Longest slump, and how you overcame it

[CasualLie]

Longest slump a little over a year; call it 15 months.  Finally got sick of it and went to Irvine to visit the cargo shorts guy; slump over.

 

A few years later, went into about a 5 month slump.  I thought it was all mental.  I went to see Jim Waldron; slump over.  NTC videos came out; latched on to that.  Then shortly after, no real slump, but felt like I was plateauing.  Really, it was just that it takes so long to grind through the changes.  NTC videos have been my anchor.  Slowly got better.

 

Had a session with the AMG guys; interesting stuff, started this odyssey of focusing on pressure shifts.  Sometimes it would give me brilliant rounds, other times frustrating, so I would let that focus go and refocus on NTC.  Every once in awhile I would get dragged back into the pressure shift world, but it takes so long to trust.  

 

Last year put in a lot of time on wedges, this year it is putting.  The swing is grinding along.  It is all coming together.  I am getting comfortable with low-mid 70s.  But today I am finding a new barrier that is just a matter of time to get through, but it could be a long time - it's called don't freak out when starting a round even or -1 on front 9!!

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by CasualLie

[Jim Waldron]

My understanding is that there is a hierarchy of fundamentals, ie some are much more important than others. And that hierarchy will be somewhat different for my advanced students v high cappers, but in general my diagnostic tool to help golfer's in slumps is:

 

1. Mind first - how are you using your mind to focus during the swing and what are you focusing on. This is normally the fastest way to get a student out of a slump. Most golfers suffer from "contamination" to varying degrees: which means too much engagement of the conscious thinking mind with the body motion, practice mindset on the course instead of using performance mindset, using swing thoughts (instead of swing feels), and also adding emotion, or emotional attachment to failure and/or success in terms of shot outcome. I include confidence as well in this category. There are very effective confidence-building exercises, that are based on direct control of your emotional and mental state, and thus confidence as a choice, as a skill, that is NOT dependent on recent past success at hitting good shots. Restoring confidence is a super fast way to help a golfer get out of a slump.

 

2. Baseline Balance - I see it everyday, students who are WAY off balance, both at the start, during the swing motion and at the Finish. You are never going to make consistently solid contact if you are losing your Balance. And it is usually very easy to fix - and quickly.

 

3. Baseline Tempo - if your tempo is too slow or too fast, it's really tough to make a proper golf swing with good sequencing and good release timing. Too slow tempo is classic Steering Impulse and too fast is classic Hit Impulse.

 

4. Setup - see it everyday, guys with just absolutely horrible Setups, and all they want to talk about is "external rotation of the right humorous bone 10 degrees on transition to shallow the shaft". Are you kidding me? No excuse for ANY amateur golfer to not have as good a Setup as the tour pros.

 

5. Grip position and grip pressures. Most ams hold on way too tight, with unequal pressure, and their hands slip around on the handle, the face angle changes as a result, and overall pressure is massively changing during the swing from too tight to too loose. Also easy to fix, IF the student is willing to be "uncomfortable"  when changing their grip position. If the position is too strong or too weak with either hand, you will have wrist mechanics and release issues.

 

6. Finish position. For mid to high cappers, learning how to finish properly is one of the fastest ways to see positive swing changes, without having to work on those changes directly.

 

7. Aim and alignment - I think we all know the guy in our group who aims his driver 35 yards right of where he thinks he is aiming, comes way over the top and hits a dead pull in to the middle of the fairway, and thinks his swing is good. But he usually only does that maybe 20% of the time. The other shots stink, cuz sometimes he forgets to come over it and hits a dead straight shot (neutral path) that goes into the junk on the right side of the hole, an actual good swing,  but he gets pissed and says "I blocked the s.... out of that one".

 

8. Motion swing mechanics or movement pattern training.  For all but my advanced students, I closely check the swing by starting with takeaway, then second half of backswing, then transition, then release. If they are all bad, does not matter, I will always start with takeaway, since it comes first in the cause/effect sequence.

 

In my case, my slump lasted a year, ending in losing a competition, threw my clubs in the lake next to the 18th green and did not touch a club for 11 years.....so does that make it a 12 year long slump?

