Questions & Answers Responses from PGA/LPGA Teachers on FINDaLESSON.com                                                                                  << BACK From Larraine Redquest, golfer: Two years ago, my handicap went from 16.4 to 11.3 in one season and lasted through the following year. This year, I totally forgot my swing! My handicap has gone back to 16.5, and I still haven't figured out why. How can you forget your swing, and what can you do (if anything) to get it back?! PGA/LPGA TEACHING PROFESSIONAL RESPONSES: Maine "Dear Larraine: Your concern is one that many people face during their golfing career. My first thought is to ask what was different this year from last. For example, did you start a new career or family that may have added stress to your life. Were you injured in any way? Did you play as much? If the answer to any of these is positive, then what part of the game do you feel caused the increase in handicap. More often than not, it revolves around your short game. Reviewing your game year after year is good. It allows us to focus on the positive aspects of our games, and also provides us the areas to work on. Provide me with a little more information about your game and I would be happy to elaborate on specific ideas for improvement. Good Luck!" - Chris Christie, Teaching Professional Massachusetts "It is terrific that you lowered your handicap 5 points one season. Sometimes after a layoff, or our winter break here in New England, it takes some time to re-discover last year's glory. I don't know how you improved your handicap before, but trying to go back to the basics is the best way to improve and find the old magic. Try to remember what you were working on that summer and what part of your game improved the most. It might help to assess your game now compared to when you were a 16 handicap before. Are you experiencing the same difficulties or is a different part of your game giving you trouble? If the same things are troubling you, you may have just found a "band-aid" before. Often, "band-aids" are temporary fixes and don't really solve the problem. If you are experiencing different problems, then  chalk it up to the fact that golf is an evolving game and everyone experiences ups and downs. My advice is to look for a qualified professional for some guidance. It may be something as simple as your set-up that's throwing you off. Best of luck!" - Nancy Ramsbottom, Teaching Professional New Hampshire "It sounds to me that you made some very significant progress in going from what could be termed as a mid to high handicap, down to approaching a low handicap. One of the things I run into with students who are stuck on one handicap number is something that I call plateauing. Often times, a student will take a series of lessons or more, and find a system that will help them play better and subsequently shoot lower scores. After a fashion however, the system they used in the improvement process will not take their game to another level, hence, a plateau. My suggestion would be to evaluate all areas of your game. Start with your short game. Make an honest appraisal. Are you putting as well as your capable? How about chipping? How's your pitching game? Once you've looked that over, immediately make a winter plan to improve your short game right in your own home. Take a penny, or dime or other coin and put on the floor at home. Practice rolling the ball over this coin from lots of distances. Only concentrate on putting the ball over the coin consistently. The feeling of rolling the ball over something as small as the coin will make a regular golf hole seem like a peach basket! Do the same with chipping, and if you have room at home, do it with pitching. As for the long game, adhere to four fundamentals. Grip, stance and posture, alignment, and ball position. Work on the grip for a week, then stance and posture and so on. Then go back and keep this routine all off season. I think you'll find that plateau leave you and you'll find a downward trend in your handicap. Good luck to you. I hope this helps!" - Keith Gagnon, Teaching Professional New Jersey "First of all, don't panic. Before you do anything, be sure to do some quality analysis. Are the extra strokes coming from your tee-to-green game or from the scoring shots of 100 yards and in? It is important to find out which part of your game is lacking. When you figure this out, make sure to emphasize the strength of your game when you put together your game plan for how you are going to play each hole. If it's tee-to-green where the problem is, try to see if there is any pattern to the problem (tee shots fly to the right, hitting behind the ball with irons, etc.) When you can identify a pattern, it makes your practice more focused on solving ONE element. If it's scoring shots, check to see if it is a particular length shot that bothers you. You can either work on getting better at it or try to leave yourself with a more comfortable distance. I have many students who tell me that their putting is ok because they don't 3 putt many greens. I say hogwash to that. If you are not hitting many greens in regulation and 2 putting all the greens, then you must not be hitting your chips and pitches close enough. After you do your careful study of your weaknesses, I think you will begin to see what you were doing better to lower your handicap and you can right the ship. So in closing, I guess I'm trying to tell you that although practice makes perfect, it's important to practice the things that need work. It seems like obvious advice, but golfers don't often follow it." - Marty Strumpf, Teaching Professional