The 9 Tips to Get Out of a Golf Slump (Get Back on Track Fast)

Golf is hard, and there is no getting around that fact. Unfortunately, it is common for golfers to fall into situations where their game is in a perfect place, and then, out of nowhere, they slide into a major slump.

When this happens, nothing can go right.

Today my goal is to help you get back on track fast when a slump sets in.

Let’s dive in and help get you out of that slump, once and for all!

How to Get Out of a Golf Slump – Key Takeaways

Don’t have time to read the full article? Here’s a quick summary of the most crucial steps to break free from a golf slump:

• Take A Full Self-Assessment of Your Game – Evaluate the current state of your game fully and set new goals. Examine your mental game too.
• Getting Coaching Can Be Huge – Working with a reputable and respected coach can quickly get you back on track. They will start at square one, with fundamentals to get you moving in the right direction.
• Get Properly Fit – Getting fit for proper equipment can help. Getting yourself, and your body fit can help too!
• Play More! – Golf is a game meant to be played more than practiced. So, get out onto the course! You will be more likely to play your way out of a slump than practice your way out of it.
• Work on Your Short Game and Putting – Shots from 100 yards and in, in total, combine for about 60% of all shots in a round. Working on these areas can help get you out of a slump fast.
• Use Technology to Find Faults and Patterns – Products like HackMotion can give you a great look under the hood and get you back on track fast.

The 9 Tips to Get Out of a Golf Slump

Take a Deep Dive and Do a Self-Assessment

One of the first things you should do when you see patterns of a slump settling in is to hit the reset button. By this, I mean taking a deep dive and introspective look at your game as a whole.

Being honest with yourself about the state of your game can help you get back on track when you are in a death spiral. That is hard for many to do, especially those that are better players overall. But this is necessary to return to the best version of yourself on the course.

Here is a great way to do this necessary self-assessment:

Play five rounds and keep as many states as you can. Some apps, such as V1 Game, can help you with this. Some stats and observations that you will want to keep include:

• Fairways Hit – Not only track if you hit the fairway, but where you did…center, left, or right. Do the same for missed fairways.
• Greens Hit – Again, not only track your greens in regulation, but where on the green you hit it. Also, track where you miss it if you don’t hit the green.
• Up and Downs – Track how many up and downs you get on those missed greens. This is a massively important statistic in golf.
• Putting – Track your number of putts per green. An excellent 18-hole total would be less than 35 putts. The pros are under 30 total per round.
• Penalties – Track those ugly, off-the-beaten-path penalty situations. Please make a note of where it was and the circumstances behind it.
• Clubs Hit, How Good of a Strike, and Shot Shape – Track the clubs you hit on each shot for an even deeper dive. Judge each shot on a scale of 1-10 concerning the quality of the strike. Use arrows on your card to indicate shot shapes. Use an H for high, L for low, and M for mid in the description of shot trajectories.
• Write Notes – It is good to comment on other things such as pace of play, wind, weather, water consumption, snacks eaten, walking or riding, tees played, etc.

Evaluating what you do on the golf course itself is much more potent than self-examining on the range or the practice green.

The golf course is where you will likely identify that you are in a slump anyway. The course is where the rubber meets the road. I will touch on practicing with other tips in this article.

A Mental Self-Assessment

Golf is mainly mental, and that cannot at all be denied. Slumps often become more of a mental battle the longer they go.

The trick is to get yourself back into a reasonable frame of mind, even before any mechanical aspects of your game have improved. After all, improvement cannot and will not happen with a bad attitude.

Remembering why you play golf in the first place can start to get you back in the game. Appreciating all the great things that golf offers can help when you are not at your best. Items to be appreciative of in golf may include:

• The opportunity to be outside, in a beautiful setting.
• Being with friends and family for a few hours.
• The benefits physically you are gaining by playing.

From a mental standpoint, believing that the game is a journey and that you can learn and grow even on a bad day is a significant key to playing good golf.

