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What do you do to recover from a bad round?


Dave325
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Since I have started getting serious with golf last summer, I have been putting a heck of lot of time into practicing and trying to improve my swing. Yesterday, I had one of the worst rounds I have ever played and couldn't figure out what was wrong. How is that even possible to practice more, and play worse? How do I break out of this funk? It seems that I love to practice... Not so enjoy the course play....but I want to. Sorry... A bit frustrated and discouraged.  And what's worse, the two golf buddies I played with made the comment that they haven't played since November! Grrrrr.... Really?

The question I have here is that... Has anybody run into a similar issue with your own game? What did you do (or, do you do) to recover and maybe use the event to help you in the future?  Maybe I am practicing wrong.... Or too much?  Going to head over to the range today and try to figure out what the heck is going on. Trying to stay positive... But it's hard. Any help (or hugs) would be appreciated. 

Dave

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I had this happen over this past summer, I shoot consistently in the 70's, a really bad day might see me touch the 80's. I went to NY to visit some family over the summer and played a couple of courses that I knew well enough and have shot similar scores to my average. Well, ended up shooting a 96 one day and shot an 88 the next day. After those two rounds I went back to my normal scoring. Don't read too much into one or even two bad rounds, it happens. If you go into a streak of bad rounds then it's time to take a look at things and often it comes down to having someone else look at your swing or if you know enough, make a recording and check it out. Often it's just something minor like your ball position moved just a little bit. 

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I can definitely relate!  I have a pretty good practice set up in my back yard hitting into a 10 x 10 x 10 cage. I can also practice short pitches and chips from about 50 feet, and have alignment sticks set up in a diamond pattern to practice mini draws and fades. (may post a photo later).  I also believe that it is a good idea to lay off practice for a bit or at least "mix it up".  Sometimes I notice the swing will deteriorate even during practice. (fatigue?)  One example would be, I start off in the morning hitting really good shots, then later on in the same day, possibly after a nap, go back outside and can do nothing  right.  When that happens, I simply walk away until the next day. As for video taping your own swing.....good and bad (for me).  Good in that I can often see something I am doing wrong.....Bad in that when I am swinging good, see something wrong, try to correct it and it gets worse....kind of like  "If it ain't broke....Don't try an fix it".

"James"

:titleist: 913 D3 with Aldila RIP Phenom 60 4,2 Regular Shaft,  :touredge: Exotics XCG-7 Beta 3W with Matrix Red Tie Shaft:touredge: Exotics EX8 19 deg Hybrid w UST Mamiya Recoil F3 Shaft:touredge: Exotics EX9 28 deg Hybrid w UST Mamiya Recoil F3  shaft, / Bobby Jones Black 22 deg Hybrid:touredge: Exotics EXi 6 -PW  w UST Mamiya Recoil F2 Shaft, SW (56),GW (52),LW (60):touredge:  TGS),/ ODDYSEE Metal-X #7 customized putter (400G, cut down Mid Belly)

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Dave,

 I think it would be difficult for anyone to provide you with an intelligent response to your request without observing your round or viewing your swing and seeing the things that you did on the course which resulted in your "bad round". I would suggest to you that you should get in a habit of recording statistical data of every hole of ebery round of golf that you play in making a note of how many fairways you hit, how many greens you hit in regulation, how many putts, how many up &downs, how many penalty strokes, etc.... Keep accurate records and review them to help you identify what are the specific aspects of your game that are giving you the most problem. Seeing that you are a 20 handicap, I would suggest you take your observations to your local PGA teaching pro to chart a course for improving your game. They can see things in your game, swing, shot technique, course mangement that you will never be able to identify by  yourself. This approach is the only sure-fire way I know of that will take your game to the next level. Give this a try. I am confident you will see results if you follow this approach.

Best Wishes,

The Boss

 

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Usually I don't do anything if it's just one bad round. Then again, all rounds are good in one way or another for me. I'm golfing, it was just a poor round. I can learn from my poor rounds too. 

Now if something annoying creeps into my game for multiple rounds, that I can't figure out, I might take a few days off from the game. That usually fixes the the problem.

