One of those "can't get any worse" rounds...

cyoung2ty

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I played my first tournament of 2016 on Saturday... and I use the term 'played' very loosely in relation to this round.

Last season, I joined the Golfweek Amateur Tour in Charlotte... played in 14 of the 17 tournaments, including all 4 of the two-day tournaments... qualified to go to Hilton Head and finished in a tie for 33rd out of 167 entries in the three-day C Flight Championship. I played well... but I didn't win any tournaments.

Coming in to this season, I felt like I was going to be able to post some nice scores and possibly get myself a win. I'd kept swinging clubs throughout the entire 'lay off' between late October and the first tournament of 2016. I played a round at the course we were going to be playing a few weeks prior and I posted a 93, which is about average for me. With a few weeks to prepare... I primarily swung clubs in my garage, hitting 'almost golf balls' into a tarp... sometimes with Optishot to give me a visual... sometimes just hitting the ball off the mat.

I had high hopes... and then Saturday arrived.

I'll spare you the details of each shot, but... I absolutely bombed. I posted a 115... next to last in the flight... and felt like nothing went right.

I made one par, and that was ONLY because I skulled a bunker shot into the pin and it settled 8 inches from the hole. I made 12 triple bogeys, including a stretch of 6 consecutive holes at one point. I needed 40 putts. It was just ugly all-around.

I've always had a fade with my irons... but I had been playing a tiny draw with my driver since March of last season. It was all horrible, horrible slices the entire day. I'm talking 50+ yards off the tee and 20-40 yards from the fairway and rough... with EVERY club.

I came home... left the clubs in the trunk... and they're gonna sit there until next week. I need to figure out what I was doing wrong because I can honestly say I've got ZERO idea what was going on. I've always had an over-the-top move with my irons... but my swing didn't necessarily feel different. The only thing I can think is that maybe my swing was all arms that day and it made my OTT move worse and helped to keep the face open at impact, resulting in the slice I was dealing with.

I've never had a round like that before. I've posted some worse scores when I first got back into golf in 2003 and 2004... but I at least had SOMETHING to hang my hat on at the end of the day. After this round... not a single stroke of the 115 I took was worthy of looking back on and saying I had something to put in the mental bank for another day. I need to erase this one from my memory entirely.

:beat-up:
 
Sorry about the bad luck. Golf is crazy like that, I think we can all relate!

Chances are, you'd go out today and shoot 20 shots better without doing anything different that you can feel. (I've done that before myself).

Keep your head up. It's early in the season, LOTS of golf left to be played!
 
Happens to all of us, take a break and then get back to grinding
 
I forget who said it but "you only borrow a golf swing". It comes and goes when it wants to for no good reason. It will be back!!! Hang in there and make sure you enjoy the surroundings and people while your working and waiting!!
 
I feel your pain oh too well. I had a major glitch in my swing last year that had me dumbfounded, balls would fly off my irons at a 45 degree angle. I wanted to give up. Clear your head, maybe even take a little time off from playing and I am telling you your game will come back.
 
Happens to all of us. Golf karma would point to you having a fantastic round sometime soon.
 
I always find a short memory is the key. Every trip to the course is different than the last/next. No reason to worry about that day unless you start doing it consistently, and once you start doing it consistently you can begin to fix it.

Good Luck!
 
The game of golf. Some days are good and some days are bad. Good thing is there is another chance to go play again. As amateurs golf is about having fun and enjoying the game. Take a mental day and the go hit some balls outside and see where you are at.
 
It will come back to you. Have to forget it and move on, it happens and nothing you can do about it. Get back out and hit the range or play a practice round and have fun.
 
Crazy how it happens without explanation from time to time - just feel like you cannot do anything right. When I've felt that way, I usually take a handful of days or week off and make sure that the next time or two out, I am playing casually (not really for score and even better if I can drop practice shots, etc.) and focused more on feeling things out with different shots than always having to execute perfectly to score. I also try to fit in a couple of range sessions, but primarily focused on short irons. I feel that I tend to get back to my game when I focus on wedges - feel and swing seems to come back more easily than long irons and woods.
 
