There are many ways to “lose” your golf swing, and there are many reasons why this might happen. You might be hitting the ball well, and suddenly, for no apparent reason, you lose your swing and start performing poorly. This is commonly referred to as the ‘disappearing golf swing.’ The disappearing golf swing is something that can happen to anyone, whether you are a pro golfer or an amateur. Once in awhile, you are bound to lose your swing and miss your target entirely.
Some say that this is not reality and that there is no way you suddenly lose your golf swing without a reason — there must be something you are doing wrong. This is the first step towards fixing whatever it is that you are doing wrong. Accepting that you may lose your swing without warning can reduce your enjoyment of the game. Losing your swing can be avoided if you take the steps necessary to fix it.
It is probably all in your head. Once you make a few bad swings, it might affect your psyche and cause you to lose confidence in your ability to make good swings. No matter what you try to change, your game remains off. The solution to this is your mind. You are a good golfer — all you have to do is remember that.
You may be literally off your game. This might happen due to a lack of practice which can mess up your technique and make your game seem impossible to improve. Your body movements might also be messy, and there is a chance that your muscles no longer know how to swing correctly.
Practice Your Swing
One step to fixing your golf swing is practice. They say that practice makes perfect, and, in this case, they aren’t wrong. Make this a priority. Choose a drill and practice it up to 100 times a day. It might be that you are spreading yourself too thin, trying out too many swings and, in the end, you keep missing.
As a golfer, you should already know what to do, how to hit the ball, and how to perform the basic swing. Now, focus your energy on perfecting your technique. Choose a technique and practice it over and over again. Your routine should involve that one drill. You will retrain your muscles to memorize that swing when you do it over and over again.
When you do this, you should start small. Take your golf club and try to hit shorter shorts than usual. Get better at those short shots and then increase your range. Little by little, you will correct your swing, and you won’t even realize it when you have the perfect swing with a more extended range. You can also try starting with a shorter iron and progress from there.
Visualize Your Perfect Shot
Visualize the best shots you have ever made and meditate on those. You will be surprised at how such a simple thing can result in such a vast improvement. You will see the result as early as the first day of your attempt to improve.
Eventually, if you incorporate visualization with practice, you will get the best swing you have ever had.
Meditating
People ignore the benefits of meditation, but, in this case, they can bear results. You probably have no idea where to start, so here are some tips to meditation:
- Sit or lie in a quiet, dark place for thirty minutes and make sure it’s comfortable.
- You can meditate in silence, or you can also listen to a calming tune. YouTube has a wide range of music, which you can find by searching for meditation music on YouTube.
- Now that you are ready, you can start your 30-minute meditation. Begin by closing your eyes. Breathe in deep and slow and hold your breath for five seconds. Breathe out through your mouth.
- Repeat the breathing technique five times.
- Breathe normally and avoid getting distracted by focusing on your breathing. Breathe the way you would normally for five minutes.
- Now that you are relaxed, you can start visualizing.
Visualizing
This is where you bring back your best swings. Start by taking your mind back to your best shots. To do this, you need to dig into your memory of your years of playing golf and play out these swings in your mind.
Using the first-person point of view, keep playing this memory. Do it over and over again as if you were at the golf course. You can visualize as many shots as you want and repeat the memories in your mind for about 20 minutes.
You will be surprised at how at peace you feel by doing this exercise. It will calm your mind and relieve the pressure.
Now that you are equipped with your best memories on the course, you can get on the course and practice your swing. If the lousy swing was a mental issue, you have solved it by reminding yourself that you are good at this.
Work on Your Form
Your swing may be the result of bad form. You might find that this results in the dreaded shank. A shank is when you hit the golf ball with the innermost part of the club. It is so dreaded that some golfers will not allow you to say the word when they are playing golf. Shanking happens as a result of tension when hitting the ball.
You can reverse shanking by placing your weight on your arches. You have to make sure that you are standing the perfect distance from the ball, not too far and not too close. Ensure that there is no tension in your hands or on your hips. Allow your right hip to swing when you are throwing the backswing. This will correct your balance and give you a better swing.
When you use a sweeping stroke to hit the ball, your ball might end up stuck in the rough, your club might entirely miss the ball, or your shot might end up being wild.
You can correct this by perfecting your stance. Let your left side support your weight. Keep your shoulders level and place the ball back slightly. Create a steep angle, all while putting your weight on your left side. This will reduce the amount of grass you have to slice through.
Imagine being stuck in a bunker. This is not just a hindrance to your game; it is a bit of an embarrassment. You can fix this by not having too wide of a stance. Take a regular stance and open your clubface just slightly. You should be a few inches from the ball and use your usual swing. Focus on the ground rather than the ball.
The Perfect Drill
While you should practice, sometimes it might be your drill that is failing you, and it may be time for a change. The go-to drill when you are having a hard time maintaining the perfect swing is the stomping drill. The best thing about this drill is that it gives you the best position for your footwork, balance, weight shift, and timing.
This drill will also help you rotate your body at the perfect moment, thus avoiding premature swings. You will also hit the ball at just the right place and not have to cut across it.
How the stomping drill works:
- Take a step away from the target; you should use your back foot.
- Lift your front foot and take a sidestep towards the target. Put that foot on the ground before you swing down into the ball.
- Practice the sidestep with both feet so that you know the perfect way to shift your weight.
- You will be able to synchronize your movement. You will also generate more power so that you can push off the ground correctly. You will be surprised at how much this improves your game.
Precision
You need to be precise when hitting the ball, or you will not get the right distance. You will miss your targets and end up losing the game. When making contact with the ball, the club face should make contact with the half of the ball that is closer to you. This should be the inside part of the ball. You should also have a closed stance so that the lower part of your body is immobile. It will make swinging past your chest smoother.
You should take the swing with your dominant side. If you are right-handed, let your left side hold you down. Your left hip should be over your left foot as you go in for the swing. Try keeping your head still. As you begin your swing, ensure that you have one goal only — to hit the ball perfectly.
You should also see a golf pro so that they can help you determine what you are doing wrong and help you solve it. If you do all that, you will be able to find your swing again get back to playing the game at the highest level.
