Mental Game?

im a decent high school golfer, but ive really been struggling lately. the last two rounds ive been off to great starts and then somehting happens mid round and i shoot high, really really really high for my handicap. Situation (-1), hole 5, a guy comes up behind the golf team, starts swearing at us. accuses me of not raking traps, making divots and not replacing them, leaving ball marks and spike marks. He gets my name off my bag, flips us off, tells me to enjoy my last round here and on the golf team, (this is my home course for golf and for practice), and goes and putts for 20 minutes on the green. The next 5 holes i shoot nine over, NINE OVER JEZUS. Next day, (+1) after 4 holes, tree falls on green, sitting 220 on a par 5 to an island green. Coach walks up after they get the tree off the green, and askes me repeadetly if i have enough club. I overswing and hit it into the lake with a hook. This seems to be happening later in the round, im focused on my game i hit one shot at a time like everyone says to and never to try to make up for a bad hole, i just cant keep my cool, how does tiger and all those guys do it? How do u do it? Any info/ advice is appreciated.

"Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect" by Dr. Bob Rotella.

About $8 for hardcover copy at your local Half-Price Books.

Very helpful for getting your head on, and keeping it, straight. Not too much psycho-babble, mumbo-jumbo in it either.

I think that you just let things get to you too easily. I know it might be hard, but just zone everything out. That's the difference between most golfers and the pros. They don't let anything shift their focus away from the game. And this applies to pretty much any sport. What you need to do is go into each round with that mindset and I guarentee you will see the difference. If I were you I would have just ignored that guy and your coach and just focus on your next shot.

Funny sidenote though as to how much something so small can completely affect someone's round. My friend was doing really well through the front nine but really being an ass about it. So before we tee off on 10 I say two words, "don't choke". And what do you know he shoots 9 more than me over the rest of the day and completely ruins his round. Of course he blames it all on me but really he deserved it.

Before you hit your shots take a nice deep breath. This helps to calm you down and release the tension on your body.

I have suffered with some of this over the last 3 tournaments I've played, basically been in contention after 17 holes and realised this and taken triples on the last, pretty frustrating. I need to have a look at Bob's books again....

Another thought is experience. What I mean is the more you're in a pressure situation, the better you'll become at handling it. I know I got better at it through high school and into college golf.

Yeah, my freshman year of high school, I was very nervous going into my first match, and I shot a 50 (only play nine holes in NJ)...

Then this past year, sophomore year, I still didn't handle myself well and shot some very high scores. But towards the end of the year, my scores started to drop a few strokes because I learned how to deal with the pressure of being relied upon from your team. The more situations you get with pressure, the better you get at handling them.