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Needed: mental game advice


hipcheck4u
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I need advice about how to let go and enjoy the game more while on the course. I am a bit obsessive/compulsive about golf and have become hyper-focused on numbers such as my handicap, breaking 100, even what shot I am about to take on any given hole. How can I balance getting better with enjoying the game? Does anyone else out there deal with the same problem?

In my C-130 bag:

Driver: G10 10.5*
3 Wood: Burner
Irons: G10 steel AWT shafts, silver dot, +1" (3-SW)Wedge: cg12 58*Putters: Squareback 2, California Coronado Low score (18 holes): 90Low score (9 holes): 42

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Oh yeah - i had this problem - at one point i was so frustrated i just wanted to quit and i stormed off the course and didnt touched a club for 3 weeks (that was a big deal since i played like almost everyday til then). During that time my hcp barely moved at all - which was the reason for the frustration - so much practice but no visible success. My hcp back then was 23.8 - when i came back the first thing i did was holing out for my very first eagle - within the next 2 months my hcp dropped to 14.6 - since then i promised myself never to get obsessed/frustrated with bad rounds, cuz when you keep an open mind, you might go on the course the next day and shoot your best round ever, if you are frustrated that wont happen for sure!

Its a learning process - just like striking a ball - your power doesnt come from hitting the ball like nuts but from a smooth solid swing - most people dont realize that until they expierence that feeling and result for themself, even if the pro tells him 100 times otherwise.

Burner 9°
FW Burner 15°
Burner Rescue 19°
MP67 4-PW
CG10 50° CG12 DSG 54° & 60°

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I had the same problem. I started playing 1 round out of 5 or 6 without a scorecard, not even thinking about the previous shot, the next, or any numbers. Just fun, going for broke on every shot, or shooting for a deep fairway bunker for the fun of blasting out.
A hip flask full of cognac doesn't hurt either

Gets you back in touch with why you play the game.

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Good point - i always differ between a serious round/practice round/ complete nonsense round with some buddies like playing ladies tees or only 5 clubs - and i dont really care what i shoot at the latter two - i take notice on my pracitce rounds and analyze weakness and stuff i have to work on, but if i hit 4 balls OOB - well i´m sure not getting frustrated about that...

Burner 9°
FW Burner 15°
Burner Rescue 19°
MP67 4-PW
CG10 50° CG12 DSG 54° & 60°

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One shot at a time. I know its the old saying, but damn its true man. In my league we play a side game, break your handicap. And in the end the winner gets some $$. Guys go crazy over this. Its insane. One guy allows himself 9 bogeys. Then he will break if he only makes 9 or less. Others will be on 17 or 18 and say, i need 5 to break my handicap, what about you?

I have no idea honestly. I am on shot 1 of this hole (not saying im oblivious to the situation, but you get the point)

Not that I dont care what I shoot, because I do and I am very competative. But I mean you have to let the past go. You cant change it. In the end your good tee shot on 1 means a much as your flubbed chip on 5. Pretty much neither does anything for you and your current shot at hand.

I try to encompass my round as a whole you know? 79, is 79 weather it is 30-49 or 39-40. Weather I birdied 2-3-4 or 16-17-18. Its like guys I know that give up after 9 holes because they shoot a 40 or 41. Dude you are a 5 handicap, you play all 18 for a reason. Play a hole at a time you know how many times do you shoot 40-36 or something like that?

I mean golf is a tough mental game though it is not easy at all to deal with the ups and downs. Please dont take this as me saying im the best at it and immune because I am not at all. But these are some of the things I work on for the mental side of the game.
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Here's how you do it: WHO CARES. You're at a point especially in your golfing career where you just need to play...you'll eventually start breaking 100, then if you have talent, start breaking 90, and if you continue to put work in, you'll break 80...than that may be as far as you can go...but golf takes a while to get good in, a lot of hard work if you want to get good fast...

But honestly, at this point, who cares about you're rounds? You can't expect much just yet of yourself...give yourself a year or two before you put pressure on yourself. Just relax on teh course. If you go out tomorrow and shoot 99 it's really not going to impact you're life severely.

