Standard mid-summer lost swing

[jibbs1082]

Improving 9.1 index here...

 

Just curious if I am grasping for excuses or if anyone else experiences their swing leaving them every year around mid-summer?

 

Is it the heat? Do I play bad in the heat and just lose focus and keeping the body tight and in positions?

 

I find I get very armsy, chicken wingy, loose and flippy and sway in my swing. Seems like I rotate and keep tight in the spring and fall better. Anyone else lose their swing mid summer as well?

 

Played my best round of my life, just very very solid on every single shot about 3 weeks ago, and since I have almost forgot to hit a ball.

 

As an aside, I have been really trying to work on wrist flexion at P5, and impact. On the course I find swing thoughts have been a mess all year and my best round is just going out and visualizing a shot and being an "athlete" and swinging to make the ball go where I want. Is this the correct ideology? I am pretty certain my hundreds of practice balls are not translating to muscle memory swings and when I just "play" I am going back to bad mechanics, but getting it around the course better. (ie: lost compression, lost yardage, but not hitting super thin shots or sprays).

 

[Krt22]

We don't lose our swings, we lose our ability to compensate. If you have been improving I am guessing you have been working on some element of your swing. You are hitting it well, playing good, so you stop working on that element. If you don't constantly keep tabs on things it is very easy to revert to old bad habits. A golf swing is like an old sports car, it requires constant maintenance to keep running well. 

[CasualLie]

It doesn't have to be mid-summer, it depends on how much you play and how much you are "working on" one thing.  To @Krt22 point, you have to move on at some point from working on the same thing and tend to others as they can get sloppy.  I find this to be the case especially when working on irons vs driver or vice-versa.  When I work too much on one and that is my focal point for 5+ rounds, then the other gets sloppy, and it is almost always coming from setup.  Check those fundamentals, constantly maintain them - grip, stance, pressure shifts.

[ChaosTheory]

Happens to me every year.  I get to a point where I’m not thinking, just seeing the target and swinging.  I’ll play the best golf of the year for a week or so.  Then it crashes and burns.  
 

Then I have to reboot by checking all my fundamentals, fixing what went out of whack, and thinking about them.

[iutodd]

Also happens to me every year - I think I'm through it mostly now and I know what I'm looking for but I'm sure that will change...

 

I find I sort of have to get away from thinking: "what am I trying to do with my swing?" and change to "what am I trying to do with the ball?"

 

When I think too much about my swing I play bad golf.  

[Ghostwedge]

If you're properly hydrated you should be playing your best golf in the heat.

Muscles, joints, etc. like the heat. 

[Haber]

I’ve been going through a mid summer slump as well. Hadn’t video’d my swing  in a while and realized I had reverted back a bit from what I’ve been working on with Monte. 
 

More play and less dedicated practice has slowed my progress. After watching videos and working on what we had discussed previously and it was back to flushing it. Realized I need to be constantly videoing and monitoring progress otherwise old ugly moves tend to creep back in.

[jibbs1082]

Good feedback, thanks everyone. Sounds like a little range/video therapy and spending some shared time with driver and irons should get this back in shape in a week or two. I have basically played all of July and maybe banged balls once or twice, so I could see that. Set up is so, so hard to maintain and be 100% consistent on I find. Such a crazy simple thing but so strangely difficult to replicate perfectly every single time.

[msg]

I guess I am not that special and alone in my experiences. I usually get some slumps every year. Then for some odd reason it just goes away as if nothing happened. 

[scratchmcgee]

Yes happens every year…I’m currently reviewing previous lessons & comparing videos to see what’s similar & different. 
 

I personally feel the more I play the worse my swing feels sometimes as it gravitates to my old swing patterns & flaws. 
 

Im trying to do my winter drills more this summer to keep the good feels I engrained this winter as I play outdoors now in the summer months

[Bakes0]

I’m coming out of one right now as per usual in the later summer months. Lasted a few weeks. Put a lot of pressure on my game during county am and state am qualifier season. I put more stock in playing rounds than hitting balls and the swing started to feel pretty janky by the end of all the events. Lost some short game confidence in the process and just building that back up now.

 

Forced myself to take a week off and then just got out the other day working on chipping and pitching one day, then back to full swings the next. Played a late 9 later on and swing felt the best it has all season. Funny game. Excited again for club championships and rest of northeast season.

[Jose c.]

Perfect timing,for this has happened to me the last several yrs. Going thru it right now,played in league last night and basically just said screw it. Would just get yardage, walk into to ball and hit it  Almost one single motion. Results were good but the struggle is real.

[JetPilot]

On 7/26/2022 at 10:10 AM, jibbs1082 said:

Improving 9.1 index here...

 

Just curious if I am grasping for excuses or if anyone else experiences their swing leaving them every year around mid-summer?

 

Is it the heat? Do I play bad in the heat and just lose focus and keeping the body tight and in positions?

 

I find I get very armsy, chicken wingy, loose and flippy and sway in my swing. Seems like I rotate and keep tight in the spring and fall better. Anyone else lose their swing mid summer as well?

 

Played my best round of my life, just very very solid on every single shot about 3 weeks ago, and since I have almost forgot to hit a ball.

 

As an aside, I have been really trying to work on wrist flexion at P5, and impact. On the course I find swing thoughts have been a mess all year and my best round is just going out and visualizing a shot and being an "athlete" and swinging to make the ball go where I want. Is this the correct ideology? I am pretty certain my hundreds of practice balls are not translating to muscle memory swings and when I just "play" I am going back to bad mechanics, but getting it around the course better. (ie: lost compression, lost yardage, but not hitting super thin shots or sprays).

 

Honestly, this is why I love this game.  It's like a game a Jenga.  At times the pieces of the puzzle align pretty well....but when that one single piece falls out, it comes crashing down.  The goal is to build a swing where the tower is consistently tall without crashing!!

[Thereisnospoon]

I've experienced this in the past and this year I kept the swing because I made one material change.   I started lifting and kept lifting.   I play in Florida and the mid Atlantic and when I'm in Florida no weights at that home...I just do tons of push ups.  

 

When my muscles get to loose and arms got too wirey...I start losing my groove.  I was always a 9 to 14HI the last 2 months I've dropped to a 3.8HI and the last score was one over.  That's after a 10 day gap too.  

 

I found the swing and this has helped keep it and I've gained yardage.  Key bit of advice though.  Don't lift the day of a round.  The day before is fine in my experience.  Yes your tight and the muscles are sore, but after 20 minutes on a range you will find it and once on the course its easier to keep.