When stability seems to be lost in a round - the high and low days.

[Luchnia]

I have shared this type of thing before. I am still challenged by the high and low days on the course. I find that when I have the not so good rounds I am constantly trying to keep the focus I had from the good rounds and feel I am scrambling for the majority of the holes.

I have to think this is something mental and has little to do with ability although ability is affected from the mental aspect. It seems I am trying to "find the good game" during the bad round and that even affects my game more. My focus changes from good strikes to trying to figure out what the heck is going on during a bad round and I know that is not helpful at all.

As an example, I played a great round day before yesterday. Tempo was good, the swing felt fluid, and ball striking was simply no issue at all. I was hitting fairways and green after green. I was a few strokes over my average. Yesterday my game simply was not there. I scrambled through most of it from tee to green and did come back a little on the back nine. The whole time I was trying to find something to bring that good round back from the day before.

I think I have tried just about everything when this happens and nothing seems to work for me. You cannot get swing path right, putting is off, chipping is off, irons are right or left, etc. It is those days that you hope the round ends quickly and you can go home. You just don't feel that you are in it. Most of the time I just need to scramble the round and wait for another day for my game to return.

I know we are human and bad days occur, yet I have to think there is some way to keeping a stable golf round, or at least keep the differential close. I rarely have an issue with say 4 or 5 strokes differential, but when I get around 7-10 that seems to be to much of a differential for me. This really isn't about having a blow up hole. That happens, but maintaining stability, or finding focus, on a bad day.

 

[dAS0]

@Luchnia - This is golf in a nutshell. One of my focuses this year was my mental game, mainly when things were subpar fell apart. I am not a consistent player and had weekends where I posted a 77, then a 96 the next day. Grinding is tough, and finding a way to balance playing with bad timing and not trying to tweak things too much is hard.

I find that going to the range to work things out helps since it takes the pressure off of keeping score; bad shots happen, try to understand why, then go from there. Popping in a lesson 2-3 times a year couldn't hurt, too.

Hang in there!

 

[sluggo123]

Golf is the only game in the world where you can go from genuinely feeling like you’ve figured everything out to being so lost and clueless in a 10 minute span. If I had the answer to your question mid round I’d be playing on TV.

 

[Luchnia]

@Luchnia - This is golf in a nutshell. One of my focuses this year was my mental game, mainly when things were subpar fell apart. I am not a consistent player and had weekends where I posted a 77, then a 96 the next day. Grinding is tough, and finding a way to balance playing with bad timing and not trying to tweak things too much is hard.

I find that going to the range to work things out helps since it takes the pressure off of keeping score; bad shots happen, try to understand why, then go from there. Popping in a lesson 2-3 times a year couldn't hurt, too.

Hang in there!

I guess my bad days and good days aren't so bad, but for some reason they just seem that way and I am sure it is how we look at the differential. Looking at going from a 77 to 96 (almost 20 strokes) is a big differential and I feel like I am drowning if I have a 10 stroke differential. Probably the same feeling though as you know you just are not performing anywhere close to your potential. I think you hit a good point about the mental game. I wonder how to keep that mental focus in check and on the right things to keep the game consistent.

For instance, I am very much a target golfer and play my best when I keep my focus on the where I am hitting and not on the how. It is uncanny the difference in my game. I think what happens is on off days somehow my subconscious is getting on the how and off the where (my guess that is what is happening - unsure). When I get off of that target golf a bit, then my game suffers.

I have tried the range and that really hasn't helped. I have not tried any lessons this year and that could help me work on ways to keep my focus better. I was talking to an area instructor Wednesday and mentioned that I would like to get a tune up

 

[Architex]

Bad golf days happen. It is the nature of the game. That is what truly separates Tiger from everyone else. When he had a bad day he could reach down and limit the damage. This is very hard to do. I think you just have to have a very good pre shot routine and stick to it. No matter the outcome of the shot just stay focused and only worry about the shot you are hitting. Not the last one or last 3. This is easier said than done.


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[dAS0]

I have tried the range and that really hasn't helped. I have not tried any lessons this year and that could help me work on ways to keep my focus better. I was talking to an area instructor Wednesday and mentioned that I would like to get a tune up

A different perspective is always helpful. I am set for a lesson tonight, possibly more than a few as colder weather nears.

The 96 was my worst round of the year so it tends to stick in my mind...

 

[WLG1952]

I am the proud owner of three golf games. My above average games, my average games, and my below average games. Although I've never really checked, these three games are something like 25%, 60%, and 15% for me.