[wagolfer7]

5 minutes ago, Jim Waldron said:

My understanding is that there is a hierarchy of fundamentals, ie some are much more important than others. And that hierarchy will be somewhat different for my advanced students v high cappers, but in general my diagnostic tool to help golfer's in slumps is:

 

1. Mind first - how are you using your mind to focus during the swing and what are you focusing on. This is normally the fastest way to get a student out of a slump. Most golfers suffer from "contamination" to varying degrees: which means too much engagement of the conscious thinking mind with the body motion, practice mindset on the course instead of using performance mindset, using swing thoughts (instead of swing feels), and also adding emotion, or emotional attachment to failure and/or success in terms of shot outcome. I include confidence as well in this category. There are very effective confidence-building exercises, that are based on direct control of your emotional and mental state, and thus confidence as a choice, as a skill, that is NOT dependent on recent past success at hitting good shots. Restoring confidence is a super fast way to help a golfer get out of a slump.

 

2. Baseline Balance - I see it everyday, students who are WAY off balance, both at the start, during the swing motion and at the Finish. You are never going to make consistently solid contact if you are losing your Balance. And it is usually very easy to fix - and quickly.

 

3. Baseline Tempo - if your tempo is too slow or too fast, it's really tough to make a proper golf swing with good sequencing and good release timing. Too slow tempo is classic Steering Impulse and too fast is classic Hit Impulse.

 

4. Setup - see it everyday, guys with just absolutely horrible Setups, and all they want to talk about is "external rotation of the right humorous bone 10 degrees on transition to shallow the shaft". Are you kidding me? No excuse for ANY amateur golfer to not have as good a Setup as the tour pros.

 

5. Grip position and grip pressures. Most ams hold on way too tight, with unequal pressure, and their hands slip around on the handle, the face angle changes as a result, and overall pressure is massively changing during the swing from too tight to too loose. Also easy to fix, IF the student is willing to be "uncomfortable"  when changing their grip position. If the position is too strong or too weak with either hand, you will have wrist mechanics and release issues.

 

6. Finish position. For mid to high cappers, learning how to finish properly is one of the fastest ways to see positive swing changes, without having to work on those changes directly.

 

7. Aim and alignment - I think we all know the guy in our group who aims his driver 35 yards right of where he thinks he is aiming, comes way over the top and hits a dead pull in to the middle of the fairway, and thinks his swing is good. But he usually only does that maybe 20% of the time. The other shots stink, cuz sometimes he forgets to come over it and hits a dead straight shot (neutral path) that goes into the junk on the right side of the hole, an actual good swing,  but he gets pissed and says "I blocked the s.... out of that one".

 

8. Motion swing mechanics or movement pattern training.  For all but my advanced students, I closely check the swing by starting with takeaway, then second half of backswing, then transition, then release. If they are all bad, does not matter, I will always start with takeaway, since it comes first in the cause/effect sequence.

 

In my case, my slump lasted a year, ending in losing a competition, threw my clubs in the lake next to the 18th green and did not touch a club for 11 years.....so does that make it a 12 year long slump?

 

Awesome post @Jim Waldron

 

So much good stuff in this one post alone.  

[DoughBack18]

8 hours ago, bonvivantva said:

 

Thanks for the advice.  I've definitely 100% committed to the changes.  I've more or less quit golf in terms of playing it, because I've genuinely lost the ability to enjoy it or keep pace.  I was on a golf trip with my friends last October, and I basically got through it just playing punch shots with my hybrid until I was inside 100 yards.  The hard part for me is that I started lessons so I could play well enough that my dad would like golfing with me.  It's frustrating for him when I'm hacking it all over the place holding him up.  He wants to play with me this week for my birthday, and I plan to go, but depressingly I'm not looking forward to it.  I have this really nice simulator I built over covid, and I can't even bring myself to try playing Augusta this week because I'll just get frustrated.

