I let the score get to my head!

I played with my regular foursome at Classic Golf Club in Spanaway yesterday morning. I play the front beautifully shooting a 39. At the turn, I made the cardinal sin of looking at my score and thinking, "All I have to do is shoot 40 on the back and I break 80!" I started the back bogey, double, double, double, on my way to a 50! The only saving grace was on the 16th where I stuffed my 5i from 160 yds out to about 5 ft and sunk the birdie putt. I WILL break 80 before this season is over! I just gotta play my game and not look at the score card!

I've had the same thing happen, but for me it was not only looking at the scorecard, but how i made it affect my game on the back nine.  Looking at the scorecard is one thing, but then allowing the brain to go on those "what-if" tangents is where the self-destruction originates.

I now use my GPS as a scorecard, so I don't have the card so handy to view anymore - just plug in my score, and move on to the next hole.  More importantly, I now only look at the scorecard as a reference, and do not analyze it in my mid-round.  Save that for the 19th hole.

one shot at a time

Odd. I look tally up my card after 9 and look at it ever so often as I continue and I have ALWAYS done better on the back.

Different strokes for different folks I guess (no pun intended)

Yeah lol so damn mental this game.

Once I shot even par on the front 9 holes, going into the 9th hole I was 2 under par and 3 putted my way to a double! On the back nine I shot a 44 :( and didn't even break 80, pretty close though.

Yep, stay in the moment, one shot at a time. It's easy to let things get to you though. I had a similar experience earlier this year as well. With only 2 holes left I realized that I was under par. I was sitting in the middle of the fairway with only about 70 yards to the stick. I had a thought about how nice it would be to break par on my second round of the year. That did it. I over cooked the wedge right into the woods off the the back of the green (pin was back, thick woods are only a pace or two off the back of that green). Lost ball = double bogey = +1 for the day. Sigh... Oh well, I realize where I went wrong so that I could correct it for the next round. That's what's really important. Sounds like you may have learned your lesson as well. Disappointing though, due to the medical issues that I've been dealing with this year I haven't been able to play or practice nearly as much as I like to. Breaking par that day (despite a poor putting performance) would have felt real good.

I do the same with the Scorecard app on my iPhone. I knew that I was right around par that day (see my post above) but didn't realize that I was under par until somebody pointed it out to me on the way to my ball. It wasn't a career round or anything that day but still, I'd rather that the guys in my group had treated me like a pitcher going into the 9th with a no-hitter on the line. I did learn from it though so, in the end, I suppose it was good that they pointed it out. Funny thing is, I've been acutely aware of far better rounds in the past and never let it get to me. Of course, I was playing a lot more back then so an individual round or two didn't get me to excited like it does now.

I did the same thing, I shot the front 9 to a one over 37 and told myself don't count on the back nine just keep shooting. But curiosity got the best of me on the 16th tee. I realized I could bogey 16,17 and 18 and shoot a 79. All of a sudden I got excited, realizing breaking 80 was a real possiblity. Then went bogey, double and bogey for an 80. Still pissed about that day.

I tend to do it all the time, I am always the designated score keeper in my group, not sure how that happened but I have been for a couple of years.

a couple of weeks ago I was even par on the 14th and then blew it, I still shot 79, but my best is 78 and could have beet it no problem, if only!!!!

Frankly, it's hard NOT to know where you stand score-wise but I understand the situation.  You def have to take it one shot and one hole at a time.  Do not let a bad hole linger.  Reset and conquer the next one.  When we learn how to forget about results and focus on the journey, generally the results are quite palatable.

I simply can't forget where I'm at in relation to par during a round. I've gotten to where I don't get too excited by where I'm at though...

Usually thats the only thing i keep track of especially when playing alone, relation to par that is.  I walk almost exclusively now when playing alone and I dont even carry a scorecard.  I simly keep track of my score according to par in my head.  Like bogey on first hole, +1, par on 2nd +1 through 2 and so on.   I hate stopping to fiddle with a scorecard when playing alone as Im usually playing courses im very familiar with and dont need a scorecard to know what i need to do, like when not to use a driver on some par 4's as driver might put you in the trees or in a hazard.   I was playing yesterday and I knew if i made pars on the last 2 holes i could have shot a 39 for 9, which would have equalled my best 9 hole score ever.   I made bogey and double on the last 2 holes for a 42, still a good score for me and I think i walked 9 holes in the fastest i ever had, 1:10 as I was rushing to finish before dark and just made it.  If i had to play one more hole i would have had to do it in the dark.

The main that got me was the possibility of breaking 80, but I could only go 4 over on the back. On the front I just played my game, no pressure, and shot 3 over. Now on the back, like NI4NI said, I kept playing the what if game. The score was in my head on every swing. My playing partners kept saying, "Forget that last hole. Just play your game." But I couldn't.