Driver Ping G10 10.5*
Hybrids Ping G5 (3) 19* Bridgestone J36 (4) 22*
Irons Mizuno MP-57 5-PW
Wedges Srixon WG-504 52.08 Bridgestone WC Copper 56.13
Putter 33" Scotty Cameron Studio Select #2

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Sounds like you are stuck in the dreaded cycle of hitting bad shots, then beating yourself up, then hitting more bad shots.

My advice is to go play your next round (maybe by yourself, or at least without your friends) after promising yourself you will do two things:

(1) Don't worry about where any shot goes. Just take a nice smooth swing and forget about the results for 18 holes. And certainly forget about your score.

Tense muscles are the cause of most bad shots. When we quit on our swing, or flip our wrists on chips or yip our putts, it's all because of tension. If you play with fear or anger, your muscles tighten and you have no chance. The problem is, fear and anger lead to bad shots, which lead to more anger and fear, and the cycle doesn't end until your round is over or you throw your clubs in the pond. So just let go of all the smothering perfectionism and play loosely and without any concern about where the ball is going, where it just went, or how many shots it took you to put it in the hole.

(2) UNDERREACT to every bad shot. No swearing. No slamming clubs. If you hit a bad shot, just laugh it off and go hit the next one.

There are some golfers who can swear and throw clubs (Tiger, Stadler) and can put it behind them before they hit their next shot. But for the rest of us, the anger lingers and clouds everything we do after that. Let it go for a whole round. You'll play better.
STICKS:

TAYLOR MADE R9 (9.5) (Fuji Motore)
EXOTICS XCG (15.0) (Aldila DVS)
TAYLOR MADE Rescue TP (17, 21) (Fuji Reax)MIZUNO MP-62 (5-PW) (Dynamic Gold SL Sensicore)MIZUNO MP-R (52, 56, 60) (Dynamic Gold SL Sensicore)YES! Natalie (Tiger Shark)TAYLOR MADE Black (#68)
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Anger is an issue with me, in a lot of different facets of life. Road rage, work stress, and bad golf shots/scores.

As far as alleviating some of the tension on the golf course. . .Quit keeping score for awhile! Just play, like above, "one shot at a time".

I've noticed on the days I start out thinking, "wow, what a great day for golf, no scorecard today. . ."--I may par the first 4 holes and realize, hey, I'm shooting well, why didn't I keep score?" But, I continue on without a scorecard. . .just takes the tension off. Remember the good shots you hit though. . .That's important. What did you do on that particular shot or hole that simply worked.
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No scorecard! That's a really good idea. I'm DEFINATELY going to try that next time. I'm sure that would take a ton of tension off just by itself. One less thing to worry about.

For me, though, the best thing I have found about this game is hte people you play with. I have found a group of about 8 guys where we play regularly, once a week, 5:00pm golf. They all laugh and joke the whole time. So, if one guy is having a bad day, it doesn't last long since everyone else is having fun. You get caught up in the "fun" and you just go with it. It makes the day a whole lot better, no matter what you shoot.

10.5* Driver (don't really ever use it)
3w, 5w
23* hybrid
5i through PW, SW
60* Wedge.....................................................................mellojoe

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Two things come to mind. One, don't try and be a hero and try and pull off a shot you know you can't hit. Two, have a plan in mind for each hole when you are on the teebox, but you have to be able to adjust the plan as you go. Here is an example:

Par 5 - 510 yards, no major trouble except for the 5 traps around the green, 2 of them are about 70 yards from the green. Obviously the plan is to hit a drive in the fairway, hit a second near the green, hit the green with the third, two putt par. Sounds easy but what if...

1st shot - slice into the right rough, 270 to go. Adjust the plan, now you want to get back into the fairway with a comfortable yardage to go for the green, you can still make par.

2nd shot - You want to bang a 3-wood as close as you can get it, but maybe a 6-iron to 110 would work out better with all the traps. Don't be a hero, get back on track for a par. But the 6-iron get hung up in the rough and you only hit it 100 yards, still in the rough.