 

I'm starting to doubt my ability to improve with my current instructor.  I don't think he's giving me bad advice or anything, but gun to my head I couldn't articulate how what we're working on now is supposed to help.  I'm trying to keep my lead wrist more neutral, especially in transition, but I'm still stalling out my swing and getting the club outside, so I don't see how it much matters.  I don't know if it will help but I'm about ready to start looking for a new instructor.  I agree that any small progression might give me some hope, but I've been hitting 100 yard 9 irons for a year, and it's getting harder and harder to justify the time and effort without any results.

My 2 cents on a couple things-

 

1.   You can shoot 100 and keep pace with if not play faster than a scratch golfer. I see it every weekend. Limit your practice swings and be ready when its your turn and you’ll keep pace with anyone.

 

2.     Is your dad frustrated seeing you hack it around or are you frustrated playing poorly in front of your dad? Unless he’s not the nicest guy, i’m sure all he wants is to have a good time with his son. “We didn’t speak a word but he shot 67” doesn’t seem like what most dads would want... “He shot 104 but we had a blast!” sounds more like a dad phrase. 
 

3.      If you were shooting in the 80’s and have regressed with this instructor then i’d say move on. I’ve never seen you swing, but it sounds like with your yardage issues that perhaps some of the athleticism has been taken out of your swing? And if you are getting bogged down with wrist angles and path thoughts instead of letting it loose I can’t think thats helping your cause. 

4.    Try to have some fun! Your talking about being so frustrated you don’t want to use your sim... 

 

 

    If none of the above helps, tie your left shoe in a double knot, put all your change in your left hand pocket, stick a tee behind your left ear and go stripe that 7 iron! 
 

     

[bonvivantva]

12 hours ago, DoughBack18 said:

My 2 cents on a couple things-

 

1.   You can shoot 100 and keep pace with if not play faster than a scratch golfer. I see it every weekend. Limit your practice swings and be ready when its your turn and you’ll keep pace with anyone.

 

2.     Is your dad frustrated seeing you hack it around or are you frustrated playing poorly in front of your dad? Unless he’s not the nicest guy, i’m sure all he wants is to have a good time with his son. “We didn’t speak a word but he shot 67” doesn’t seem like what most dads would want... “He shot 104 but we had a blast!” sounds more like a dad phrase. 
 

3.      If you were shooting in the 80’s and have regressed with this instructor then i’d say move on. I’ve never seen you swing, but it sounds like with your yardage issues that perhaps some of the athleticism has been taken out of your swing? And if you are getting bogged down with wrist angles and path thoughts instead of letting it loose I can’t think thats helping your cause. 

4.    Try to have some fun! Your talking about being so frustrated you don’t want to use your sim... 

 

 

    If none of the above helps, tie your left shoe in a double knot, put all your change in your left hand pocket, stick a tee behind your left ear and go stripe that 7 iron! 
 

     

 

My dad is frustrated for me.  It's hard for me to stomach spending so much time and effort to be terrible, and I doubt he enjoys watching me fail either.  As far of pace of play goes, it's not so much that I'm holding up the group behind me, it's that I'm screwing up my dad's game.  He is good at golf and likes to play nice and difficult courses.  If I hit an ok drive just shy of him, and then duff an iron twice, I've hit three times since he hit.  That can mess up your game when you have a good one going.  Hes been playing the senior tees with me, even though we used to play the normal ones.  He plays the whites with his friends, but already is making accommodations for me.  The last time we played, we played a really nice course you see on tv.  I ended up having to pick up the last three holes I struggled so much.  You can't really say, "he had a blast" when clearly I did not.  Lastly, I don't think I've communicated how bad things have gotten if you think I can just have fun on the simulator.  I'm used to hitting my 6i 180 carry.  I'm lucky to get it 130 right now.  That just isn't fun, even alone on a simulator.  In real life, I'm often reduced to hitting 150ish yard punch shots with my hybrid, which is also not fun.

 

3.)  This is where we agree.  I think you've nailed it.  We've been so focused on positions and angles that I've lost everything that was working.  It's worse than starting from scratch.  I think you're right about it being time to move on.  

 

I think the biggest single factor in my not improving is a lack of feedback.  When you are hitting these high weak 100 yard 9i shots, you can't tell if anything you're doing is working or not.  I take a lesson and work on say my wrist in transition.  Hit the same crappy shot over and over.  It's all based on faith because I'm not seeing any improvement, and I've lose all hope.

