Question:
<snip I believe the problem was my incorporating a major swing change into my swing after reading a golf book. <snip Now I feel I have serioulsy killed my swing, which wasn’t great to begin with, but was coming along satisfactorily. Ironically, this meltdown happened after I read the Golf DIgest article about destroying one’s swing when one makes drastic changes, ala Ian Baker Finch .
Doe (or is it John?) 
Are you working with anyone, say an instructor or someone who can give you feedback on what you are doing? I find it impossible to take something from print to the range and have it work w/o someone to bounce it off of and see what I’m really doing, as opposed to what I feel or think I’m doing. — bill-o
Response:
well i’ve had two of those days in a row, shot a 101 and thought ‘well can’t do much worse than that’, well today i managed 103. you know how sometimes you can’t putt, or sometimes your irons aren’t working or sometimes you can’t see to hit off the tee, well i was screwing everything up today, every single shot. i couldn’t believe it, i shot a 9 on a par 4.. i can’t remember the last time that happened. no matter how hard i tried, i couldn’t make a nice shot today, i made a few nice ones near the end, but i dunno, its kinda disturbing that a game can fall apart so severely.. does this type of thing happen a lot? ever top four balls in a row? man oh man.
A couple weeks ago I had a round where the wheels came completely off. And this was after a spell of playing some of the best golf I had ever played! For some reason, on that day I could not make decent contact with the ball at all, and had no idea what was wrong. I ended up walking off the course after 3.5 holes. Since I had a membership, it only cost me $3 to play that day. If I had paid more, no doubt I would have stuck it out longer. The next day was a lot better.
Response:
re: general Not only have I had plenty of bad days, last year I played with a four who managed to shoot 96. This guy was speechless. The golf swing is a mysterious beast. How can Open Championship winners like Duval and Baker-Finch find themselves struggling to make cuts and, sometimes, to break 80? It does not make any sense. That must be why those (for me, all too rare) good days so good. Joel Grant
Well the past 2 days have been a huge step backwards for my swin.g Last weekend, I was finally begining to exhibit a repeatable swing with some decent distances(160-165yd 5 iron) and hang time(4-5seconds) using a compact 4/5 swing. However, yesterday, I did nothing but sh*ank. Today, I did nothing but top balls 20-30 yds with my 5-6-7 irons. Couldn’t even make half swings work. I believe the problem was my incorporating a major swing change into my swing after reading a golf book. For the past 6 months since I started, I had turned my shoulders with my arms, thereby not enabling me to make a full swing….I could only get my arms to a 4/5 full swing position at most…my hands at a bout ear level. Well after reading this book, I learned to make a full swing because the shoulder turn was an independent move separate from the lifting of the arms. I had never made a full swing before, so it may take some serious time getting used to. Either that, or I should unlearn it and go back to turning my shoulders with my arms. Also, this separate turning of the shoulders and lifting of the arms is used in a body swing, whereas the swing I had been developing, using the arms to turn the shoulder, was an arms swing, ala Flick.Looks like a serious mismatch. Now I feel I have serioulsy killed my swing, which wasn’t great to begin with, but was coming along satisfactorily. Ironically, this meltdown happened after I read the Golf DIgest article about destroying one’s swing when one makes drastic changes, ala Ian Baker Finch .
Response:
I was on the road, going to play on a famous but out-of-the-way course. Had been there before and there is a very dramatic long, long downhill drive that has to hook some. Thought about that shot a lot. Got to the course and nothing worked, couldn’t make shot one, really a terrible day. Got to the 14th tee with the long, long drive and did it perfectly, best shot so far in this life. Missed the routine birdie putt, of course.
Response:
@aol.com says… :re: general : :Not only have I had plenty of bad days, last year I played with a four who :managed to shoot 96. This guy was speechless. : :The golf swing is a mysterious beast. How can Open Championship winners like 
uval and Baker-Finch find themselves struggling to make cuts and, sometimes, :to break 80? It does not make any sense. : :That must be why those (for me, all too rare) good days so good. : :Joel Grant : : Joel, what did you decide, clubs wise. Did you buy the Hogan cft’s?
Response:
ever top four balls in a row? man oh man.