How is your self-talk? I bet it’s not too good if you are in a slump. Have a look at the following from the Golf Science Lab YouTube Channel. It is an excellent look at how lousy self-talk can destroy your game.

I said earlier that golf is mainly mental, which is not entirely true. With golf, it is much more about the mind-body connection.

Something to help tap into working on that mind-body connection within your game is meditation. I know I know, but give it a chance. The video below can give you some insight into this concept.

Coach Up – Tap Into the Power of a Professional Set of Eyes

In a 2019 National Golf Foundation (NGF) report, only 17% of golfers took professional lessons in some capacity. With the recent golf boom in 2020 and on, that percentage has likely risen but may only be around the 20-22 percent range.

As a professional coach of nearly three decades and a PGA Professional, it is disappointing that more golfers do not take advantage of the power of instruction and coaching.

Especially when studies show that over 80% of golfers that took professional lessons, or retained a coach, got significantly better.

The volume of lessons you take matters. According to the NGF:

• Golfers that take 1-5 lessons = 28% break 90; 97.6 scoring average.
• Golfers that take 6 or more lessons = 55% break 90; 88.7 scoring average.

As a professional coach, primarily of intermediate to advanced teens, I work with students in one way. By offering long-range plans, where we meet in person weekly for an hour or two. My students have access to me outside of that time, via text, or various apps I use such as CoachNow, V1 Game, and others.

For golfers that seriously want to get better, and sustain their ongoing improvement, coaching vs instruction is far better.

What is the difference between Coaching and Instruction?

Finding the right coach is critical. You want someone with an excellent reputation who is educated in coaching and teaching golf.

According to the NGF, over 75 percent of the golfers who took lessons did so through a certified PGA professional. Makes sense. The PGA.com Find a Golf Coach search engine is an excellent tool for finding a respected PGA coach in your area.

A Return to Fundamentals (In a Modern and Personal Way)

Here is a little secret…the best players in the world fall into slumps too. It is not just us, average golfers. When the pros slump, they often go back to the basics…but their own unique basics.

Posture, grip, and alignment fundamentals always have a way of setting you on the right pathway to getting back to your old self. The professionals, who are much better than you or I, know this.

However, many amateur golfers are convinced that simple things like your grip or alignment cannot be the only reason they struggle. The reality is that those things are usually the root cause of a majority of swing issues.

However, while these classic fundamentals are essential, they must be contextualized. Many of the best players have very different ways of holding the club or lining up to the target.

They understand the basics but adapt those to suit their style best. Moving beyond the still important, classic fundamentals, golfers need to understand and work on the more modern fundamentals.

The more modern fundamentals include contact, power, and direction. Coach Rob Cheney explains in the following video.

I always stress to my students the importance of becoming a “student of the game.” What I mean by this is having a working knowledge of the fundamentals and ball flight laws.

From there, they need to have an in-depth understanding of their game and their tendencies. The combination of knowing the fundamentals, and your own game, can help get you out of slumps quickly.

Get Fit (Equipment)

Many golfers are more inclined to buy golf clubs online or off the shelf. But, unfortunately, researching the internet, reading about what’s hot in the marketplace, or even testing equipment will never substitute for a proper, professional fitting.

One of the most underutilized services in golf has got to be the professional fitting experience. With so many brands, shaft options, grip types, and other various equipment factors and options, it can be daunting to find what may be best for you.

The beautiful thing about golf today is that there are several opportunities in the market to get a professional fitting done. From just your driver or putter to a full bag fitting, allowing yourself to go through a proper, professional fitting can pay massive dividends.

While it will always be accurate, it’s likely you, not your equipment, that’s the problem; a proper fitting can put clubs in your hand that makes sense for you and your tendencies.

Get Fit (Your Body)

In recent years, the best players in golf have started to be seen much more like all other professional athletes. Dedication to fitness, flexibility, nutrition, hydration, rest, and recovery can help you reinvigorate your game.