Worst case is I will start from scratch. By that I mean I will start with chipping. When I have that down, I will move to short/longer pitches. When I am good with that stroke, I will move on to longer approach shots. When I can move on from there, I will go with my metal woods, and eventually on to my driver. This regimen always fixes what is causing me problems when I have used it. 

In My Bag:
A whole bunch of Tour Edge golf stuff...... :beer:

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2 minutes ago, The Boss said:

Dave,

 I think it would be difficult for anyone to provide you with an intelligent response to your request without observing your round or viewing your swing and seeing the things that you did on the course which resulted in your "bad round". I would suggest to you that you should get in a habit of recording statistical data of every hole of ebery round of golf that you play in making a note of how many fairways you hit, how many greens you hit in regulation, how many putts, how many up &downs, how many penalty strokes, etc.... Keep accurate records and review them to help you identify what are the specific aspects of your game that are giving you the most problem. Seeing that you are a 20 handicap, I would suggest you take your observations to your local PGA teaching pro to chart a course for improving your game. They can see things in your game, swing, shot technique, course mangement that you will never be able to identify by  yourself. This approach is the only sure-fire way I know of that will take your game to the next level. Give this a try. I am confident you will see results if you follow this approach.

Best Wishes,

The Boss

 

sound logic prevails!

 

"James"

:titleist: 913 D3 with Aldila RIP Phenom 60 4,2 Regular Shaft,  :touredge: Exotics XCG-7 Beta 3W with Matrix Red Tie Shaft:touredge: Exotics EX8 19 deg Hybrid w UST Mamiya Recoil F3 Shaft:touredge: Exotics EX9 28 deg Hybrid w UST Mamiya Recoil F3  shaft, / Bobby Jones Black 22 deg Hybrid:touredge: Exotics EXi 6 -PW  w UST Mamiya Recoil F2 Shaft, SW (56),GW (52),LW (60):touredge:  TGS),/ ODDYSEE Metal-X #7 customized putter (400G, cut down Mid Belly)

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34 minutes ago, Patch said:

Usually I don't do anything if it's just one bad round. Then again, all rounds are good in one way or another for me. I'm golfing, it was just a poor round. I can learn from my poor rounds too. 

Now if something annoying creeps into my game for multiple rounds, that I can't figure out, I might take a few days off from the game. That usually fixes the the problem.

Worst case is I will start from scratch. By that I mean I will start with chipping. When I have that down, I will move to short/longer pitches. When I am good with that stroke, I will move on to longer approach shots. When I can move on from there, I will go with my metal woods, and eventually on to my driver. This regimen always fixes what is causing me problems when I have used it. 

Hey Patch,

  The 2 faults I find in your approach are 1) how do you really know if your swing, or shot technique, or alignment, or club selection is at fault and is the root cause of you losing strokes?, and 2) if you do not chart your rounds of golf taking detailed records of your game stats then how do you really know what are your problem areas? You need to identify (in order to improve) where you are losing strokes. How are you doing this without records?

Best Wishes

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2 hours ago, Dave325 said:

Since I have started getting serious with golf last summer, I have been putting a heck of lot of time into practicing and trying to improve my swing. Yesterday, I had one of the worst rounds I have ever played and couldn't figure out what was wrong. How is that even possible to practice more, and play worse? How do I break out of this funk? It seems that I love to practice... Not so enjoy the course play....but I want to. Sorry... A bit frustrated and discouraged.  And what's worse, the two golf buddies I played with made the comment that they haven't played since November! Grrrrr.... Really?

The question I have here is that... Has anybody run into a similar issue with your own game? What did you do (or, do you do) to recover and maybe use the event to help you in the future?  Maybe I am practicing wrong.... Or too much?  Going to head over to the range today and try to figure out what the heck is going on. Trying to stay positive... But it's hard. Any help (or hugs) would be appreciated. 

