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Joshua 7 years, 1 month ago.
- Waste of Time
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Does anyone else feel like their experience with Tathata has been a complete waste of time?
I was formerly a single digit handicap that is now playing like a 20 handicap. I don’t have any consistency with irons or woods. I don’t feel like I’ve flushed a shot since I started Tathata.
It seems like any answers I see to questions that others post are just general stock answers. This makes me start questioning the validity of the entire program.
I’m curious to hear from others.
Hi Mickey,
I did have some issues but have made some good progress on them. My problem, though, was understanding how to get certain movements to stick because it was obvious from video that the body wasn’t doing as it was supposed to. In my opinion, the hard part is retraining the body to move in an entirely different way with strength and pressure, which takes a lot of time and focus. Have you shot down-the-line and face-on video of your swing? For many of us, the result is often far different than what we think we’re doing.
Hello Mickey,
Not yet and it is giving me a structure where I’ve had very little before. I am feeling like I’m taking big steps backwards but I’m seeing enough of a leap forward to know the result I’m looking for is coming and is further down the line.
When I go for a lesson and the Pro says, “What’s wrong, what are you looking to improve?”, I always reply with “consistency”. And the only thing that has been consistent is my frustration and my playing partners complaints that I shouldn’t be off 16/17. My personal goal this year is to regularly play to single figures. To par more than I bogey, to birdie more than I double bogey. To manage my emotions and enjoy my golf.
It’s earlier days, Day 25. But for the first time ever in my golf I feel I found some simplicity, repeat-ability and calmness to my golf and I’m starting to learn to enjoy my game. There’s a reflection here on my dis-organised life as well!
What were you hoping to get from Tathata?
Lee (UK) 17hcp 50yrs, started playing in the back yard when I was 6.
Thanks for the response guys. It’s always good to hear what other people are experiencing.
My personal goals were to get back to being scratch and to develop a swing that didn’t rely on timing so much. When the timing was good, golf was a really fun game. When the timing was off under the pressure of tournament play, it makes it difficult to compete.
Micky, where are you in the program?
I’m no expert, but I can tell you about my journey and maybe it will help you.
I was a single digit in the late 90’s and early 00’s. Admittedly never near scratch, but a legit 9. My style and my swing were complicated, technical, I’m an engineer by trade, so I engineered a golf game. Then the family and children came along and other things became far more important than golf. The last few years I’ve gotten really back into the game. Last year I was a 24 handicap. Constant swing changes, constantly “thinking and tinkering”.
This year I’ve started the Tathata Golf Program. By day 15 of the program I was a mess. I was awesome at taking swipes at the carpet with my seven iron in the basement. But if I played a round I was lucky to hit 2 good shots. By day 30, I would occasionally have Eureka moments by nothing stuck. I toyed with the idea of scrapping the whole thing.
Then it happened, around day 49 I was at the range and hit a huge driver… “Whoa! Did my right foot just get pulled back away from the target line?” All of a sudden things kind of clicked. I wanted to tell everyone around me. “MY RIGHT FOOT JUST SLID BACK! MY RIGHT FOOT JUST SLID BACK!” But instead I kept going through my normal practice session. I suddenly realized I was thinking about “where” and not “how”. Now when I go to the range or course, I’ve become the kid running to the ice cream truck.
I don’t know when it clicks in for everyone. For me it was around day 50. But I’m finally playing well again. I hadn’t played a round in the 80’s in what seemed like ages. Last time out I shot a legit 81. I plan to keep doing the routines. I try not to think about how or why I’m improving, just keep expecting greatness.
My advice is stick with the program. Be patient. Don’t skip the mental training exercises. Perhaps like me, it will eventually “click”. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a round in the 70s, but I know it’s coming now. It is somewhere “Out in front”.
For me I am on the extremes. My last competitive round I shot 44 on the front and 33 or 3 under on the back. Topped my first two tee shots on the front, then gained a new confidence on the back.
My good shots are better than ever but I still have too many topped, pulled or pushed shots. Mostly off the tee.I am on day 42.
No waste of time for me. I have already been undergoing a major swing change over the last few years but had kind of stalled out. Tathata has taken much of what I had already learned and added a new twist that has tightened some things up. My scores shot up a bit during the first couple of months but lately they have been trending down again with my index falling back under 16. Biggest improvements have been more consistency with the driver, mid-irons, and pitch shots. Parts still undergoing improvement are my long irons. As with others, I still will hit the odd miss and I find at the range I hit a lot of shanks.
