Tell us about your worst golf performance ever...

About 5-6 years ago, I was playing in the city tournament. First round is qualifying then flights based on the results. I think I was just shy of a 3 handicap at the time. My scores would range anywhere from even par to 10 over. So, I was inconsistent. But, the GHIN system gets rid of the worst rounds making my handicap lower than I think it should have been. But, on to what happened. As someone who doesn't play a lot of tournament golf, I find myself getting very nervous and antsy in tournament play. Adrenaline gets pumping and all of a sudden I am superman flying greens and heavy handed in the short game. Anyways, I ended up shooting a clean 100 in qualifying. The worst round I can ever remember. I haven't hit 100 since I was a teenager learning the game. I couldn't do anything right. If I could get a bad break, I did. Right from the start, my nerves got the best of me. Started poorly and got in my own head. The shot that sticks out the most to me is on the second hole. I was 125 out from the pin. Pull out my gap wedge, made perfect contact, and proceed to fly the green with my ball landing OB behind it. It must have carried 150+ yards. Don't remember too many more details after that as I was just a hot mess.

I wanted to withdraw so bad. I was so embarrassed. I signed my card and asked one of my playing partners to turn it in for me as I didn't want to show my face. After some mental anguish that night, I decided to play the second day. I was flighted really low as I was probably in last place. I went out and played lights out all things considering. Making putts, chipping close, splitting fairways. I made one mistake on the 17th hole that lead to a double. Bogeyed 18 and shot a 75.

Some days, golf is the worst thing that happened to me. It can be a emotional roller coaster. It sounds cliche, but I think it was a positive experience overall. I found that a bad day or bad hole doesn't define your abilities. Since then, I have improved in tournament situations. The nerves still get the better of me sometimes. But, I am able to rebound now. This last year in our club tournament. It was really windy. I hit a drive that fanned out to the right. I have been there before and knew where my ball would be. I got to that spot to find my ball was nowhere to be found. We think it got stuck in a tree. After searching and searching, I had to go back to the tee. I was hot. I pulled my second drive left in a hazard. Ended up with a triple. But, I birdied 3 out of the 4 next holes. So, there is hope for me yet.

I'm guessing I've done this 10-15 times. Shoot 38-40 on 9, then shoot 45-53 on other 9 or vice versa. I played with Artm and Greg19 a few years ago and shot what I would call an easy 40 on front. Everything was firing. Smoke 3wd on 10th and then wiped 6i approach into the sh*t and made double. All downhill from there.

We were playing some cash games on our annual Superbowl weekend golf trip a few years ago. The last day, the winds picked up something bad... like 50mph sustained bad. I had all my bets covered by a longshot going into the last couple holes. On 17, I hit my drive down the middle, hit a wedge on the green to about 25', and proceeded to 7 putt for a 9 due to the wind and pin placement. I hit 5 putts in a row that came right back to me. They all stopped just short of the hole and the wind blew them all back to where I started. I lost all my bets by a stroke or two. I could have tripled that hole and still won the majority of them. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result... that was me on that hole.

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The_Dude said:

I'm guessing I've done this 10-15 times. Shoot 38-40 on 9, then shoot 45-53 on other 9 or vice versa. I played with Artm and Greg19 a few years ago and shot what I would call an easy 40 on front. Everything was firing. Smoke 3wd on 10th and then wiped 6i approach into the sh*t and made double. All downhill from there.

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47-32 at Atascocita (Humble, TX) in 1983; that's still my all-time biggest variance!

Easy for me.

I just started playing about a year ago. This past summer was my club championship, but there was a net and gross division. I had been playing pretty well, and felt like I could compete in the net division, and I was right about the "could" part, as a player I am extremely similar to in ability won it with a mid 90s score.

I, on the other hand, shot a 119, and that was after being +1 after 3. I had a hole where I was hitting 4 from the end of the tee box. (flubbed drive to end of tee box. shanked #2 OOB, about 20 ft away.)

It was a complete shXt show.

Next day I went out and shot a 92 on the same course.

was going through a lot of emotional stress, had just gotten some real bad family news, almost canceled but did not want to stand up the group. In retrospect, I should have. I was in a foul mood and trying to mask it. We went to a course that I personally think is the most difficult course I have played (Skamania for those who know it...they literally have a local "suggested" rule on the scorecard that if it goes in the trees you drop within one club length of the trees with a one stroke penalty and play from there).

I proceed to, in a two man scramble, lose something like 18 balls. I was swinging upset with pretty predictable results. It reached its nadir on the following hole:

Par 5 500 yard uphill par 5 that plays about 650. I launched my tee shot out of bounds (into the trees, but same effect). My partner dribbles one about a hundred yards. I launch my second shot ob. I launch my third shot ob. And my fourth. We are still about 180 out laying four, hitting 5. For those who are not math majors, this is not good. Our opponents have long since stopped ribbing us and we can hear them back there saying "I hope he hits a good shot". I whip out my putter, loudly announce, "I am not losing another ball on this hole" and immediately shank it ob into the trees.

About 5 holes later I thought about what an %^ I was being to guys who were my friends and apologized and we all have mentioned that day a few times when someone else is going through something. Weirdly, that day long term was a good thing. Because we have all had rough days outside of golf and now the group is not just golf (okay, it never was), it is also a "hey, lets get member x out from thus and such an issue and help them relax. our friendship is better than ever and we have known each other for going on 29 years and having been there for each other through family problems, deaths...(we were on our way to that same course when one of the guys' mom died), we have shared the triumphs and tragedies together and now we know golf is golf, friends are friends and one means more than the other.

