Golf is a crazy game…

[Telecaster92]

Have been taking golf seriously the last year or so after playing on and off maybe 4 rounds a year at most. I’ve had about 3-4 lessons over the year for the first time since I was a kid. My swing and grip has been changed and on my good shots, the ball flight is so much better and pretty straight or a slight fade. Yet I still struggle with consistently committing and knowing exactly where I need to swing to hit that ball flight and not chunk it 20 yards.

 

I went to a range yesterday with no one there. By slowing down thinking about the swing in three parts: setup, club back/rotate on the swing path line, and follow-through, I was bombing probably 60-70% of my shots. Best range session all year. Golf is such a funny game though. On driver, I can drive it about 280-290+ on a good drive. Then next swing I forget how I swung and boom 100 yard miss or less.

 

I’m an early 30s guy so I know I have time and have to put in the time, but it feels like I’m really close to getting this game dialed in pretty good. I know I’ve played the most rounds of my life this year and have been trying to put in range time so I feel that is helping. This is coming off of a round where I just played a scramble and spent almost all holes missing shots or chunking it. (Had a saving grace at the turn hitting the best drive of the group that had a 4 handicap) It’s just frustrating when you can have rounds where you can’t get a shot up but then hit the range and with practice, you’re bombing all shots through the bag. I think like anything I just need to keep up the pace and more range time and playing will help. Anybody else in a similar boat?

[North Butte]

It's not to early to start working on the most important skill you need to quit completely duffing and hitting incredibly bad shots several times a round. It may take years to develop but it's absolutely necessary in order to play anywhere near your physical potential.

 

The skill I'm talking about is the skill of shutting down 100% of this thinking while you're on the course playing a round...

 

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By slowing down thinking about the swing in three parts: setup, club back/rotate on the swing path line, and follow-through, I was bombing probably 60-70% of my shots.

 

That stuff's fine for the range or maybe in a practice round. But you need to get started developing your "play mode" to go along with that "mechanical mode". And the more seriously you take your practicing of mechanics and technique, the harder it becomes to NOT think that way when you're playing golf.

 

I've been playing golf for three decades and I still struggle with that at times.