When the wheels come off the bus

Ever have one of those rounds where the wheels don't just come off, but the whole bus blows up? Played a pretty challenging course today (72.4/144 at 6700 yards) with the greens rolling about a 12. Putted great, but that was the ONLY thing that was working. Seriously, shots like leaving a 9i 15 yards short on a 147 yard par 3 (and that was one of the better shots of the day). Shanking a LW into a ravine on a routine 80 yard approach. Warmed up well on the range, but I up shooting a 91 (first round in the 90's in over 3 years) with only 31 putts. Just could not for the life of me figure out what was going on with my swing, and just had no idea how to adjust with pretty much everything so badly broken.

So.....sorry for the rambling post, but what do you guys do when you find yourself in a situation like this?

-C

Drink until I forget.

I was VERY tempted to go this route. Would have been a much more enjoyble day.....

-C

Seriously, I just try to take things one shot at a time and forget about the disasters. Of course, that's easier said than done.

We all have rounds like this, different course, unfamilar surrounds, out of your routine, many factors contribute too not feeling comfortable, good experience for you to learn from. Do you have key swing thoughts that help you get back into making solid contact with your clubs? We all try to learn from rounds like this and something out of it to be better for next time.

I shot 90 on a course and never got my tempo and rhythm.

I find it a little comforting that even low handicap have the wheels come off once in awhile. Seems to happen often to me. But for whatever it is worth here is what I have learned to do when I sense I am losing the feel. I think the root cause of the wheels coming off is when you begin to focus on the results of the shot instead of the process. So when the wheels come off for me I slow down a little and make sure I do my "pre-flight" check before I step up to the ball. Have I selected a target? Is it realistic to believe given my skill, lie and environment that I can hit that target? Do I have an intermediate target to line up on when I set up? Do I have the correct club for the shot I plan? When I do step up I take one practice swing behind the ball, address the ball and make sure I am correctly lined up on the intermediate target. I personally only use two swing keys, one back and one down. These usually are keep the club face square (I have a habit of closing the club going back) and just think "ball" going down to keep my eyes on the ball (I can lift my head early at times).

Of course these are just different (and more) words to what ks8829 said above and you'll have to make up your own routine and swing keys, but the short answer to "how to get the train back on the track" is focus on the process, not the desired result.

My last round, I started playing poorly, and it made me feel super super tired, like I could barely swing the club. I was drained by 18. Not sure if it was more physical or mental, but I sure felt physically tired, but I hadn't done anything weird the day before or anything. Anyone had this happen?
John

I'm no 5.4 but I have some similar thoughts to Ghalfaire, with a lot of assistance from my coach, I have learned that it si abt the process, if I commit to the shot, each and every time then things will come back (it tends to happen), problem is the round is normally over by then, but mentally its a good challenge

I break the round into each nine holes and then into "three's." Because I'm a bogey golfer (for the most part) I break the course down into three's of par = 15. If I can shoot 3-fifteens, I shoot bogey golf, "45." Under "par" is better than bogey golf and so on ....

After one round of three's, I try to move on to the next, just forget about the 16 or 17 I just shot and try to shoot par again (15). As you are a better golfer, perhaps play in 3's of 13 or 12? I try to think each shot as to where I am in my quest for a 5 and in my total quest for a 15 for each "three's." Forces my focus back to the next shot, this hole and "par" for the three's. In other words, narrow my focus into smaller subsets rather than scores for 9 or 18.

That's actually what I've been trying to do lately. What sucks is when my wheels fall off for 3 straight holes.

Played this weekend, shot 46 on the front (pretty good for me) Messed up some on the back but came to the final 3 holes knowing that if I shot 2 over for those holes I'd end up with a 93 (Again, good for me) Totally nut the last three and play the 8 over for a smoooooth 98.

