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One bad swing.....

Wicked Cool Bearded Man

Wicked Cool Bearded Man

4thegolf+4thefriends
Joined
Oct 28, 2010
Messages
29,027
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Location
Massachusetts
Handicap
6.3 GHIN
I have had an interesting problem lately (past 2 months or so). I have one hole per round that is an absolute monstrosity. I'm consistently shooting 78-85 during 95% of my rounds, BUT even with those scores I have had holes of 8,9 even a 10. Last weekend in my club tournament, I shot 87 on Day 1 with 70 strokes over 16 holes and 17 over 2 (a quad and a triple on 2 par 5's). On day 2 I shot 84 with a 9 on a par 4. Anyone else struggle with this? I'm hoping it's just the golf gods messing with my head before I get down to a single digit.... hopefully this is just one more hurdle and not a bigger problem.
 
ghsace said:
I have had an interesting problem lately (past 2 months or so). I have one hole per round that is an absolute monstrosity. I'm consistently shooting 78-85 during 95% of my rounds, BUT even with those scores I have had holes of 8,9 even a 10. Last weekend in my club tournament, I shot 87 on Day 1 with 70 strokes over 16 holes and 17 over 2 (a quad and a triple on 2 par 5's). On day 2 I shot 84 with a 9 on a par 4. Anyone else struggle with this? I'm hoping it's just the golf gods messing with my head before I get down to a single digit.... hopefully this is just one more hurdle and not a bigger problem.
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Golf has alway been very day to day for me. I'm perfectly capable of shooting 78 on day and 90 the next. Even the pro's have days when they make a high score on a hole.
 
I run into the same problem, thats the reason I'm not quite a single digit handicap. Shot an 83 on Saturday with a 7 on an easy par 4. Lost it off the drive into a fairway bunker, chunked it out of the bunker. Hit the 60* fat and ended up in the greenside bunker, flew the green out of the bunker chipped to within 10 feet missed the approach for a 7. I expect the bogies, and with a couple of birdies th eround will be solid, but the doubles and triples are death to the scorecard. FYI, handicap adjust today at the club hopefully down to an 11. Working towards single digits by end of summer.
 
the blow up holes are essentially difference of 10-13 handicap and a 6-10 handicap. Now for ESQ should not be taking more than double for handicap reasons so as to not inflate your handicap. tHAT'S why I never like playing 12's as they for 16 holes play right with me and then blow up on one or two holes and thats it.

One thing that helped me get through those blow ups is to practice those shots that often cause my mistakes and also mentally think about what I'm trying to do. I found myself being too aggressive and not being aware of the trouble enough. ex I know ob is left so instead of trying to pipe it down middle I'll aim more right try play draw to fairway if it doesn't I know still ok. Things like that. Playing to center of greens vs attacking flags is also a huge one. Too many people go for flags just kill themselves get in a bunker shortsided then miss shot and make a mess of things. I really look at center of green first then see if pin is accessible. If i'm 175 out pin tucked back right by bunker I'm playing middle of green and left of flag make a two putt and go.

Really analyze your game and see where make mistakes and then start strategizing how to change your shots to avoid big scores.
 
I typically have one or two blowups and they almost always come on par 5's, which is frustrating. I shot a good score (for me) the other day, but it included a double and a triple on two of the par 5's. Just a couple stupid mental mistakes. The difference between a good round and a bad round usually ends up being whether I double a few holes on a side. If I can avoid the doubles, I do well.
 
Hawk said:
I typically have one or two blowups and they almost always come on par 5's, which is frustrating. I shot a good score (for me) the other day, but it included a double and a triple on two of the par 5's. Just a couple stupid mental mistakes. The difference between a good round and a bad round usually ends up being whether I double a few holes on a side. If I can avoid the doubles, I do well.
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I'm with you here. I usually have a fee holes I blow per round. I've only had one round in the 80 out of 10 but those hole become more and more frustrating at the end of the day.


Tapatalk... Loved by me hated by the wife.
 
Ahh, the mystery of the blow up hole. If you find a solution, please let me know.
 
I have a theory about the "hand grenade holes" and it has to do with comfort zones.

I think that whenever we reach a point at which we're beginning to play well enough to move out of a comfort zone, we (for a number of reasons) subconsciously resist moving from being comfortable to something uncomfortable.
It's kind of like the feeling someone may have when contemplating a career move; the attraction is of course better pay or a more prestigious position, but there's always a bit of fear involved as well. Fear of the unknown, fear of giving up familiar surroundings, fear of losing friends and so on, so there's a natural resistance to it even though they know that it's going to be a good move overall.

I think golf is the same way.
We get to a point where we can shoot a given score with relative ease and we settle into that score and all that goes with it and it becomes something comfortable - like an old pair of shoes.
We're always trying to improve but when we get to a point where we should be moving on to better scores, that uncomfortable feeling creeps in and out come the hand grenades to keep us from giving up that comfort.

This all may sound silly, but that's the way I see it and I think it's actually quite normal.
I think that it's something that we do until we get used to the idea of being comfortable with our newly developed talent and once we allow ourselves to be "that good", we can then move on.
It's mainly about letting go of what's familiar and relatively easy for us to do and exchanging that for something more challenging and more difficult to do - something less comfortable.