Knowing what my weaknesses are and how I learn movements I expect this process to take until at least this summer before I am hitting consistently with the new motion. I am encouraged as I see improvements in scoring and consistency. For me this has been money well spent.
The same thought did cross my mind a week or so ago around day 10 but I went back to it and am very glad I did…I don’t think it would be reasonable to expect much until the end of Chapter 2.
The “ah ha” moment for me was in Day 12 with the left (front) arm takeaway….plus the baseball throw coming through. The key to me is the left arm/hand throwing a punch on the way back…that seems to force all the dominoes to fall in line at the top of the swing. I felt a little stupid since I have played hockey most of my life and it’s pretty much the same concept. Since hockey is 2nd nature to me, I don’t always connect the dots so his analogies are helpful in that regard. I could do with fewer karate examples…but maybe those help others in a similar way.
The next day I went to the range and was peppering a green/flag out 145 yards with ball after ball with 25 MPH winds. My 7-PW were great and 6 iron was pretty good. I still struggled with the longer clubs a bit…but that has always been the case for me. Today I went to the range and was hitting my 5 iron well so I have some hope there, too.
I was between an 11 and 12 handicap last summer…then things went sideways on me last fall and this spring I decided to try an overhaul versus constant tinkering. I expected things to get worse before they got better. I am now up to a 14 handicap this year but I have only played 5 times…so I am hoping things will stabilize then start going down again soon.
My biggest problem on the course is hitting shots fat. I think this is because of the ball placement on the left ear and all the ranges are still on mats. I typically would have a more centered ball position or even back position for short irons. The same thing has happened in the past when I have changed grips so I think it’s just a matter of getting used to the new movements.
Having the same issues Mickey. Playing off 16 when I began Tathata and was able to mosttimes play to that or close-ish to it.
Now on day 46, I’m struggling – not sure I’ve hit a good shot (long short or chip) in that time. Was thinking this evening of packing it in. I’m going to persist to day 60 and take stock then as I’m off on a golfing to Portugal in 8 weeks time and don’t want to embarrass myself.
Here’s hoping for that eureka moment!..
Craig – Below are a few videos that may answer questions for you.
Your greatness is coming!!!
Peter – Feel free to post a video of your swing here or submit one to Team Tathata. If you’re struggling, this is a great way to pinpoint areas where your body may not be doing what you want it to do.
Great comments by everyone. I appreciate the feedback.
I’m going to try to post a video this weekend and see what everyone thinks.
When filming, below are instructions for proper camera set up. Incorrect camera angles will limit views’ ability to see problems. Hope this helps.
Re: filming…I forgot to note that a tripod is best because a moving camera makes it impossible to determine how the player’s body is moving in certain aspects. If you don’t have a tripod, try using something else to prop your camera up against at belt high.
You’ll need to upload it to a video sharing site like YouTube (you can restrict access to those with a link) and then post the link in the thread.
Hi Everyone,
I am currently a 3 handicap and am on day 29 (Chapter 3: Pressure). I can tell you that this chapter is causing me some issues as I play because I am not use to feeling so tense or pressurized throughout my body during a swing and I’m having trouble maintaining a gradual pressure increase. With two toddlers and full time work I’m only able to play once on the weekend, so doing drills at night does help me stay connected to a club and the game.
In regards to the drills and the positions, I can tell you that I used to take lessons from an instructor who played on the Asian and European tour and he came from a long line of Hogan trainers and taught the Hogan methods. He would shoot 62-70 pretty consistently at local courses and when I was in lessons with him, he would try to get me to these same positions, which didn’t make a lot of sense at the time, so as I go through each day here, it does take me back to what I was previously exposed too. Concepts like swinging from the ground up, arms and hand pressure down, pressure in the arm pits through impact, hands staying low and at belt buckle level through impact, etc are all places that these great players seem to be at. I also think the mental game of this is even far more important and gets me out of my head during rounds. I have seen shots in my game that have been unbelievable and then I have topped shots on the very next hole, which drive me crazy. My goal is to stick with it to try and master the techniques and create consistency and remove any doubt. I believe the concepts are true and its just a matter of applying them, but the most challenging part will always be self interpretation and also how your body responds to the new movements.
Hope this helps!
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