The Dreaded Slump

By Wayne | Articles: The Mental Game

slump (slump) 1. to fall, sink, or collapse, esp. suddenly or heavily 2. to decline suddenly, as in value, activity, etc. 3. an extended period during which a player, team, worker, etc. is below normal in performance

“…and all the world’s weight is on my back and I don’t even know why. and what I used to think was me is just a fading memory… I was up above it. now I’m down in it.
Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails

 
Remember when you were playing really well? Driving it well, hitting your irons solid, keeping the ball in play, getting it up and down most times. If you mishit a drive, it ends up in the fairway, or somewhere with a clear shot. Skink an iron, it ends up on the green. Misread a putt, you pull it or push it and it goes in. Sure, you get your bad breaks and hit your poor shots, but overall, over the course of 18 holes, things basically go your way and your score reflects your good fortune. Everything is on the up and up. Your swing thoughts are simple and seem to be working well enough so that you don’t need to think too much over a shot other than your few familiar keys, and your feel for distance and touch around the greens is good enough to let you feel confident even over the touchiest shots. In short, you look forward to each round, sensing that good things will happen and that you are in control over your performance.
 
Then it all starts to break down, slowly at first, so that you hardly notice, a bad round, followed by another. Just a few shots higher, but that feeling of control is slipping away. The shots aren’t as solid, there are more trees in the way of your imperfect drives, the putts are lipping out instead of in. No reason to panic, just an uneasy feeling that something bad is happening. Your next round starts off good, maybe even great, then inexplicably the wheels fall off and the result is even worse. Now you’re almost waiting for some disaster to befall you. You stick with the same practice routine, try to think about the same things on the course, (you’ve read that golf is “not a game of perfect” but that it is a “game of confidence”), but there is just no getting around it; you aren’t playing as well as you were a short time ago. Your scores are consistently higher. The game is getting the best of you. You are in a slump.
 
So now what do you do? Everything was fine, now it’s not. You felt happy and focused on the course, now you’re a frustrated, angry bundle of emotions self-destructing at every turn. You’re finding that it’s easy to be a great guy and think clearly and confidently while you’re playing good; heck, anybody can enjoy good golf. (If you can’t, it’s time to seek serious professional help). But how many of us can invoke the clichés and platitudes of the sport psychologists when things are going from bad to worse? I for one have never been able, nor do I think I ever will be able to enjoy a bad round of golf. Sure, I’m out there and a golf course is a beautiful place and it’s a privilege to be able to play and I’ve got a wonderful family and a great job (la de da), but do you know what? When I hit a series of bad shots and screw myself out of a chance to win I want to bite the cover off the ball (I’ve actually done that before). I hate playing bad golf. I hate hitting poor shots. I can’t stand making poor decisions. If I’m teaching someone who never gets even the least bit upset at bad execution, especially a youngster, I have to wonder if they have the emotional fire to battle with the game. A golfer needs the will and the drive to do the thing right. Anger and frustration show me that a golfer cares about what he or she is doing. Too many of us try to pretend we don’t feel as bad as we do; emotions are healthy and should not be suppressed. The difficulty lies in controlling these emotions and regaining the focus and perspective necessary for breaking out of our slump and getting back to the good golf we know we are capable of.
 
The first step in righting the sinking ship is to step back and take stock of what is going on around you. Take a good close look at each round you play. Instead of heading directly up to lunch or to the bar to bore your playing partners, friends, or family with a blow by blow of your round, find a quiet spot and with a pen and a piece of paper (it would be a good idea to stick a small spiral notebook in your bag) chart each hole for fairways hit, greens hit, and putts, making notes on the direction of your misses from the tee and the fairway and the type of miss for putts, short, long, left, or right. Next, make note of the decisions you made during the round, on club selection, type of shot, conservative or aggressive. Did you have a game plan? Did you follow it? Do you ever even think of any of this stuff? A shot is a shot. If your shots are piling up don’t you think that it might be worthwhile to figure out just where they are going?
 
