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What causes you to play bad?

Wedge play and putting. I used to call it a strength, but it has quickly turned into a weakness. I was spraying wedges on the range and bladed a couple on the course. It just sucks when you pump a driver out there and can't hit the green with a wedge in hand. And when I actually do hit a GIR, my putting has been so bad lately, it's not an automatic par. I feel like I should par every GIR that I hit. I'm happy that my driver, FW and hybrids are better than ever, but man it sucks not to trust your short game.
 
Inconsistent green speeds - I love putting however if one green is super slow and the next medium speed and the one after lightning fast then back to slow - that can wreck my score...
 
For me it is inconsistent practice


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I am struggling to overcome all of my bad habits. I keep pulling my arms in at the top of my backswing. Or on my downswing, before the club hits the ball. I keep looking up before hit the ball on my chip shots. I keep aligning myself wayyyy to the right of my target line. Or wayyyy to the left. My address posture is all over the place. My grip is all over the place. My ball position keeps drifting back in my stance. And I haven't figured out a way to stop doing these things when my golf instructor is not there to let me know that I'm doing them. If he's not there, I just don't realize what I'm doing, and it's all a guessing game in my head.
 
When I play tired, I play badly. I've started carrying some energy shots that I will use when I feel my focus waning. It makes a big difference for me.

Also, when I play angry, I play badly. If I have had a bad day, many times I will bail on a round if it affects nobody else.
 
Usually if I'm in a hurry, that I need to finish a round fast, it usually goes badly. Hurry and too many work related thoughts, those ruin my rounds.
 
Most of my bad play is me getting down on myself. I have a few bad holes and the round turns sour and then I get bummed out that I'm not going to play as well as I imagine I should be. I focus on the outcome of the round rather than the shot that is in front of me. I try not to let it affect the other players but I know it does. It's something I'm trying to work on.
 
My equipment obviously.
 
For me its when I lose my tempo or rather that I just don't have it. When I'm playing bad (with the understanding that I never play that well), my buds typically tell me that I'm swinging faster than high school sex.
 
Hawk said:
Being bad is reason enough imo. The question is, why do I play well sometimes.
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Because it's just enough to keep you coming back rather than throwing your clubs off the tallest bridge you can find and taking up fishing.

The golf gods take delight in tormenting the average hacker and they have devised this wicked feedback loop to be the source of our constant frustration and their perpetual delight.
 
The kaleidoscope of swing images & the waterfall of mechanical swing thoughts are probably the 2 biggest culprits.
And being an HLM (head lifting moron).
 
LeftySean said:
I am struggling to overcome all of my bad habits. I keep pulling my arms in at the top of my backswing. Or on my downswing, before the club hits the ball. I keep looking up before hit the ball on my chip shots. I keep aligning myself wayyyy to the right of my target line. Or wayyyy to the left. My address posture is all over the place. My grip is all over the place. My ball position keeps drifting back in my stance. And I haven't figured out a way to stop doing these things when my golf instructor is not there to let me know that I'm doing them. If he's not there, I just don't realize what I'm doing, and it's all a guessing game in my head.
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I'm right there with you.
 
Tempo and short game are the big areas for me. This becomes more apparent when I don't play on a consistent basis. The range does help out in this regard, but my best scores usually come when I play a lot of golf over a short time span.
 
Lack of sleep the night before. I make more mental errors and get frustrated easier.


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Tadashi70 said:
With THP getting into full swing of its events like Legacy, Gauntlet and Grandaddy I thought it would be great to share. Share with us what causes you to play poorly. We don't set out to play bad when we arrive at the course but somehow it happens. The question was asked by Neb golfer in the Grandaddy Thread to Cookie. I think others should share was makes them fall short. Whether it be an 18 hole match or a long weekend of matches at your ckub or a THP event. Where does the break down occur? Can you over come the bad play? Does it rub off on your partner?
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My head... I'll let my backswing get too quick and that leads to bad shots for me. I can usually pull myself out of it, but it may take a couple of holes.
 
Sometimes my body just doesn't do what I want it to. I can slow my swing down and focus and do everything right, but sometimes its just doesn't make it from my head to my body. Just one of the things that happens when you destroy your back.
 
Great thread! With me, it always comes down to letting bad habits (tendencies really) to come out on the course. I can keep them at bay all day on the range, but for some reason, they will want to creep into my game during play.

I have ALWAYS fought: OTT, poor alignment, steep path into impact, poor timing.

I know that any of these can cause poor shots, yet I still let these faults plague me. It's almost as if these bad tendencies are some sort of "comfort zone" that I fall into. And the more that's at stake, the harder I have to try to keep these faults at bay. Damn this game, I love it so!
 
There are days I show up to the course with just a bad swing. I could have shot great the day or two before but in this particular day my swing just isn't there. Now I have had days like that where I buckle down mentally and still shoot a decent score. Though typically I lose the mental battle and struggle to make pars and bogeys.
 
I lose focus when I am playing poorly, mainly because I'm trying to troubleshoot my swing instead of playing golf. I also have a bad habit of playing to my competition. It helps when I play with golfers better than I am, but man does it suck when I sink to the level of the group I'm hacking around with. I haven't figured that one out yet, but I plan on doing so this season hopefully.
 
It's pretty obvious (for me) what causes me to play bad....lack of practice.
 
I normally like to take my time "prepping" before I get to the course. My prep includes, a quick stretch, practice swings and hitting a small bucket of balls at the range. I like to get to the course early, practice chipping and putting and have my stuff in order.

When I heading to the course straight from work, running up to the tee box and just swinging cold, thats when I play terrible. Then it takes me 4 holes to warm up finally and start playing better.

So I would say rushing in general causes me to play bad.
 
When I am in a hurry because I'm late. That's trouble. I feel rushed (cause I'm late) an it's hard to get rid of that feeling for the first hour or more.

I like just ten minutes or so to check in use restroom and take couple practice swings. Rarely do the range or practice green. It always takes me 9 holes to get warmed up. On average is would say I play the back 9 four strokes better than the front 9.
 
My biggest problem, is letting my past shots go and focusing on the next ones. I've gotten a lot better over the years, but there are still sometimes when I will have stretches during a round I get so wrapped up in the poor shot I hit 2 or 3 holes ago, that I just keep hitting poor shots. After 3-4 holes where I really let my score get away from me, I just get to the point where I don't care and I start hitting good shots again. At that point though, I've usually doubled or tripled a few holes and completely ruined any shot a posting a respectable score.
 
Mental Illness :bulgy-eyes:
 
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