As far as practicing wrong or too much goes ... That's an entirely unrelated question.  It's possible, but no amount of practicing correctly is going to eliminate bad rounds.  Those simply happen.  Golf is hard and bad rounds are never going to go away.  As you improve they'll likely improve with you, but they'll still be there.  When your good round is a 90, maybe your bad round is a 105.  When your good round becomes an 80, then perhaps your bad round is a 97.  As an example,  in my last half dozen or so rounds, I've shot a 73, a 77, and a 78 ... and I've also shot an 86, a 90, and a 94.  Not exactly a pillar of consistency.

But ... It happens.  Just keep at it as long as you keep enjoying the game.

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1 hour ago, The Boss said:

Hey Patch,

  The 2 faults I find in your approach are 1) how do you really know if your swing, or shot technique, or alignment, or club selection is at fault and is the root cause of you losing strokes?, and 2) if you do not chart your rounds of golf taking detailed records of your game stats then how do you really know what are your problem areas? You need to identify (in order to improve) where you are losing strokes. How are you doing this without records?

Best Wishes

At my age, my scores tells me everything I need to know. My ball flights also tells me how I am swinging my clubs. When I hit a bad shot, because of how long I have been playing, I usually know what I did wrong, and what the correction might be.

 One bad round for me is no big deal. I never worry about one bad round. Three bad rounds in a short period of time will get my attention. I suppose a  poor round for me is any thing over 84 due to my own consistent swing. 

My most consistent problem is fatigue, and complacency when my scores get out of whack. That's why stepping away from the game for a few days is my normal fix. 

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In My Bag:
A whole bunch of Tour Edge golf stuff...... :beer:

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2 hours ago, The Boss said:

Dave,

 I think it would be difficult for anyone to provide you with an intelligent response to your request without observing your round or viewing your swing and seeing the things that you did on the course which resulted in your "bad round". I would suggest to you that you should get in a habit of recording statistical data of every hole of ebery round of golf that you play in making a note of how many fairways you hit, how many greens you hit in regulation, how many putts, how many up &downs, how many penalty strokes, etc.... Keep accurate records and review them to help you identify what are the specific aspects of your game that are giving you the most problem. Seeing that you are a 20 handicap, I would suggest you take your observations to your local PGA teaching pro to chart a course for improving your game. They can see things in your game, swing, shot technique, course mangement that you will never be able to identify by  yourself. This approach is the only sure-fire way I know of that will take your game to the next level. Give this a try. I am confident you will see results if you follow this approach.

Best Wishes,

The Boss

 

That's an interesting thought about keeping a record. Other than making mental notes along the way, I have never given that much thought to it. I do know that I had poor drives on the 10 of 18 holes (the ones I nailed were three out of four of the par threes whereI hit the green).

What type of records do you keep.... I was just thinking about carrying a small notebook with me (shrug). On the teaching pro idea.... I totally agree.... I already use Evolvr, but have never had an in-person lesson, so I scheduled to go up to Erie at the end of February.

Dave

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47 minutes ago, Dave325 said:

That's an interesting thought about keeping a record. Other than making mental notes along the way, I have never given that much thought to it. I do know that I had poor drives on the 10 of 18 holes (the ones I nailed were three out of four of the par threes whereI hit the green).

What type of records do you keep.... I was just thinking about carrying a small notebook with me (shrug). On the teaching pro idea.... I totally agree.... I already use Evolvr, but have never had an in-person lesson, so I scheduled to go up to Erie at the end of February.

Hey Dave,

. You really need to determine where in your game are you losing strokes the most. Taking detailed records will help identify the weakest parts of your game and theses are the areas you should focus most of your time and energy with the help of a PGA teaching pro. Good stats to keep every round are:

fairways hit,

greens in regulation,

distance of approach shot,

up and downs,

# of putts,

penalty strokes,

bunker up and downs.

 These are good for starters. Also write down the clubs you used for each shot and do this only if you are not holding up playing partners. When you get home input this data into a journal you keep. After 10 rounds of golf closely review all this data and see where most of your strokes are being lost. I suspect that you, like a lot of golfers, are losing many in the short game area more so than other problem areas. Once you can positively identify these areas you need to find out what the root causes are. This is where a trained PGA pro can help you greatly. Asking for your friend's help or your dad usually doesn't work. Appyling this method I have found will speed up greatly the develpoment of your game. During my own personal journey as I made this progression, I learned that as I improved my game I actually enjoyed the game even more and the better I got The more I liked it. A very large part of enjoying this game is in the journey to improve more so then actually getting to a final destination with the game. I also have learned that no matter how good you get though, that you will never reach a point in your game where you feel you cannot improve it. I guess what I am saying is enjoy the journey. Golf is a game that can be played and enjoyed over the course of your life.

