IMPACT ANXIETY | USHandicap Classic

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER Professional Champion
Go to Last Reply 106 Views 10 Replies 2 Likes
Sometimes it seems that I have such a perfect practice swing. I can see Els' constantly repeating tempo, effortless stroke, and distance from some unworldly energy source, jack the ball for miles on a seemingly thimble full of kinetic movement. And then, sometimes I just seem to go unconcious just after my transition. I see, or "feel" a jerky move on my mental playback, that starts before I ever allow my backswing to "set." It's like I just want the swing to get over with, begging for a positive outcome...this time. I practice regularly, ususally 15 mins to an hour during the work week, and a few hour to hour and a half sessions a few times every couple of weeks. When I'm "on" I'm not bad. I've got decent distance, 127 PW thru 150 7 Iron, but fall off below average PW down thru LW and 6 Iron upward thru driver. I can crack a "good" drive 250 to 270 when every freakin star in the universe lines up, (but I'm not talking undue wind and roll help.) I'd give up some distance just to be more confident that my "jacked up, complete ass face" strokes would be less than one a round. I'm not a pro, and I know that when they talk about clubs, balls, and working the ball, they are expecting a repeatable, predictable, swing about every time they take a swing. Does this ring a bell with anyong? Did you find a way to move beyond this and work on the finer tuning of ball movement? I'm 51, never had a lesson, been playing off and on since I was 17. I had spurt from 28 to about 34 that I played a lot and got down to a 14 hdcp. I've committed to the game for the rest of my years vowing to never layoff again if I could help it. I posted a 13.8 hdcp late last fall and want a single digit bucket list, USGA carded hdcp.
dewsweeper Legend
# 1 4/3/2011 9:27:03 AM
Your mind were set on hitting at the golf ball. Instead, try to think hitting tho=rough the golf ball. If you're going to fist punch something, you would not stop at the target would you ? You will hit through the target to deliver the blow ! Never hit at the golf ball then lift, always hit through the golf ball, just make sure the golf ball is positioned near the bottom of your swing arc. Your swing arc with your body in the impact position not the address position. Unable to finish the back swing for a proper set up is common among the aging group over 45, always stretch before the round and finish the turn of your core, if you have a stick or golf shaft, just stick it through your belt loops in from of you to monitor the core wind up. Another concern might be the 50's shoulder. Many of us will lose the mobility of rotator cuff of shoulders, make sure you losen the shoulders before swing the gold club. Keeping the arms centered ( in front ) to the body will have less stress to the other part of the body.
bill321 Professional Champion
# 2 4/3/2011 10:26:51 AM
"Sometimes it seems that I have such a perfect practice swing...And then, sometimes I just seem to go unconcious just after my transition....It's like I just want the swing to get over with, begging for a positive outcome...Does this ring a bell with anyone?" Only with every one of the hundreds of thousands of golfers, dating back hundreds of years, spanning every continent, who's ever lived. No one has an answer. If there were an answer, then there wouldn't be driving ranges or golf instructors.
T LAVAN SHOEMAKER Professional Champion
# 3 4/3/2011 6:03:01 PM
"Sometimes it seems that I have such a perfect practice swing...And then, sometimes I just seem to go unconcious just after my transition....It's like I just want the swing to get over with, begging for a positive outcome...Does this ring a bell with anyone?" Only with every one of the hundreds of thousands of golfers, dating back hundreds of years, spanning every continent, who's ever lived. No one has an answer. If there were an answer, then there wouldn't be driving ranges or golf instructors. Well Bill, I hope you didn't think I was being condescending. I was just thinking about what Johnny Miller said the other day. He said that he can "see" his club hit the ball at impact. He swears he's not BSing. When I thought about it, I soon realized that I don't remember much after the first foot or so of my backswing. The only thing that I've found that works for me, thus far, is to start swinging at no more than 25% when I start warming up. By the time I get to 50% I'm hitting more predictalbe, consistent, and very close to my target distance. I either have a great session on the range or a great round if I've managed to "find" this during my warm up. I'm just frustrated that I somehow seem to "forget' this and start all over with my baseball attitude. Maybe it's because of the many years that I played growing up. That "hit" attitude must be hardwired in there somewhere.
bill321 Professional Champion
# 4 4/3/2011 6:16:56 PM
Well Bill, I hope you didn't think I was being condescending. Not at all. In fact, I was trying to pump your spirits a bit by letting you know you're not alone!
T LAVAN SHOEMAKER Professional Champion
# 5 4/19/2011 7:28:10 PM
I have found a drill that has helped me somewhat. Focus on the finish position from the time you finish your back swing. It took a few times to "let go" but I was very surprised at the improvement in directional and trajectory control . The most surprising thing is that either I didn't lose any distance, or, I actually gained yardage by being more consistently in the sweet spot.
