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I'm in AK so I haven't hit a ball outside for about 4 months. Worked on my game inside though. Last week the practice areas thawed out and I hit them with a vengeance. Was striking the ball as good as I ever have, loving it. This week suddenly I have the shanks more or less. This happened to me last year about this time except that I started out with the shanks and recovered through some awesome lessons. I've tried the drills that got me back on track last year but they aren't working for some reason.

It really bothers me that I can go from feeling so grooved one week and then totall lose my swing the next week.

Any tips?

...welcome to the game of golf...



tip?

Get used to it...it never ends...

When that happens to me, I go to the range and practice with a very, very slow swing. I find that when I do that, I can pick up the tempo after 10-12 balls and get my swing back.

Yeah, it's called golf.

Happened to me the past 2 years. I was playing the best Ive ever played year before last, and then....plop! My game went absolutely to **** and I have no idea why. Its slowly coming back, but Im 2 years in and still havent regained my form yet.

I went from hitting my irons the best I ever did last Spring. I took some time off and had the Shanks from July through November. I went back to fundamentals and got lessons.

Same thing. Golf is a cycle of ups and downs. My handicap card spans 70 to 86. Luckly most are closer to mid-70s, but golf is a random sport. It took some time to get my tempo back to correct my fault. For me I realized I had not been bending my knees as I had before and was swining to much outside. Bent the knees a bit and was more compact and bam some of the best golf I have played in recent years.

Enjoy the ride!

THANKS for the feeback, makes you feel better when you know you're not alone. Like I said, I had some great lessons get me out of it last year at the same time....at first this year those same tools weren't working, but then.......this weekend I kept working on it and realized my grip was jacked up, takeaway was too fast, and shoulder plane was off. The grip seemed to have the most effect immediately....now I'm back to how I was post lessons last year which is strong, solid shots with a tendency to pull (much better than shanks!).

What I've discovered, and already knew but needed to remember, was that you get taught stuff that feels overdone, but works....you're successful and happy for a certain amount of time then you REVERT back to what's "natural"/wrong and your demons return.

Can we agree that that's pretty much the process?

So, for my part, I've started writing down the keys to my fundamentals that have the best results for me. So far I've got:

Loose grip, BOTH hands strong.
Shoulder on plane (to inside of ball, not outside).
Shoulder under chin as club goes back.
Weight to front foot first.
Nice and easy through it.
Put the club on your shoulder.

There is a way to recover a swing immediately. Check it out at Longgolf.com on the link to Long's Special Swing Exercises found in the box entitled NEW GOLF TECHNIQUES near the top of the page. There you will find the methods to find good moves in the first place and recover them whenever you want.

if it makes you feel any better, i played no golf over the winter and my slice became a hook.

I probably have about 4 chapters worth of swing thought notes and details on setup for different clubs and shots...it is a great idea and helps me find my way back...but without fail, the first two things to go and that need looking at when my swing goes south are tempo, grip and setup...well that's three but you get the idea...

Happens to me. Can be playing good one day and bad the next day. The key for me is to go to the range, try to identify the issues, and work on them and gain back confidence in the process.

I am more likely to randomly find my swing than lose it. Losing it is something with which I have no problem.

I agree. I find that I tend to "lose it" more when I've played 3 or 4 rounds in a week, and didn't really go to the range (at all like this week ). I knew i shouldn't have even played today after the first hole. I could tell it was just going to get worse and I was going to get frustrated. . . . . .and I did!

I guess for me, I have to go the range--once--for every two rounds of golf I play. I don't always hit balls before a round of golf due to time constraints (basically, I'm always running behind ).

So, just take a break and get back to basics. Work it out

Among many causes, the most likely cause of losing the swing is the change in setup where the distance between your hands and your body is changed. Then you lose the "groove" and are forced to find a new swingplane.