This is pretty much what happened to me yesterday at my league night. It was our last week and my partner and I were in first place being 1 point up on the second place team. All both of us had to do was play our average round and just not blow up. I started off playing decent but then took a seven on a par 4 due to an irate approach shot sending off the green and down over a steep hill in the trees. It all went down hill after that and when it was all said and done I ended up shooting a
48. My previous rounds on the back nine being a 38,39,41,42 and If I would have shot a 44 I would have at least tied my match giving us enough points to play in the league championship next week. But like everyone has been telling me. Thats golf.

THIS ^^^ is the BEST way to take control of it!!! hahahah!!

seriously...... man i hear ya though (OP) last week first round of our Open tournament, i just couldnt find it i took a quad, triple AND 2 double bogies ?? WTF was that all about???? some holes were disasters, and then i pull up on 10, stripe it down the middle 260-ish, 5w on the green in two to 8 feet and 2 putt a birdie home how does that happen?? not sure man....... i havent been playing well lately and my index is suffering huge the year started as a 2.8, went as high as a 6.2, back to a 2.9 now a 3.7 w 4.0 just around the corner ZERO consistency winter is fast approaching me, so i have about 3-6 MAX weeks of golf left...and about 2 weeks of that in warmish conditions

to the op i had a round like that this morning but it was a little different. Ball striking was very solid but I had some bad lies (like 3 times dead behind a tree) a few bad bounces like one took a 90 degree bounce into OB... but i hit shots pretty solid and ended well..

went

Bogey - double - double - bogey - double - par - par - par - par

so 8 over on 9 holes and i was livid... went to the putting green to cool down and putt for a half hour... went hit my second bucket of the day and went home. Sometimes you have to take away the positives and build on that. Forget about the bad shots and dont lose sleep over it.

best thing to do is to get back on the horse right away tho. But you said your putting was good so I would at least take away that.

I think self composure after a bad shot and not letting the "wheels come off the bus" is HUGE. I mean, bad shots are going to happen, but it's how you handle it after that counts IMO. Some will shank it into the trees or chunk it/whatever and get it together enough to come up with a fantastic shot right after.

This thread reminds me of one of my buddies, he absolutely loses it when he starts out bad, he'll literally sit there "complaining" (I call it whining) and dragging his feet to the next shot just to hit it worse than the shot before....it just snowballs from there. I keep telling him, it's his mental game that's weak. He's not that good, but I'm sure it's the mental aspect that's hurting him more than his "skill".

Yeah, the putter worked very well. Not a single 3 jack, which was doubly impressive considering that I wasn't exactly leaving myself short putts and the greens were flat out fast (rolling close to 12 according to the asst pro). I wasn't so much pissed at the bad shots as totally confused. I seriously only hit about 3 solid iron shots the entire round, and a fair number of irons were mis-hit pretty darn badly (thin, toed, pulled....even one complete shank). Just never had that feeling before of having absolutely no idea what was going on, and good god I hope it doesn't happen again!

-C

I had a similar round today at a new course...rated about the same as the one you played. Granted, I'm not as good as you judging by handicap but I've been playing well and had a target score of 45 for the front 9 and thought if I can hit that, I'll see where the back goes. Well, I started out decently, but quickly degenerated into terrible play and ended up shooting 53 on the front...I started out with a triple on the back and had visions of doing even worse for the second 9. I decided to take a moment to consider my swing thoughts away from the ball, realized my wrists were super tight - which carried all the way up through my shoulders...proceeded to hit my 4h to 1 foot on the ensuing 200yd. par 3 and birdie the hole. From then on, I started playing good golf and ended up with 40 on the back, including another birdie on a par 3 and two respectable birdie chances on long par 5s. It's been typical of my short golf career - 3 years - to basically give up if the wheels come off, but I'm trying hard to rebound from a bad shot, a bad hole, or even a bad stretch. I think one big difference is KNOWING I can hit good shots. It can be tough to remember this when you're missing left and right...or shanking simple shots. I think for me, slowing down, and relaxing is key to finding my rhythm when it's not naturally there.

Take that from a high handicapper how you will.