Swing is broken, incredibly discouraged

[jaywelby34]

I was just starting to break into the 80s on a regular basis which felt good.  I wanted to take some lessons to fix a few things and perhaps elevate the game even further.  Long story short the lessons broke me completely.  I was at a point a few months ago that I almost considered giving up the game.  It was that bad.  Any tips on  regaining the swing and some confidence?

[RickyBobby_PR]

Go back to what you were doing before your lessons and work on those things at the rangers ego develop the movement patterns again.

What did the instructor have you change in your swing?

How many lessons and how frequently did you take them with this instructor?

How much time did spend working on the things your instructor had you doing differently?
 

 

[cnosil]

11 minutes ago, jaywelby34 said:

I was just starting to break into the 80s on a regular basis which felt good.  I wanted to take some lessons to fix a few things and perhaps elevate the game even further.  Long story short the lessons broke me completely.  I was at a point a few months ago that I almost considered giving up the game.  It was that bad.  Any tips on  regaining the swing and some confidence?

Why did the lesson break you completely?  Swing changes are hard and need to be practiced.  Any change will feel different and uncomfortable because it is not what you typically do.  Unfortunately you provide no input on what you need help with so the basic answer is take lessons and practice.  

[MNUte]

As has been mentioned, you're at a bit of a crossroads as to how you approach it. 

 

The first option is to go back to what was working for you. Just work on remembering the feelings of the motions from before your lessons. How your body felt when you were swinging the club back then, how you were thinking, etc. Then commit to those feelings and just work on shaping your game around that old swing. 

 

The second option is to dive head first into the lessons you've had and potentially more. Golf is one giant kinetic change, so it's very hard to change a few things like you wanted without the entire kinetic chain being affected. So continue to practice from your lessons, focusing on the feelings and development and not the results. Again, DO NOT FOCUS PURELY ON THE  RESULTS, those will come in time as you lock in the habits and behaviors. 

 

The third option is to stay as you are now and adapt your game to your current swing. Case in point, before improving his swing, Bubbie from Good Good could only hit a banana slice off the tee and his wedge game is meh. So, he always aimed way left off the tee and became incredibly good putting from off the green. As Golf Sidekick put it, "it's called golf, not golf swing." Rahm, Wolff, and plenty of other professionals have succeeded with less than traditional swings. 

 

Without more information on what you tried to change, what lessons you took, etc, it's almost impossible for us to give you tailored advice. So as it stands, the above three approaches (go back, go forward, or adapt to the present) are about as good of advice as anyone can give. All three have their pros and cons and all three will take time. It's up to you on how much time you want to commit and how you want to approach it. 

 

Good luck! 

[Middler]

It can be very hard to make changes, you have to practice and stick with it for a while, and you have to be open to the changes. If you don’t believe they’re going to work, they definitely won’t…

I went to a pro who broke me, but I believe in lessons as a means to improve. So I went to another pro (and didn’t tell him about my failed lessons with the first pro). His advice was very different, and it worked great. May seem counterintuitive, but I’d go to another pro…

[cnosil]

6 minutes ago, Middler said:

May seem counterintuitive, but I’d go to another pro…

Good point;  an instructor/Coach is someone you have to communicate well with. If the communication isnt working try someone else.  

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

like @Middlersaid but I like analogies. Much like a therapist, a pro/lesson may not translate for you from one to another. May not be speaking your language in the lesson or its just not making sense.

Nothing to add otherwise here but good luck. Hope you can figure something out.

[Bossfan]

I took lessons last year. At first I didn’t play as well. Went from mid 80s to around 90 give or take a stroke. After a few rounds my scores came back down and I even broke 80 for the first time. It just took some practice on the course for things to kick in. 

[Blueberry_Squishie]

In addition to what the others have said. If I'm really struggling, Making some half swings with my feet together to just rehearse solid contact always help.

[Stuka44]

On 4/7/2022 at 10:56 AM, jaywelby34 said:

I was just starting to break into the 80s on a regular basis which felt good.  I wanted to take some lessons to fix a few things and perhaps elevate the game even further.  Long story short the lessons broke me completely.  I was at a point a few months ago that I almost considered giving up the game.  It was that bad.  Any tips on  regaining the swing and some confidence?

My advice would be to attempt to forget all of your lessons, and don't take anymore. Go back to the swing, grip, stance whatever it was before that got you into the 80's.  Practice chipping, putting, and approach shots with the swing you had.  That will shave stokes.  Strategy, and good decisions, will help.  I have said this to others on this forum.  If you aren't topping, or skulling drives and approach shots regulary, then you have(had) your swing that was usable, and satisfactorily functional.

What you need is to practice chipping the ball to within 4 feet of the hole, on the 12+ greens you're likely to miss in a round, because your 50/50 make distance on putting is probably 5-6'.  Practice those sub 6 foot putts a lot.  That 4 footer made can be a one putt, or a non 3 putt from 25 feet, either way it saves you a stroke.  And practice putting knowing this fact, that at 10 feet and over your make percentage starts at about 20 % and goes down from there.  Practice distance control on everything over 10 feet with one goal in mind, DON'T THREE PUTT!,  If one goes in its just a bonus stroke saved.  

Practice, practice, practice with the swing you had.   There is nothing that a golf swing SHOULD BE!

[pakman92]

For me, lessons have worked best when they are spread out so that I have a chance to work on a single change at a time.   I've had 4 lessons this winter spread out over 5 months.   Only worked on setup and backswing changes the whole time.    I need a lot of repetition to make any changes to my swing.   In particular, if the instructor changes your ball position, grip, posture, etc., it's going feel incredibly strange for quite some time.   Weekly lessons are fine of course provided that you are reviewing changes and keep working on a single change or 2 until you feel comfortable.    I just can't work on more than a couple things at one time until I'm ready to move on.   

One of the most important things is that I trust my instructor and believe that the swing changes will make me better and I understand why.  For me, if I don't believe in the instructor or the changes, it's time to find a new instructor.   Eveyone's pace is different.  For example, someone can easily make a takaway change and make it his/her own within weeks.  Others, it may take years to make the change.

my 2 cents.

 

 

[stephenmatt]

I recommend finding a new instructor just like a few other people have said in this thread! I was in your situation with an instructor prior to finding my current coach and switching was the best thing that I could have done.