I had a similar round like that last season. It was almost laughable, low pull hooks with anything longer than a 7 iron for almost the entire round.
You need to take a step back and reset but, at the same time, I needed to figure out what went wrong so if it happened again I might be able to do something to get back on track so the whole round isn't lost.
 
Dude, that happens to all of us at some point (in my case multiple times in the short years I've been playing :(). I went on a guys trip to to the shore and after playing terrific the weeks leading up to the trip, but on the actual trip, I started slicing tee shots off the tee (if anything I normally hook the ball as my miss). Going with friends to to nearest wings joint and realizing it's just a game calmed me down. While I didn't fix it all the way the next day, I still went out and had fun. Golf is frustrating like that, where you think you have certain parts of your game working only to have it fall apart. Just relax, get a professional teacher to look at your swing and figure out what went wrong. It's a journey that has many paths, some great, some not so great.
 
That's the game, man. I played in a scramble last summer where nearly every iron shot was a slice. Not even a fade. A slice. And I pretty much NEVER fade irons more than 2-3 yards, and that's long irons only. I have no idea what happened.

2 weeks later I went out with the exact same swing thoughts and feels, and was hitting the ball solidly. It just happens.
 
My last round I shot a 70...on the front. Yes that was accurate scoring. I managed to cut 17 strokes on the back. It was nauseatingly awful. But my last two range sessions were pretty good. It comes and goes, sometimes wildly.
 
It happens to all of us. Get some real range time where you can see where the ball is going so that you can refine your swing based on feedback.

Same thing happened to me around November, for no reason at all, I developed this high, weak hook in my drive when I would usually hit straight or fades.

It took some range time and a couple of games to iron it out.

Unfortunately, the golf swing is an adjustment of subtleties. "Fix" the swing too much and sometimes it's even worse than before.

When things don't go my way, I focus on good ball contact, eventually things get better from there. You need to trust your body sometimes, less manipulation and conscious movement and more loading and unloading of the swing.

And you're "working" golf, not playing it. You're making it sound like a root canal. You're outside and not stuck inside, you're supposed to be having fun, not doing penitence, regardless of score.

Winning in tournaments takes some preparation. You need to learn the lay of the course, and be physically prepared and psyched for it. My more "serious" friends make it a point to play a course a few days before the tourney - choosing caddies, getting the feel of the greens and the greenside rough, just getting some oil into one's game. Winning a tournament also takes some luck and a lot of grinding (see Rickie and Matsuyama).

Have a beer, get back on the range or course, and have fun. The wins, or at least places, will come.
 
Thanks everybody!

It was certainly an experience. I definitely plan to take a few days off, as many have said, and then just reset myself next week with some range work and then maybe a 9 hole round to get my feel back.

I've been playing since the summer of 1993 (with a break required to learn how to parent between 2000 and 2003). I don't think I've ever hit more poor shots in a single round.

I appreciate the kind words! Here's to hoping next time out it's all reset!
 
Golf is day to day, even the world class best players. Don't let one bad event keep you from playing and having fun.
 
sounds like my first round with thp'ers lol! it happens. next time you go out you'll probably go lights out.
 
When this happens to me I find usually that stepping away for a few days fixes most of it. Your probably just in your own head.
 
It's what I call the "Quicksand Round". The harder you fight it the worse it gets. Best part about it is it's over and you can forget it and move on. Tomorrow is a new day and your next round has 18 birdie opportunities
 
From one C-Flighter to another (I played GWAT for two years) brush it off. Chances are that every single other guy in your flight is going to have one (or more) of those tournaments too. Shake it off and come back to the next tournament like you know you can. Hang in there.

BTW, you really should try to get into an event or two with THP if your schedule allows. It really is more fun....... For me anyway.

JM
 
That is simply a description of the game we call golf. We all go through it occasionally. Put the round behind you; easier said than done, and try to remember how well you can hit the ball and the scores you can shoot.
 
That's rough man, but hang in there. I can definitely relate and I've found the best way to get past it is to keep grinding and don't beat yourself up too bad!
 
That's golf. I've gotten 15 shots better on the same course from Saturday to Sunday. The next round will be better!
 
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