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Mental Tougness - need help I seem to be a 16 hole golfer

chriso97

chriso97

Mad Golfer
Joined
Dec 21, 2017
Messages
595
Reaction score
6
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Handicap
4.6
I need help, I keep having 1 or 2 bad (and I mean really bad) holes in a round.
I'm trying to crack 5 handicap, sitting at 7

I am going along nicely (par, par, par) and then BOOM double bogey (or worse) slips in from nowhere.

I've had 2 GREAT rounds recently ruined basically by 2 holes.

Today, started Par, Par and and then on the third had a 90m shot into a strong wind. I over corrected, blasted it long and OB (triple bogey)

I recovered and made the turn on handicap and then on the 10th I had a 140m shot in and I flew the green and buried it into the rough. Went long on the chip back and three putted for a 6

2 numpty shots and I still finished 1 up for the day, cant stop thinking about how BAD and costly those 2 shots were.

Any ideas?
 
Hi, nice to know there are other 16 hole golfers out there. I have 8 rounds where I shot 70 this year because I choked down the stretch. I also have 2 third place finishes in tourneys because I choked down the stretch.

Right now I've been listening to the MindSide podcast and it's helped some. Beyond that, I have been trying SO HARD to have a consistent preshot routine. I start failing the routine around the same time I start losing focus.
 
Golf is not a game of perfect. Bob Rotella.
 
I am not sure this problem can be solved.

I watch a ton of professional golf, and it is rare to ever see a round where there is not 2 or three blow-up holes.

For the pros, we are talking bogies...for us, bogies and others.

I think that the key is not to let these "bad" holes take us out of our game... and find a few more birdie opportunities to nullify them.

So to me there are three things to do.

1. Accept the bad hole and move on don't let them escalate (take your medicine)
2. work on my game so that I have more good holes (birdies) to offset the challenging ones.
3. Nail down course management so that I am taking acceptable risks (this is difficult for me.)



Pro's get more birdies and eagles than us...they also don't let the bad couple of holes ruin the rest of the round.
 
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Not trying to take a shot at you but it seems like you almost anticipate that "blow up" hole.
That's been one of my issues, compounding a bad shot with another bad shot.

I'd try to use some round strictly for just practice.
Hit a few extra balls from those spots were you missed your target. Putt a couple balls from those weird or long spots on the green.

Just take the pressure off every once in a while and use that to gain some confidence in those awkward shots. It goes a long way!!


*I am not a single-digit HC golfer but I have been making some great strides in my game with this mentality*
 
Moved to golf talk
 
In your example, the mistakes were club selection rather than poor swings. If that's more along the lines of your flaws rather than poor contact or directional issues, you're way ahead of the game, imo.

The first is clearly course management. Of course you need to assess the wind but knowing OB to be long over the green you MUST error on the side of caution.

With similar danger say to a back pin placement into the wind, I'd likely instead assess distance to the center and adjust for wind in trying to hit the center of the green.

If pin is center, I may do similarly in assessing a distance just short of the pin and go from there.

Wind being such an unpredictable variable, I'm aware that my approach may be negatively affected and come up short. But I live to chip or lag again in that scenario.

Whereas if the wind were to die down or affect the flight less than anticipated, I'd have likely built in enough of a buffer to survive the error.

If strategy is more your issue than execution, I'm jealous. So much easier to correct decisions than swing.

Good luck!!!
 
Lol ... I love the responses ... Thanks guys !!!

You know what , I am too hard on myself and I am expecting (almost waiting) for my bad holes.

It is purely the numpty stuff that gets me, sure I hit bad shots occasionally but normally it's just poor club selection, wind or laziness that kills me. (Course management)

I've hit "perfect" shots that drop 20m short or long purely because I forgot about the wind.

What I am hearing is to just relax, take the good with the bad and enjoy the ride. Good advice me thinks.
 
That's just golf. It pays to have a good memory. I hit two chips twenty feet past the hole one ran off the green in the trap yesterday, cost me three strokes. Out of six chips I was never close enough for a one putt. Haven't been missing a lot of greens lately and was not very sharp.
Today I spent two hours doing nothing but chips, practice rule of twelves, really working on distance.


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When I have a good round going late in the round, I force myself to not think ahead. The only shot you can control is the next shot. Not the bogie you just had, not the par 5 coming up in 2 more holes, just the next shot. Concentrate on the next shot.
 
I get it ... But doing it is a whole different ball game.
I know I get score focused ... And am often thinking 2 or 3 shots (and sometimes holes) ahead.

I'm gonna try not putting my score (points) on my card, just the shots. And adding up at the end.

It might help

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I know your pain sir if you find the answer please share


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chriso97 said:
I need help, I keep having 1 or 2 bad (and I mean really bad) holes in a round.
I'm trying to crack 5 handicap, sitting at 7

2 numpty shots and I still finished 1 up for the day, cant stop thinking about how BAD and costly those 2 shots were.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

This reminds me of the time I complained to one of my buddies that I'm hitting my irons too far. He called those Cadillac golf problems. I call yours cadillac problems. Most people wish they could score like you do.

Right now I have at least 3 or 4 of these per side. The weird thing is that I feel like I am so much better as a golfer, but my scores are not coming down yet. So, like everything else....patience and practice.
 
Yup, two bad holes, if only. Read somewhere golfs not about increasing the good holes,its about reducing the bad holes
 
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