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Bouncing back from a tough round

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xcman04

Well-known member
Albatross 2024 Club
Joined
Dec 11, 2019
Messages
672
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934
Location
New Jersey
Handicap
18.6
Just looking to commiserate a bit with my fellow THPers. I've been playing golf seriously for a little over a year now, and have taken lessons with a great instructor for me, which have helped me steadily get better. When I first started golfing, breaking 100 seemed impossible, and recently I had been able to consistently shoot in the low-mid 90's, with a few 87-88 rounds mixed in. I've been playing consistently enough that I thought I had turned a real corner...until yesterday.

Just a brutal day all around - carded a snowman on the first hole and never recovered. Managed to fix my driving and got my putting down, but iron shots of all kinds - 2nd shots, chipping, whatever - were just terrible. This is definitely my Achilles heel - for whatever reason (cocking wrist too soon, leaning forward, not extending my arms, shoulder turn, etc.), I just cannot consistently hit my irons. Most of the time I hit them well enough to be able to play bogey golf, but yesterday was a disaster. I did manage to par my nemesis par 5 hole on my home course, but couldn't really build off of that and ended up with a 106.

I'm going to go to the range and try to work on my swing, and I am definitely going to keep taking more lessons - just curious what other people do in terms of the mental side and moving past days like these.
 
The previous round ends when the last putt falls. There is nothing that you can do to change that round.
 
All I can say is that we've ALL been there. I'm there more often than I care to admit. One thing that's been a hard lesson for me to learn is trying NOT to force a fix. Bad days happen. Kind of like those days when you wake up and stub your toe. Then spill your coffee. Drop your keys trying to unlock the car 4 times before you actually get in. Get to work and your inbox is full of chaos. Get home, burn dinner. Then stub your toe again getting in bed to end the day. You're not going to go into the next day completely changing things or forcing your routine, you just go to sleep, wake up, and press on the new day refreshed.
 
It's golf and it's hard. You are going to have bad rounds, we all do. Forget about it and move forward, go play again. No reason to dwell on it at all.
 
xcman04 said:
Just looking to commiserate a bit with my fellow THPers. I've been playing golf seriously for a little over a year now, and have taken lessons with a great instructor for me, which have helped me steadily get better. When I first started golfing, breaking 100 seemed impossible, and recently I had been able to consistently shoot in the low-mid 90's, with a few 87-88 rounds mixed in. I've been playing consistently enough that I thought I had turned a real corner...until yesterday.

Just a brutal day all around - carded a snowman on the first hole and never recovered. Managed to fix my driving and got my putting down, but iron shots of all kinds - 2nd shots, chipping, whatever - were just terrible. This is definitely my Achilles heel - for whatever reason (cocking wrist too soon, leaning forward, not extending my arms, shoulder turn, etc.), I just cannot consistently hit my irons. Most of the time I hit them well enough to be able to play bogey golf, but yesterday was a disaster. I did manage to par my nemesis par 5 hole on my home course, but couldn't really build off of that and ended up with a 106.

I'm going to go to the range and try to work on my swing, and I am definitely going to keep taking more lessons - just curious what other people do in terms of the mental side and moving past days like these.
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Have a beer and take a break.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re probably far more advanced than most people are in that same time period. Bad swing days happen. I carded an 83 this year, but I also shot 113 after developing a bad case of the ******. It happens, and will continue to happen. Sometimes success in this game leads to unrealistic expectations
 
xcman04 said:
Just looking to commiserate a bit with my fellow THPers. I've been playing golf seriously for a little over a year now, and have taken lessons with a great instructor for me, which have helped me steadily get better. When I first started golfing, breaking 100 seemed impossible, and recently I had been able to consistently shoot in the low-mid 90's, with a few 87-88 rounds mixed in. I've been playing consistently enough that I thought I had turned a real corner...until yesterday.

Just a brutal day all around - carded a snowman on the first hole and never recovered. Managed to fix my driving and got my putting down, but iron shots of all kinds - 2nd shots, chipping, whatever - were just terrible. This is definitely my Achilles heel - for whatever reason (cocking wrist too soon, leaning forward, not extending my arms, shoulder turn, etc.), I just cannot consistently hit my irons. Most of the time I hit them well enough to be able to play bogey golf, but yesterday was a disaster. I did manage to par my nemesis par 5 hole on my home course, but couldn't really build off of that and ended up with a 106.

I'm going to go to the range and try to work on my swing, and I am definitely going to keep taking more lessons - just curious what other people do in terms of the mental side and moving past days like these.
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It may not be that your swing needs fixing. It just may be a bad day and leave it at that. My fellow golfers always tell me that basically it is history and move on and don't try to fix everything because you had a bad round. For me my "sync" gets off. I am using that word because I cannot think of a better one.

