer of 2008, I'm at my usual Myrtle Beach area courses on a golf trip, when suddenly I lost my swing, my touch, and my entire attitude/enjoyment for golf.  I could hit the ball a country mile, but began blasting it in all the wrong directions.  How about a 285 yard hook into the neighboring fairway? 

 

Or hit a decent drive, then totally air-mail the approach to the green by 30 yards, then chunk two chips trying to get  back on the green where I 3 putt?  Or, hit a 280 yard power slice into the forest OB?  Add in about 12 of the greens 3-putting, chunking chips, etc. and I end the round with a score of 101.  I did this same thing for an entire week and had a miserable trip.  My entire ball-striking spiraled out of control and I couldn't figure out why and I was too prideful and maybe "cheap" to seek help.  I'll figure this out on my own.....and I never did.  I tried every theory and swing thought you could imagine and the only  result I got was wild inconsistency.

 

I came home from Myrtle Beach and the piss-poor golf continued.  One day, after a four-man, best-ball tournament, chopping the golf ball around a "high-end" course like a total beginner, I put the clubs away and gave it up.  It just wasn't fun anymore and, at the time, with two young toddlers and a very stressful job, I wanted a break from golf.

 

I had a personal realization that, After all, golf is expensive, and why pay lots of money to just be bad at something?  From my perspective, it's not fun to play poorly.   Raising young children at the time, along with a very stressful job added to the misery.  I  wasn't going to let golf stress me out to add to my plate.

 

Anyway, this "break" from golf lasted 15 years.   No hitting balls, no driving range, not even watching any golf on TV. Like a time-warp, the entire world of golf passed me by. 

 

I was 34 when I gave it up, now I'm 50 and just now am trying to get back into the game slowly.  Now, however, I realize that I have lost my speed, flexibility, and some of the mobility that I had 15 years ago.  I'm ok with that and now have much lower expectation.

 

 

It is funny that your game is/was so much similar to mine. Like you, I played a ton of golf through the 90's up around 06'. My job story differs from yours however. I was self-employed in the housing/construction industry at the time and when the housing crash occurred in '08, I had already been feeling the effects two years prior in '06. I put the clubs down due to cost. I decided to change mine and my family's situation and went to college as a 37 yrs old man and became an RN at 40. As we got more on track I was able to play here and there but nothing consistent. Then May of last year my son (who is now 22) said we should get back into playing golf like we did when he was little, so I was like sure, and then my wife decided that she would like to learn to play as well. So after about a 14-year hiatus in playing for me, we basically have been re-learning together. Back in the day I would shoot anywhere from a 76 to an 89 on any given day but I know I had a lot of swing issues, most of which I had no idea were problems until we got back in it last year. I had a horrible inside takeaway that I could really recover well at the top, but moving towards the ball with my hips and hands brought me in too steep, goat humper. Back in the day I was young and flexible enough to pull it off, but now that I am 52 (53 in Oct) I find that I cannot pull it off with any consistency anymore. I still hit it very long, as long or longer as back then, but I am all over the place. I'll hit a 310 yard drive but playing it out of the fairway 3 holes over lol or I'll top it 50 yards in front of the front tee box. I have literally made a par this year by rolling the ball on the ground on 3 straight shots and then make the putt lol

 

So I said all of that to say this, IF you can look at your own swing and diagnose your issues, there are a great many excellent places (internet-wise) that can help you tremendously. I am fortunate that I have been a VERY long-time reader of this site (although a new member) and knew about Monte S from here and his videos were a great starting point for me and they are fantastic and I watch them all the time because every time I pick up a little something that I missed before. I also found Porzak golf which really broke things down in a way that just clicked for me. And then last but not least, I found AMG. As an RN I found that their evidence-based approach to the swing resonated with me on a professional level. With these three resources, I have been able to reconstruct my swing that is starting to look more like a good golfers swing. On the course it is slowly starting to translate but the key word is slowly. It is a process that takes time, effort, and a lot of videoing yourself. So, going the internet route of starting over is doable with the right resources AND you are able to look at yourself and see what you are doing wrong and what you need to work on to correct it.

[Kai Slater]

5 hours ago, golf-RN said:

............... I have literally made a par this year by rolling the ball on the ground on 3 straight shots and then make the putt lol

 

So I said all of that to say this, IF you can look at your own swing and diagnose your issues, there are a great many excellent places (internet-wise) that can help you tremendously. I am fortunate that I have been a VERY long-time reader of this site (although a new member) and knew about Monte S from here and his videos were a great starting point for me and they are fantastic and I watch them all the time because every time I pick up a little something that I missed before. I also found Porzak golf which really broke things down in a way that just clicked for me. And then last but not least, I found AMG. As an RN I found that their evidence-based approach to the swing resonated with me on a professional level. With these three resources, I have been able to reconstruct my swing that is starting to look more like a good golfers swing. On the course it is slowly starting to translate but the key word is slowly. It is a process that takes time, effort, and a lot of videoing yourself. So, going the internet route of starting over is doable with the right resources AND you are able to look at yourself and see what you are doing wrong and what you need to work on to correct it.

Hahaha, I can totally relate to the topping shots that get decent roll.  I've been working on a bump'n'run shot with my mid-irons that I can use from about 75 yards and closer to the green.  Seems like a safer strategy for my type of game.  Thanks for mentioning those online resources.  I'll have to check them out and see if I click with any of them.  One of my main "takeaways" from returning to golf is that I have to lower my expectations and get real with myself.  I have aches/pains that I didn't have before, I have spinal arthritis, L4/L5 issues, and extreme pain in my right hand and shoulder, so I really have been working to re-build a useable swing that works for my body issues.