3rd shot - Now you're 170 out of the rough with still a tough shot to the green. Bogey is starting to look like a good score. That's the new plan. You don't want to mess with the greenside traps so hit something down the fariway to a comfortable distance for the fourth shot. Perfect, back in the fairway. You could still get up-and-down for par, but bogey is more realistic.

4th shot - Sand wedge from the fairway. Just get on the green, if the pin is in a good spot, fire away, maybe you can still save par. You hit the sand wedge to 20 feet.

5th shot - Putt rolls down but misses a little high.

6th shot - In the hole.

You made bogey, but considering the two bad shots, not a bad score. The point is, you played it smart and took your medicine after a bad shot and stayed on track for the goal.

I go into every hole with a plan to make par or birdie. Often I have to adjust that. Even after a bad shot I am thinking about what I have to do to get back on track to get to the lowest score possible. Many times people have questioned the score I had because I will just beat it around up a hole, but I managed to save par with one good shot and a putt.

Play smart and you will be more relaxed and the scores will go down.

I will judge my rounds much more by the quality of my best shots than the acceptability of my worse ones.

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10 second rule. bitch and moan about your shot for 10 seconds. then forget.

there is nothing more frustrating then having a chip after thinning an iron. but if you are mad at yourself still, chances are you won't hit a great shot

driver- R580XD 9.5*
3 wood- m/speed
hybrid- cft ti 4h
irons- fp 4-gap
wedges- 54* and RAC satin 56* 12 bounceputter- 1/2 Craz-Eballs- DT Carry, e5, anything found thats is good shapeshoes-adidashome course - nothing - uh oh. perhaps pleasant view againschool...

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I have a temper and have been working on not letting it come out on the course. This game is more mental that physical in my opinion and if you cant control it then you wont get better. I use the bad shots as an oportunity to make a great shot after. When you flub one into the bunker or wherever, think of it as a chance to make a great shot out of a hard lie. And those shots are the one s that will help save a good round later on if you keep your cool now and think of them as a learning op.

Driver - SQ SUMO2 9.5 stiff
3 Wood - SQ SUMO2 15* stiff
Hybrid SQ SUMO2 20* stiff
Irons - CCi steel stiff
Wedge - 56*Wedge - Knight 60*Putter - ITraxBall - platinum+Black but soon to be switching to pr0v1 SG 2.5

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One shot at a time. I know its the old saying, but damn its true man. In my league we play a side game, break your handicap. And in the end the winner gets some $$. Guys go crazy over this. Its insane. One guy allows himself 9 bogeys. Then he will break if he only makes 9 or less. Others will be on 17 or 18 and say, i need 5 to break my handicap, what about you?

I have to agree with all of this 110%. I am working hard to achieve a mental state of 'one shot at a time'. It's not easy at the start -- especially when you've doubled the previous hole -- but it REALLY works.

I have had so many rounds of 45-40 or 44-39. Heck, I've even been 10 shots better on the back on some crazy occasions. I put that down to tuning out what happened in the past and just focusing on the current shot. In the past I would have looked at the card after a couple of bad holes and said, 'well this round is over', or 'I'm going up 0.2 or whatever ... ' On Monday I started, triple, double, double, double. Nine over after 4 holes. I finished the round 13 over. I attribute it to not worring too much about the score and just focusing on the next shot .... IT WORKS!!

--
Tee it high, let it fly!

MP-600, Fujikura E360 Stiff
Hi-Bore 1i, 2i, Stiff MP-57, DG S300 52.08, 56.08., 60.07 FISHER GOLF - CTS-1 Burgandy Insert ProV1

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  1. Is your family any better off if you have 68?
  2. Is your family any worse off if you have 107?
  3. Will someone die if you make a triple bogey?
  4. Will the bank repossess your house if you hit 3 in the water on the 12th?
If you answered no to all of the above then hooray you do have a grip on reality, therefore you should be able to comprehend that golf is just a game and should be enjoyed as such.
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There 2 ways I go about this... especially when I was trying to break 100.