Best Wishes,

The Boss

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I forget my bad round as soon as possible, within hours.  But in subsequent practice sessions, I tried to focus on what didn't work in the round.  

RiCK

(Play it again, Sam)

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I suck at golf still. I deal with bad rounds by simply remembering that a bad day golfing beats the best day working or doing chores. It's supposed to be fun and an enjoyment. If I am on course and game goes to hell I just laugh and go with it and remember where I am: on a beautiful golf course, outdoors in nature usually in the company of a friend or friends. It's still fun. I golf for enjoyment not a living and so I try to get my enjoyment even from a bad round of golf. 

If you are a decent golfer there also is some relief in having a bad round: your getting it out of the way and behind you. Order a beverage from the cart girl, pause and look around at your surroundings and just remember it can always be worse. We're lucky to get to play. 

Edited by Gator Hazard
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35 minutes ago, Gator Hazard said:

I suck at golf still. I deal with bad rounds by simply remembering that a bad day golfing beats the best day working or doing chores. It's supposed to be fun and an enjoyment. If I am on course and game goes to hell I just laugh and go with it and remember where I am: on a beautiful golf course, outdoors in nature usually in the company of a friend or friends. It's still fun. I golf for enjoyment not a living and so I try to get my enjoyment even from a bad round of golf. 

If you are a decent golfer there also is some relief in having a bad round: your getting it out of the way and behind you. Order a beverage from the cart girl, pause and look around at your surroundings and just remember it can always be worse. We're lucky to get to play. 

Hey Gator,

Hard to disagree with you on any of this. Life is too short to not enjoy every round of golf no matter what you shoot.

Best Wishes,

The Boss

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3 hours ago, The Boss said:

Hey Dave,

. You really need to determine where in your game are you losing strokes the most. Taking detailed records will help identify the weakest parts of your game and theses are the areas you should focus most of your time and energy with the help of a PGA teaching pro. Good stats to keep every round are:

fairways hit,

greens in regulation,

distance of approach shot,

up and downs,

# of putts,

penalty strokes,

bunker up and downs.

 These are good for starters. Also write down the clubs you used for each shot and do this only if you are not holding up playing partners. When you get home input this data into a journal you keep. After 10 rounds of golf closely review all this data and see where most of your strokes are being lost. I suspect that you, like a lot of golfers, are losing many in the short game area more so than other problem areas. Once you can positively identify these areas you need to find out what the root causes are. This is where a trained PGA pro can help you greatly. Asking for your friend's help or your dad usually doesn't work. Appyling this method I have found will speed up greatly the develpoment of your game. During my own personal journey as I made this progression, I learned that as I improved my game I actually enjoyed the game even more and the better I got The more I liked it. A very large part of enjoying this game is in the journey to improve more so then actually getting to a final destination with the game. I also have learned that no matter how good you get though, that you will never reach a point in your game where you feel you cannot improve it. I guess what I am saying is enjoy the journey. Golf is a game that can be played and enjoyed over the course of your life.

Best Wishes,

The Boss

Great advice! I am going to do this. And, I am printing off your response and hanging it above my desk.... Especially the part about the journey. Thank you very much!

1 hour ago, Gator Hazard said:

I suck at golf still. I deal with bad rounds by simply remembering that a bad day golfing beats the best day working or doing chores. It's supposed to be fun and an enjoyment. If I am on course and game goes to hell I just laugh and go with it and remember where I am: on a beautiful golf course, outdoors in nature usually in the company of a friend or friends. It's still fun. I golf for enjoyment not a living and so I try to get my enjoyment even from a bad round of golf. 

