Tom I need HELP! mental block when over the ball

@tmoo7373 - The Forum Community has spoken and given you just about everything I might have offered. To summarize some key takeaways here:

1) Overcoming hitting at the ball vs. swinging through it.

2) The "Now I've got this" mindset that likely accompanied your early success is an open invitation that calls in all those past swing demons. We've all been there.

3) When things go awry for a few shots or even for an entire session, we naturally begin to press and experience stress, and this leads to swing-wrecking tension that continues to feed upon itself.

4) Paralysis by analysis.

5) In addition to the book referenced by @Ian "Twiggy" Jones, there's another great read paraphrased by @danny in one of his comments: "Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game" by Dr. Gio Valiante. I highly recommend it.

Here are my suggestions for getting back on track:

1) One of the many great things about this swing is that you can achieve solid ball striking even at the most basic levels. This is why I oftentimes will refer students back to Chapter 2 of the Golf Swing Simplified course when they experience a hiccup or perceived setback. That chapter reinforces the body motions and the weight-forward component, and it culminates with what I call "The Best Golf Swing Practice Drill of All Time". Work yourself sequentially and gradually through the chapter, and then park yourself on that drill in Lesson 2.8. Learn it. Practice it. Master it. You can even use the partially abbreviated swing it provides on the course and play quite well with it as it will provide plenty of distance. (It actually is the full swing minus just a couple of power accumulators.) Once you've got that down you will be well prepared to move forward in the curriculum and well on your way towards taking ownership of YOUR swing!

2) I've just added the Get Out and Go Play program, which is essentially a quick-start guide designed to get folks out on the course sooner. If you can do a reboot on yourself, then perhaps this may help you rediscover your mojo.

3) Finally, always keep in mind the V1 Swing Video Analysis - an effective and inexpensive service that I highly recommend to everyone in the school. I liken it to bringing your swing into the shop for a tune-up or minor repair. Scheduling one on a quarterly basis for preventive maintenance will do wonders for keeping things humming along nicely, and it's also a great tool for pinpointing and resolving any issues that arise. The process involves downloading the free V1 app and then submitting two videos to me through the app - one down-the-line (captured from your stance line, not the target line) and the other face-on. You'll find more information about the V1 Analysis halfway down this page on the Saguto.Golf site.

No worries. We'll get you through this!

Tom

Hi Terry. I just commented in another post not too long ago regarding this issue. Maybe it'll help - maybe not. I took a video of my practice swing and then a video of my swing hitting a ball on the range. It's two different people. I noticed when hitting the ball my upper body was super tense. I want to kill the ball. I get no extension, my left arm bends and my head flips backwards and the veins in my arms are popping out like the incredible hulk. I have been working on relaxing my upper body and letting the swing start as it should with my lower body. Don't try to kill the ball if you are. Relax. Even in martial arts we are relaxed when we fight. We are alert and the body is ready to go - but the muscles are relaxed so they can react quickly. Hope that helps.

Twiggy, Thank you for your words of encouragement and wisdom. I understand golf is an everlasting progressive and regressive game. Damn that ball.. As we all try to acheive the best of ourselves in what ever we do, this "game" has to be one of the most trying endeavors physically, mentally, hell, even spiritually I've encountered. Your words sit well on the page and I will definitely keep them in mind whilst I try and try again. For the love of the game, Thanks again. Terry

There's a great battle in life called "process vs outcome". When there's no outcome, we focus on the process but when an outcome enters the equation, we think only about the outcome and all process thoughts get thrown out of the window! It's just like a tee-shot to an island green......we obsess and think more about going in the drink than what we need to do to hit the green.

If you were to learn to walk a tightrope that was 2 feet off the ground, you would learn the skills and technique without fear of falling and hurting because it's only 2m. Shove that tightrope to 20m up in the air and all focus is on "what if I fall?"

Build your swing in increments using Tom's teachings. I found my short game has drastically improved because of the fundamentals are ingrained now but I still struggle with fuller shots as there's more components to incorporate. But the more swings I make, the more I learn about the swing and the fundamentals

This is really common it seems. It's impact anxiety! I hate it. When you take a practice swing your not trying to hit anything so you have no impact anxiety. Then, you put a ball down and you're not swinging anymore, you're trying to hit the ball. It's taken me the longest time to get past this and I'm still not fully there.

The first step for me was to pick a spot in front of the ball as my impact target. I figure, I was really looking at the ground as my impact target during the nice practice swing. Then, I thought, well that spot on the ground, where the club comes into contact with it, is supposed to be in front of the ball. So, I decided I'd try and take the ball out of the equation. So, for the real swing I focused on the spot, on the ground, where I wanted the club to come into contacts with the ground.

I tried to forget the ball, and it allowed me, for the 1st time, to experience "swinging through the ball!" If I find myself going back to the impact yips I go back to that idea of focusing on the ground where I want the ball to came into contact with it. It works for me. that silly little ball carries quite a bit of gravity!

Also, you have to develop a level of trust in the swing. I found the only way to do that is to swing freely and forget the ball, as it is not the most important part of the shot. your swing is. The ball flight is a result of a good swing. We're allowing the ball to control the swing when we hit at it rather than through it. Get in front of a net or go to the range and forget about the result for a while and work on that practice swing feel during real shots.

For some reason, the moment we step up to that ball, all of our Saguto training gets lost in the fear of a bad shot...

Danny

Best advice I can give is to videotape your swing when you are out of sequence or not hitting it consistently. Shoot it with several clubs front facing from the side and from behind. Then go back and carefully analyze it. You will likely discover the issue. It could be something very obvious like no tilt or swaying, chopping or something more subtle or nuanced but as Tom says “the videotape doesn’t lie.”

You are mixing your old swing with your new swing. Go back and re-watch videos. We all have the same problem. Shoulder down.