BUCKNUT Legend
# 6 4/20/2011 7:11:34 AM
Nice driver! I have one as well and I love it! Yes sometime's I swing smoothly and don't give it a 2nd thought and score well, then other times I feel as if I'm just out there hacking at it and wishing it to go where I want it to. Why? I don't know, I think it has alot to do with my mental state at the time. Sometime's I'm PO'ed, sometimes I'm enjoying just being out there and not at work, sometimes I'm ill with something my daughter did earlier in the morning. I also have Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide rounds 1 nine I'm swinging great shooting 3 or 4 over, having fun and the next nine I feel as if I have never played golf before. Can't get the ball to go where I want it to. Can't do anything correct, on my way to a 50 or above 9. I think most of it is the 6 inches or so in between my ears!
T LAVAN SHOEMAKER Professional Champion
# 7 4/20/2011 7:23:44 AM
Nice driver! I have one as well and I love it! Yes sometime's I swing smoothly and don't give it a 2nd thought and score well, then other times I feel as if I'm just out there hacking at it and wishing it to go where I want it to. Why? I don't know, I think it has alot to do with my mental state at the time. Sometime's I'm PO'ed, sometimes I'm enjoying just being out there and not at work, sometimes I'm ill with something my daughter did earlier in the morning. I also have Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide rounds 1 nine I'm swinging great shooting 3 or 4 over, having fun and the next nine I feel as if I have never played golf before. Can't get the ball to go where I want it to. Can't do anything correct, on my way to a 50 or above 9. I think most of it is the 6 inches or so in between my ears! Those Jeckle & Hyde rounds drive me insane! I went back to not keeping track of my score until I get home, or at least finish the round. If I'm at 3 or 4 over at the turn I sometimes think, "I can cruise to a really good score today." If I'm 10 over then I think, "I've got to really bear down and salvage a "decent" round out of this." In either case I'm not playing "MY" game. Another helpful thought has been, "I'll be damned if I'm gonna drop 30 to 50 bucks just get myself pissed off!" I get that for free at the J.O.B. often enough. So I only keep my stats and hole score, no running total, and not lose focus on relaxing and having fun. I practice enough to shoot well, I just have to learn to stay out of my own way.
BUCKNUT Legend
# 8 4/20/2011 7:29:13 AM
Nice driver! I have one as well and I love it! Yes sometime's I swing smoothly and don't give it a 2nd thought and score well, then other times I feel as if I'm just out there hacking at it and wishing it to go where I want it to. Why? I don't know, I think it has alot to do with my mental state at the time. Sometime's I'm PO'ed, sometimes I'm enjoying just being out there and not at work, sometimes I'm ill with something my daughter did earlier in the morning. I also have Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide rounds 1 nine I'm swinging great shooting 3 or 4 over, having fun and the next nine I feel as if I have never played golf before. Can't get the ball to go where I want it to. Can't do anything correct, on my way to a 50 or above 9. I think most of it is the 6 inches or so in between my ears! Those Jeckle & Hyde rounds drive me insane! I went back to not keeping track of my score until I get home, or at least finish the round. If I'm at 3 or 4 over at the turn I sometimes think, "I can cruise to a really good score today." If I'm 10 over then I think, "I've got to really bear down and salvage a "decent" round out of this." In either case I'm not playing "MY" game. Another helpful thought has been, "I'll be damned if I'm gonna drop 30 to 50 bucks just get myself pissed off!" I get that for free at the J.O.B. often enough. So I only keep my stats and hole score, no running total, and not lose focus on relaxing and having fun. I practice enough to shoot well, I just have to learn to stay out of my own way. Yes I have had to go to the "not looking at the scorecard" routine also. Everytime I do I go to crap! The guys I golf with like to total everything up at the turn and announce everyone's positions. I tell them Don't read mine cause I'm not golfing against yall, I'm golfing for ME! If I get caught up in the "competition" part of it I lose focus on the fun and ball strikeing part of it.
Golfer LowIndex
# 9 4/20/2011 4:49:06 PM
We all hit shots that will not be good, some great and so on... That will never change. work on your short game from 100yds... then short short game chipping, putting. lag putts, sand shots. Give yourself a chance to save par. That will lower your HCP. by saving strokes form bad shots. Good luck..Hi it long and straight
RICHARD BRIGHT Professional Champion
# 10 5/14/2011 7:12:39 AM
My anxiety level gets pretty high on the tee box ,and that costs me alot of shots and miss hits , Ive learned to take less time in the tee box , two practice swings , line up , and less time playing with the ball , and my stance .Ive found this to be very affective for my game , and it helps with my anxiety during driving .Recently my wife video recored all drives in 18 holes , and i got to see my positioning , stance , and the plane of my driver ,and the driver head to ball impact . That helped me the most , being able to watch yourself so you can make the proper adjustments .

