Are some golfers just more prone to "blowup holes; lost my swing completely"?

[RoyalMustang]

I'm getting pretty tired of this; I will "lose" my swing for a hole or 2, ruining an otherwise good round. I'm not talking about a double bogey here and there: I'm talking about an 11 when I shoot an 80, or a slice so big that I hit the row of houses across the street (twice) from the ones next to the course after being 80% FIR until then. As a kid, I was leading a tournament through 13 holes and then proceeded to hit 6 in a row OB. Last night, I was cruising: 6/6 from the fairway, both par 3s in regulation as well, at +1 from the tips. Then wham: 2 balls OB in areas so far offline that almost nobody can even reach that OB. Followed up by a 4-iron off the tee just to be safe and swing that suddenly comes back, striping an 8-iron to within 4 feet of the pin. 

 

Where these swings come from, I have no idea. But when I play with others in tournaments, almost nobody at a similar cap has these types of blowup holes. They just make a lot of pars and bogeys. I'm not swinging for the fences; my "controlled" choked down driver at 43" is still going to be 290+, and I use that swing a lot. I also have been averaging more bogeys in tournament rounds than my similarly-capped competitors (probably due to being pretty long from the tee and good with wedges).  Even on the range, I can hit 8 fairway drivers (or hybrids) in a row, and the 9th will be 100 yards right or left. The next 5 will be fairways again.  

 

What I do know is that it's very frustrating, as it damages one's confidence. Almost like you are skiing in really bad punchy snow off piste, where a "snow snake" could take you down at any moment when you hit a particularly hollow spot. It's almost impossible to relax in those conditions.  

 

It's also tough from a handicap standpoint: caps "normalize" a double digit hole but in a scored tournament, a 13 is a 13. 

 

I don't think this is "mental" as it happens occasionally in tournaments and occasionally in practice. There has to be some "emergency stop" I can learn when this comes up, but I don't even understand it at this point. 

 

Would instruction help? Or is it just a natural variance that I get to enjoy dragging me down? I know someone will say "don't hit driver" but in another tournament, I had hit both drivers OB. So I teed up with a hybrid. OB again. And again. 5th times was striped right down the middle and I birdied that hole if you could take those 4 OBs back. 

[Kmagnuss]

I have a similar issue from time to time.  For me it's old injuries that start to lightly bother me and it throws everything off.  Back and lead shoulder. 

I've found sometimes just not thinking about my swing whatsoever and not taking any 'practice swings' helps me out.  Sometimes the only thing that helps is a drink or 5.

[elwhippy]

You have my sympathy. This season has been hampered by more double and trebles than I can ever recall. Usually comes from a poor drive, followed by multiple errors. Add in a stiff back and you have a recipe for disaster. Autumn and Winter will involve training and lessons with a local Pro who is vertically challenged like me and who I can relate to when he demonstrates. 

I also recommend Guinness. 

[Kai Slater]

Yeah, man, happens to me all the time.  I'll be going along pretty well, then, wham, one hole and I"m off the rails.  I usually hit the ball pretty well off the tee, so it turns out that my approach play is what makes me crash and burn most of the time.  I've ruined many good drives with a sideways shanked 2nd shot.  Years ago, I actually quit the game of golf altogether because of the shanks for my all of my irons.  After 16 years off, I've recently come back to try golf again.

[MelloYello]

1 hour ago, RoyalMustang said:

...my "controlled" choked down driver at 43" is still going to be 290+, and I use that swing a lot. I also have been averaging more bogeys in tournament rounds than my similarly-capped competitors (probably due to being pretty long from the tee and good with wedges). 

 

Get shorter. My SS is 108 and I carry it 260-ish with little roll-out on our soft, damp conditions. 

 

If you're constantly hitting it too far you're just taking on too much risk. If 1 bad swings automatically goes OB, you need to consider (consistently) clubbing down. 

 

Guys I've known who hit it 300+ pretty much spend the day hitting 2-irons on most courses. They might pull driver on a couple holes but that's it. 

 

Being good is about being able to control where your misses end up. Hard to miss at 300-yds and still feel safe! Usually the answer is to just hit the 250 club.  😉

 

Could also be you're faking that power with a stupid swing. My buddy is convinced he hits Pw 155 (which he absolutely can) but I don't know any serious golfer who builds their swing around what their physical maximum is. My buddy is just dumb that way and won't ever be able to avoid the enormous misses you describe where suddenly a ball goes 10 miles right/left. That's why he's a 12 index still struggling to break 80 after 2 decades playing (with the gift of being able to hit Pw 150!). 