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by bonvivantva

[wagolfer7]

2 hours ago, bonvivantva said:

 

My dad is frustrated for me.  It's hard for me to stomach spending so much time and effort to be terrible, and I doubt he enjoys watching me fail either.  As far of pace of play goes, it's not so much that I'm holding up the group behind me, it's that I'm screwing up my dad's game.  He is good at golf and likes to play nice and difficult courses.  If I hit an ok drive just shy of him, and then duff an iron twice, I've hit three times since he hit.  That can mess up your game when you have a good one going.  Hes been playing the senior tees with me, even though we used to play the normal ones.  He plays the whites with his friends, but already is making accommodations for me.  The last time we played, we played a really nice course you see on tv.  I ended up having to pick up the last three holes I struggled so much.  You can't really say, "he had a blast" when clearly I did not.  Lastly, I don't think I've communicated how bad things have gotten if you think I can just have fun on the simulator.  I'm used to hitting my 6i 180 carry.  I'm lucky to get it 130 right now.  That just isn't fun, even alone on a simulator.  In real life, I'm often reduced to hitting 150ish yard punch shots with my hybrid, which is also not fun.

 

3.)  This is where we agree.  I think you've nailed it.  We've been so focused on positions and angles that I've lost everything that was working.  It's worse than starting from scratch.  I think you're right about it being time to move on.  

 

I think the biggest single factor in my not improving is a lack of feedback.  When you are hitting these high weak 100 yard 9i shots, you can't tell if anything you're doing is working or not.  I take a lesson and work on say my wrist in transition.  Hit the same crappy shot over and over.  It's all based on faith because I'm not seeing any improvement, and I've lose all hope.

 

 

Don't give up man.  A lot of us have been here to some extent.  

 

There's some things in the game that can make it very hard to hit good shots.  Unfortunately you got a few of them going at the same time.  Switch instructors and get a different perspective.  I'd recommend going to in-person lessons.  

 

If you make a few easy adjustments and just change your intent through the ball - you'll be shooting in the 80's an 90's quickly.  And enjoying the game of golf again.  

 

You do need some guidance though.  Go to a new instructor and tell him your story.  If you don't see improvement and get some understanding of what is making the game so hard right now....then try another one.  This is not a you need to hit 1,000 balls to see improvement.  You just need someone to explain to you some of the fundamentals again and what's happening currently in your swing and why.  In my opinion, you got enough good things going on that it shouldn't take you more than a few bucket of balls to start to see a real big change.     

[bonvivantva]

3 hours ago, wagolfer7 said:

You just need someone to explain to you some of the fundamentals again and what's happening currently in your swing and why.  In my opinion, you got enough good things going on that it shouldn't take you more than a few bucket of balls to start to see a real big change.     

 

Thanks.  I think this is great advice.

[Precis1on]

10 hours ago, bonvivantva said:

I'm used to hitting my 6i 180 carry.  I'm lucky to get it 130 right now.  That just isn't fun, even alone on a simulator.  In real life, I'm often reduced to hitting 150ish yard punch shots with my hybrid, which is also not fun.

 

I think the biggest single factor in my not improving is a lack of feedback.  When you are hitting these high weak 100 yard 9i shots, you can't tell if anything you're doing is working or not.  I take a lesson and work on say my wrist in transition.  Hit the same crappy shot over and over.  It's all based on faith because I'm not seeing any improvement, and I've lose all hope.

 

 

Find a coach that can really help you understand what your path to improvement is like and sets the correct expectations for your game and what it means to improve over time. Something is definitely not playing correctly in your improvement if you've gone from a 180 carry to a 130 carry on the 6i. A coach should be able to tell you what flights you should expect and what misses are common as you apply fixes. 

 

My lowest cap was an entire season where I was working on some swing changes, but doing something similar to you. I played a 3/4 swing punch shot, reduced my general distance by 20 yards, but everything was straight, accurate, and consistent. 

