Moving Past a Terrible Range Session

General Discussion
#1

I need help, talk me down people. I’ve got a round coming up Saturday with some buddies I haven’t played with in a long time, and have been texting with all summer about how well I’ve been playing and dropping my handicap.

I go to the range today, haven’t played much with the fall and my son’s surgery. Figured I’d loosen up and just hit a few balls before hand. Started out with a few nice smooth sand wedges, everything feels good. Then suddenly I developed a severe case of what we called the Tom Hanks (it rhymes with a very bad golf word, very very bad). And suddenly it’s like I had never swung a golf club before, bad habits I’ve worked on eliminating flood back. Please send help before I turn into an absolute head case.

#2

Assuming you’ve already left the range, just sort of have to let it go, find something else to grab your attention. If you hit balls or just take some swings before the upcoming round, see if you can’t find a focus outside of the ball itself, like your feet. Just focus on the feeling of the weight shifting from foot to foot during the swing, not to correct anything or chase a specific feeling, just define what the feeling is to you.

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#3

In all seriousness some of my best rounds came right after horrible range sessions. I have no idea why. One of the few times I broke 80, I was playing horribly and was invited to play with single digit buddy and 2 other low handicap friends. I was probably a 13 index at the time, but was having a bad stretch. I got there early to hit balls and try to find something. It was horrible. I double bogied the 1st hole (sort of unlucky) and double bogied the last to shoot 78 and beat all of them. I just didn’t want to embarrass myself so I tried to focus and play conservative the whole round. I actually fear the great range session. A good round never seems to follow that lol.

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#4

flip your hat backwards, move all your tees from your right pocket to your left, spin around 3 times, then go hit some more!

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#5

I know this all too well. Setting high expectations on myself and unnecessary pressure. One bad shot and you feel like you’ve let yourself down. Your conscious mind takes over and you over think and analyze everything, sounds familiar, right?! This has been my life the last six months. I tell my golf coach, I can’t wait to show you how good my practices have been and the improvements I’ve made. Then I get in front of him and it’s like I’ve never played the game before, so he nicknames me sh@nkopotumus. Finally I just decided not to care. Not to think about it. Not to focus on what could go wrong. Now I just grip the handle as hard as I can then release to as loose as I can, adjust to about a 2-3 from there, take a deep breath in, blow it out and count in my head whilst swinging (1, 2, 3) in a 3 to 1 rhythm and swing the club. It stops me thinking about how I’m going to hit the ball and just allows me to be free. May or may not work for you but it works for me.

#6

Be like Elsa, let it go!

Just remember your good swings, slow down and focus on the basics.

You’ve been away for a bit, you shook off some rust… just swing away on Saturday and forget the bad and remember the good.

You’ve got this!

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#7

You have to work out why you are shanking the ball. Is your swing path out to in or in to out. I am in to out and cured myself by pulling my hands closer to the body on the downswing. This makes me hit a pull hook but you can make that work by aiming right.

#8

Excellent! Way to go!!! You got them all out of the way on the range! You’re going to murder it Saturday!

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#9

I’m happy to report that after mentally blocking this range session from my brain, Tom Hanks stayed home today and I played a decent round for someone who played little the past month. Some highs, some lows, but a great time with some buddies

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#10

Great news!! Glad to hear it went mostly well!

#11

The lesson here is never go to the range.

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