 

My Pw goes 125. I'm sure I could smash it 140 if I wanted but I don't. This is golf. Scoring is how we measure ourselves, not distance. Don't be like my buddy who still hasn't learned golf's most fundamental lesson, LOL. 

 

 

.

Edited September 11, 2023 by MelloYello

[Port and Starboard]

1 hour ago, RoyalMustang said:

I'm getting pretty tired of this; I will "lose" my swing for a hole or 2, ruining an otherwise good round. I'm not talking about a double bogey here and there: I'm talking about an 11 when I shoot an 80, or a slice so big that I hit the row of houses across the street (twice) from the ones next to the course after being 80% FIR until then. As a kid, I was leading a tournament through 13 holes and then proceeded to hit 6 in a row OB. Last night, I was cruising: 6/6 from the fairway, both par 3s in regulation as well, at +1 from the tips. Then wham: 2 balls OB in areas so far offline that almost nobody can even reach that OB. Followed up by a 4-iron off the tee just to be safe and swing that suddenly comes back, striping an 8-iron to within 4 feet of the pin. 

 

Where these swings come from, I have no idea. But when I play with others in tournaments, almost nobody at a similar cap has these types of blowup holes. They just make a lot of pars and bogeys. I'm not swinging for the fences; my "controlled" choked down driver at 43" is still going to be 290+, and I use that swing a lot. I also have been averaging more bogeys in tournament rounds than my similarly-capped competitors (probably due to being pretty long from the tee and good with wedges).  Even on the range, I can hit 8 fairway drivers (or hybrids) in a row, and the 9th will be 100 yards right or left. The next 5 will be fairways again.  

 

What I do know is that it's very frustrating, as it damages one's confidence. Almost like you are skiing in really bad punchy snow off piste, where a "snow snake" could take you down at any moment when you hit a particularly hollow spot. It's almost impossible to relax in those conditions.  

 

It's also tough from a handicap standpoint: caps "normalize" a double digit hole but in a scored tournament, a 13 is a 13. 

 

I don't think this is "mental" as it happens occasionally in tournaments and occasionally in practice. There has to be some "emergency stop" I can learn when this comes up, but I don't even understand it at this point. 

 

Would instruction help? Or is it just a natural variance that I get to enjoy dragging me down? I know someone will say "don't hit driver" but in another tournament, I had hit both drivers OB. So I teed up with a hybrid. OB again. And again. 5th times was striped right down the middle and I birdied that hole if you could take those 4 OBs back. 

 

I have at least 2 blow up holes for 50% of the rounds that I play.  I play under a points format most of the time so the ball goes in my pocket as soon as I get to a double which counts as a open hole (no points)

 

I step right up to the next tee thinking par/birdies.

 

Same goes for tournaments where all my stroked are counted.  I learned how to just forget about the hole behind me and think pars and birdies.

 

Can't let it get to you pards.    Just can't, or it will take all your energy away.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Port and Starboard

[third-times-a-charm]

I believe thats just called "golf".

 

When I'm doing one of my other hobbies or work and I really screw something up I say "Man, I'm really golfing now!"

Edited September 11, 2023 by third-times-a-charm

[Maroon_19]

This happens when I start thinking about my score.  As long as I don't think about anything but the next shot I can keep the ball in play.  Once I think "I've got a great round going!" I will hit the giant flair right and bring double or triple into play.  I am striving to be a goldfish (regardless of good or bad) as Ted would say.

[Socrates]

Everyone will have a blowup hole every now and then.  If you are having them regularly, then I would suggest that your swing/setup isn't as good as you think it is.  Anytime I hit one off the planet, I will trace it back to a bad setup or posture position.  Bad posture/setup happens when one gets complacent and before you know it, you have gotten into a position that no amount of talent can rescue it.  That's when you you, for no apparent reason, hit one off the planet.  That's what happens when I do it.  Hit one last round.  Just poor setup.  Setup properly and hit the next one down the middle.

 

As far as hitting it into bad spots, a lot of that comes down to poor course management.  I play a lot of holes where, if I was striping it and had nothing to lose, I could hit driver.  Even so, I rarely do because that puts a big number into play.  I'd rather hit a 6 iron off the tee and have a long iron in, than hit driver and risk making 8.  There are holes where I accept that I may make a bogey, but it's not going to be worse.  If I make a par, it's a bonus.