If you are a decent golfer there also is some relief in having a bad round: your getting it out of the way and behind you. Order a beverage from the cart girl, pause and look around at your surroundings and just remember it can always be worse. We're lucky to get to play. 

So, so, so true! It so easy to get wrapped up in ourselves and our performance and forget the blessings of just being able to get out and play. 

So, after beating myself up sufficiently and whining way too much.... I am encouraged to get back to it and enjoy nature, enjoy the journey and just love to play.... And remember the blessing... We get to play this fine game. Just got back from the range and was able to dissect some my swing issues, so that was good. Thank you to everyone for their responses. I truly appreciate it and don't take it for granted. THANKS!!! You all are the best!

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Dave

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9 hours ago, Dave325 said:

Since I have started getting serious with golf last summer, I have been putting a heck of lot of time into practicing and trying to improve my swing. Yesterday, I had one of the worst rounds I have ever played and couldn't figure out what was wrong. How is that even possible to practice more, and play worse? How do I break out of this funk? It seems that I love to practice... Not so enjoy the course play....but I want to. Sorry... A bit frustrated and discouraged.  And what's worse, the two golf buddies I played with made the comment that they haven't played since November! Grrrrr.... Really?

The question I have here is that... Has anybody run into a similar issue with your own game? What did you do (or, do you do) to recover and maybe use the event to help you in the future?  Maybe I am practicing wrong.... Or too much?  Going to head over to the range today and try to figure out what the heck is going on. Trying to stay positive... But it's hard. Any help (or hugs) would be appreciated. 

As another 20 handicapper.... I try to recover during the round and just have some fun. Three putt or double bogey the previous hole? Make sure I have my gears in order on my practice swing for my next tee shot, then knock the snot out of it. Hopefully it stays in play. If it does? Great! Perhaps I can turn it around. If it doesn't? No loss, the round sucked anyway. I ended my season last year after scoring a 14 on the 12th hole and a triple on the 13th with three pars on the last five holes. This was a tournament round. 

But if that doesn't happen.... here's what I do. If the round was really depressing, I buy a pint of chocolate ice cream and eat half of it. I take a day off. Go to the range one day to  make sure the gears are still in order. The following day I play a fun round by myself, play preferred lies, use the foot wedge, and don't keep score. No pressure. And this year you can't report your solo rounds so who cares if you play by the rules during those practice rounds anyway?

You say you love to practice. That's the range. The range presents one lie: the tight, flat lie, and it's usually off a mat. The course presents an entirely different set of challenges than the range: the sidehill, the downhill, the uphill, the tight, the fairway, the rough, bunkers, woods. and others including the flat. Most of these you haven't mastered.

Why can't you practice on the golf course if you're not holding up play? Pros play practice rounds. Ah, but they don't keep handicaps! So what. Why does every round of golf you play have to count toward your handicap? Just don't play by RoG and they don't. They're practice. If you play twice a week. Play one round practice, and one round for handicap. It takes the pressure off performing every time you set foot on the course. 

If I had to perform every time I sat down at the piano, I'd never play. Sometimes I want to play for enjoyment. Sometimes I don't want to take a repeat in a piece of music, so I skip it. No harm, no foul. My dad isn't looking over my shoulder with a stick anymore making sure I do everything perfectly. Do that with golf. Play for enjoyment. We're not making a living doing this. 

Why do I even keep a handicap? Just in case I decide to play in a tournament. Or decide to play in a friendly match game. 

PS: Fairways hit is a very overrated statistic - Paula Creamer shot a 65 today and hit only 4 fairways. Her drives were playable and she had great GIR. Still the top GIR was Stacy Lewis with 17. And Charley Hull said "**** hell!" and dropped her driver behind her as her drive went into the hazard on 18 - she still made par."

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Same way I recover from a good round, have a few cold beers and plan my next round. 

Progress in golf is incremental with lots of 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Don't stress about it and learn to enjoy golf for the sake of golf. Let the score be secondary to the pure enjoyment of playing. 

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Call me Ernest, or EJ or Ernie.

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I play another round as soon as I can.

-Matt-

"does it still count as a hit fairway if it is the next one over"

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Note: This thread is 2962 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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