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Are you over-thinking the game?


Mental Game  

106 members have voted

  1. 1. Are you over-thinking the game?

    • Yes
      69
    • No
      37


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1 hour ago, singleta said:

I was playing great golf in April but I had 5 swing thoughts and I felt that was too many. Tried for a few months with just one or two and my game got so much worse.

Returned to the five thoughts this last month and I'm playing my best golf of the year!

Tough to say too many if they are simple keys to establishing a good grips, setup, and swing.  Having a long checklist of items that breakdown the swing into multiple steps is probably too many.  What are your 5 thoughts?   

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Favorite sign in a pro shop at a local course, "It's not a space shuttle, it's a ball and a stick."

Stay on Target!    94602_x-wing_512x512.png.e6fd366aa256fea54f342bdfaa860cb7.png

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I think about a lot of things impacting a shot when coming up to an approach shot to a green but I am not overwhelmed into swing paralysis or slow play by them.  When it comes to the swing, I might have a single swing thought about something I have had to work through in recent rounds.  Right now it's maintain shaft lean on iron shots and finish with my hands high on driver swings and shoulder alignment on putts.

Coming up to an approach shot I consider distance, elevation change, wind, stance angle, ball lie & turf direction, pin placement, green slope, hazards, best/worse miss location, club selection, shot shape, shot height & proper swing to pull it off, one maybe two 3/4 practice swings while thinking of those things & visualizing the shot and picking a target.....then swing.  Never timed myself but I am sure it takes less than a minute.  

Driver takes a lot less time as I usually play the same shot shape.  I take two practice swings to loosen my back, pick a target and swing.  Might be an extra 10 seconds if I am figuring distance to a hazard or dogleg, shaping it differently or practicing a stinger swing or something similar.

Typical round for my wife & I is 2:45 so it doesn't seem to be slowing us down.  

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Today I played with back to the target on the backswing and get to the left (target side) - through swing. Great ball striking day with just two thoughts. This takes care of the turn and prevents from hitting off the back foot on the DS. I think great suggestions for beginners or sr's too 🙂, without getting too technical.

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20 hours ago, Bulldog said:

Favorite sign in a pro shop a local course, "It's not a space shuttle, it's a ball and a stick."

Some truth to that, but just hang with this us for a bit longer and you'll see the error in that statement 😆.

19 hours ago, Birdiecock said:

With rare exception...

Stay.  Away.  From.  YouTube. 

 

That should help.

What about our forum members "swing in progress" clips?

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On 12/16/2021 at 12:54 PM, cnosil said:

Tough to say too many if they are simple keys to establishing a good grips, setup, and swing.  Having a long checklist of items that breakdown the swing into multiple steps is probably too many.  What are your 5 thoughts?   

Turn shoulders to line them up with the target line (I naturally stand with them very open), squeeze shoulder blades together, low takeaway, keep shoulder blades squeezed, keep lower body still (i.e don't slide back from the target) swing in-to-out (my natural swing is out to in so this thought helps to neutralise the path)

Then watch it sail down the fairway with a gentle fade 🤞

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3 hours ago, singleta said:

Turn shoulders to line them up with the target line (I naturally stand with them very open), squeeze shoulder blades together, low takeaway, keep shoulder blades squeezed, keep lower body still (i.e don't slide back from the target) swing in-to-out (my natural swing is out to in so this thought helps to neutralise the path)

Then watch it sail down the fairway with a gentle fade 🤞

seems like a lot to me, but that is just me.   Guess it depends on how fast you go through those thoughts when preparing to swing.    

Driver:  :ping-small: G400 Max 9* w/ KBS Tour Driven
Fairway: :titelist-small: TS3 15*  w/Project X Hzardous Smoke
Hybrids:  :titelist-small: 915H 21* w/KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype
                :titelist-small: 915H  24*  w/KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype        
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Wedge:  :titleist-small: 54/12D, 60/8M w/:Accra iWedge 90 Graphite
Putter:   :taylormade-small:TM-180

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I agree in terms of not being too technical when  you are PLAYING golf.   Fine for swing thoughts while you are practicing-- maybe even during a pre-shot routine/practice swing.  But once you step in to hit the shot your focus should be on your target and the image of the shot you are trying to hit, however you think of that.   In yesterday's interview following the PNC Pro Am, Tiger said one issue is that his swing is not producing the ball flight or speed for the shots he is "seeing".   Some teachers even draw a line-- on one side is the planning and preparation and practice, and the other is clear the mind of swing thoughts and execute.  

All that said, I adopted an acronym for shot preparation when I was in my teens that I still use today.  Plan to hit each shot SWEL (Slope, Wind, Elevation, and Lie) -- meaning you take your stock shot pattern and distance, and then (try to ) account for how  changes in slope, wind speed/direction, elevation change (uphill or downhill to the target), and lie will affect it.   In the Midwest this time of year, we also have to account for temperature and ground conditions (wet or soggy fairways, greens and aprons.)  Its not unusual to add 3 clubs for an uphill, into the wind iron shot on a day that is 42 degrees.  

I still think its best to  step in to hit your shot   and focus on rhythm, tempo and execution.  But I also believe a mind toward's planning and course management are an important element if you are going to score.   Know where to miss.  Play a shot that matches your game and ability, especially THAT day.   Play to targets and percentages.   Know when to take on risks.  

In the cold OHIO  December weather, my last 4 rounds have been 77, 77, 73, 80.  Not bad for a 62 year old, 9/10 HDCP.   