Fitness and Flexibility

World #2 Scottie Scheffler discusses how fitness and flexibility are essential to his game. Scottie is a modern professional and sees himself as an athlete.

Nutrition and Hydration

Regardless of age or ability, proper nutrition and hydration are critical to supporting your golf playing and training.

I have seen countless times when my students run out of gas on the golf course. This is due almost exclusively to poor on-course eating and drinking habits. Not only will this affect your play, but it can also become dangerous in extreme situations.

This area doesn’t just influence your game round by round but can play a significant role in your overall development. For example, if you are in a slump, maybe examine your eating and drinking habits.

Rest and Recovery

For those who do indeed train, ensure you rest and recover properly. Injuries can happen if you work too hard. I have seen this happen with some of my students. Additionally, pushing it too hard can sometimes cause you to get off your game.

Play, Play, Play

Golf is a game meant to be played on the course. The driving range is the first place many angry, disgruntled, slumping golfers would head after a bad round. Unfortunately, this is something that can often cause more damage than be of benefit.

Additionally, that preverbal “range rat” might think that hardcore practicing is the key in general to good golf. That mindset may indeed lead to more frustration than good.

Playing the course as much as you can, especially when you are slumping, is something I would prescribe. So long as the golfer is in a good mindset and is learning from mistakes made during their slump, continuing to play the course is a good thing.

Don’t get me wrong, practicing is indeed essential. If you have a coach you are working with and a dedicated practice plan, there is no question that practice is good. Unfortunately, however, many golfers do not have either of those things.

Go play more and have fun doing it! That is a surefire way to start to play better.

Short Game and Putting are Key

Putting takes up nearly 40% of all the shots you hit in a round, and shots from 100 yards and in, in total, combine for about 60% of all shots in a round. So where should you focus your practice? That’s right. Short game and putting are key.

Plain and straightforward, golfers with solid short games score better.

The best way to practice and develop your short game is by practicing situationally or through gamification. Golf YouTuber, and Professional player, Luke Kwon shows us what he calls “The Gauntlet.” This is a very similar practice routine to what I have my students do.

The best players in the world get up and down 60 to 70 percent of the time. So, with one ball, play 9 or 18 holes, and try to get up and down in that percentage range.

You can also play a very similar practice game on the practice putting green as well. Again, play 18 holes of different length putts, and try to get to a score of 30. The PGA Tour average currently is 28.87 putts per round.

Use Technology to Find Faults and Patterns

The abundance of beneficial golf technology in the game today is simply incredible. Products like HackMotion can give you a very insightful look under the hood and get you back on track fast.

HackMotion helps you see how your wrists are working throughout your golf swing. This is one of the most essential aspects of hitting the ball squarely and consistently.

Your lead wrist can be seen as a mirror to your clubface. Where it goes, so does your clubface. HackMotion can tell you, in real-time, as you hit golf balls, if your lead wrist is flat, bowed, or cupped.

One of the most critical factors to getting into a great impact position, and compressing the ball, is through having a flat lead wrist. When golfers are in a slump, it is very often due to an inconsistent impact position.

Summing It All Up

As I said in the opening, golf is hard, and there is no getting around that. When a golfer slides into a slump, it often feels like there is no way to escape it. My goal today was to help you get back on track quickly when a slump arises.

Focusing on the following, as mentioned above, can help you work your way back into a better game.

• Do an in-depth assessment of your current game.
• Do an in-depth mental assessment.
• Consider working with a coach.
• Understand the Classic and Modern Fundamentals. Work on YOUR unique fundamentals.
• Get Fit – Equipment.
• Get Fit – Your Body and Health.
• Play, Play, Play.
• Work on your short game and putting through gamification.
• Use today’s technology, such as HackMotion.

I wish you all the best as you work out of your current slump. Remember, like in all aspects of life, when things are not going like you may want them to, it’s only a matter of time before they get better. You just need to stay positive and put in the necessary effort to help things improve.