The Mental Side Of Golf: Cures to Recover and Fix a Golf Slump (Video) - by Pete Styles
The Mental Side Of Golf: Cures to Recover and Fix a Golf Slump (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you’re a key golfer and you’ve been playing golf any length of time as I have, you will undoubtedly have enjoyed the major highs of golf and also the lows of golf. Now sometimes those lows last more than a few holes or last more than a round and you might find yourself what the golf would class as a slump, maybe a week long, a month long or even a 6 month long slump of playing golf, well underneath your ability, well underneath your capabilities as well. So you feel like suddenly playing to your handicap is a long lost dream, you can’t break a hundred when you used to shot well into the 80s and the low 90s and suddenly your golf is going backwards. And ultimately that would result in you not enjoying the game quite as much and that’s really when we need to start addressing the problem and trying to get you out of your slump.

Now as a PJ golf professional the first protocol I would always suggest is go and seek out your local golf pro. Go and work on the specifics that are independent to you and your game. It might be that you’re struggling off the tee with your driver and that’s affecting every other part of your game, or maybe you’re just struggling at the other end of the game with the putting and that again has a knock-on effect of making you not enjoy the game as much. So initially go and seek out a PJ professional, work out whether your game is struggling from a technical aspect. If the pro gives you a clean bill of health and says actually your swing looks okay, your swing hasn’t deteriorated from when you’re playing your good golf but suddenly your 8, 9, 10 shots are around worse, well then what else could it be? Could it be that you’re over practicing, you’re over playing, you’re doing too much? In which case just take a week away from the game. Just leave the clubs in the boot for a week, do something different on the weekend, maybe avoid watching golf even, just clear your mind and then come back to the game afresh and hopefully whatever feelings that you had in your golf that weren’t working for you maybe they’ll be a little bit better.

If you feel that your slump or your lack of confidence is caused by an equipment issue, go and have those checked out. It might be that your clubs aren’t correct for you and the putter is the wrong length, the irons are the wrong shaft or the wrong loft or the wrong angles, so go and have all your equipment checked. I would stress that you don’t just go and throw a fortune into golf clubs and then hope that that’s going to improve, because if your mistakes are technical then the clubs won’t necessarily improve you that much. But if your clubs aren’t fitted for you and they’re not correct, maybe that’s just the extra boost that you need, looking down at a new putter or a new iron or a new driver set up might just give you the confidence or the motivation to get back out that practicing and playing again.

So one of the ways I would encourage you to address this issue of the slump is, is make a little sort of understanding of what am I doing differently to when I was playing well. Am I doing more, am I doing less , am I focusing on my bad bits or my good bits, which part of my game is letting me down? Then go and see a PJ professional and make sure that your game technique is up to scratch , get your clubs assessed, and if none of that works for you just take a couple of weeks away from the game and come back to it fresh. Because don’t forget, if you’re not enjoying the game of golf that’s not going to help you improve, that’s not going to improve your skills, you’re not going to enjoy the game even more. So take a break, come back to the game fresh and hopefully that’ll help you out.

 2012-06-11

If you’re a key golfer and you’ve been playing golf any length of time as I have, you will undoubtedly have enjoyed the major highs of golf and also the lows of golf. Now sometimes those lows last more than a few holes or last more than a round and you might find yourself what the golf would class as a slump, maybe a week long, a month long or even a 6 month long slump of playing golf, well underneath your ability, well underneath your capabilities as well. So you feel like suddenly playing to your handicap is a long lost dream, you can’t break a hundred when you used to shot well into the 80s and the low 90s and suddenly your golf is going backwards. And ultimately that would result in you not enjoying the game quite as much and that’s really when we need to start addressing the problem and trying to get you out of your slump.

Now as a PJ golf professional the first protocol I would always suggest is go and seek out your local golf pro. Go and work on the specifics that are independent to you and your game. It might be that you’re struggling off the tee with your driver and that’s affecting every other part of your game, or maybe you’re just struggling at the other end of the game with the putting and that again has a knock-on effect of making you not enjoy the game as much. So initially go and seek out a PJ professional, work out whether your game is struggling from a technical aspect. If the pro gives you a clean bill of health and says actually your swing looks okay, your swing hasn’t deteriorated from when you’re playing your good golf but suddenly your 8, 9, 10 shots are around worse, well then what else could it be? Could it be that you’re over practicing, you’re over playing, you’re doing too much? In which case just take a week away from the game. Just leave the clubs in the boot for a week, do something different on the weekend, maybe avoid watching golf even, just clear your mind and then come back to the game afresh and hopefully whatever feelings that you had in your golf that weren’t working for you maybe they’ll be a little bit better.

If you feel that your slump or your lack of confidence is caused by an equipment issue, go and have those checked out. It might be that your clubs aren’t correct for you and the putter is the wrong length, the irons are the wrong shaft or the wrong loft or the wrong angles, so go and have all your equipment checked. I would stress that you don’t just go and throw a fortune into golf clubs and then hope that that’s going to improve, because if your mistakes are technical then the clubs won’t necessarily improve you that much. But if your clubs aren’t fitted for you and they’re not correct, maybe that’s just the extra boost that you need, looking down at a new putter or a new iron or a new driver set up might just give you the confidence or the motivation to get back out that practicing and playing again.

So one of the ways I would encourage you to address this issue of the slump is, is make a little sort of understanding of what am I doing differently to when I was playing well. Am I doing more, am I doing less , am I focusing on my bad bits or my good bits, which part of my game is letting me down? Then go and see a PJ professional and make sure that your game technique is up to scratch , get your clubs assessed, and if none of that works for you just take a couple of weeks away from the game and come back to it fresh. Because don’t forget, if you’re not enjoying the game of golf that’s not going to help you improve, that’s not going to improve your skills, you’re not going to enjoy the game even more. So take a break, come back to the game fresh and hopefully that’ll help you out.