Everything was going good and then UGH!

I'm 24 and I've been playing for about 12 years. I played a lot through high school and I got pretty good. I could shoot an honest 85. Through college, money and time restraints made me play a lot less. In the past year, I've gotten back into playing regularly.

I had always had a problem with making my backswing too long, but I spoke with a swing coach and straightened that out. I was really improving rapidly. I got back to where I could shoot an honest 85 and a week ago I shot 4 over on 9 holes. It was the best 9 holes I had played in a LONG time! Everything was going great!

Then, yesterday I went out and played the worst round of my life. It wasn't so much that I was hitting the ball bad, but I was hitting the ball very inconsistently. I don't think I hit two shots the same all day. But, the prevalent themes of the round were that I was pushing my irons and popping up and pulling my drives. My iron shots had good length and were going straight, but I was pushing them all by a good 30 yards. My drives were popping straight up and I was pulling them by about 50 yards.

I'm certain that I'm not going too far in my backswing again, because I've been very cautious about this. Any ideas what is causing this inconsistency? Thanks!

Hi george,
Greetings from Ireland. I can relate to your problem as I have been going through the same kind of problem. I would have to say that that old chestnut is rearing its ugly head i.e. lack of confidence and uncertainty in your ability. You have got to tell yourself that you are capable and that you can play to your strengths. Believe me, I have gone through this over the last two months and was at a stage where I didnt really want to go to my club. But I persevered and am getting back to where I was. Keep the head up and the spirit high!

Oh, there are definitely mental aspects to my problem. This has been a cycle I've gone through my entire golfing life. I improve, improve, improve and then hit a wall and go through a cycle of playing HORRIBLY. The only way I've learned to fix it is to step away for 3-4 weeks and then come back. The funny thing is that when I come back, I am almost always hitting the ball perfectly. Then I improve, improve, improve, then SMACK! I hit that wall again. I honestly don't know what it is. It's like I start out fine. I know how to swing a golf club. But after a few months of playing, I develop bad habits and it goes rapidly down hill. Then, after a 3-4 week layoff, I "forget" these bad habits and go back to swinging correctly only for the demons to return. AGH!!!