Been playing golf regularly for a year and been getting progressively better. Had numerous sub 100 rounds plus my best ever tound of 85 which was a few weeks back. However since then I appear to have lost it completely. I have no confidence over the ball and it seems like Im doubting everything (grip, stance etc) I went the range last night and started off with a 7 iron and they were going well, then all of a sudden the ball starts flying right and i have no idea why!i felt like giving up completely last night, thinking it might be best in the long run.anyone got any advice?

try not think about the shot just hit it mind over matter

Join the club Matt for about the last 12 months I have had the same problem when I play, but on the range all is well. I've had acouple of lessons and the club pro has said I just need to work it out as its a matter of confidence.

Matt,

I can completely understand as I was there just a few short weeks ago.  I was playing really consistently, scoring well and happy with my game.  Then it suddenly all went wrong.  Fanning, pushing, thinning, shanking, everything.  It got to the point I didn't want to go near the course because I knew what would happen and I was almost frightened of it.  So I got a lesson. One lesson.

I told the pro everything had gone wrong and I needed a reset.  He watched me hit half a dozen balls (which completely backed up what I had told him), showed me video clips of what I was doing wrong (mainly address position), put me back where I should be, moved me through the swing, got me to hit a few then sent me on the range to practice.  It's been 3 or 4 range baskets and a couple of rounds now.  The adjustments are bedding in and my game is coming back. 

Get yourself to a pro and have a lesson.  Not only will you fix your current problem, you'll probably see an overall improvement in your game too

Get a new swing coach. Your present coach is failing to keep you in the groove. Indeed  he's let you fall apart.

cheers chris, however i had a course of lessons a few months back to sort out a nasty hook that i had developed so am reluctant to shell out more cash on lessons, plus i dont want to end up with him rebuilding my entire swing and having to start again

I didn't have a complete rebuild Matt; that's the last thing I would want too.  All he did was'tweak' the two or three things that had crept a little bit out and were adding up to a disaster. 

The way I see it, the longer I'd carried on doing things wrong, the harder they would be to put right.  I figured getting my golf back on track was worth £25, 30 minutes of listening and an hour on the range.  Not really far off the price and number of shots for a round really

I am certainly not going to disagree with what Chris has said about getting "tweaked" by your golf pro (ooh err...), but what you seem to be going through is probably something that pretty much all golfers go through. One day I can play like I'm really starting to get the hang of it, and the next (okay, so I mean "most days") it's like I am playing with garden spades for clubs.

I have had lessons which have corrected me almost straight away on the range, but then once I have taken my game onto the course the faults (too numerous to mention) reappear. From that I would suggest that it is not always just about sorting your swing out.

Personally I think it's all about trusting your swing and (especially) feeling relaxed over the ball, and as long as you have some sort of game about you then that'll get you round okay. How you get that feeling is another matter, and if that means going to your pro to give you a few pointers to get your confidence up then that's a price you have to pay.

Guys, went the range last night with my mrs (she used to play off 8) and I started off not great, kept pushing / slicing. Anyway she noticed a few things I was doing wrong (club face was not square to the target, it was facing right slightly, ball was not in centre of club face at address, it was right of centre and my right hand was really far over to the left) I started to hit them a lot better after I had corrected the above, deffo a lot straighter, just need to practice practice practice now!