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I play with a couple of retired pros and they both tell me constantly that the biggest problem with my game is that I am overthinking my game.  They are positive influences on me and I love playing with them, one is actually my instructor and says if I could only get that six inches out of the way I probable could drop ten strokes.   At 75, just hard to make those demons go away, but they are dead on.  Yesterday in playing with other pro, had four triple bogies, all out of our new sand traps.  He said they have my number and that it is all in my head.  Also had two birdies.  Take away those 12 strokes and I am in the low 80s, where I should be.  Over think is an understatement right now.  It will change. 

Our course underwent a major redesign this year and the bunkers and greens were made incredibly difficult.  For those familiar with Seth Raynor, his design, but his were on large greens.  This designer put them on very small greens which was insane.  When the USGA rated the course they agreed.  It is municipal course and not playable by all levels.  Our 2019 city Amateur Champion shot -12 for the three day tournament.  After the renovation, this years champion shot +6 for three days.  The bunkers and greens are some of the toughest you will find in SC.  It is now a one a done course for visitors.  Those of us who play it weekly still find it one son of a gun.  Kind forces us to overthink, sometimes.      

 

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22 hours ago, saz0418 said:

Not bad for a 62 year old, 9/10 HDCP. 

I could not agree more... but I still want that single digit index dammit! 🤣

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I developed a counting routine to keep my mind off technical thoughts other than my tempo... 

Once I have addressed the ball and am set I look at target and count 1-2
Then look at a spot on ball and count 1-2
Then begin backswing count 1 at top, 2 at or close to impact. 

All are done at the same tempo speed. I will also try to do a long exhale through the whole process.  

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On 12/17/2021 at 9:09 AM, fixyurdivot said:

Some truth to that, but just hang with this us for a bit longer and you'll see the error in that statement 😆.

What about our forum members "swing in progress" clips?

Well, my opinion on YouTube golf instructions is it is not all bad but there is a lot of garbage on there like everything on the internet.  I enjoy Me and My Golf for example.  Haven't seen the "swing in progress".  I'll check it out.

 

Since the topic is over thinking, I just think some of that YouTube content causes just that.

 

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On 12/18/2021 at 6:30 AM, singleta said:

Turn shoulders to line them up with the target line (I naturally stand with them very open), squeeze shoulder blades together, low takeaway, keep shoulder blades squeezed, keep lower body still (i.e don't slide back from the target) swing in-to-out (my natural swing is out to in so this thought helps to neutralise the path)

Then watch it sail down the fairway with a gentle fade 🤞

I’ve never heard any instructor at any level talk about squeezing the shoulder blades and many say the opposite. Look at GG and Monte as two who have very relaxed shoulders. Also find me a pro golfer who does that.

Still lower body also not recommended, especially with the trail side where the knee and angle should rotate in the swing and the hips should be moving back and towards the target.

Curious where you got these swing thoughts from?

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I believe there are two different types of 'overthinking'.  One that takes place prior to your preshot routine. And one that takes place at the after the end of your pre-shot routine before you begin your backswing and during your swing.

I think 'overthinking' prior to the pre-shot routine is OK (at least for me).  These are thoughts like, shot shape, where to aim (where to miss), taking wind and elevation into consideration, etc.  Now, it can be annoying to your playing partner, if you keep going back and forth between choosing your clubs.  But, for me this is a fairly quick process.

The detrimental 'overthinking' is the one that take place before you begin your backswing (perhaps even freezing some player for what seem like an eternity) and even worse, during your swing.   I try (not always successfully) to limit mine to just one.  "slow takeaway"   To empty my mind, I do 2 things. 

  1. Stick to my routine.  Once I set my club down, I make one practice take back and start my backswing without pause.
  2. I physically whisper "One one-thousand, eighty" during the swing.  This is true for driver swing down to putting stroke.   "One one-thousand in the backswing.  Eighty at the beginning of transition to downswing."  "One-one-thousand" is hard to say fast.  I found that I can say this at pretty constant time.  Fraction less than 1 sec.  'Eighty' I chose a couple years ago instead of saying "two."  I think originally to remind me to swing 80%.  The physical act of saying something outloud, keeps my mind empty

2 cents

pakman92

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The shoulder blade squeeze came about by chance. I was playing with a bit of back pain and that was the position that I didn't feel any pain in. It also happened to give me a much more centred strike on the driver head so I stuck with it.

The keeping the lower body still thought came from a lesson. The coach told me I swayed too much in the direction of my back foot on the backswing so the intention of the thought is to minimise the movement not to eliminate all movement.

It's working for me though as I've gone from low 40s to mid 50s percentage of fairways hit and it's almost completely eliminated my short high fade miss.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I believe it is so easy to over-think golf.  I think that one has to do this to become a better golfer.  But when that process is over, it is time to play the game with all the things learned in the over-thinking stage.  That is when one becomes a golfer.  It is much like an artist painting with oils.  Learn the technique, then just paint.

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Sometimes I think about taking a sip of beer before hitting the ball... and sometimes the result is another sip or two before moving on and repeating.

 

No... I do not overthink golf. Life is too short to be bothered about something most of us will ever be so, so at. I just have fun when I'm out there.

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I’m seeing a trend here. Seems like this over thinking is just magnified by YouTube videos and instructional forums. What have you guys done to yourselves? I really read this stuff with my jaw dropping to the ground. I’m not treating any of this as a joke reading it. Just in awe how lost in the trees one can become at things. And many of you are lost in the deepest of forests. It’s almost like these online instructors revel off of confusion. And profit from it substantially. We aren’t professionals, and I would say the courses we play are very user friendly. The equipment now a days is the best available. And the ball itself goes straighter with less curve. I really don’t even know what to type anymore on this area of the forum. All I can say is I’m sorry for where some of you are in your games 

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