[Esage]

I have this happen , and it's always tempo related .

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

2 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

There has to be some "emergency stop" I can learn when this comes up, but I don't even understand it at this point. 

 

Would instruction help?

I think it might.  I don't want to shill here, but the instructor Adam Young has drills for teaching his pupils how to identify where on the face, and where in their low point, strike is occurring.  Then he teaches drills for altering either of those as you choose, with data-based feedback (e.g., 8/10 hit off of toe when trying to.)

 

The idea being that you can recognize a blow-up shot, immediately recognize what happened, and whether you need to right now implement an adjustment that moves strike away from that faulty result.  Then do so if you have to. Instead of being me, who will very precisely and deliberately hit the next five shots as tops (or shanks/slices/chunks/hooks), and getting fed up with the whole stupid game.

[ChaosTheory]

2 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

a slice so big that I hit the row of houses across the street (twice) from the ones next to the course

 

I knew that was you!  Do you place Vice balls?

 

🙂

😅

 

[ChaosTheory]

I'm such a short and straight hitter that I'm out of my element here, but I do have a serious question.  Do you have a big two way miss with the driver?  Or mostly one way?  It sort of sounds like the Hank Haney question.  "What's your big miss?  Fix it."   If your only/common big miss is right, maybe that can indicate how to proceed. 

 

 

 

 

 

[RoyalMustang]

1 minute ago, Snowman9000 said:

I'm such a short and straight hitter that I'm out of my element here, but I do have a serious question.  Do you have a big two way miss with the driver?  Or mostly one way?  It sort of sounds like the Hank Haney question.  "What's your big miss?  Fix it."   If your only/common big miss is right, maybe that can indicate how to proceed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's right on blowup holes, left when I am too quick. I can keep the left one in check with tempo, but the right miss is a mystery. I probably need some video to really figure out with the right miss what's going on. 

[RoyalMustang]

1 hour ago, MelloYello said:

 

Get shorter. My SS is 108 and I carry it 260-ish with little roll-out on our soft, damp conditions. 

 

If you're constantly hitting it too far you're just taking on too much risk. If 1 bad swings automatically goes OB, you need to consider (consistently) clubbing down. 

 

Guys I've known who hit it 300+ pretty much spend the day hitting 2-irons on most courses. They might pull driver on a couple holes but that's it. 

 

Being good is about being able to control where your misses end up. Hard to miss at 300-yds and still feel safe! Usually the answer is to just hit the 250 club.  😉

 

Could also be you're faking that power with a stupid swing. My buddy is convinced he hits Pw 155 (which he absolutely can) but I don't know any serious golfer who builds their swing around what their physical maximum is. My buddy is just dumb that way and won't ever be able to avoid the enormous misses you describe where suddenly a ball goes 10 miles right/left. That's why he's a 12 index still struggling to break 80 after 2 decades playing (with the gift of being able to hit Pw 150!). 

 

My Pw goes 125. I'm sure I could smash it 140 if I wanted but I don't. This is golf. Scoring is how we measure ourselves, not distance. Don't be like my buddy who still hasn't learned golf's most fundamental lesson, LOL. 

 

 

.

 

It isn't that my driver is being swung too hard and that I have phantom power. Yesterday, I hit driver 4 times and 3 wood 2 times. My results were: 

3W-275 in the fairway; D-305 in the fairway; D-310 in the fairway; 3W: 270 in the fairway; D-320 in the fairway; D-2 balls crazy right OB. Most any regular golfer would take the first 5 holes off the tee. I was cruising. And then wham, got punched in the face. Rolling out to 300+ is a comfortable swing for me. I can get more if I go for it but the result is often bad, so all of my swings now are 70-80%. My scores are coming down, FIR and GIR are up, but the blowup holes haven't departed yet. 

 

Yes, I have tried laying up, but it doesn't work so well on a 450 yard par 4. I leave myself 200+ for the approach and that's no fun. A good friend of mine is a +2 and he says "you have to be comfortable hitting your driver or 3 wood on tight holes unless they are short and strategic. Otherwise you end up playing for par (at best)". 

[RoyalMustang]

1 hour ago, Jayjay_theweim_guy said:

I think it might.  I don't want to shill here, but the instructor Adam Young has drills for teaching his pupils how to identify where on the face, and where in their low point, strike is occurring.  Then he teaches drills for altering either of those as you choose, with data-based feedback (e.g., 8/10 hit off of toe when trying to.)