[bonvivantva]

So here we are a couple months later.  I did get a new golf instructor, and although I'm kind of lukewarm on coaching/instruction in general, I think the new guy is way better than the last one.  My last 10 rounds or so have been in the mid 90s instead of the mid-100s, so I've even seen a little improvement.  I think the hardest thing for me right now is forgetting a lot of the stuff my last instructor told me.  He was so well regarded and accomplished that I really bought in.  But I'm coming to realize that a lot of what he told me was counterproductive, or at best, the way I understood it would not have lead me to improve.

 

For example, when I started lessons with the previous instructor, I was losing a lot of height in transition/the downswing, and then jumping to try to gain it back.  His solution was to eliminate that dip/loss of height in transition.  I think this was one of my biggest problems.  My understanding was that he instructor wanted me to maintain my height throughout my swing.  I even confirmed this with him to ensure there was no misunderstanding.  When I attempted to maintain height during the swing, I felt like I lost any athleticism, and my swing really felt like an upper body only swing.  I also had a ton of trouble with path.  In transition I couldn't stop throwing the club OTT, and you just can't get any real power starting steep and outside so early.  If felt like we tried something new each lessons, but nothing ever helped.

 

I haven't had a lesson in about a month and a half just due to my schedule.  I've been making slow improvement, but yesterday I was hitting some of my old distances and found my old hook (which means I managed to get my path a little in to out).  Like most of my improvements, it just kind of happened by accident and based on feel.  I realized I was squatting a little in transition, which allowed me to feel like I could separate my hips and upper body, or more specifically my upper body didn't pull the club OTT as I moved my hips.  It just kind of happened as I was desperately trying to figure out how to fix my path.

 

Looking at old videos of my swing that my instructor took as well as videos I took of myself, I think I finally understand the height loss.  In the backswing, I'd sway back and also kind of turn back off the ball, and lose a few inches that way.  Then to compensate for being so far off the ball, I'd lunge forward with my upper body screwing my path and also causing me to lose even more height.  So then there would be nothing left to do but jump and try to make contact.

 

I've been focused on eliminating my sway off the ball because I know that lunging forward is a killer for me. This has also helped me probably gain a little height in the backswing if anything as I'm rotating and extending rather than just turning away.  The issue now is that I feel extension when I'm near the top of my backswing, and when I start to square my hips, my shoulders follow and I can't hold them off at all.  I'm not lunging forward like before, but when I start to rotate my hips my shoulders follow.  So I'd been trying to figure out how to hold my shoulders off to manage my path.  Yesterday I gave up on holding them off and decided to try to race my shoulders with my hands.  That didn't work out.  I could sometimes hit it from the inside, but my hips and shoulders still felt fused to where any hip rotation caused my shoulders to spin out.  It also felt like I was pulling down too much and getting the club steep.  It was after the trial and error of holding off my shoulders and racing my shoulders that I just starting trying to feel how I might be able to keep my shoulders open longer, or my back to the ball longer, for the sake of my path.  While I was doing that, I just kind of started squatting a little in transition which allowed me to start to square up my hips without spinning my shoulders closed and the club OTT.  Then today I saw this video on instagram:

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfZPMinjZ2O/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

The little hip squat seems to be the difference between an athletic swing, and just wild powerless compensation for me.  I was so worried about losing height that I wasn't allowing myself to squat or have any kind of crunch feeling at all.  When I tried to transition without any kind of squat feel, my pelvis came towards the ball and my weight was all on my toes.  When I have that squat/crunch feel, it's almost like I'm sitting back, my weight is balanced, and sometimes I'm able to manage my shoulders and wrists to where I come from the inside.  Since I dropped that last instructor I've been able to find some distance, but yesterday I really was starting to find my old distances and even hit a few balls long.  Hopefully on finally on the road that leads to the end of the slump.

[bonvivantva]

Just got done hitting balls for about 45 min in my garage.  The feeling I had today was as my hips were moving toward recentering, the club was dropping back and away if anything (the literal opposite of out and over like before).

