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How to find your feel when you’ve completely lost it

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One of the most frustrating things in golf is to “have it” one day, just to lose it the very next. It’s scary to be on the golf course and have no feel whatsoever; you feel lost, and like you’ll never be able to play well again. Feel is the thing that helps you manufacture shots around the course and helps you to control your trajectory, distance, and landing angle… and when it’s gone, it’s difficult to get it back. That’s why I’m here to help.

In my opinion here are the top four areas where people tend to lose their feel:

  • Off the Tee
  • Iron Shots
  • Around the Green
  • On the Green

I will examine each and give you tips so you can find your feel once again!

Off the Tee

Yesterday it was simple to hit every fairway — long and straight — and today you can’t seem to even keep it in the treeline! In my opinion, this is one of the worst places to lose your feel because spending all day in the trees is going to kill your scores and psyche. But don’t fret, it’s a simple reason why you have “lost it”… you are simply out of sequence.

You have a certain kinematic sequence that you need to follow, but once you get the out of whack, you can’t hit the side of a barn! So whenever you lose it, try to begin your swing with your legs; the usual way people lose their feel is to use their upper body to begin the swing. You must reverse the process. So go to the range and hit a few balls making sure your legs START the sequence of events and let the arms follow, and I bet you’ll find your feel once again.

Iron Shots

You’ve hit great drives hole-after-hole, ready to attack the pin. But so far, you’ve only hit two greens through 12 holes and neither of them sniffed the flagstick. Losing feeling with your irons can come in two usual areas — hitting the ball solidly and/or losing your directional control. Regardless, both are a royal pain because you never know which one will rear it’s ugly head and cause you the next bogey on your card.

When this happens with the irons, it’s likely that you’ve “gotten too long.” Whenever I have a player who’s lost, I always get them to try and feel like they are making three-quarter swings with the focus on hitting the ball solidly. Usually when they shorten it up and begin to find the face again, good things happen. So whenever you find yourself in a bind on the course, just take a smaller swing with relaxed transitional tempo, and focus on hitting the ball in the center of the face. All will be right with the world once again!

Around the Green

Short game shots come in all shapes and sizes, and I could write an entire book on this subject. But lets make it simple. Losing your feel here, for the sake of this article, is when you just can’t control your distances on any type of short game shot. There is nothing that makes a golfer more frustrated than having a simple pitch shot and boning it to the other side of the green.

I know that each of you have done this from time-to-time… I mean who hasn’t? But here is a simple way to regain your distance control once again. Take your shag bag and your lob wedge and find some tall grass and a tight pin where you have little green to work with. Now hit flop shots trying to land the ball in the section of the green between the fringe and the pin. When you can do this consistently, you have found your feel once again! The longer grass and the tighter pin makes you focus a touch more and it only seems to take 50-100 shots for you to have it all under control once again. Go out and channel your inner-Phil by hitting these flop shots and you’ll find your feel (and look cool doing it!)

On the Green

I’m sure none of you have ever three putted or sent a downhill putt entirely off the green, right? Sadly, we have all lost it on the putting green, and it usually it happens when you have to play with your boss or n a big match or something, never when you’re just playing 9 holes alone.

Here is the simple solution: go to the putting green and hit super-long, big breaking putts… the most difficult putts you can find on the practice green. Once you have figured it out and you have some control of the ball again, try and do the same thing with the highest line possible until you have that under control. Now do the same thing with the lowest line possible… you will find that you have a low, medium, and high line to the hole. Once you can hit the ball close using all three, you will have your feel back again and be ready to go!

By this time, I hope you have a few better ideas as to how to find your feel. Remember, feel comes back just as quickly as it left, so don’t panic. Just follow these tips and everything will be OK once again.

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Tom F. Stickney II, is a specialist in Biomechanics for Golf, Physiology, and 3d Motion Analysis. He has a degree in Exercise and Fitness and has been a Director of Instruction for almost 30 years at resorts and clubs such as- The Four Seasons Punta Mita, BIGHORN Golf Club, The Club at Cordillera, The Promontory Club, and the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. His past and present instructional awards include the following: Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Golf Digest Top 50 International Instructor, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor, Best in State (Florida, Colorado, and California,) Top 20 Teachers Under 40, Best Young Teachers and many more. Tom is a Trackman University Master/Partner, a distinction held by less than 25 people in the world. Tom is TPI Certified- Level 1, Golf Level 2, Level 2- Power, and Level 2- Fitness and believes that you cannot reach your maximum potential as a player with out some focus on your physiology. You can reach him at [email protected] and he welcomes any questions you may have.

9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Ryan

    Jan 16, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    Check out my new blog on golf instruction!

    https://hgolfinstruction.wordpress.com/2018/01/16/the-mental-game/

  2. RBImGuy

    Jan 14, 2018 at 4:03 am

    Funny article, I never lost feel yet

  3. Edge Of Lean

    Jan 8, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    A little obvious at the beginning: “Where do you lose feel the most? Answer: everywhere.”

    • emil

      Jan 8, 2018 at 6:16 pm

      Physical feel? Mental feel? Or both?
      So how do you determine and isolate the reason for the loss of “feel”?
      Answer that!

  4. Joe

    Jan 8, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    I like this article. It’s simple. Though I don’t know if it will work as it’s about 5 degrees outside here in MN right now, my swing disappeared all Summer last year for the firs time in my adult life. It was crushing. Though I will try some of these tips when I get the chance. Thank you sir.

  5. just plain bill

    Jan 8, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    wish i had read this before yesterday’s round…

  6. taylor

    Jan 7, 2018 at 10:33 pm

    Stinkney never responds to questions. Hiding 🙁

  7. emil

    Jan 7, 2018 at 4:31 pm

    Is the problem “feel” or “feeelings” …. when you’ve completely lost it?
    There is kinesthetic feel … and emotional feeelings. So which is it because each solicits a different physical and mental reaction?
    How do you recover a physical “kinematic sequence” when the problem is because of a hormonal adreneline rush (or deficiency) into your brain?

  8. Speedy

    Jan 7, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    Good tips, and “don’t panic” reassurance, Tom

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Instruction

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

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Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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How a towel can fix your golf swing

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This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

Setup

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

Conclusion

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

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Instruction

Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks

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You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!

 

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