great practise swing but then!!!!!

[peave23]

Hi, I am new to golf and taking lessons which I enjoy and am doing well. My problem is that my practise swings are great but when I come to hit the ball something happens to my brain and most of the time hit a poor shot. Any advice please.

[GregJWillis]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

How do you realy know your practice swings are "great"? There's no way to know where the face is at impact, where on the club the ball was struck, how solid of contact you made...

All you really can know is simple stuff like tempo, weight shift.

Probably what you need to do is make practice swings with the true intent on hitting a ball (imaginary). Then you will begin to desensitise your head into the "true" practice vs. real swings.

[peave23]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

Hi, thanks for your reply. What I mean is that on my practise swing I am putting into practise all the things I have been taught by my pro, I just wonder if its a mental thing ! Its my pro who says that looks perfect, then I go ahead and swing and seem to forget every thing that I have been taught.

[AussieGolfBoy]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

pretend there is no ball there like when you do your practise swing. it will take a lil time to get your mind over, but if you look at it like just swinging like in practise you will start hitting the ball better.

you can then start focussing on tempo, rythm and distance you want to hit the ball..

guarantee in 4 weeks you will be using an 8i to hit the distance of a 7i.

good luck.

[msklar92]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

Clear the range out, then close your eyes and swing. Seriously, if you are set up correctly, you should be able to hit the ball without looking at it.

[canadian_man_44]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

Try not taking a practice swing. Just step up to the ball and let er rip.

[GoNavy]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

When taking a practise swing, most everybody is nice a loose, relaxed, because there is no expectation of hitting a ball, there is no thought of aim, power, contact, the list goes on, basically your mine is clear and relaxed. Then when go to hit, tension creeps in, you begin to get target oriented, you want to hit the ball. This problem plagues every one at some point, you see it with the pros too, just not as dramatically, some call it choking..lol

My only suggestion is when you do go to hit, try to swing with complete abandan, don't worry about where the ball is going, swing relaxed, don't tense, hard to do, but with time gets easier, just remember you already took care of the aim at setup, your grip will take care of face alignment, your body knows how to swing from practise, so the only thing to screw this up is you trying to help and force it.

Watch the ball after you hit, it will tell you what you did wrong, then use the practise swing make the adjustment to correct, when you step upto the ball, don't be thinking about the adjustment just setup correctly and go, the longer you think about it, the more tension set in.

[canadian_man_44]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

I think you got it right there GoNavy. If you think too long you're sure to mess it up. I see too many people step up and take a beautiful practice swing then step up to the ball and instead of taking that same beautiful they set up to the ball, look at the target, reset the club, target, waggle the clubhead, etc. They take a couple minutes before they actually swing the club. I find if I take my practice swing, then, immediately setup on the ball and take the same swing within 5-10 seconds then my shot is as beautiful as my practice swing, but, when I take too long over the ball, I might as well be aiming at the trees or the water because that where it ends up.

Another thing I can say about a practice swing, if you take one with your driver and hit the ground, don't hit the ball with the next swing. Make sure you take a good practice swing before you hit the ball. I have a friend who did that quite a bit (hit the ground) on his practice then step up to the ball and top it. His head seemed to be telling him to pull back so he wouldn't hit the ground again and he always messed it up. Anyway, a couple days he did it again and I told him to take another practice swing. he gave that a try and then hit the ball straight down the fairway. Get the negative out of your head with a positive.

[GoNavy]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

I think you got it right there GoNavy. If you think too long you're sure to mess it up. I see too many people step up and take a beautiful practice swing then step up to the ball and instead of taking that same beautiful they set up to the ball, look at the target, reset the club, target, waggle the clubhead, etc. They take a couple minutes before they actually swing the club. I find if I take my practice swing, then, immediately setup on the ball and take the same swing within 5-10 seconds then my shot is as beautiful as my practice swing, but, when I take too long over the ball, I might as well be aiming at the trees or the water because that where it ends up.

Another thing I can say about a practice swing, if you take one with your driver and hit the ground, don't hit the ball with the next swing. Make sure you take a good practice swing before you hit the ball. I have a friend who did that quite a bit (hit the ground) on his practice then step up to the ball and top it. His head seemed to be telling him to pull back so he wouldn't hit the ground again and he always messed it up. Anyway, a couple days he did it again and I told him to take another practice swing. he gave that a try and then hit the ball straight down the fairway. Get the negative out of your head with a positive.

Exactly, I'm not quite that quick, but my preshot routine is pretty consistant, around 28 sec. That is from the time I take my first step toward the ball from behind it. Now my time standing behind the ball looking down the fairway may vary, because this is the time I am factoring in any adjustments for wind,uphill/downhill, draw/fade, etc...and this is also the time I take any practise swings incorporating any adjustments or swing thoughts from previous shots. But once I have my target or aim point if you will, decided, I'll take one more look at the target, and make my first step to the ball, 28 secs later the ball is gone.

During that 28 sec I walk to the ball, set my right foot even with the ball, put my club down, take my grip, place my left foot in position, then set my right back in it's position carefully aligning myself with the clubface, I check my shoulders, hip, and feet alignment, I look at the target (not the flag, but my target I selected, where I want the ball to go initially, dependant on fade/draw, wind this changes, I decided this before I started mt preshot, when I was standing behind the ball) As I look at the target I do a quick waggle or two to loosen myself and take a deep breath, a quick visualization of the shot, back to the ball and swing. Seems like a lot but this happens in 28 sec, pretty much everytime, you can set a watch by it. If I take longer, I tend to hit poorly, faster and I feel rushed.

[Viresh]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

My problem is that I fall back after i hit the driver (1 Wood). My legs dont go ahead. ANy suggestions

[BrianW]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

Hi, I am new to golf and taking lessons which I enjoy and am doing well. My problem is that my practise swings are great but when I come to hit the ball something happens to my brain and most of the time hit a poor shot. Any advice please.

Try this, it may sound strange but it can help:

Imagine your club is a large feather (The same size as your club) now take your swing and let the feather glide effortlessly through the swing to completion, this will help to remove tension and the wish to hit at the ball rather than to collect it with the club face.

[Viresh]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

Imagination is the most difficult thing in Golf. Anyways I shall try. Thanks.

[BrianW]

Re: great practise swing but then!!!!!

Imagination is the most difficult thing in Golf. Anyways I shall try. Thanks.

I guess some people can naturally hold an image in their mind better than others. It is a great advantage in golf if you can imagine the line your shot should take and hold the image of the target in your minds eye. That is probably a separate item for discussion though.