I think this sometimes happens and I cannot figure out the reason it does. I don't have as many "brutal" rounds these days, but I have not so good rounds that I wonder why they happened. I am fairly consistent in my game but every now and then something just doesn't flow well. I know others state to simply slow down and re-group, fundamentals, and so on, but I simply have not found that to work for me when things aren't going so well.

I managed to hold on, but that doesn't get the score where it needs to be. I was playing a club tournament just last week and I have been scoring low 90s on the course and I carded a 100. A friend of mine carded a 104 which was extremely unusual for him. It happens. It was really one hole that cooked me during the round. That really gets on my nerves. LOL
 
Snickerdog said:
It's golf and it's hard. You are going to have bad rounds, we all do. Forget about it and move forward, go play again. No reason to dwell on it at all.
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This.

Don’t let the bad rounds get to you. Forget about them and go again

Everyone has bad rounds, the key is how you get over them. If you dwell on them, then you are more likely to let it affect the next round
 
Beeeer and a short memory. I golf to enjoy it and anticipate a positive outing each time I play, regardless of the previous round.
 
Mentally, I dunno... I try not to think about it... ;)

Sometimes I do think we can get too technical in our swings, whether from instruction or videos. It's still a ball & stick sport and the goal is to get the ball in the hole...
 
I forget about it immediately and instead of playing, might practice more on the things that were letting me down.
 
It's no different than one bad shot you make out there during a good round. You don't let that get you down, do you? It happens, ya move on, and don't worry too much about it unless it starts to become a consistent problem. Sounds like you've been playing some good golf, so focus on that positive, and know that improvement often makes us judge ourselves more harshly than we should, when we do have an off day.
 
I ended last year around a 14 if memory serves. Mid year this year I was back up to almost a 17 and I didn't think I was ever going to get better. I'm down at a 12.x.

We all have rounds/weeks/months where it goes sideways.

Yesterday I shot an over 90 round for the first time in a while. Meh. It happens.

Next round will be better.

As far as what to do while struggling in a round goes, I just dial it back, or play the miss of the day. If everything is a push, just play for the push, instead of working on your swing on the course.

Golf is hard.
 
I have a confidence builder golf course to go back to. I play it about once a month. Pretty open, big greens, no OB stakes anywhere, not much water.
 
Bernoulli said:
The previous round ends when the last putt falls. There is nothing that you can do to change that round.
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Ah, but there is likely much you can do to change the next round.
 
Great thing is, is that there is always another shot, another hole, another round. I shot my best round of 73 this year. Two weeks later, I went out and shot an 87. Bad days are and will continue to be a part of the game. This game is cruel but the next time you go out could be the best round of your life!
 
After a bad round, I tend to go back to basics. Hit a range or go hit balls in my back yard focusing on core mechanics. Build up the confidence back into the basics of my swing and start hit solid shots without the pressure of the course. Get my head in a place where I don't second guess the swing and stay focused on execution in the next round.
 
Just let it go. It is like driving. The overcorrections can cause a mess. Don't do anything you wouldn't be doing if the round went well.
 
When I'm done with a round like this, I just tell myself that's why they play 4 rounds to determine a golf tournament winner.
Gotta let it go...
 
At my current 18 handicap, I have to accept 100+ rounds. They are gonna happen. I have broken 90 but not often. Ny highs and low scores are about 12-13 strokes apart, between 89-102.

Its a fact of a very hard game.
 
Every golfer, at every talent level has poor rounds of golf. They sometimes get into slumps just like players in other sports.

My baseball coach told us there were three ways to handle a hitting slump. 1. Play through it. 2. Focus on other aspects of our game. 3. Ride the bench until further notice. I suspect these would work in one's golf game.

If I have a poor round, it's always a "not a big deal" moment for me. I don't look at it as something to bounce back from. Three or more poor rounds in a row, then I will just take a break from golf, and recharge.

In my golf reality, I'm more concerned about poor practice issues. Practice is where I'm consciously thinking about making golf shots. On the course, playing for a score, it's more of a subconscious process for me.

As long as I put forth my best effort that day for that 9/18 holes of golf, I'm a happy golfer.
 
I used to work with a guy and his response to everything especially what you're talking about was "drink heavily. Start now." He was a former Navy guy. It was kind of funny.

Look at it this way: You're improving. This was a bad round. So what. The next one will be better. If it's not, it's equipment related and it's time to put something in time-out and replace it with new!(y)

Trust me. You'll feel better. Your wallet may hate it but you'll love it!:D
 
The only thing you can do is move on. I’m a 4 HC and I shot a 93 a couple of weeks ago. Everything was terrible. I just filed it under those days happen and the next time out I shot a 75. That’s golf for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Just go out next round and pound er!
 
Shake it off, get back on the horse
 
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