What To Do When You Lose Your Golf Swing (5 Steps)

Golf is a wonderful game.

It can also be a rather frustrating game at the same time.

Recently, one of my most frequent playing partners was struggling to a point where he was considering quitting the game. However, most of us are so addicted to the game, that this talk is just simple nonsense.

Below, I will dive into 5 steps you can take to help you get your swing back and return to the scores you are used to.

What To Do When You Lose Your Golf Swing

The first key when you feel you have lost your golf swing is to try to figure out what is wrong. Are you making poor contact? Are you struggling with start line control or the curve of your ball? Or have you simply lost a significant amount of distance? Or maybe it comes down to the short game? Whatever it may be, start to clarify what part is struggling and then seek a solution.

5 Steps for When You Lose Your Golf Swing

Identify the cause of your struggles

Seek a solution
Practice
Video Your Swing

Seek Help

If the game has you feeling like this, check out the 5 steps below and remember to have fun!

Step 1: Identify The Cause of Your Struggles

Many golfers fail to break it down to what the frustartion truly is. There are five basics to the game of golf. They include the following:

The ability to control the low point of the swing, which impacts solid contact.

The ability to control the start line of your shots, which impacts accuracy.
The ability to control the curve of the ball, which impacts accuracy as well.
The ability to hit the ball far enough, which impacts distance control and oftentimes leads to major frustrations.

The ability to make short game shots.

Use the check list above to identify what you are truly struggling with. Instead of getting frustrated during a round of golf, take notes after every shot. What is a poor conacted shot, or did it start in the wrong location? Did the ball over curve out of bounds? Or did you not hit the ball far enough? Or is your short game a mess?

Once we can identify the true struggle, we can seek a solution.

Step 2: Seek a Solution

Here are some drills that can help you with the struggles above.

Poor Contact: Use the Low Point Control Drill

Here the the steps to take to complete this drill:

Paint a 2-3 yard long line with some yard paint.

Place the wiffle ball on the line.
The goal is to have your divot start just on the target side of your line.
Go ahead and hit shot after shot, working on controlling your low point and your entry into the ground.

Assess your success rate out of 20 times and write it down.
Complete this drill daily for several weeks and see if your game improves at the course.

If you start to hit the ball poorly at any point on your golf journey, return to this drill and keep it simple.

One quick tip: if you are struggling to control your low point, go ahead and set up with 60% of your weight on your front leg. Keep your head centered without a big shift off the ball and turn more around your front leg. This will help keep your centers in place and allow you to control the low point. Many golfers struggle with the low point because they don’t get their weight back to their front side early enough and end up casting the club.

Poor Start Line Control or Curve: Use the Stock Shot Drill

Stock Shot Drill

Set up an alignment stick 6-8 yards down your target line in front of the ball.

If you have one, set up a second alignment stick 2-4 feet right of that target line
Go ahead and see how many swings out of 10 you can get the ball to start to the right of the first of the alignment stick. The goal here is to progress to 7 out of 10.
Practice this drill everytime you hit golf balls.

The key to golf is being able to control your contact and your start line.

Could you imagine a round of golf where you strike the ball solid and 7 times out of 10 the ball starts down your intended target line? This is the ultimate in golf and helps you start to focus on your course management.

You will gain confidence and the consistency that we all seek!

Poor Distance: Use SuperSpeed Golf

I believe many used to believe, well this is just how fast I can swing.

Recent training tools have started to change many minds. We have seen many of the professional golfers get longer and longer with their tee shots as a result of additional swing speed. You will find many touring pros using the SuperSpeed System, which I highly recommend.

SuperSpeed Golf is one option to increase your swing speed through a science based overspeed training approach. In simple terms, you train by swinging a lighter club (20%) faster than you swing your driver. Over time, by training at a higher speed, your mind and body feel safe to swing that fast with your normal driver, resulting in an increase in driver swing speed.

The SuperSpeed System provides 3 different weighted sticks and takes the golfer through a training protocol every other day for about 15 minutes. The golfer can expect to see a 5-8% increase in swing speed, resulting in 20-30 yards for most golfers. The great news is that the 5-8% can be expected as early as the first training session. The additional speed will become more permanent after about 30-60 days of training.

My own experience has been an increase of 7-10 miles per hour on average from between 98-101 all the way up to 106-109. My goal is to hit the PGA Tour average of 113 mph in the coming months. I will continue to train every other day and watch in amazement as I am hitting drivers longer now than ever before!

Phil Mickelson has been known to increase his swing speed in the past year or so and is close to 120 miles per hour in his swing speed. There are potential results for golfers of all ability levels and age!

Check current price on SuperSpeed Golf System, here!

Original Swing Speed	After 4-6 Weeks	New Carry Distance	Total Distance
95	102	245	265
100	108	259	279
105	113	271	291
110	118	283	303

Identify your struggles, find a drill, get to work!

Poor Short Game Shots: Try These Practice Games

Up and Downs

One of the secrets to breaking 80 in golf is to be able to get up and down from around the green in 2 shots or less 50% of the time. This is assuming you are in the 10-20 yard range from the role. The current leader on tour does this at an 80% success rate. The great part about chipping and putting is it doesn’t take high end club head speed or expensive equipment or lessons, but rather a simple technique and lots of practice. The game here is to take one ball and pick a spot from off the green.

