Slumps

[Jason Topp]

There is a one stroke difference per round between being a top player and struggling to keep your job.


In 2019, Rickie Fowler gained 1.066 shots on the field per round and won four million dollars, finishing 15th on tour.


In 2022, he has gained .037 shots per round on the field and is 96th on the money list with just less than one million. 


Three quarters of the difference (0.75 strokes per round) is putting. 

[Ira Fishman]

The number of players with the talent and aspiration to play Pro golf has grown both because of population growth and more countries producing top flight golfers. The number of Major Championships has stayed the same. It just is so darn difficult to win a Major, not that it ever was easy, that I am not sure that Slump is an appropriate concept. Tiger truly is a once in a couple generation talent.

[Peter Pallotta]

JT, IF - thanks for those stats and posts, which put much of this thread in good perspective. To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, tour pros aren't like you and me -- our pet theories and personal experiences and anecdotal analogies don't apply to them. Meanwhile, my own 'slump' is now of such long standing that I've come to realize it's actually the real me, and a reflection of my true game and skill level, and that the occasional good score I shot three years ago was merely an accidental outlier produced by smoke and mirrors. To be honest, I feel better and much relieved to admit that -- it's the (false) hope and (unfulfilled) expectations that are so very hard to bear! 

 

[Steve Lang]

   Peter,


Sounds like you got to Step 4 OR 5 ...  Good on Ya!


Step One:  “We admitted we were powerless over golf–that our lives had become unmanageable.”
Step Two: "We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
Step Three:“We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of a PGA Professional as we understood Him.”
Step Four: “We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”
Step Five: “We admitted to our PGA Professional, to ourselves and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
Step Six:  “We were entirely ready to have our PGA Professional remove all these defects of character.”
Step Seven:  “We humbly asked our PGA Professional to remove our shortcomings.”
Step Eight: “We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.”
Step Nine:“Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”
Step Ten: “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.”
Step Eleven:  “We sought through practice and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our PGA Professional as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”
Step Twelve:  “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to all golfers, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

[Kalen Braley]

I'm inclined to think most of these guys don't get in slumps as Erik suggested.

Its more along the lines of everyone on Tour is crazy good, and from time to time someone gets hot, wins a bunch, and that's that.  Golf is littered with these kinds of players, like Hunter Mayhan, Chris Demarco, or Anthony Kim to name a few.  Even someone like John Daly was lucky enough to get hot a couple of times despite his complete lack of training regimen.

Its 100% plausible that someone like Scottie Scheffler, the latest hot player, will be 105th on the money list in just a couple of years from now.

[Tim Martin]

I was rooting for Rickie Fowler in the ZOZO. Watching Keegan Bradley go through the excruciating putting routine could make an onion cry. Dead to me!!!!

[Pat Burke]

My first down time
New irons in college. Sucked for 4 tournaments
Went back to old irons and played really well.


I sucked my rookie yesr on tour, but it was t a slump, I just didn’t know how to play at that level.


The next year I lost everything. Developed a severe anxiety problem and lost the entire year.
I fought the anxiety my entire tour career.


Got co trip and understanding of my golf swing and learned to trust one shot predominantly. Also learned I did not have to play my absolute best to be competitive. It took three years to really learn that.


Slumped hard for 3/4 months after my dads passing. Even today, I’m amazed at how badly I hit it and played.


Nagging health and an injury created other down times


It can be anything that changes that state of being that allows for using you abilities.