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What Do We Learn From a Bad Round

theoverswinger

theoverswinger

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Yesterday was one of the suckier rounds I've had. I was 20 over on the first nine, and I could only play 12 holes because I had to rush back to work.

Anyway, this is what I got from that lousy round:

=my M1 3W needs work. It may be 16 yards longer than my other 3W, but it's also 50 yards to the right
=my short game sucks.
= on the green, my break reads and AimPoint Express are okay, but my speed read sucks.
=my M1 drive is okay and getting better
=my bunker play was okay.

How about you?
 
First things first bad rounds happen to everyone! When I have a bad round I'm going to attempt this year to keep my head and fight through it. I'm really bad at losing my cool. I need to get better at keeping my head on right and fight through it.
 
Whenever I have a bad round I try to find the root cause. Sometimes one of my already known issues is just worse than usual (sliced drives, inability to chip or putt). If that is the case, I try to focus my next range session on that aspect and get the fundamentals back in line.

Other times it's a complete inability to swing like I want. I had a round a while back like that. I just couldn't get my weight forward and through the ball. I felt it on the first tee box, and it never improved through the round. My mind knew the problem, but just couldn't make my body do what I knew it needed to do. I don't really know what to do about a round like that.
 
When I have a bad round, I look back and see what happened.

Driver lousy? Irons shanked? Bladed bunker shots? Hitting chips and pitches fat? Putting lousy?

I then try to fix one thing - usually the most blatant lousy thing, for that round.

Then, I try again. But I certainly do not dwell on my lousy golf for more than a couple of hours - life is too short.
 
Bad rounds are more about how I handle them emotionally than physically. I need to stay in the moment and not try for hero shots that just make it worse, especially when I'm not swinging well in the first place. I need to work on slowing down. I tend to get very quick with everything when I play poorly.
 
I don't know if I learn anything from bad rounds as I try to forget them as soon as they happen. One thing a bad round does is get me excited for the next round as I very rarely play bad two days in a row. I have even hoped to have a bad practice round before a tournament. As I felt that would increase my odds of having a good tournament round. Crazy I know but it is the way I think.
 
Hox30 said:
First things first bad rounds happen to everyone! When I have a bad round I'm going to attempt this year to keep my head and fight through it. I'm really bad at losing my cool. I need to get better at keeping my head on right and fight through it.
Click to expand...

^^This exactly. A bad shot, or hole, almost always leads to more, for this reason. A bad round will often be followed by another also.
I believe however that I am starting to get a better handle on why I missed a shot, or had a certain miss for most of a round. For me that is key because trying to compensate for a miss, instead of just going back to what I know works, also leads to bad rounds. For example, I sometimes still can't line myself up properly. I can be cruising along playing pretty well, and then hit a drive way right. I have learned, from playing with others, that oftentimes I was aligned that way. In the past, I would immediately think I had made a really poor swing and start trying to change my swing mid round, trying to avoid hitting it right, and it would go downhill form there.
 
the same thing I learn from a bad hole or one bad shot. That golf is very hard to be consistent at doing.
 
I used to go right to the equipment pondering thread. Now i go back to the Grandaddy thread and all is good again
 
Bad rounds tell me I have work to do. Maybe change my focus a bit on the range. But in the end I play for fun and enjoyment of the game.
 
Intestinal fortitude. when I'm in the midst of a bad round, I try to just get back to basics. After that round, I will ponder a couple of things I can work on, and proceed to address them.
 
I think a bad round usually shows me what I really need to work on. But some rounds I just feel like I don't have it that day. In the past I used to get really angry and compound the issues. My focus for this year is grinding through it and trying to see what I did right. I think if I stay positive even during bad rounds my overall scores will improve.
 
I think a bad round shows me what particular part of my swing or club I need to focus on at the range the following week and also where to miss on the course.

If you are going to play the same course often knowing where to miss will help your scores over time. I've been playing my home course(s), one of four primarily, for almost 2 years now and still find places that I don't ever want to be in again. Especially specific bunkers. So in a green that is surrounded by bunkers there may be one better suited as a bailout zone as opposed to the opposite side of the green. My iron miss is also typically a hook and there are plenty of greens with water left. So instead of going for the pin, or even the center of the green on those holes, I should probably favor the right side of the green as there is a great bailout spot right on most of those same holes.

I almost wish score cards came with players guides telling you were the safe bailout places are.
 
Bad rounds tell me it is golf, golf is hard and I don't have enough time to practice adequately for my skill level to really sweat it.
 
I learn two things. 1) I see where my practice is not translating to play. 2) I learn how well (or poorly) I respond to the frustration and pressure that builds from playing poorly. I try to refine my practice based on 1). The second is harder to address for me at least. My anxious energy level ramps up as I get frustrated, and that's not helpful. I need to develop a better framework to let the bad shots, holes, rounds go. This is a not a quick process.
 
I've had a couple bad ones the last 2 rounds. I learned I need to practice more because I need to get more comfortable in my swing.
I learn I need to manage the course better. Even when I don't have my best swing I can still post a decent score if I can put myself in good spots.


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I typically learn (or reinforce) where my weak spots are, which directs my practice going forward. It can also tell me what shots I should be hitting and which ones are hurting me.

For instance, lately I've been fighting a natural draw trying to hit a fade, and it's resulted in a lot of big left misses. I need to embrace the draw.

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When I have a bad round, I try to think of why. Was it a swing issue? Was it errors that I usually don't see? Was it me trying hero shots? Did I compound mistakes by compounding mistakes? Was it just an off day?

Not all bad rounds are created equal.
 
What do I learn? A bad day on the course is still better than being in the office working

Like blu says, I try to look at what caused the round to be so bad - if it was one particular thing then I will try to work on it at the range, otherwise I will chalk it up to just being one of those days

Sometimes you can hit good shots and have bad bounces that put you in trouble, other times you can hit a bad shot that gets a lucky bounce so I try not to let it get to me and just be grateful that I can still play the game
 
My front 9 in my last round was horrible. Started DB, triple bogey, bogey, 12, DB. After the 12 I was nearly in tears - two lost balls on the hole - one off the tee, another the result of a shank into very tall rough.

I was going to a very dark place.

I was beyond trouble shooting. Go back to what worked. I had been going through a swing change with my coach. The swing change wasn't working. I went back to what worked prior to the change and started striking the ball better.

I'm through messing with my swing. I'm just going to play.
 
The Milk Man said:
I try to forget them as soon as they happen.
Click to expand...

This is me. "Bad round? Did I even play golf just now?"

I'm not going to beat myself up trying to tweak or figure out what I did wrong on that round considering that the next time I am on the course it will be something different that will hitch my swing. I'm not planning on earning a card to play golf... I'm focusing on the word "play". Fun. Not work.
 
My last terrible round I learn that when I am struggling as badly with the driver as I was then trying to cut doglegs and go over houses isn't very optimal and some days I should just pull out the cut 3 hybrid that is mostly reliable and I can carry it 200-210 pretty easily and even where I am aiming. I think I lit at least 10 shots on fire with awful non needed risks with the driver. Was with a group of THP'ers so they can attest to how god awful I was off the tee. I believe one comment was "how the hell did the ball do that" when I hit a toe snap hook knuckle ball that went about 100 yards and it dive bombed down and left that looked like it had top spin.
 
A big lesson I learned Friday was how unprepared I was for alternate shot.


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I almost always hit the range after a bad round and stay until I have some understanding of what swing flaw was ailing me that day.
 
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