Why Do I LOSE MY SWING on the COURSE? – Golf Test Dummy
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16 Comments
I blame the box. You are in square box, on a square box and all the angles are defined around you.
You keep everything tight, steady and smooth in there. You step outside and the open space tears away all your reference points. The biggest issue starts with alignment aiming at a real target 300 yds away. The human brain works best aiming at a small target. Too many of us "aim" at the wide open fairway…wrong move. You need to pick an actual spot – you have the swing you know how to hit the ball – you need the target. A vague target gives vague results. You don't throw a dart at the Bull on a dart board and just aim at the wall. You would look at the Bull and be close or actually hit it. Top class Archers are not aiming "way over there". They are focused on a small yellow spot. I stare at my target spot for a good few seconds and then when looking back at the ball I am thinking about that spot and pull the trigger. I get much better results.
I don't want to focus on the golf course. I want to be unfocused and laughing and drinking beer and having fun ripping on friends. Focus is for training the body. Your cover photo you look mean and aggravated like your focused on beating someone up. Just being honest Chad.
Good stuff Chad, it’s always tough when I over analyze individual swings on the course dealing with technique, always have a stretch in round I play well when my sole focus is on where I wanna hit the shot, but one ugly swing can get me thinking about mechanics and out of the flow I was in.
Golf Sidekick had an episode today that touches it on this issue.
He was playing with a professional female golfer and that person‘s thoughts are not of an exact aim point but more of if it fails it’s best to fail here. Not always looking for the perfect drive, the perfect iron, and the perfect wedge shot.
And I think that comes down to TRUST. She trusts her shot that other things are not affecting her mentality only where the ball is going to go.
As a matter of interest Chad, when you focus on making a circle do you think of the clubhead tracing the circle, the hands or the shaft?
BTW I found this video interesting. I often find I deteriorate during the 18 holes and find myself trying different swing thoughts to attempt to get back to a good swing. I generally put it down to tiredness, but now I think it’s more about focus and lack of discipline in maintaining this. The occasional good back 9 would indicate this is more likely than tiredness!
Cheers, Pete
Keeping my hands ahead of the shaft, at contact, makes my circle slightly oblong vs a perfect circle in shape. Not sure if anyone else finds this true but I’m trying to work it out for my mindset.
Practice, practice, practice … lol.
Thanks for the lesson, Chad 👍🏻
This is very interesting and timely. I had one of my best rounds recently and it involved a similar process to what you are describing. I worked out how I was going to swing the clubs before my round, ie no thinking swings while playing. My only thought on the course was how to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of shots – just plotting my way around. Great video, bud.
As I’m a JVGA disciple (and from your own experience with it), you know that stillness is always the focus – and that is HARD AS HELL to do. When it works, it works beautifully. But when it doesn’t, all kinds of chaos ensues. And any little thing can take your focus and intention off being still; the lie, the conditions, making sure that your alignment is correct or that your club face is square to your target, etc. For me, my first six or seven holes are pretty much a disaster because I find myself losing my focus, primarily because I’m trying to much to work on form and not just swinging. But by the time I get to the turn, my game improves immensely – primarily because I STOP trying to focus and I just simply swing. And typically my last four holes are always the best of the round (and a lot of that has to do from getting more comfortable as the round goes – a flask in the bag is a GREAT golf tool, folks!!🤣) all that being said, my goal from the very first drive is to NOT really “focus” per se but just swing freely. “Just step up and swing” is my focus. “Paralysis by analysis” is very apt in my situation and it’s a constant struggle to start off well.
I’ve had success with the intermediate spot out in front of golf ball. And try to focus on that and just strike it solid (block out all other surroundings). I’m a RSS swing guy so I’m trying to stay on the wall. But I struggle to keep my focus and commit to that spot. When I do the results are usually good.
Take it easy Chad. We've all been there. It might help if you don't think about hands and arms. Instead, think more of your lower body. My humble experience on the course is to swing the club with reduced hand force. Not hit or attack the ball. A stable lower body is a prerequisite to make a circular swing, as the ball happens to sit at the bottom of arc. This probably the cause for consistent swing. Just sharing. Enjoy your video. No less than National Geographic, in terms of discovery of the unknown.
Chad, I can soooo identify with this. The mental aspect is definately overlooked. And it doesn't seem consistent, either. Some days I'm out there with real mental awareness and focus and have pretty decent results. Some days my mind is just free and relaxed from thought…enjoying the beauty of the course and the day, and I have pretty decent results. BUT…it seems that between those two is where it can turn into a dumpster fire. Jus' sayin'.
You cannot lose what you never had unless one is under pressure, feels anxious and the nerves disrupt the rhythm
Your focus loss is maybe as simple as what happens to me as well ….when we swing with the camera on …it changes the feeling with our brain for the shot
How’ll do I know that feeling 🤔 don’t ask
Great video as always
Great balance
Focus and concentration are obviously important however there's a factor involved in range practice that's missing when you're playing. On the course you never get the same shot twice. Every shot you take requires adjustment for new conditions. Overlooking subtle changes can produce profound differences in results. At the range or off of a mat your starting conditions are essentially consistent.
Focus and attitude/belief are all super important. Golf is such a precise game and you can't do what you don't commit to and believe in; especially consistently. As I commented before at some point, once I started to believe that I could break par, I started to do it shortly thereafter even though I had had the game to do it for a while already. I also started to believe that if I was nervous or hyped up or just playing badly, the absolute best path to a good outcome was to increase my focus and intensity above any other concern. Intensity is not just something emotional, it is analagous to the power level in a laser and focus in that example is like drawing down on an extremely precise target.
Interestingly I have used these 2 words in tandem for years in order to express these ideas and then I heard Tiger talking about his mindset for competition and he said that when he competes seriously versus casually, he ramps up his focus and intensity levels substantially.
The trick is getting these 2 things to take over your thoughts to a greater degree than anything else that might tend to occupy them by believing fully that doing that will best serve the production of the optimal outcome which is what we're really after anyway.
I don't know if you changed anything but to the best that I could tell (without a pure DTL view) it looked as though you were producing better spine angle retention, less hooding, more angle retention, more open hips, and better rotation into the finish. If you could work on your trail elbow path being a bit more vertical from half way back to the top, you might be REALLY looking good if I'm right about what I'm seeing in the rest of the swing. Cheers.
It's pretty simple… you don't swing as hard as you do on the range. Seems my best rounds are the rounds where I don't let up on my swing… my bad rounds I notice I'm only swinging 85% of my usual practice speeds.