 

I was hitting huge hooks again, and my ball speed and carry were way up.  I wanted to try to weaken my grip some but I was afraid to mess with success.  I'm still about 10mph or so off my ball speed from when I was playing my best, but today was a huge step in the right direction.  I hit more 140+ carry 8is in 45 min that I did this whole past year.  I have a lesson schedule tomorrow so hopefully I can keep it up.

Edited June 29, 2022 by bonvivantva

[dfeldss]

I'm in the middle of a slump right now and it sucks. I think i've clouded my head with way too much information and im probably not doing what i think im doing or intend to do in the swing.

 

Im straight up scared when i have an iron in my hand right now. I can still hit my woods and my wedges ok, but anything in between is a shank right now. and im not talking the occasional shank, im talking its more rare that i actually get a ball travelling toward the target than it is for me to shank one. thats no way to play golf, but not sure where to go from here

[Barfolomew]

go back to stronger grip..... its so natural.  Weak grip sucks unless you hit a million shots to compensate for 🐄

 

why you jumping out of shot.... stay in it

 

slo mo video sucks it kills the tempo.... we can handle reg speed lol

[tatertot]

I'm currently in year 44 of a 44 year slump.

[bonvivantva]

6 hours ago, dfeldss said:

I'm in the middle of a slump right now and it sucks. I think i've clouded my head with way too much information and im probably not doing what i think im doing or intend to do in the swing.

 

Im straight up scared when i have an iron in my hand right now. I can still hit my woods and my wedges ok, but anything in between is a shank right now. and im not talking the occasional shank, im talking its more rare that i actually get a ball travelling toward the target than it is for me to shank one. thats no way to play golf, but not sure where to go from here

 

I'm reluctant to give advice given how much I've been and am struggling, but a lot of my improvements have been when I forget about what I think is right or what I think I know and go back purely to feel.

 

As for the shanks, my dad who is a single digit handicap had about 6 months where he was shanking several times a round.  He couldn't figure it out and gun to my head I'd say it was just mental.  However, he somehow got through it and right now is playing the best golf of his life.  So sometimes you just have to soldier though.  He has a pretty straightforward swing, and he didn't change anything.  He just kept at it until the shanks went away.  Hope things improve for you sooner rather than later.

[Spankapotamus redux]

On 2/15/2022 at 10:52 AM, Cliffy2020 said:

Time for a rebuild!   

FIRST:  You must learn what a good impact position is AND be able to get into it statically.

SECOND:  Maybe 1/4 swings to start, being able to consistently make solid contact with a good impact position.  Impact bag is great for this.  If you can’t, go back to step 1

THIRD:  Work your way up to 1/2 swings.  A hundred or two of these a day will help ingrain a good impact position and the physical patterns needed to get there.  Until you can consistently clip and compress a ball one after another with a half swing, attempting to do it with a full swing is an exercise in futility.

 

Check out this video, download the Mirror Vision App.  Learn Impact (Please make sure your left hand grip is in order to start 👍🏼)

 

Really focus on the pros feet (to see where the weight and pressure moves throughout the movement), his left hip as it moves out of the way, and how his chest turns to the target.

 

 

 

There’s tons of videos out there on this, but this is a good start.

This is a great video (all 3 parts of this really). Funny how he says at the end of part 3 not to listen to anyone on YT or anyone besides a pro and then proceeds to give advice. Either way, I think there are 2 very helpful parts to be gleaned here. 1) Find a good pro and let them find your faults and prescribe the fix. Then just do what they say. Useful in many aspects of life. 2) Get out of your own head. We are our own worst enemies, and that's true moreso in golf than anywhere else.

 

Me personally, I was a lifetime ~18 handicap. 20 years playing golf and broke 90 once years ago. Really, I've just always happy to get out and play golf, the score wasn't important. Last year, something clicked and I spent a good 6 months in the 80's and threatened the 70's a number of times. Fast forward to this year and I can't hit a raindrop in a hurricane. Lots of frustration and wasted effort trying to fix what I self diagnosed was wrong which continues to snowball. I know the problem....it's me. It's 100% mental. I'm in my head and wreaking havoc on my swing. Trying to change too many things and thinking about them all when I stand over the ball. Worst part is that on the range I'm hitting the ball better than I ever have since I started playing. Compression, lag, flight, you name it. On the range I look like a low single digit. On the course, I just never know where it's going (left or further left, short...). Distance is drastically different (range: PW - 125, GW - 110, course: PW - 90-100, GW - 70-80). And my putting has been absolute fire. So lots of frustration since I know I'm leaving a lot on the table every round. I have a lesson scheduled for tomorrow, but I think the majority of work is what I need to do in my own head.