1. You can eff up, a lot, and still break 100. 9 bogies + 9 double bogies = 99 on a par 72 course. When you hit a bad shot just go damage control mode. If you hit a bad shot take the easiest way out of trouble you can find and then try and get the ball in from there. You dont have to make a par to break 100. You dont even have to make a par to hit 90. All you want to do is put the ball in the hole without making one shot thats the slightest bit difficult.

^thats the mindset for the days when im horribly off.

For all other times the plan is:

Dont even think about the round of golf you are playing untill you are about to hit a shot. Go walk your round. use your time walking between shots to enjoy the majesty of nature. Imagine yourself at Augusta walking down the fairway. Drink some water. listen to some music on an iPod. Whatever you want to do untill you are about 20 yards from your ball then plan your next shot as you get there and pull a club out, hit it, and move on.

After the hole count em, write down a number and put the card away. NEVER add up your score during a round. Dont even think about it. If it helps get one of those little spiral notebooks and use a page a hole... write your score and notes on how you played it then flip the page over and dont look at it again untill you hole out on 18.

In the Ogio stand bag

909 D2 w/ VooDoo S
15.5* 906F4 w/ Aldila VS Proto 80S
3DX DC 3 HybridFP 4-GW56* and 60* Vokey SM wedgeSophia putter

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3. Will someone die if you make a triple bogey?

With the weight of today's putters and a healthy toss it may very well be possible

In the Ogio stand bag

909 D2 w/ VooDoo S
15.5* 906F4 w/ Aldila VS Proto 80S
3DX DC 3 HybridFP 4-GW56* and 60* Vokey SM wedgeSophia putter

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I had th same issue. I actually broke my 8 iron and cracked cart after a bad shot. However, after I read ZEN Golf, it all changed. it gives you tools that help you respond to bad shots and explains why getting angry and letting it all out actually reinforces the swing that you just got angry at. It has something to do with how we remember things. When you get emotional (angry) our mind remembers things more vividly. So, when you make a poor swing, and get pissed, you tend to remember that one, not the great swing.

It helped me. A few weeks back I started my round with 4 straight bogeys. I said, that's ok relax and work on your swing, it won't be a scoring day. Parred the next 5 holes and shot an 82 with no birdies. I ended up being vry pleased with my round. i could have gotten pissed and let it affect my game, but I didn't.

After I read it I downloaded the audio from itunes and listened to it on the way to work.

Driver: Nike Covert Driver

Irons: Mizuno JPX-825 Pro 5-GW 

Cleveland Mashie 1, 2, 3, & 4 hybrids

Wedges: Mizuno MP-T4 Black Nickel 54* & 58*

Putter: Wack-e with super stroke grip

Ball: Titleist Pro V1X

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Two weeks ago I was playing with my friend. He's a 6 hcp. On some hole I hit a bad slice and decide to walk ahead to find my ball. I turn around to watch him tee off and he hits a screamer. Must have been 250+ yards dead straight, carried the dogleg bunker and landed nicely on the fairway. He seemed unhappy.. so I keep walking. Suddenly I hear another ping. I look back and he hit a second screamer.. 270+ yards, nicely drawn around the dogleg left, lands on the middle of the fairway!.. Just as I want to turn around to tell him 'Good shot' I heard a third 'ping'... this time it's not a ball, it's his driver head flying through the air. He apparently got angry and broke his driver on a rock....

Now, to put this in context. The hole before that I shanked my driver so bad it flew away at a 45 degree left angle and came to a stop about 20 yards away. I could see the scuff marks on the side of my driver... I'd been shanking all round and was en-route to a 120+. I was pretty pissed.. This guy tells me to calm down and don't think about it.

The next hole he sets up and tell me and the other partners that he's going to tee off with his 3W. So, I decide to rub it in and say: "You're just saying that because you don't have a driver.".. I think he actually cracked a smile. Until he tees off, is somehow unhappy with the shot I'd kill for and cracks his 3W... sigh.

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