Why Am I Suddenly Terrible at Golf? Tips & Proven Drills to Get Your Swing Back
Golf is a mystery sometimes. It’s what keeps us coming back for more, but it’s also a source of major frustration. When this happens to recreational golfers, it can be very demoralizing, as time spent on the course is rare, and you don’t want to spend it hacking your way around.
Although we don’t know why we lose our games, we do know how to get them back.
These tips and drills will help restore your game to its former glory and prevent future losses.
Regaining Your Golf Game (Key Takeaways)
No one knows why we lose our games sometimes, but it does happen, and when it does, review these key takeaways to remind yourself that your game is not lost, it’s just temporarily misplaced.
- Examine each facet of your game to identify the most problematic area and focus your efforts on that.
- Review the fundamentals and start with small, dedicated swings.
- Use stretching and weight training to improve physical fitness and swing awareness.
- Monitor your swing tempo from day to day to work on consistency throughout your set.
- Spend time at an executive golf course before returning to full-length golf courses.
- Seek professional help from a local pro or affordable technology, such as Hackmotion.
Contents
Actionable Tips to Get Your Game Back
Assuming you didn’t sustain any recent injuries or incorporate any new learning strategies into your game, use these tips to clear your “cache” and retrieve your game organically.
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
Identify Specific Area of Loss
It’s easy to look at a bad scorecard and say your game was bad, but serious golfers will break down and analyze their strokes to optimize practice time.
Identify how many drives hit the fairway, greens hit in regulation, up and downs made, and the number of putts you took. Perhaps they all need work, but at least you can prioritize them.
- Tee Shots – Determine how many tee shots hindered your score. You don’t have to be too hard on yourself; a missed fairway doesn’t always mean a bad tee shot.
- Approach Shots – When your target was the green, how many times were you successful? Again, this does not explicitly mean greens in regulation. Reflect on your misses and try to identify any patterns.
- Specialty Shots – Short pitches, bunker shots, and rescue shots can also cause you to lose confidence, which can leak into other parts of your game. If you messed up a 65-yard approach shot, also take note of where you missed and how you reacted. Did you compound the error or simply blame it on the mis-execution of the specialty shot?
- Putting – Scores often skyrocket if too many 3-putts are logged. If you missed the fairway but still 3-putted for bogey, it’s not your tee shots’ fault.
Re-Gain Confidence with Small Swings and Fundamental Review
Heading to the range to figure out how to get your swing back is a great idea, but plowing through a bucket of balls in a fit of rage won’t solve anything.
Start with basic fundamentals and work your way up to full swings, almost like you’re re-teaching the game to yourself from scratch.
- Confirm your alignment and ball position.
- Use deliberate practice strokes.
- Monitor wrist and arm positions with Hackmotion or a mirror.
- Take small swings with a short club to locate the sweetspot and clean contact.
- Gradually increase the length of your swings.
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
Improve Flexibility and Physical Fitness
Most recreational golfers won’t want to hear this, but losing your swing can be caused by improper or inadequate physical training.
Your body simply cannot perform consistently without the necessary muscle training exercises. If your game comes and goes often, then improved flexibility and strength will be the solution.
If you don’t have time to dedicate to training, then at the very least, start incorporating a pre-round golf warm-up routine. Something simple, like the one below, can help you loosen up and engage your muscles right from the start, so they are as responsive and reactive.
Control/Monitor Your Tempo
You can have the best technique in the world, but if it’s not tied together with sound and repeatable tempo, then you won’t get the results you want.
It’s very easy for amateurs to lose their tempo because their lives don’t revolve around golf.
You may have a tee time scheduled for after work, but your last meeting ran late, and your boss assigned you more work over the weekend. By the time you rushed over to the golf course, tied your shoes in the parking lot, and made it to the first tee, your heart is racing and your brain is fried. This is an easy way to lose your game suddenly and without warning.
Even if this happens, you can use the Hackmotion app to get a few practice swings in and recapture your normal, smooth tempo.
The HackMotion sensor track your normal movements, so when you’re out of line, the app informs you right away and helps you find your rhythm immediately.
Play an Executive Golf Course
Before your next regularly scheduled round at a par 72, take a day and work out the kinks at an executive-style course.
The short nature will activate the creative and reactive portion of your mind and alleviate some of the pressure of worrying about technique.