[dmecca2]

19 hours ago, bonvivantva said:

So here we are a couple months later.  I did get a new golf instructor, and although I'm kind of lukewarm on coaching/instruction in general, I think the new guy is way better than the last one.  My last 10 rounds or so have been in the mid 90s instead of the mid-100s, so I've even seen a little improvement.  I think the hardest thing for me right now is forgetting a lot of the stuff my last instructor told me.  He was so well regarded and accomplished that I really bought in.  But I'm coming to realize that a lot of what he told me was counterproductive, or at best, the way I understood it would not have lead me to improve.

 

For example, when I started lessons with the previous instructor, I was losing a lot of height in transition/the downswing, and then jumping to try to gain it back.  His solution was to eliminate that dip/loss of height in transition.  I think this was one of my biggest problems.  My understanding was that he instructor wanted me to maintain my height throughout my swing.  I even confirmed this with him to ensure there was no misunderstanding.  When I attempted to maintain height during the swing, I felt like I lost any athleticism, and my swing really felt like an upper body only swing.  I also had a ton of trouble with path.  In transition I couldn't stop throwing the club OTT, and you just can't get any real power starting steep and outside so early.  If felt like we tried something new each lessons, but nothing ever helped.

 

I haven't had a lesson in about a month and a half just due to my schedule.  I've been making slow improvement, but yesterday I was hitting some of my old distances and found my old hook (which means I managed to get my path a little in to out).  Like most of my improvements, it just kind of happened by accident and based on feel.  I realized I was squatting a little in transition, which allowed me to feel like I could separate my hips and upper body, or more specifically my upper body didn't pull the club OTT as I moved my hips.  It just kind of happened as I was desperately trying to figure out how to fix my path.

 

Looking at old videos of my swing that my instructor took as well as videos I took of myself, I think I finally understand the height loss.  In the backswing, I'd sway back and also kind of turn back off the ball, and lose a few inches that way.  Then to compensate for being so far off the ball, I'd lunge forward with my upper body screwing my path and also causing me to lose even more height.  So then there would be nothing left to do but jump and try to make contact.

 

I've been focused on eliminating my sway off the ball because I know that lunging forward is a killer for me. This has also helped me probably gain a little height in the backswing if anything as I'm rotating and extending rather than just turning away.  The issue now is that I feel extension when I'm near the top of my backswing, and when I start to square my hips, my shoulders follow and I can't hold them off at all.  I'm not lunging forward like before, but when I start to rotate my hips my shoulders follow.  So I'd been trying to figure out how to hold my shoulders off to manage my path.  Yesterday I gave up on holding them off and decided to try to race my shoulders with my hands.  That didn't work out.  I could sometimes hit it from the inside, but my hips and shoulders still felt fused to where any hip rotation caused my shoulders to spin out.  It also felt like I was pulling down too much and getting the club steep.  It was after the trial and error of holding off my shoulders and racing my shoulders that I just starting trying to feel how I might be able to keep my shoulders open longer, or my back to the ball longer, for the sake of my path.  While I was doing that, I just kind of started squatting a little in transition which allowed me to start to square up my hips without spinning my shoulders closed and the club OTT.  Then today I saw this video on instagram:

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfZPMinjZ2O/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

The little hip squat seems to be the difference between an athletic swing, and just wild powerless compensation for me.  I was so worried about losing height that I wasn't allowing myself to squat or have any kind of crunch feeling at all.  When I tried to transition without any kind of squat feel, my pelvis came towards the ball and my weight was all on my toes.  When I have that squat/crunch feel, it's almost like I'm sitting back, my weight is balanced, and sometimes I'm able to manage my shoulders and wrists to where I come from the inside.  Since I dropped that last instructor I've been able to find some distance, but yesterday I really was starting to find my old distances and even hit a few balls long.  Hopefully on finally on the road that leads to the end of the slump.

