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Had anyone else gone through this. 10 days ago, I was hitting the ball as good as ever and had been shooting in the 70's without fail. I had a bad day on the range a week ago, where I had a couple of the dreaded sh*nks that just came out of nowhere. Now, I feel like I have no confidence when I'm standing over the ball. It's just like Tin Cup, when he was on the range. I'm sure it's mental, but I don't know what to do. The stupid thing is, is that I don't feel like my swing is any different from 10 days ago when I was hitting them pure. I haven't gone through this in a long time, so I don't even know what to do to get myself back on track. I've been practicing my butt off for the past 6 weeks, putting in time on the course or practice range almost every day. Do I need a break? Any ideas? Thanks guys.

ps. this issue is only with my irons. My driver is great, and I'm putting like a madman.

Take this with a grain of salt as I have yet to find the 70s but sinff the low 80s when things are working.

I had a similar streak a few weeks back. Went from hitting the sweetspot with 90% of my iron swings to hitting shank after shank (for me means hitting everything short and fat with a huge divot).

Take a day off, then start with your shortest wedge and stick with it until you are hitting it the way you want work your way up. Seemed to help me get back on track.

Definitely time for a break, amigo...it is a mental thing, just need to give the gremlins time to leave. You've been hard at it so take a break - at least 3 or 4 days but I'd say a week wouldn't kill ya. You'll be shocked at how well you hit it when you come back.

Shade

Thanks for responding...I'm really thinking I need a day or two off and maybe my swing is just a little tired right now. I know that everyone goes through a bad streak like this, but what's killing me is that even sitting here now, I can feel the bad shots. It's like that feeling of a mis-hit is ringing through me and when I'm standing over the ball, I can't get it out of my head. I've hit some good shots here and there since this started, but my confidence is just in the gutter right now.

definitely time for a break, gives you time to clear your head, mainly of frustration, been there myself. to be honest with you, i find that i play better when i don't practice so much, but if you like to practice, after the break , putting and chipping is the way to go and keep the full swing practices to maybe once a week.

Those are the gremlins...go fishin', they'll drown out there...takes time and distraction, then you'll come back stronger (for a while). Variety = spice of life.

Shade

When my swing has gone bad and I've taken a break from playing and hitting the practice range, I go to the practice green. This lets me work on my putting, chipping and sand shots. I feel good about practicing this part of the game and when I resume, it seems like the break has improved my game.

Take some time off or do Billyg's suggestion. When you get back onto the range, dedicate to pitch, 1/2, and 3/4 shots. This will give you a chance to work on striking the ball and get your confidence up. The next time around, start out the session the same way and work your way up to the 50% drill for the full swing. This will give you your feeling back for the full swing but not putting on the pressure to hit certain shots....just to make good contact. This will slow things down enough for you get back your confidence on ball striking with the full swing. Work your way up to 60%, 70%, 80-85% (which should be the playing max anyways) and by then you should be back on the right path. I know it's boring, but it helped me grind out of the s-word streak I was having about a year ago.

I had the $#@nk$ a while back. Twice actually. Once before I changed my shafts and another time after the new shafts and I was getting better with my irons. The first time, I blamed the shafts. The second time, I was like, "Oh #@!! no, I am not going through this again." I told myself that it was a swing flaw and I was determined to find it. It took me about a dozen balls or so, but I fixed it quickly. Here's what I did...

1. I set up with the ball at the toe of the club, since a shank is nothing more that hitting with the hosel. Hit a few balls. Problem not fixed.
2. Okay, hit a few by setting up too close to the ball - force yourself to $#@nk, then try again from a normal set up. Problem not fixed.
3. Step back and take some practice swings. Try to feel what's going on.
4. Turns out I was reaching out to the ball by bending over more and dropping my back shoulder at impact. For some reason, I wasn't hitting them fat, but pure $#@nk$.
5. Began hitting shots at medium speed, concentrating on maintaining my spine angle.
6. Problem solved.

You don't know how good it felt to go from hitting hosel rockets to hitting them pure again in no more than 20 minutes. I say go back and try to find out what's causing what that leads to you hitting the dreaded s-word. I feel like I can fix mostly any problem with my swing now since I fixed that one. I'm sure that's not true, but it's a huge ego boost.

Ok, it's break time. I may do some short game work, but I think I'll wait until mid next week before I get back on the course or practice tee.

Those gremlins are nasty...they haunt my dreams. I've actually been sleeping poorly the past week, having bad swing thoughts all night. It sounds stupid, but it's true. I think the break is going to do me good. Thanks very much for the advice everyone.

Thanks very much for that Erik. If I'm still having issues, I'll try that out and see how it works. Glad to hear it solved your problem.

heres a cure for the shanks, turn your hat sideways, put all your change in your right pockets, and swing away, ahah speaking of tin cup, yea its definitley mental and some part physical, take a few days off and then come back with a positive swing thought

Taking some time off has always helped me when i get the "shot that must not be spoken". I think taking the time off makes me forget what i was doing wrong.

I guess I'm going to be the only one not jumping on the "take time off" bandwagon. I agree that it's a mental thing, but walking away for a few days can fix it in your head and make a mental block that might be hard to overcome. What worked for me the time I had the was to take my best friends seven iron and spend about 30 minutes hitting some shots. The reason this worked, I believe, is that he's left handed and I'm right handed. I had to take my time with the shots and be very smooth because I was doing everything backwards. After about 30 minutes (I didn't time it) I was hitting the ball reasonably well, considering the circumstances and I pulled my own 7 iron out and hit it with the same slow deliberation...Boom...Straight and pure. Try it out and see if works for you.

I may try this over the weekend. I'm already a reasonably decent player right handed. I could probably get my way around the course in the 90's with out too much effort. My wife wants to hit the range on Saturday, so maybe I'll work on some right handed shots and then try some left handed and see how it feels. I do think I'm going to stay off the course for a few days. My body needs the rest anyway.