Re: Nerves

I can relate to this problem. The pro at my club reckons i am stuffed in the head. He cannot believe i play off of 8 when with a swing like i have i should be on 3. One of my playing partners reckons i have the best swing in the club. I went through a patch last year where my handicap went out to 10.7. I managed to get it back to 7.4 by recording my stats so instead of worrying about where my shoulder was and what my hips were doing i purely concentrated on hitting fairways and greens. I recently have gone back to fighting my swing again and spend my whole round trying to find something that works. I shot 88 on the weekend and i cant think of one shot that i thought was struck well. The only time i hit the ball half decent was my final drive where i actually addressed the ball with my ball position approx. 30cm in forward of my front foot. My golf coach reckons i have a good swing but lack the technical traits. I am actually starting to get angry when i play now (not throwing clubs) and am on the verge of giving the game away through frustration. I have spent this week doing Greg's walking drill which i found last year on this site. I find i hit the ball thin a lot and it feels like i am spinning out of the shot and playing off the back foot. I have been looking for an answer for ages but cannot find it. I too would love to find out what the secret is as i love this game and the old saying the more you practice the better you get is starting to wear thin with me.

Happy New Year to All

Re: Nerves

I think this is a very common problem with single figure h/cappers, they have a great swing very consistant at the range, but a lack of will power.

I have ordered the golf book " the inner game of golf" I am going to work hard on this aspect of the game to overcome my fear of shooting low.

Why does it happen ??? no-one knows


Ian.

Re: Nerves

Geez ... that is a seriously sad story! Two things come to mind:
1. Why are you fighting your swing?
2. Why are you continuously 'experimenting' and buggering around while you play until your find something that works?

No wonder you're ready to take the shafts and turn them into very nice looking fishing rods!

Hell, if I made a buck out of everytime I taught someone who buggered around all the time, I'd be a seriosuly wealthy golf instructor! Actually, I'd be a happily retired golf instructor living in the Bahamas.

I don't think you're stuffed in the head, I think your brain is working too much. Ever heard of 'paralysis through analysis'?

Golf is such a simple game. Setup square-ish, swing back, swing down and get the club back to square at impact and finish so that it looks as if you know what you are doing. That is really all there is to it. It may seem sarcasting, but I'm not being sarcastic at all - just honest.

You need to find a setup and swing thought that works for you everytime. Off an 8 handicap, mechanics should all be natural. You shouldn't be thinking of anything at all other than a vision and feel for the shot - how to execute the shot should not be in the thought process.

I bet you your mind is whizzing around with all sorts of stuff and execution and grip and stance and shoulders and fingers and knees and stuff and stuff. All the while your muscles are getting tense and getting all sorts of garbage messages from your brain. That isn't going to work for you.

Next time you play, this is what I want you to do. Sounds seriously wacked, but do me the favour and just try it a few times.

A day before you play go to the driving range and hit some golf balls (40 or 50, no more) with your favourite club/s and try to find a natual feel for the shot, not the swing - feel for the shot! Don't get tense - relax and take your time, the golf balls aren't going anywhere. Hit a golf ball into the blue yonder, take a few beaths, have something to drink make a phone call or whatever and then hit another one. Take at least an hour to hit the golf balls. DO NOT THINK OF MECHANICS!!!! NOT EVER!!!!

Get your bag ready for the next day and find a magazine to read, something you like looking at but not a golf magazine and put into your golf bag. Anything, from cars to cosmetics to girls - whatever takes your fancy.

Right, when you get to the golf course do some warming up and stretching before you get to the 1st tee so when you hit the first tee, you're not messing around with swatting a few practice swings all over the show and digging up the 1st tee in the process.

When you get to the first tee, take the magazine out and start to read it. When it's your turn to drive, put the magazine down, tee the ball up, align yourself nice and square and hit the damn ball. No practice swing, no looking at the target, no regripping, no buggering around - just get up, check the alignment ONCE and swing.

Walk back to your magazine, pick up your golf bag and walk to your golf ball while you look at the magazine. Check the yardage, wind, blah, blah, blah and pull the club you want to hit with. Carry on reading your magazine until it's your turn to hit again. Get the club in your hand, setup and without buggering around and hit the ball.