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER

Professional Champion

Go to Last Reply

106 Views 10 Replies 2 Likes

Sometimes it seems that I have such a perfect practice swing. I can see Els' constantly repeating tempo, effortless stroke, and distance from some unworldly energy source, jack the ball for miles on a seemingly thimble full of kinetic movement.

And then, sometimes I just seem to go unconcious just after my transition. I see, or "feel" a jerky move on my mental playback, that starts before I ever allow my backswing to "set." It's like I just want the swing to get over with, begging for a positive outcome...this time.

I practice regularly, ususally 15 mins to an hour during the work week, and a few hour to hour and a half sessions a few times every couple of weeks. When I'm "on" I'm not bad. I've got decent distance, 127 PW thru 150 7 Iron, but fall off below average PW down thru LW and 6 Iron upward thru driver. I can crack a "good" drive 250 to 270 when every freakin star in the universe lines up, (but I'm not talking undue wind and roll help.)

I'd give up some distance just to be more confident that my "jacked up, complete ass face" strokes would be less than one a round. I'm not a pro, and I know that when they talk about clubs, balls, and working the ball, they are expecting a repeatable, predictable, swing about every time they take a swing.

Does this ring a bell with anyong? Did you find a way to move beyond this and work on the finer tuning of ball movement? I'm 51, never had a lesson, been playing off and on since I was 17. I had spurt from 28 to about 34 that I played a lot and got down to a 14 hdcp. I've committed to the game for the rest of my years vowing to never layoff again if I could help it. I posted a 13.8 hdcp late last fall and want a single digit bucket list, USGA carded hdcp.

dewsweeper

Legend

# 1 4/3/2011 9:27:03 AM

Your mind were set on hitting at the golf ball.
Instead, try to think hitting tho=rough the golf ball.

If you're going to fist punch something, you would not stop at the target would you ? You will hit through the target to deliver the blow !

Never hit at the golf ball then lift, always hit through the golf ball, just make sure the golf ball is positioned near the bottom of your swing arc. Your swing arc with your body in the impact position not the address position.

Unable to finish the back swing for a proper set up is common among the aging group over 45, always stretch before the round and finish the turn of your core, if you have a stick or golf shaft, just stick it through your belt loops in from of you to monitor the core wind up.
Another concern might be the 50's shoulder. Many of us will lose the mobility of rotator cuff of shoulders, make sure you losen the shoulders before swing the gold club. Keeping the arms centered ( in front ) to the body will have less stress to the other part of the body.

bill321

Professional Champion

# 2 4/3/2011 10:26:51 AM

"Sometimes it seems that I have such a perfect practice swing...And then, sometimes I just seem to go unconcious just after my transition....It's like I just want the swing to get over with, begging for a positive outcome...Does this ring a bell with anyone?"

Only with every one of the hundreds of thousands of golfers, dating back hundreds of years, spanning every continent, who's ever lived. No one has an answer. If there were an answer, then there wouldn't be driving ranges or golf instructors.

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER

Professional Champion

# 3 4/3/2011 6:03:01 PM

"Sometimes it seems that I have such a perfect practice swing...And then, sometimes I just seem to go unconcious just after my transition....It's like I just want the swing to get over with, begging for a positive outcome...Does this ring a bell with anyone?"

Only with every one of the hundreds of thousands of golfers, dating back hundreds of years, spanning every continent, who's ever lived. No one has an answer. If there were an answer, then there wouldn't be driving ranges or golf instructors.

Well Bill, I hope you didn't think I was being condescending. I was just thinking about what Johnny Miller said the other day. He said that he can "see" his club hit the ball at impact. He swears he's not BSing. When I thought about it, I soon realized that I don't remember much after the first foot or so of my backswing. The only thing that I've found that works for me, thus far, is to start swinging at no more than 25% when I start warming up. By the time I get to 50% I'm hitting more predictalbe, consistent, and very close to my target distance. I either have a great session on the range or a great round if I've managed to "find" this during my warm up. I'm just frustrated that I somehow seem to "forget' this and start all over with my baseball attitude. Maybe it's because of the many years that I played growing up. That "hit" attitude must be hardwired in there somewhere.

bill321

Professional Champion

# 4 4/3/2011 6:16:56 PM

Well Bill, I hope you didn't think I was being condescending.

Not at all. In fact, I was trying to pump your spirits a bit by letting you know you're not alone!

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER

Professional Champion

# 5 4/19/2011 7:28:10 PM

I have found a drill that has helped me somewhat. Focus on the finish position from the time you finish your back swing. It took a few times to "let go" but I was very surprised at the improvement in directional and trajectory control . The most surprising thing is that either I didn't lose any distance, or, I actually gained yardage by being more consistently in the sweet spot.

