Struggles at easy course

I am pretty lucky to have 3 full 18 hole courses, a 9 hole executive and an 18 hole par 3 course just down the street from my house. The course we play at every week has a course rating of 71.5 and it has a slope rating of 116. I constantly am between 79-84 at that course. But the easiest one of the courses with fairways the width of football fields and that plays so easy, I shoot 87-90.

3 weeks ago I shoot an 80 at Los Robles in Thousand Oaks a slope rating of 125 and a 70.1 USGA rating. Woodley Lakes, 89. If you are from SoCal, you know what I am talking about.

Anyone else struggle at one particular course and then shoot lights out at more difficult courses?

I've done the same, including at the course you're talking about.      The last time I played Woodley was a couple years ago; I had a couple week period where I played a lot and was playing well.     I had a golf vacation in Monterey and shot 82 at Spyglass and 79 at Pebble.    Several days later I played Lost Canyons and had 79 on the Sky course and then played Woodley the next day.   Figuring I was on a roll and Woodley was defenseless and had easy greens, I looked really looked forward to a good day and it started off great on #1 with birdie from less than a foot.   I then proceeded to shoot an 84.    A couple days later I was back home in San Diego and had a 77 at Torrey South.

My conclusion is that Woodley was so wide open it didn't force me to concentrate as hard and try and place the ball for position.    It was a really weird couple weeks of playing some great courses and playing them well, but collapsing at one of the easiest courses on the west coast.

I am the same way, our local course isn't hard compare to a couple others in our area but we have a small 9 hole course down by our cottage and I will shoot low 80's on courses in my area and go down the course I have played since I started playing and shoot low 90's. I think as mentioned, my concentration isn't always as good because I know it's easier. This year I am going to approach the course with a different mindset and see if that makes a difference, which I believe it will.

I was doing the same stupid thing, i tried something.  I took a buddy out who was a similar golfer to myself and made a pact that on every shot we reminded e/o to concentrate.  At the end of the round, i had shot one of the best rounds of my life.  If you don't have a buddy get a reminder like LOUI last year at St. Andrews, he put a RED dot on his glove to remind him of something at address... If i am not mistaken he was reminding himself to stay in the moment and concentrate.

My brother in law and I play bowie golf club every now and again this course drives me insane. It's short, big greens that aren't fast and pretty open the only thing making it difficult is sometimes the course conditions get very poor. I should shoot under par with ease but I struggle to break 77 I mean my bro in law is a 12 and he has no trouble shooting in the high 70s.

Ive never had that happen to me but perhaps at the more difficult courses you feel more inspired to play well and are more focused because you feel challenged.

I know I have a tendency to falter when I start to feel like I can expect to do well.  I think it's what others have said: letting your guard down and getting out of the moment, thinking about the result of the shot instead of thinking about hitting the ball.  For me, I haven't noticed it with whole rounds, but some of the worst scores I've had recently have come on holes where I've had great drives and then made a nightmare of what should be very comfortable approach shots.  I suspect it's a similar effect.

I think its easy to lose your mental focus on "easy course" and get away from your routine. I find no matter how difficult the course you need to stay focused and play the shots you know you can make. try and keep the ball in play and hit fairways and green. If you can do that you will score well no matter where you play. I see a lot of guys who try and kill a driver on a shorter par 4 so they can have a low wedge into a hole, when all they need to do is hit a 5 wood or 3 iron and have a comfortable 140-110 yard shot. IMO if you can play smart and focus on one shot at a time you will be fine.