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Getting a Round Back on Track.

Tenputt

Tenputt

Well-known member
Albatross 2024 Club
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Utah
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GHIN 5.4
Looking for tips on how you get your round back on track after a few poor holes. For reference... My front 9 score was great yesterday, despite mediocre iron play. 5 GIR, 15 putts, and 2 birdies to shoot even par. Bogied the first three holes on the back nine and it seemed to derail me. A 42 on the back 9 gave me 78 for a round that held such promise. Golf is such a momentum game and it would be great to hear how some of you break out of a slide towards bad momentum mid-round.
 
Not sure I have any solid advice. I try to play one shot at a time and not think about how the round is going, good or bad.
 
I try to stay focused on the shots I hit well and repeat regardless of my number on the hole. I keep my score on an app on my phone and never look at the total until its over. Just like you can't dwell on a bad shot, you can dwell on a bogie or even db.
 
Did you, like I and so many of us, allow thoughts/hopes in about what may be a special round? If so, it's hard to guard against but also a sure way to invite nerves and tension. Suddenly, each shot becomes more to you beyond mere execution, a bad shot becomes the feared outcome and a self fulfilling prophecy in its own right.

I try to tell myself that although I can't control where the ball ends up, I can control my breathing, my thoughts, my adherence to a preshot routine. I also very purposely allow my mind to drift in between shots to think of anything other than the round, anything other than golf. Fun thoughts, usually about the kids. That way I'm not dwelling. Once near my ball, I try to clear my mind and get back to work.

Tension may still inherently build as I can't brainwash myself, but disconnecting thought and reconnecting again seems to derail a consistent negative build up for me.
 
WMac19 said:
Did you, like I and so many of us, allow thoughts/hopes in about what may be a special round? If so, it's hard to guard against but also a sure way to invite nerves and tension. Suddenly, each shot becomes more to you beyond mere execution, a bad shot becomes the feared outcome and a self fulfilling prophecy in its own right.

I try to tell myself that although I can't control where the ball ends up, I can control my breathing, my thoughts, my adherence to a preshot routine. I also very purposely allow my mind to drift in between shots to think of anything other than the round, anything other than golf. Fun thoughts, usually about the kids. That way I'm not dwelling. Once near my ball, I try to clear my mind and get back to work.

Tension may still inherently build as I can't brainwash myself, but disconnecting thought and reconnecting again seems to derail a consistent negative build up for me.
Click to expand...

This is good advice. Thanks. My goal for the year had been to get my handicap into the 5’s. Our handicap system shuts down in this area after November 14, so this was my last score to be reported. After shooting even par on the front, I am sure I began to think that I had a chance to report one more great round that would have put my handicap down into the high 5 range. It unfolded exactly like you said.
 
It's easy to let a bad score on a hole or two get into your head and it can make you start shooting poor shots. I find I have to put it behind me and remain focused and positive mentally for the remaining holes.
 
Two things have helped me immensely.
1). Take the time to get to know yourself. As a golfer, what are your tendencies? What things tend to go wrong? What works to get things back?
2). Become a student of golf. This will help you with getting to know you and getting back on track.

Thankfully, I've reached the point where I understand enough about me and the game that it rarely takes any time to diagnose the problem and get back on track. I hope you reach that point too.
 
If you are thinking about how to get your game back on track, you are obviously dwelling on what has happened and letting it affect you

The simplest thing to do is to forget about the last hole (or shot) as it is done and just concentrate on the next one

If I had dwelled on what happened on the first yesterday I would have given up and gone home - took a quad on a par 5 and never managed to play a single shot from the fairway.....
Yet I put it behind me on the par 3 second tee and hit a good shot, albeit slightly offline and finished in the bunker, but then got up and down for a par with a simple 1ft putt
 
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