Three come to mind:

1) A four-putt at Pinehurst #6. And it was after I made back-to-back pars and thought I finally was getting my round going. Ended the day with a 91.

2) Years ago, at one of the Pinehurst courses (can't remember which), I had an uphill shot from about 80 yards into the green. Put a wedge on the green, was feeling good. Get up there, putt the ball, just trickled past the edge of the cup. Then kept trickling.. and trickling.. then more speed... then rolled off the green, back down the hill, and I now had 120-130 back into the green. We've all had a ball roll off a fast green on a tough chip or putt. But having to get back in the cart and drive that far back down the hill was demoralizing to say the least.

3) Last year, hooked a drive into a lightly wooded area. Found the ball, decent lie, no big deal. Trying to be Billy Badass, I took a 3-wood and tried to punch out and roll up to the green instead of just popping it out into the fairway and having a manageable third shot into the green (would've probably been an 8 iron or so). Well.... I hit the ball, absolutely drill the skinniest tree on the course, ball comes screaming back at me, I pull what was probably my most athletic move of all time and narrowly dodge the ball hitting me, then watch it as it catches the cart path and rolls back 60-80 yards. All I could do was laugh, finish the hole, and move on.

About 5-6 years ago I worked at a course during the summer. I could golf for free and took advantage of the perk quite often. I invited my friend to join me for a round one day and I would soon regret it. I typically shot between 81-86 on this course. My friend had never beaten me at the time and would typically shoot around 115.
I played the first 5 holes one over par. Things were going pretty well when I teed off on hole six. Hit a nice drive and had a wedge in. I lined up like I always have and hit a screamer at a 45 degree angle right of where I was aimed. The ball never rose more than 3 feet off the ground and I started checking my club to see if something was wrong. I was able to punch close to the green and then chip on. Two putts for a double bogey.
The next hole started off the same with a nice drive followed by another shank and another double bogey. Hole eight was identical but ended with a triple bogey. I’d never hit a shank before in my life and didn’t know what was going on.
Hole 9 was a par 3 over water and I hit multiple shanks into the water. I went from one over through 5 to carding a 53 on the front 9. I did beat my friend by one stroke on the front 9 but knew the back 9 wasn’t going to be good. My friend offered to quit and just go drink beer because he could tell I was getting pissed. I said that he was going to get his moment and kept playing.
The back 9 was horrible. Every iron that I hit was a shank. I drove the ball well but couldn’t get to the green. I was also stubborn and kept trying to fix it on the course even though I didn’t know what was wrong. By the time we reached hole 16, I had put my irons away. I played the final 3 holes with only driver, 3 wood, my hybrid and my putter. I carded a 133 and my friend beat me by 19 strokes.
I went to get a lesson a few days later for the first time in my life. The shanks rear their ugly head 1-2 times every year still though but now I know some drills to fix them. My friend has never come within 15 shots of me since and still gives me crap to this day. It was a life changing round and eventually all of my friends picked up the shanks. We still play and we all fear who will get them the worst each summer. I still don’t know how they just appeared during the round when I had golfed for 8 years without ever hitting a shank. I guess that’s why golf is a four letter word.

AUWU11 said:

Three come to mind:

3) Last year, hooked a drive into a lightly wooded area. Found the ball, decent lie, no big deal. Trying to be Billy Badass, I took a 3-wood and tried to punch out and roll up to the green instead of just popping it out into the fairway and having a manageable third shot into the green (would've probably been an 8 iron or so). Well.... I hit the ball, absolutely drill the skinniest tree on the course, ball comes screaming back at me, I pull what was probably my most athletic move of all time and narrowly dodge the ball hitting me, then watch it as it catches the cart path and rolls back 60-80 yards. All I could do was laugh, finish the hole, and move on.

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This reminds me of another I had. Hit my tee shot, right on the fairway. 145 to the pin. Pull out my 7 Iron. Hit is a little thin, and the low screamer, which hit a grounds under repair stake. You know, the 1" wide, 1' high kind? Yeah, nailed that dead center and it came back at me, and went 20 yards behind me.

OK, one more, but not me, my step brother.

Step Brother is on the Tee. Step Father is kind of behind him to watch where the ball goes. I am across from him, face on.

He takes a mighty swing, and the impact made that nice sound of a well struck ball. Ting! Step brother finishes with a beautiful follow through, and is in the trophy pose.

Step Father and Step brother are looking down the fairway to see where this obviously smoked ball must be headed.

They failed to look at my step brother's feet, which is where the ball was. That wonderful sound was a perfectly struck tee, which he knocked out from underneath the ball, which then basically fell straight down.

I am cracking up, and they are both asking each other if they saw where the ball went.

Couple of years ago, playing at a local par-3 course, I got to the 18th, pulled out my trusty 8i and proceeded to hit the ball 45° off to the right. Dumbfounded, I dropped another ball and hit again ... with the exact same result. Vowing to not let this hole destroy me, I dropped a third ball, adjusted my stance and my address, aaaand pulled this one left right into a pond. I gave myself a 10, and drove away.

The next time I played that hole, same thing, 45° to the right. I haven't used my 8i on that hole since.

I have five putted more than once...
Worst is probably duck hook driver OB, then slice driver OB with provisional, then stupidly i took another provisional and sliced that one even further OB. Finally I hit a 7 iron off the tee