I have a personal 18 hole par, which is 84. That's my target score everytime I go out, no matter where, or what course I am playing. Like all golfers, some days are just better (or worse) than others.

About the only thing I might rely on, when my below average game starts to show up, is my score card. I use my own score cards, that separates my round into 6 groups of 3 holes. This essentially gives me 6, fresh starting points during an 18 hole round, if needed. 6 spots to to step back, take a breath, clear my head, and right the ship, so to speak. With each of those 3 hole groups, I'm always looking for 14 strokes, or less. (6X14=84, my original target score)

I just dont worry too much anout which game I have that day. It's just another fun day on the golf course for me. At this point in my golf journey, I have nothing to prove, and there's always the next round to look forward to.

 

[Muchmore]

Golf. I've lost my stability in the MIDDLE of a round before. I've lost it with three holes to go before. I lost it last night on the last hole after a fantastic eight holes. Literally couldn't hit a ball straight after doing so all night. I lost four balls. Four on one hole. Because my swing just disappeared. Golf is mean sometimes lol

Losing it though, only makes me want to get out there more and fix it.

 

[Slowmo]

Golf. I've lost my stability in the MIDDLE of a round before. I've lost it with three holes to go before. I lost it last night on the last hole after a fantastic eight holes. Literally couldn't hit a ball straight after doing so all night. I lost four balls. Four on one hole. Because my swing just disappeared. Golf is mean sometimes lol

Losing it though, only makes me want to get out there more and fix it.

Right there with you. I've lost it mid round in 2 of my last 5 rounds in the middle of the round. Worst part is I lost it in completely different ways. One day I started pull hooking everything on hole 6 and couldn't get out of it. Last weekend I started push slicing everything on hole 5 and didn't come out of it until 16. I've been fighting the hook for a good 15yrs now so I understand when my game goes that way, but a whole day of hitting every single ball, even short irons, way right was really frustrating.

 

[Muchmore]

Right there with you. I've lost it mid round in 2 of my last 5 rounds in the middle of the round. Worst part is I lost it in completely different ways. One day I started pull hooking everything on hole 6 and couldn't get out of it. Last weekend I started push slicing everything on hole 5 and didn't come out of it until 16. I've been fighting the hook for a good 15yrs now so I understand when my game goes that way, but a whole day of hitting every single ball, even short irons, way right was really frustrating.

I lost it on the back 9 during a match with a buddy last weekend. I KNEW what I was doing wrong, but I just couldn't make myself correct it and it just got worse. Golf sucks sometimes

 

[BigMac]

I guess my bad days and good days aren't so bad, but for some reason they just seem that way and I am sure it is how we look at the differential. Looking at going from a 77 to 96 (almost 20 strokes) is a big differential and I feel like I am drowning if I have a 10 stroke differential. Probably the same feeling though as you know you just are not performing anywhere close to your potential. I think you hit a good point about the mental game. I wonder how to keep that mental focus in check and on the right things to keep the game consistent.

I'll bet just about everybody responding to this thread would tell you that a 10 stroke differential between rounds isn't at all uncommon. I know it certainly isn't for me. My last ten rounds: 80, 91, 88, 79, 87, 80, 89, 87, 96, 86. Five of the first six (minus the 91) were all on the exact same course from the exact same tees, and overall there's a 17 stroke difference between the lowest and highest scores in that group.

I think it's all about the mental game. It's not like we forget how to swing a club from one round to the next, unless those rounds are three years apart. For me, it's mind and feel - some days I can feel a good swing tempo and I'm so confident in my short game and putting - I just look at the hole and let my body do its thing and it does it. Other days it's like I have no feel at all - I'm completely lost out there, can't find my swing tempo, everything feels awkward and disconnected, and I'm baffled by green speeds and breaks, can't get them even if I've played the course a hundred times before. And usually, the more I think about it and try to "fix" things while I'm out on the course, the worse it gets. The best thing I can do is turn my brain off and just swing the club.

I do think each of has our own ceiling as far as ability level goes, and a lot of that is just genetics. But if you've shot a 77 before, you know you have the ability to do it. Absent some kind of injury or illness, nothing has changed about that. Sometimes you just have to do exactly what you said - write it off as a bad round and come back another day. Things will be better. And then they'll be worse, and then they'll be better again, and so on. It's just golf. Ask any pro, who wins a tournament one week and misses the cut the following week, it happens.