Sam Horsfield explains why he's taking so long over the ball to hit
European Tour

Sam Horsfield explains why he’s taking so long over the ball to hit

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Sam Horsfield got a lot of attention this week at the 2018 Turkish Airlines Open, and it wasn't for the right reason, which was that he finished in the top 10 of one of the European Tour's biggest events.

The Englishman got a lot of TV time while in contention, and that meant a worldwide audience was exposed to a battle Horsfield is facing standing over the ball right now. Horsfield is standing over the ball for a long time, not doing anything, before he feels he's able to pull the club back and hit the ball. The long pauses between swings drew a lot of criticism on social media, including from myself.

After the tournament, Horsfield took to Twitter to explain why he's taking so long over the ball. It's not on purpose.

So I’ve seen some tweets about me standing over the ball for a long time the last few days and I want to address it. This is not something I am not trying to do and its something I am working hard on to try and fix. I am doing what my team and I feel is necessary to fix the problem. Thankfully I can still compete in big golf tournaments while this issue persists but still my focus is to work on getting back to the routine I have had since I started playing.

Sometimes, golfers just aren't able to take the club back as they'd like. It can look bad on TV while it's happening, especially when a player is battling through it to come out on the other side. But Horsfield might take some assurance there is a potentially big benefit on the other side from LPGA winner Danielle Kang. The week before her win at the Buick LPGA Shanghai in China, Kang stood over the ball for 4 minutes during a shot in the first round of the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship, unable to pull back the club.

"People might wonder what I'm doing. I actually can't pull the trigger," Kang said after her win. "It has nothing to do with the result. Having to get over that last week was incredible for me."

It may look ugly when it's happening, but when a pro golfer is able to overcome this kind of mental block, good things can happen.

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is a scratch golfer...sometimes.

Ballengee can be reached by email at ryan[at]thegolfnewsnet.com

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