Go ahead and hit the chip shot and then see if you can make the putt. Pick 10 different spots around the green and track how many times out of 10 you were able to get up and down in 2 shots or less. You can also play a competition against another person at the green and see who can get up and down the most times out of 10 or play some match play. Once again the little competition will help prepare you for the actual course and the pressure that you may face.

Resource: 5 Tips for Chipping

Resource: How to make more Putts

Closest to the Pin

Track how many times out of 10 you are able to chip a shot to within 3 feet. This is the magic number and if you can get a couple shots to 3 feet or less and create tap ins during a round, it greatly reduces the stress during a round of golf. Constantly trying to make 8 footers can grind your day, but instead if you get it inside that 3 foot circle, your round of golf just became more stress free. Once again you can compete with another golfer to bring about some competition.

6 Ball Circle Challenge

Take 6 balls from any distance around from the hole (maybe start at 4 feet) and line up the balls around the hole. Start at one point of the circle and see if you can make 6 consecutive putts from that distance as you complete the circle. If you miss one, go back to the beginning and start over. See how many times it take you to complete this circle from 4 feet, then 6 fee, then 8 feet and then 10 feet. You will definitely feel the pressure as you get to the 5th and 6th putts in each series.

1 2 3 Putting Challenge

Line up a ball from 3 feet, 6 feet and 9 feet in the same line. Start with the 3 foot putt and if you make it progress on to the 6 foot putt. See if you can make these putts for 3 consecutive rounds. This is an excellent drill before a round of golf to help you get the speed down from the different distances that you will face on the green.

Lag Challenge

Mark off a spot 40 feet from the hole. Then draw putt tees around the backside of the hole and create a 3 foot radius. Take 10 balls and see how many out of the 10 you can get to within 3 feet from 40 feet. Once again, if you can do this at n 80-90% success rate you will help make your golf round more stress free.

2 Putt Challenge

Similar to the challenge above, how just take one ball and putt from 40 feet again and see if you can 2 putt 10 straight times in a row. Keep track over the course of a month and see if you improve from these distance. In putting, the most important putts are those lag putts and the short putts. The 20 foot putts are not as significant and even the make percentages are pretty low on the PGA Tour.

Many people thing the best shot Tiger Woods hit in his final round on Sunday the Masters in 2019 was the lag putt on number 9 that left him a simple tap in and his par. It’s amazing to think with the incredible shot he hit on the 16th hole that day and some other impressive shots, that the most important was a lag putt that left him par. Putting can either destroy your round or make your round. There is nothing worse than a great ball striking round being destroyed by 3 putts throughout the course.

Par 18 Chipping and Putting Game

Pick your 9 spots around the practice green and see if you can shoot par or better with every hole being a par 2. Keep track over time and see if you make progress. You can make the spots you pick as difficult or as easy as you need to improve your game.

Step 3: Practice

It might be time to grind away more than ever. After a brief 2-5 days break, come back with energy and get to work. Identify what the struggles are and use one of the drills to get better. Repeat this drill or drills for 5-10 days and then go play and assess where your game is at.

Try to put yourself in different situations during your practice where you replicated hitting shots on the golf course.

Resource: 22 Practice Games

Simulate the Course

My number one go to game, whether I am by myself at the driving range or with a friend, is to simulate a course that you have played or would love to play. Here is how it works: you start at the first hole and let’s say it is a 405 yard par 4 with a hazard to the left at 220 yards, but a slight bailout area to the right. Set the parameters with different markers out on the driving range.

Go through your pre-shot routine and see if you can hit the targeted area you are trying to hit. Based on that drive, let’s say you have 165 left to the green. Pull the appropriate club, set the target with some parameters and go ahead and make that shot as well. Keep track of how many times you can hit your targeted area. Over time track your progress and see if you are getting better during your practice rounds.

This game is a great way to prepare for a round of golf the week leading up to a tournament or even the day of to help bring the power of visualization and help yourself feel comfortable that you have hit the shots many times before the actual tournament. Standing and hitting at a driving range that is 150 yards wide probably will not bring the pressure that you need to prepare for the round, but mark something as the out of bounds that may appear on the course and all of a sudden it seems a bit more real.

The short game is a great way to quickly improve your score. Make sure you put the time in!

Step 4: Video Your Swing

If you start hitting the ball better, take a video of your swing. This video can be used as a reference later on to see where you might be struggling. Just the other day I was over drawing the ball and turned to my video and realized I was over sliding my hips forward and that I needed more turn and less slide. I know what my swing looks like when it is one and I was clearly sliding too much. I pulled out some quality drills and swing thoughts and was able to get my path less out to the right.

Step 5: Seek Help

If these steps all fail, maybe it is time for a lesson or to play golf with someone that has seen you play well. Don’t be afraid to seek help and assistance from those close to you that know your game and your swing.

Or set up a lesson and get a professional diagnoses on what you can to do improve!

They key is to then make sure you practice enough when you get a lesson or when you find the drill that actually works!

Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better

What does this mean for you? I believe in the following recipe to get better:

1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor. Here are some options:

Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:

George Gankas

2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed. Here are some options:

Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:

3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier. Here is a series on breaking through:

We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.

How to Break 70

4 – Practice Frequently

Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system? It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:

Is a Golf Simulator Worth It?