 

The idea being that you can recognize a blow-up shot, immediately recognize what happened, and whether you need to right now implement an adjustment that moves strike away from that faulty result.  Then do so if you have to. Instead of being me, who will very precisely and deliberately hit the next five shots as tops (or shanks/slices/chunks/hooks), and getting fed up with the whole stupid game.

 

Ah, the shank. I always hit one when warming up-it's good to get it out of the system! 

[RoyalMustang]

1 hour ago, Socrates said:

Everyone will have a blowup hole every now and then.  If you are having them regularly, then I would suggest that your swing/setup isn't as good as you think it is.  Anytime I hit one off the planet, I will trace it back to a bad setup or posture position.  Bad posture/setup happens when one gets complacent and before you know it, you have gotten into a position that no amount of talent can rescue it.  That's when you you, for no apparent reason, hit one off the planet.  That's what happens when I do it.  Hit one last round.  Just poor setup.  Setup properly and hit the next one down the middle.

 

As far as hitting it into bad spots, a lot of that comes down to poor course management.  I play a lot of holes where, if I was striping it and had nothing to lose, I could hit driver.  Even so, I rarely do because that puts a big number into play.  I'd rather hit a 6 iron off the tee and have a long iron in, than hit driver and risk making 8.  There are holes where I accept that I may make a bogey, but it's not going to be worse.  If I make a par, it's a bonus.

 

The setup could be key: I may be unintentionally setting up differently. Perhaps I should re-assess my routine.  

[Santiago Golf]

I have had a whole year like this haha

 

I will make 7 pars in a row and then a triple, bogey and shoot 40

 

It can be very frustrating. I have worked alot on perspective and understanding what

good golf looks like and triples are apart of good golf; tour pros shoot under par with

triples, so I can break 75 with triples. So I try not worry about it. If I make a couple

birdies they offset the triple. 

 

If you are trying to break 80, its not about getting rid of the big number, its more about turning

those bogeys into pars a few times. When you make a score bigger than 9 (ive done it), it often

feels like you can't make much better than you did.

 

If you know you are prone to these short bursts of struggle, maybe need a slightly different stragey

If you hit a driver OB, then grab a 5 iron aim away from trouble and swing it into play. 

[Denny100]

If you fight the driver, this is the natural consequence because if youve got a big miss in your bag, you dont know when the big miss will come out. It might put you on another adjacent fairway and youre fine....but you might end up out of bounds.

 

Id say commit to playing a fade off the tee and work as hard as possible on the recovery and short game.

[Socrates]

2 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

The setup could be key: I may be unintentionally setting up differently. Perhaps I should re-assess my routine.  

The other day it was very windy and I was playing into a strong head/cross wind.  I had unconsciously changed to try and hit a low shot and aim left.  After the fact I realized I had squatted down and was way open.  Result was Star Wars - OB1.  I did much better for the rest of the round.

[b.mattay]

Most likely scenario is that you have a major swing flaw but are very strong/athletic/coordinated and can make up for it the vast majority of the time. The times you don't are when the huge huge misses come into play. 

[otto6457]

Rory just had a major blow up hole in the final round of the Irish Open.  I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that your golf game isn't as good as Rory's.  Everybody at every level has blow up holes.  The big difference is the number and severity of blow up holes.  Rory has very few.  A 20 handicap has a LOT of them.  The other players you play tournaments with have them at about the same rate as you do.  You just don't notice because their score isn't your score.

 

You just need a better golf swing, a better short game, and better putting.   We all do.

 

Golf is hard.  Competitive golf is really hard.

[sheffield]

8 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

It's right on blowup holes, left when I am too quick. I can keep the left one in check with tempo, but the right miss is a mystery. I probably need some video to really figure out with the right miss what's going on. 

I have the right "big" miss it's almost always setup... especially when I open my stance for a cut.  Ball is much further back than I think leading to big push and sometimes made worse by open face to path... if I rush my setup it can happen any time. In a tournament I am extra careful now... 

[Nels55]

10 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

It's right on blowup holes, left when I am too quick. I can keep the left one in check with tempo, but the right miss is a mystery. I probably need some video to really figure out with the right miss what's going on. 