No way. My best is three in a row ( just a couple weeks ago). I have days when I show up at the course but my swing doesn’t. It’s one of the mysteries of this game. But there’s always the next time! Dave Clary/Corpus Christi, Tx Home: http://home.stx.rr.com/dclary RSG Roll Call http://www.rec-sport-golf.com/members/?rollcall=claryd
Response:
Yeah, it happens. I usually play somewhere in the 80’s, occasionally will slip into the 90’s, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen the wrong side of 100 … except for one day this summer. Played a nice course while on vacation, although it was built in a housing development so there was OB on many holes where the houses were close (not my favorite style), and the greens were much faster than I’m used to. I managed to put 2 or 3 drives OB, 3 putted pretty much the entire front 9 until I figured out the speed a little, and sliced-pulled-chunked approach shots on more than half the holes. Pretty awful overall on my way to a tidy 103 … ouch! Part of it was a tough course I never played before, but for the most part it was just a really bad swing day. Rob – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – well i’ve had two of those days in a row, shot a 101 and thought ‘well can’t do much worse than that’, well today i managed 103. you know how sometimes you can’t putt, or sometimes your irons aren’t working or sometimes you can’t see to hit off the tee, well i was screwing everything up today, every single shot. i couldn’t believe it, i shot a 9 on a par 4.. i can’t remember the last time that happened. no matter how hard i tried, i couldn’t make a nice shot today, i made a few nice ones near the end, but i dunno, its kinda disturbing that a game can fall apart so severely.. does this type of thing happen a lot? ever top four balls in a row? man oh man.
Response:
well i’ve had two of those days in a row, shot a 101 and thought ‘well can’t do much worse than that’, well today i managed 103. you know how sometimes you can’t putt, or sometimes your irons aren’t working or sometimes you can’t see to hit off the tee, well i was screwing everything up today, every single shot. i couldn’t believe it, i shot a 9 on a par 4.. i can’t remember the last time that happened. no matter how hard i tried, i couldn’t make a nice shot today, i made a few nice ones near the end, but i dunno, its kinda disturbing that a game can fall apart so severely.. does this type of thing happen a lot? ever top four balls in a row? man oh man.
Nope, Never ever happened to me. Never, Never, Never Sheila
Response:
says… :well i’ve had two of those days in a row, shot a 101 and thought ‘well :can’t do much worse than that’, well today i managed 103. you know :how sometimes you can’t putt, or sometimes your irons aren’t working 
r sometimes you can’t see to hit off the tee, well i was screwing :everything up today, every single shot. i couldn’t believe it, i :shot a 9 on a par 4.. i can’t remember the last time that happened. :no matter how hard i tried, i couldn’t make a nice shot today, i made :a few nice ones near the end, but i dunno, its kinda disturbing that :a game can fall apart so severely.. does this type of thing happen a lot? :ever top four balls in a row? man oh man. : : : My last game of the year was like that – hadn’t played for a month and I was hitting everything *thin*. I hit many forgettable shots and scored very poorly. I suggest you read this article, just in case that may be your problem too, I notice you said at the end that you "topped" 4 in row. http://www.golftipsmag.com/content/pastissues/2000/july/placement.html Can’t hurt anyway. jmkanes
Response:
re: general Not only have I had plenty of bad days, last year I played with a four who managed to shoot 96. This guy was speechless. The golf swing is a mysterious beast. How can Open Championship winners like Duval and Baker-Finch find themselves struggling to make cuts and, sometimes, to break 80? It does not make any sense. That must be why those (for me, all too rare) good days so good. Joel Grant
Response:
well i’ve had two of those days in a row, shot a 101 and thought ‘well can’t do much worse than that’, well today i managed 103. you know how sometimes you can’t putt, or sometimes your irons aren’t working or sometimes you can’t see to hit off the tee, well i was screwing everything up today, every single shot. i couldn’t believe it, i shot a 9 on a par 4.. i can’t remember the last time that happened. no matter how hard i tried, i couldn’t make a nice shot today, i made a few nice ones near the end, but i dunno, its kinda disturbing that a game can fall apart so severely.. does this type of thing happen a lot? ever top four balls in a row? man oh man.