This is a great thread. I was having this exact same thought yesterday: Am I actually progressing?
I’ve been playing for 27 years, now down to a 3, which is down from 6 a couple years ago. I practice daily on a home sim and get lessons regularly. I am obsessed and objectively getting better at this game over a very long arc of time.
But in the short term - like right now - my game is a hot mess. I’m committed to a (theoretically minor) swing change, that had been going well, but is wreaking havoc on my irons shots right now. I had my worst practice session in ages yesterday, and I managed to fire off my worst two rounds in over three years over the past week.
It’s a horrifically stupid and abusive game. To quote Molly Griswold, “This is without a doubt the stupidest, silliest, most idiotic grotesquery masquerading as a game that has ever been invented.”
And to quote Roy Tin Cup McEvoy, “Yes ma’am, that’s why I love it.”