In addition to looking closely at your decision-making and execution during the round you also need to go back and think about just exactly what went was going through your mind as you played. It’s amazing how many crazy things can occupy your conscious thoughts while you are still in the process of playing the round, especially if you are in the throes of a slump. Myself, I have this habit of explaining my round to an imaginary friend as I’m playing. I’ll start a hole-by-hole description, adding emphasis on all the bad breaks and three putts, as though at least someone should feel sorry for me. I can recall my dark days of struggle on the mini-tour, where if I got myself too far over par I would start figuring out what else I could do with my life after I quit golf for good and started over. I knew that I sucked at golf, and I certainly never held back at telling myself so. Just listen to most people as they mentally whip themselves during even a social round of golf: “nice shot, you moron. Boy, do you suck. What an idiot I am. How can I be so stupid? I must be the worst putter who ever walked the earth. No one could possibly be as pathetic as I am. Why do I even bother trying? What a jerk!” And these are people who normally would seem to have at least passable self-esteem, and who are probably quite successful business people.
 
When it comes to trying to play out of a slump the first thing that must be done is to put a stop to this type of self-flagellation or self pity. Two things are sure: first, no one really cares. In the immortal words of the tour veteran speaking to the rookie who was whining about making a seven on a par three, “son, half the field could give a damn, and the other half would just as soon you made eight.” Second, any thought other than how you are going to execute the next shot is not only a waste of time, but harmful to your chances to do something good. Keep repeating to yourself: focus, focus, focus. What can I do to hit the next shot well? Keep your swing thoughts down to a couple of things you have been working on. If you add anything make it a tempo thought, or a thought about relaxing. Go through your routine every time, visualize each shot before you get to it and always see a positive result. Think of simply giving each putt a good roll and a chance to go in. If you hit a bad one, go ahead and get mad for a moment, but don’t beat yourself up too bad. Remember that each hole is a potential birdie or par, and each shot counts exactly the same. Draw on your experience. How many times have you blown a fuse in the middle of a round, dragged yourself through all the aforementioned self abuse, pretended to give up, then hit a good shot or two, had a few good holes, saved the round and ended up with a smile on your face? Don’t you feel a bit foolish? What a waste of energy. And if you weren’t so busy goofing yourself up you may have even saved a couple of the strokes you threw away while you were busy losing your mind.
 
Most slumps are rooted in mechanical problems that eventually cause the type of mental breakdowns we have been discussing. If you have never been any good at golf you are not in a slump; you simply are still not any good. If you have played a lot better for an extended period of time and now are worse, your swing mechanics, or your short game and putting mechanics probably need a professional look-see. A word of advice: Don’t panic. A slump is no reason to try to totally revamp your game. Make sure that if there is a video system available you use it. There is nothing better than to see what you are actually doing, as opposed to what you think you are doing. If you have done your homework and you know what your weaknesses are, you can focus your lesson and practice time on that element. There’s no sense beating drivers when you just skulled five bunker shots and three-putted four times. Strongly consider a playing lesson. It’s a great help to an instructor to watch you in action on the course where he can see important elements of your game such as pre-shot routine, club selection and decision-making in general. Many times your “range game” may be fine, but you find that things are not at all the same on the course. Your pro may be able to tell you why.
 
Also, avoid for the most part the advice of helpful friends. Be courteous and listen, then immediately forget what you just heard. Don’t count on a 12 handicapper to offer any sort of sound suggestion regarding your problems looking at your swing with his naked eye. Perhaps if it is a long time partner he can spot a faster than usual tempo or and alignment problem, but when it comes to swing mechanics remember that there is a reason your friend is playing with you: he’s not that good, either.
 
It’s your slump. You need to battle out of it yourself with a bit of self-analysis, a dose of toughness, and perhaps the help of a trained professional. Go over your rounds closely until you can stand outside yourself and see objectively just how you are performing physically and mentally. Keep a cool head and focus during your rounds, organize your practice to be as productive as possible, and seek help to get you going in the right direction. Slumps don’t happen overnight; if you are going to root yourself out of it, it is going to be one shot at a time. Find within yourself the belief that every shot is possibly the shot that will turn things around, get you back to where you were and then beyond to the next level.