I think it's all part of the process. :D
 
i have had blow up holes but they have been getting better instead of an 8 or higher its usually just a double bogey. i realized a couple months ago if i only hit 1 bad shot on a hole i usually can recover and have a good chance at par when i hit 2 bad shots thats when i usually get into trouble. so if i hit a bad shot i usually try to play a smart shot instead of trying to make up and hit another bad shot. its helped me and ive been breaking 80 a lot more than before!
 
Took a playing lesson with my instructor of the past 4 years. I had a blow up hole, the 12th. He watched and said nothing until after the hole. His advice was that when I make a bad shot, get it out of my head ASAP, go back to the basics on the next shot. Set up, take away, etc. Have had very few blow up holes after that playing lesson. Another really important lesson from that day is to always choose a target and how to focus on the target. I agree with another poster here. Be smart when selecting a target. Middle of the green is sometimes smarter than going for the pin.

Yesterday I putted for birdie 9 times. No birdies all day but the putting was really good. Many tap ins. Hit a green on a par 3 and spun the ball almost into the hole. It went 10 feet past. 3 putted so I guess that was a blow up. 26 putts all day. 84 on pretty tough course.
 
Usually a blow up hole is the result of one or more low percentage shots that go completely wrong, eliminating any one of those shots turns that score into a bogey or a double which is a lot better than a quad or a quint. Accepting playing for par or even bogey on certain holes is going to help. Knowing what your best shot will do and also knowing what your worst miss-hit shot will do is a factor. Whatever your tendency is when you hit a bad shot, fat/thin, slice/hook or some combination, will do from whatever position you are in will help you to decide how to play it. This is probably the biggest thing I did to go from scoring in the 80s with at least a couple of really bad holes on the card every time out to shooting in the low to mid 70s with consistency over the last couple of years. It is also what a lot of pros do, manage the bad shots to end up with good misses more often than not.
 
All great thoughts folks - thanks! It's funny, I posted this before checking the GHIN website - and low and be hold - this am I was 9.9! I had been playing really well the last 3 weeks or so, but I didn't think I was going to get there. It'll probably be short lived though, as I carded an 87 and an 86 today hahaha (complete with several doubles and a triple to certify this post)
 
yorkem said:
Ahh, the mystery of the blow up hole. If you find a solution, please let me know.
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+1 it's always the double bogeys for me. Those kill my chance of breaking 80 for the 4th time.
 
ghsace said:
I have had an interesting problem lately (past 2 months or so). I have one hole per round that is an absolute monstrosity. I'm consistently shooting 78-85 during 95% of my rounds, BUT even with those scores I have had holes of 8,9 even a 10. Last weekend in my club tournament, I shot 87 on Day 1 with 70 strokes over 16 holes and 17 over 2 (a quad and a triple on 2 par 5's). On day 2 I shot 84 with a 9 on a par 4. Anyone else struggle with this? I'm hoping it's just the golf gods messing with my head before I get down to a single digit.... hopefully this is just one more hurdle and not a bigger problem.
Click to expand...

I have the same issue. Funny thing is my blown holes are always par 5's. They are killing me. Two par 5's doomed me by scoring a 9 on one and an 8 on the other. Had a great round going other than that. And this has happened to me the last 4 outings. I believe its a mental thing on par 5's for me. I havent been playing smart golf and try to do too much.
 
The old "blow-up hole syndrom", most of us suffer with that disease, especially those in the 12-20 handicap range. My goal over the past few months is to break 80, I've scared the hell out of it several times but just can't get over the hump...when I look over my scorecards it always comes down to a hole or two where I take 8,9 or even 10, and most of the time it's on par 5's. Usually starts with one bad shot, then I think I try to "be the hero" and get it all back in one miraculous shot only to get in more trouble.
 
I don't go a round without a double bogey. It's a weird thing and it is just silly mistakes for me or one bad shot like you mention. The other day I shot 78 with a triple on 7 from a complete random snap hooked drive OB that came out of nowhere. I didn't snap hook another all day. It's just weird how those shots come out.
 
yorkem said:
Ahh, the mystery of the blow up hole. If you find a solution, please let me know.
Click to expand...

It's like the mystery of the missing socks when you do laundry ;-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I had 4 bad swings yesterday. Led to 4 doubles. Ended up shooting 79, as I went -1 on the other 14 holes.


Tap, tap, tap. Just tap it in Happy
 
This happens to me once every other round or so. I can be going along nicely, shooting pars and bogies, then BAM, a triple. Then back to pars and bogies. This is what is keeping me from consistantly shooting in the mid-low 80s. It's not always a bad swing, but sometimes a bad decision, trying to pull off a shot instead of taking my medicine and moving on (which I'm getting better at).
 
Blow up holes are my killer as well. Last week I played in a tournament and on the first hole (the 9th on the course) I pushed my tee shot OB, dropped, punched under a tree but not far enough so my next shot was partially blocked by an oak tree, clipped a branch on the next shot, causing it to drop into marsh (all carry from end of fairway to the green), dropped, hit the next shot fat into the marsh, dropped, next shot onto the green... had to take an 8 under tournament rules (no more than double the hole) - and only counts as a 7 under ESQ for handicap - but it would have been a 9 or 10 without the rule in place. After that I think I was only one over on the next six holes, for example. But there's always those one or two (or more) holes where it seems nothing can go right at all.

And they almost always include OB or water/marsh. :)
 
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