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What helps get your confidence back?

Snickerdog

Snickerdog

Team THP 2019 Grandaddy Alumni
Albatross 2024 Club
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What helps you get your confidence back when you are playing bad?

For me it is a couple good wedge shots. For instance last night at league, had a couple of 70 yards shots that I put inside of 5 feet. That will make it go way up. Or roll in a couple of long putts will also do the trick for me.
 
Are you insinuating something?
 
Some sort of swing thought that seems to meld well on the day. That seems to help when the wheels get wobbly.
 
Golf confidence is a stacked deck of cards. Takes a while to build it up and even a single shot can crash it all down.

I think the key is to work hard on a solid routine with good traditional fundamentals (grip, alignment, ball position, posture, rhythm). I tend to practice at the range a fair amount and I go through my entire shot routine on the range for maybe about 30% of the bucket I'm hitting.

On the mental side of things, I think it is just acknowledging the fact that golf can be a very difficult game. Give yourself a break and know that bad shots absolutely WILL happen. The good players are the ones that can forget them and move forward.

Last but certainly not least.....short game, short game, short game. A solid short game helps forgive many evils. Chipping and putting can take pressure off your diver and your irons....which in turn then helps you swing a bit more freely.

Just some musings for consideration.
 
easy pars. decent drive, decent approach, easy 2-putt. that always gets me feeling in the groove. i'm not a birdie machine; but when i'm playing my game it's lots of easy pars and i'm a happy little dude.
 
For me it’s reversing whatever caused me to play bad. If I had two three-putts in a row, maybe having chip and one putt the next will calm my nerves. Or after pushing a ball OB if I stripe one in the fairway on the next hole. Just gives me a reminder that the last hole was just a fluke, let’s get back on track.
 
If i'm struggling it's a making par on a hole. a certain shot here or there doesn't do it for me. I need to have a complete hole to help me get back on track.
 
Sinking a huge putt like 20+ feet. Pick that bad boy up and move onto the next tee with a ton of confidence.
 
For me it’s hitting a mid-iron crisply and on target or stiffing a wedge shot.
 
If I had the answer I would tell you.....
 
2BFAST said:
If I had the answer I would tell you.....
Click to expand...

I guess I could come back up and let you beat up on me, that would do it.
 
A slump buster? I kid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Draining a couple of putts in the 6 - 10 foot range. I usually make them all or miss them all during a round so if I see a couple fall early that boosts my confidence that I will see more during the round.
 
Snickerdog said:
What helps you get your confidence back when you are playing bad?

For me it is a couple good wedge shots. For instance last night at league, had a couple of 70 yards shots that I put inside of 5 feet. That will make it go way up. Or roll in a couple of long putts will also do the trick for me.
Click to expand...

Fireball.
 
Two things I usually try.

1. I slow everything down. I stop worrying about distance and just swing easy - to make solid contact. Usually if I do that for a few holes I can then get back on track.

2. If that doesn't work - I take a week off. Step away from the game physically and mentally and hope I've forgotten all the bad habits that have taken over.

It usually works.
 
Snickerdog said:
What helps you get your confidence back when you are playing bad?

For me it is a couple good wedge shots. For instance last night at league, had a couple of 70 yards shots that I put inside of 5 feet. That will make it go way up. Or roll in a couple of long putts will also do the trick for me.
Click to expand...

For me it's stringing together more than one good shot in a row, be it a drive and an approach, a chip & a putt. Whatever. I'm streaky to begin with so my main challenge lies in stringing good shots together to get/keep my momentum going. Two good shots on a hole means par or bogie worst case usually. Three to four strung together means I've probably got a solid look at birdie on a hole in that stretch.
 
I'll answer it two ways.

If it's DURING the round then Sunday is the prime example. I was 8 over after 4 holes. So I basically got to the next tee box and just swung easy. The next several holes were fun, why didn't I do this from the opening tee shot I don't know.

If it's compounding week to week we have a couple of courses that are wide open. Not much OB, not a lot of water, just spray it around and score.
 
Repeating my lovely practice swing, I just execute that... results are awesome. Its between the ears...try it if you can lol
 
A series of good shots. Or if the area that is struggling starts to get a glimmer of hope. I try to do positive self talk, but that has not made a change for me. Negative self talk is avoided at all costs, but it can creep in there.
 
Confidence is what I was born with. Can't get back what you never lose. Now, what my golf score is on any given day has nothing to do with having confidence. Confidence is knowing that you will put that ball next to the hole from 50 yds out. Actually doing it (twice today) is another thing. Missing it doesn't alter confidence.
 
It depends on what the issue is. If for instance my irons are struggling if I can hit two good iron shots in a row that will do wonders. I just need to see something positive happen more than once to start building the confidence back up.
 
For me, its trusting in my routine and my swing. I hit my good shots and my bad shots and I have my good rounds and my bad rounds. This thought helps me to enjoy the good ones and not feel so helpless or hopeless on the bad ones.
 
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