I am finding that I "lose my swing/whole game for a few holes in the middle of a round" and then "find it" again. It's driving me crazy. Example, I start off Par, Birdie, Par then double (misfit short on Par 3, bad Chip long 3 putt), then another double (pulled drive into woods, recovery blocked into right woods, recovery knockdown short, Chip long, putt burned edge). Then I sink a 16 foot putt for birdie that gets me going again and get it to 1 over after making an "unmakeable" birdie putt on 17 and lose it again on 18 for a bad bogie, 74. Next day I am 6 over after 5 holes despite a good warmup and find it to shoot 80. This is just a small example of what has been going on for months. I won't mention the 85's when I never seem to find it.
I'm reading a book now by Dr Raymon Prior, "Golf Beneath The Surface" and I think it may explain my issue. Best Mental Game Book I have ever read. I highly recommend it. You can do a search on Apple podcast or Spotify Podcasts for Raymond Prior and he has given some recent interviews while hawking his book and they are excellent to get his science based perspective. I am finding that these interviews augment the book to aid the learning process as well. Here's hoping my answer is in the pages of his book but I'm wide open to suggestions.
Thanks for sharing that, @edzebrow !
Another excellent book that may help you with your overall approach to the game and navigating through the hiccups is "Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game" by Dr. Gio Valiante. I’ve recommended it to many of your fellow online school members and have received excellent feedback from them. I also like "Play Your Best Golf Now" by Lynn Marriott & Pia Nilsson.
Beyond these resources, it’s a good idea to have a reliable “default swing” that you can dial up mid-round when you sense that you are beginning to leak some oil. Many members use the swing provided by what was known as Drill 2.8 in the old platform, which is actually the full swing minus just a couple of power accumulators. @burkholder.ronald may be able to testify to this as he has played numerous rounds using just 2.8 and regularly shoots in the 70’s. You'll find old Drill 2.8 in Part 3 of Stage 1 in the school.