I have had a lot of big misses with driver that seemed baffling to me.  I would be hitting the ball fine and all of sudden a huge push slice shows up out of the blue seemingly.  LOL.  From using my mevo+ a lot I have come to believe that my main problem is path shifting from inside to outside by enough to make an open face that would produce a draw or straight ball with an inside out path will  produce the big miss with an outside in path.

 

So, I am working a lot on controlling path with all of my clubs and it does seem to be helping.  I have gotten away from the big inside out path that I used to play and I am trying for a neutral path and sorta straight ball.  Hitting the ball at the target more often does seem to help with scoring...

 

Of course I have no idea if any of this would apply to your swing but in my case a big part of it is balance.  I have a tendency to go out over the ball with my weight  occasionally which is a return to the swing that I had when I was 27 handicap slicer 50 years ago. 

 

Anyway, might be something to consider...

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

Suffering from the same. My teaching pro says it’s ALWAYS the basics, so either grip, setup, posture or tempo, and I tend to let old bad habits creep into my swing when I don’t pay attention to the indications of those. 
I‘m athletic enough and have good hand-eye, so it’s hard to notice when I’m already „faking it“. 
 

Another example is a buddy of mine with a pretty handsy swing. 2 hcp but everything crumbles when his timing is off. 
 

Option 3 is not-so-perfect swing fundamentals and being very good at compensating those. There’s 5 hcp people out there with major swing flaws, but great coordination, athleticism and strong mental games. At some point, disaster WILL strike. But it’s hard to go back and start from scratch when you mostly score low…

Edited September 12, 2023 by LukeDonaldsTiger

[TheDeanAbides]

If you have a hook when you’re going hard at it and a huge slice from nowhere then something has to happen to eliminate that two way miss. Best bet would be to get your swing on video to see what’s happening. My bet is that you have a sequencing issue that you’re managing with good hands… until you’re not..

[doctor220]

16 hours ago, MelloYello said:

 

Get shorter. My SS is 108 and I carry it 260-ish with little roll-out on our soft, damp conditions. 

 

If you're constantly hitting it too far you're just taking on too much risk. If 1 bad swings automatically goes OB, you need to consider (consistently) clubbing down. 

 

Guys I've known who hit it 300+ pretty much spend the day hitting 2-irons on most courses. They might pull driver on a couple holes but that's it. 

 

Being good is about being able to control where your misses end up. Hard to miss at 300-yds and still feel safe! Usually the answer is to just hit the 250 club.  😉

 

Could also be you're faking that power with a stupid swing. My buddy is convinced he hits Pw 155 (which he absolutely can) but I don't know any serious golfer who builds their swing around what their physical maximum is. My buddy is just dumb that way and won't ever be able to avoid the enormous misses you describe where suddenly a ball goes 10 miles right/left. That's why he's a 12 index still struggling to break 80 after 2 decades playing (with the gift of being able to hit Pw 150!). 

 

My Pw goes 125. I'm sure I could smash it 140 if I wanted but I don't. This is golf. Scoring is how we measure ourselves, not distance. Don't be like my buddy who still hasn't learned golf's most fundamental lesson, LOL. 

 

 

.

Don’t agree re the 2 iron. You should hit driver most holes on most courses. Sure if it’s quirky and hitting driver puts you into junk then don’t hit it , but generally if you are a decent player you should hit driver a lot most of the time. 

[TheDeanAbides]

59 minutes ago, doctor220 said:

Don’t agree re the 2 iron. You should hit driver most holes on most courses. Sure if it’s quirky and hitting driver puts you into junk then don’t hit it , but generally if you are a decent player you should hit driver a lot most of the time. 

There are no “shoulds”. Hit what allows you to score the best on the course you’re playing. 

[bluedot]

Everybody loses their feel for the swing at times.  How long that lasts and how severe it gets is another question, though.

 

The better your fundamentals and the betting you understand what particular ball flights mean about your swing, the quicker you can right the ship.  And, as Monte Scheinblum preaches all the time, trying to reinvent your swing by making changes mid-round instead of trying to execute your fundamentals well will only make it worse.

 

Bad shots, and even bad stretches, ARE going to happen, even in your better rounds.  Control your reaction to that, and you will improve your recovery time.

 

If you haven’t already, consider reading “Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow” by Daniel Kanneman, who is the only psychologist to win a Nobel Prize, though he won it for economics.  It might surprise you at how much it can help with this situation.

[TLUBulldogGolf]

Sounds like club path may be getting too extreme and you are able to manage it until you don't.