BUCKNUT

Legend

# 6 4/20/2011 7:11:34 AM

Nice driver! I have one as well and I love it! Yes sometime's I swing smoothly and don't give it a 2nd thought and score well, then other times I feel as if I'm just out there hacking at it and wishing it to go where I want it to. Why? I don't know, I think it has alot to do with my mental state at the time. Sometime's I'm PO'ed, sometimes I'm enjoying just being out there and not at work, sometimes I'm ill with something my daughter did earlier in the morning. I also have Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide rounds 1 nine I'm swinging great shooting 3 or 4 over, having fun and the next nine I feel as if I have never played golf before. Can't get the ball to go where I want it to. Can't do anything correct, on my way to a 50 or above 9. I think most of it is the 6 inches or so in between my ears!

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER

Professional Champion

# 7 4/20/2011 7:23:44 AM

Nice driver! I have one as well and I love it! Yes sometime's I swing smoothly and don't give it a 2nd thought and score well, then other times I feel as if I'm just out there hacking at it and wishing it to go where I want it to. Why? I don't know, I think it has alot to do with my mental state at the time. Sometime's I'm PO'ed, sometimes I'm enjoying just being out there and not at work, sometimes I'm ill with something my daughter did earlier in the morning. I also have Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide rounds 1 nine I'm swinging great shooting 3 or 4 over, having fun and the next nine I feel as if I have never played golf before. Can't get the ball to go where I want it to. Can't do anything correct, on my way to a 50 or above 9. I think most of it is the 6 inches or so in between my ears!

Those Jeckle & Hyde rounds drive me insane! I went back to not keeping track of my score until I get home, or at least finish the round. If I'm at 3 or 4 over at the turn I sometimes think, "I can cruise to a really good score today." If I'm 10 over then I think, "I've got to really bear down and salvage a "decent" round out of this." In either case I'm not playing "MY" game. Another helpful thought has been, "I'll be damned if I'm gonna drop 30 to 50 bucks just get myself pissed off!" I get that for free at the J.O.B. often enough. So I only keep my stats and hole score, no running total, and not lose focus on relaxing and having fun. I practice enough to shoot well, I just have to learn to stay out of my own way.

BUCKNUT

Legend

# 8 4/20/2011 7:29:13 AM

Nice driver! I have one as well and I love it! Yes sometime's I swing smoothly and don't give it a 2nd thought and score well, then other times I feel as if I'm just out there hacking at it and wishing it to go where I want it to. Why? I don't know, I think it has alot to do with my mental state at the time. Sometime's I'm PO'ed, sometimes I'm enjoying just being out there and not at work, sometimes I'm ill with something my daughter did earlier in the morning. I also have Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hide rounds 1 nine I'm swinging great shooting 3 or 4 over, having fun and the next nine I feel as if I have never played golf before. Can't get the ball to go where I want it to. Can't do anything correct, on my way to a 50 or above 9. I think most of it is the 6 inches or so in between my ears!

Those Jeckle & Hyde rounds drive me insane! I went back to not keeping track of my score until I get home, or at least finish the round. If I'm at 3 or 4 over at the turn I sometimes think, "I can cruise to a really good score today." If I'm 10 over then I think, "I've got to really bear down and salvage a "decent" round out of this." In either case I'm not playing "MY" game. Another helpful thought has been, "I'll be damned if I'm gonna drop 30 to 50 bucks just get myself pissed off!" I get that for free at the J.O.B. often enough. So I only keep my stats and hole score, no running total, and not lose focus on relaxing and having fun. I practice enough to shoot well, I just have to learn to stay out of my own way.

Yes I have had to go to the "not looking at the scorecard" routine also. Everytime I do I go to crap! The guys I golf with like to total everything up at the turn and announce everyone's positions. I tell them Don't read mine cause I'm not golfing against yall, I'm golfing for ME! If I get caught up in the "competition" part of it I lose focus on the fun and ball strikeing part of it.

Golfer

LowIndex

# 9 4/20/2011 4:49:06 PM

We all hit shots that will not be good, some great and so on... That will never change. work on your short game from 100yds... then short short game chipping, putting. lag putts, sand shots. Give yourself a chance to save par. That will lower your HCP. by saving strokes form bad shots.

Good luck..Hi it long and straight

RICHARD BRIGHT

Professional Champion

# 10 5/14/2011 7:12:39 AM

My anxiety level gets pretty high on the tee box ,and that costs me alot of shots and miss hits , Ive learned to take less time in the tee box , two practice swings , line up , and less time playing with the ball , and my stance .Ive found this to be very affective for my game , and it helps with my anxiety during driving .Recently my wife video recored all drives in 18 holes , and i got to see my positioning , stance , and the plane of my driver ,and the driver head to ball impact . That helped me the most , being able to watch yourself so you can make the proper adjustments .

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