Even if you suspect the driver to be the part of your game that you suddenly lost, ignoring it and focusing on the parts of your game that you are good at will be great for your confidence.
It will take the pressure off your driver and let you know that no matter where your ball ends up, you have the game to recover.
Score seems to matter much less at an executive course because technically it’s not official. Yes, you can still record your score for handicap purposes, but a bad round here won’t have a dramatic effect.
Seek Professional Help
Hiring a golf professional is something we can all benefit from, especially when we’re struggling. But if that is not an option, then use the much more affordable Hackmotion system.
The delicate sensors are designed to monitor and track your movements in real-time, making drill suggestions on how to improve, just like a professional coach would.
Much of the swing’s effectiveness stems from proper wrist action and body control, which is precisely what Hackmotion was designed to address.
You can use it indoors during the off-season just as effectively as on the grass tee range.
Drills to Prevent You From Losing Your Swing
Prevention is often the best medicine in many aspects of life. Even if you’re not struggling now, the drills below can help you stay on track.
If you have suddenly lost your game, identify the source and apply the corresponding drill below.
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
Standing Rotation Drill – Irons
Use this drill to simplify your swing and remind yourself that the motions are not as complex as they seem.
Standing up straight is a more relatable position for us as it’s more comfortable and natural. If you can develop good feelings here, then all you have to do is bend at the hips, and you have a perfectly sound golf swing that is efficient with all your irons.
- Video Timestamp: 1:40 – 3:00
Standing Rotation Drill – Step by Step
- Address the ball with your normal stance and then stand up straight while maintaining the angles of your arms and wrists.
- Rotate the club around your body while keeping the shaft parallel to the ground.
- Do this a few times before bending over again to hit a ball.
- Ensure your wrists and arms are moving correctly by using Hackmotion or by observing yourself in a mirror.
Swing Plane Towel Drill – Driver
The driver is the most common club to lose control over, and it’s easy to understand why. It’s the longest, fastest, and most potent, and therefore requires control and discipline.
Regaining control over this club requires synchronizing your arms, wrists, and body. If you don’t have a Hackmotion, you can use this old-school drill to slowly get your driver back under control.
- Video Timestamp: 4:50 – 6:15
Swing Plane Towel Drill – Step by Step
- Take your usual driver stance, but place a towel under each arm so it’s across your chest.
- Ensure your whole body moves during your backswing, downswing, and follow-through to prevent the towel from falling.
- This can also be used with long irons.
2-Point Center Drill – Pitching/Chipping
The second most common shot type that creates terrible scores is the chunk.
This can be done with any club, but is often seen on short shots when deceleration is present. It’s easy to say “don’t decerlate,” but a more effective strategy would be to focus on creating clean contact.
Use this drill on the range before a round to gain confidence with your ball striking and get used to hitting the sweet spot.
You can progress to using longer clubs as long as you maintain the same weight transfer explained in the video below.
- Video Timestamp: 1:50 – 4:30
2-Point Center Drill – Step by Step
- Lay down an alignment stick between your feet to represent the middle of your stance.
- Move the ball a few inches in front of the alignment stick (closer to the target).
- Shift 90% of your weight to your front foot.
- Keep your weight forward as you take small pitching and chipping strokes.
- Ensure you hit the ball first, not the ground, and definitely not the alignment stick.
Chopsticks Drill – Putting
When your game is lost, putting can be at the root of the issue. Trying harder only digs a deeper hole, and to get your game back through putting requires a revisit of the fundamentals.
This drill helps remind your body what good technique feels like and will physically put you in the correct positions, and can be used with Hackmotion to monitor wrist and arm movement.
- Video Timestamp: 3:00 – 6:01
Chopsticks Putting Drill – Step by Step
- Attach two alignment sticks with an elastic band six inches from one end.
- Take the long ends of the alignment sticks and place one under each arm.
- Rest your putter on the elastic band and take your grip.
- Make strokes while keeping the alignment sticks under your arms, rocking your shoulders, and maintaining neutral wrist angles.
Final Thoughts
Getting your game back takes dedicated practice that focuses on the fundamentals. Now that you have a plan in place, you can focus on the part of your game that has caused the loss and limit your bad scores.
Using Hackmotion regularly will help you prevent sudden loss and also help you regain those good feelings quickly.
No matter what part of your game has let you down, the Hackmotion sensors will identify the specific areas that need improvement, just like a golf coach would.
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