I would be careful with always relating a hook to an in-to-out path. Remember, a hook isn't specifically caused by an in-to-out path. It's caused by the face being in a closed position relative to the path. If your ball is starting to the left or at your intended target and hooking, you could still be coming OTT.

[northgolf]

Back in 99, I started a seven year slump so bad I couldn't even play golf, then I divorced my wife.

[bonvivantva]

Well, I'm not sure I'd say the slump is over, but my distance has pretty reliably returned.  My iron distance is pretty close to my best ever, but good enough that I'd be happy if I could maintain it and improve consistency.  I'm also seeing about 20-30 extra yards with the driver which is great.  I am still seeing the same instructor, but I'm not sure how much credit I'd give him for my progress.  He did kind of negate a lot of the stuff the highly regarded instructor had told me.  For instance, he didn't like my weak grip and we changed it back to where it had been.  Honestly I improved the same way I did prior to lessons.  I just slowly and randomly found some things that were working for me.  The best I advice I can give is this:  With my last instructor, I'd come in for a lesson, and try to explain what had been working for me.  He'd quickly dismiss it and we'd work on whatever he had in mind.  At that time, I totally bought in and went with it.  But the result was that whenever I felt like I was on a good path, we'd switch it up and I'd be lost again.  This time around, I may say something like, "in transition, I've been driving my elbow and somehow getting my hands more forward, and I've been seeing a lot better distance."  Then my instructor said something like, "well, that's great, but I don't think you want to be focused on getting your hands forward.  Let's try to just have it happen naturally by doing X.."  In the past, I would have just gone with the instructor and abandoned what I thought had been working.  Now, I've been focused on maintaining and continuing on work on things that I believe are helping me, while also trying to incorporate what I've been learning in lessons.  Even further, somethings what the instructor will suggest just doesn't work for me.  For instance, he me stop doing these pump drills I'd do before a practice swing.  I think he thought they were causing me to pull out of my swing, or not fully swing through.  The drills seemed to help me keep from spinning my shoulders out.  I stopped doing the pump drill, and just couldn't seem to keep the club from going OTT.  I tried to do everything else the instructor suggested, but I kept the pump drill and had some success.  So he did help me figure out how to stay in the shot, but I also had to continue the pump drill against his recommendation.  So I know A LOT of people are going to disagree here, but it's your swing and your game so if it's working for you, maybe really consider it before you abandon it.

 

I also changed the way I schedule lessons.  I used to schedule a lesson after I felt like I'd make a change we'd been working on.  Now I wait even longer until I feel like the change is a little more ingrained.  That way, even if the instructor switches things up, I have a better chance to hang onto what has been working for me, so I don't keep ending back where I started.

 

So to clarify, if things feel like they're working for you, I'd be pretty hesitant to completely abandon the feel.  Maybe try to keep what works and then build on it.

[msg]

Golf swing is so fickle. I went on a great run in 2021, the whole of it and from the start of 2022, I shot the most number of games in the single digits over par and shot even par twice, until three weeks ago. I was able to manage my slice with the driver and turn it into a playable fade or sometimes pull draw. Lowered my spin, increased my driving distance, lowered my handicap and actually play like a 5 handicap with some mental adjustments. I was a 10 handicap before all of this happened. 

 

But right now my driver spins like crazy, slice is back, confidence is down and I don't want to even golf anymore lol I know what is wrong but for some reason I cannot fix it. Our season is almost over. I can worry about this come winter. 

[Treq21]

Currently going on 4 years now.  And I am in it, I cant get out.  Spent many sessions at the range, no problems there, but when I get out on the course, its like I never played before.  Mental thing I guess, but im ready to quit.  Golf is no fun when i used to shoot 80-85 and now its 100.

[Golfbeat]

Most of the time when I get into a slump I miraculously find out that again I am sucking the club head behind me in the back swing. I never seem to do this on the range but on the course it can happen without me noticing it and thinking it is all kind of other stuff.