Do the same again ... and again ... and again ... as many times as it takes to get back to the club house. Hopefully by then you haven't read the magazine more than a few times. Take 2 mags if you want to, fine by me.

The key to the excercise is to STOP THINKING!!!! Just execute ... your muscle memory is there, the technical bits and pieces of the swing - it's all there, just stop thinking about it for once. You don't think of how to walk or swallow or blow (pick) your nose ... it all happens automatically. Golf must be the same, there are way too many things happening within the seond and a bit it takes to make a swing to think about it. Actually, there are about 25 different movements and actions. Can you count to 25 in a second? I know I can't ... So why are you trying to think of what you have to do during a golf swing?

STOP THINKING!!! JUST DO IT!!! (Sorry Nike, my royalty check is in the mail).

Re: Nerves

"The Inner Game Of Golf"

The book was delivered yesterday and i'm 49 pages in.

It's more of a story about one mans quest to conquer golf using his mind.


Self 1 is the little man on your shoulder that contradicts everything your thinking (on your back swing)

Self 2 is the body, that can swing the club perfect everytime if self 1 can keep his mouth shut.

It teaches you to think about other things that occupies self 1 and lets self 2 get on with the job in hand.


I like it so far, I'll keep you posted.


Ian.

Re: Nerves

Graham,

Absolutely bloody fantastic advice! I've been taking regular lessons for the first time since I started playing golf frequently about 2 years ago (I used to mess about with golf as a kid). I've made some reasonably significant changes to my swing and I understood and appreciated why they should improve my game....but my game wasn't improving, I was getting very frustrated.

I had a break over Xmas and didn't swing a club for three weeks and treated myself to a Titleist 983K driver. I went to the course yesterday and hit a few balls on the range just to get my muscles working again before stepping on to the first tee (actually I played off the tenth), which is a downhill dogleg par 4, 365 yards which can be reached with a driver if you're a big hitter and bold enough to really cut the corner.

I wasn't expecting to hit the ball well so I just stood on the tee, pulled the driver out of the bag, aimed at the pin, took a relaxed swing and belted it. The ball flew straight and long but just caught a bunker next to the green. Still not bad for the first shot of the day!

I didn't manage to complete the round as the course was really busy but I continued in the same vein "grip it and rip it" and I played the best golf I've probably ever played.

So yes the mantra I'll now be taking onto the course is to clear my mind, relax and just enjoy hitting the ball. The technical work will be resigned to the range.

Re: Nerves

Great, well done!

Your brain and muscles know what to do - it is all there, trust me on this one. You must just let them do their job without thinking too much. That is why the pro's can play under pressure so well, because their golfing mind and body knows what to do - it has become instinct.

I didn't want to tell you the first time, the reply was long enough but I had a funny instance in October last year. I had this student who was a brilliant swinger of the club, but the farted around and buggered around for ages looking at the wind and his lie ... where the pin was, what club he was going to hit and how he was going to hit it ... it took him about 2 or 3 minutes to play each shot!

So, I arranged to play 9 holes with him and without telling him why, I told him to bring a magazine. Not a golf magazine, but something else ... What does he pitch up with? A bloody xxx-rated porn magazine !

He didn't think about any shots that afternoon, once I told him the plan - he couldn't care about the shot, he wanted to check the magazine without fear of his wife catching him! I gave him 30 seconds to get a club, work out the shot and hit it.

The program really sounds over-the-top and rediculous but it works! It really does.

Re: Nerves

Thanks for the advice. The answer is i have no idea why i do this except to try and improve. I spent a couple of hours on the practice fairway this evening working on the theory dont think about it. I didnt go as far as to make phone calls in between shots however instead of working on a particular part of my swing as i always do i stepped back looked at my target walked up to the ball and hit it. I figure that if i spend a few weeks doing this on the practice fairway i may end up doing this naturally. If this does not work i will try the more radical approach. I must say i did make better contact with the ball doing this and it felt sweeter of the face.

Re: Nerves

Good to hear you're putting effort into making the swing instinctive rather than a mental and physical excercise.

Give it a while and when you're on the course, try not to think about the shot or the swing in between. Get to the ball, give yourself a minute to fugure things out, get up and hit the ball. Forget about everything again and walk (drive) on until its your turn to play.

If you need some more time "out", when you walk or drive up, don't get your ball until it is almost your turn to play.