discouraged upset embarrassed

I am pretty sure everyone has days like this.  Hell even the pro's have bad days sometimes.  Just shake it off and try not to think about it next time you play.

What a weird game golf is. I feel your pain. I was shooting low to mid 80s consistently back in the fall. Worked really hard at the indoor driving range during the winter and, naturally, had trouble staying out of the 90s when the weather first warmed up. I got back into the mid 80s for a brief time and then my scores started shooting back into the 90s. Right now I'm a bogey golfer who shoots a low score once in a while but struggles to keep it under 90. Today, I played 9 holes and shot 46. Played real solid for 7 holes and then doubled the last 2 for a variety of reasons. Just couldn't keep it together, which is weird because I struck the ball really well, especially with my 5 iron. Went to the range with the wife tonight and all of a sudden, out of nowhere I got the shanks. Strangely enough though, I was only shanking it with the 5 iron. Just a few hours earlier that was my best club. Now all of a sudden it's the only club in my bag I can't hit. Go figure.

Diagnosis: The day after you shoot the 83, you're thinking (subconsciously) about shooting a 79. Then, when things go wrong, you get upset with yourself for "not living up to my potential." Then your concentration goes, and you hit the downward spiral to near-100!

Solution: Take a week off and clear you head. And, rejuvenate a little physically. Then, next time you go out and play, focus on having fun. (It's allowed)

So much for my consultation. If we ever play golf together, you owe me a GatorAde at the turn.

This is golf. You hate it, but ya gotta love it. Next time you play I can promise you that you'll shoot anywhere from 80-85.

It's just a bad day man. You kinda just gotta learn to take one on the chin and laugh off some of the shanks. In no time you'll be striping irons at every flagstick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WUTiger 

Diagnosis: The day after you shoot the 83, you're thinking (subconsciously) about shooting a 79. Then, when things go wrong, you get upset with yourself for "not living up to my potential." Then your concentration goes, and you hit the downward spiral to near-100!

 

Solution: Take a week off and clear you head. And, rejuvenate a little physically. Then, next time you go out and play, focus on having fun. (It's allowed)

 

So much for my consultation. If we ever play golf together, you owe me a GatorAde at the turn.

Can't add much to this advice, except the over-used cliche'-they call it golf because all the other 4-letter words were already taken.

PS- I have been playing golf for 40 years and I am still good for at least one "lateral" every 18-27 holes!

 

Golf is a weird game. One day you are on top of the world and the next lying on the ground in agony with a kick to the nuts.

Last month I went out and shot a career best 82 playing with some semi-pro hockey players I got paired up with. Fairways and greens, had a few laughs and made a few putts. Was on top of the world feeling very good about my game. The very next day I go out and shoot a fricking 99!! Couldn't hit the ball at all. Lost two balls on the same hole, etc... Wanted to crawl under a rock.

Stuff like this happens in golf all the time. You've just got to roll with it. We all have our ups and downs. We play the game because it is hard, not because it's easy. Just when you think you've got the game figured out the Golf Gods rain on your parade.

Don't worry about it. It is just a game. Go have some fun.

I don't understand you people! 96 would be an excellent score! Well, for me, anyway. Here's to a 96!

I think that doing poorly at something you normally do well can be a positive experience. It does something to you mentally so that next time you don't take playing well for granted. You'll play great next time out if you play for love of the game and not for the score.

You always play to your handicap over a long period!  Just remember most people will have more bad days than good days in golf as they always think of doing better than their average.

One other word of encouragement.  We all have single bad days.  But I know I go on longer term swings too.  Especially after putting in lots of work and probably changing a few things.  My cycle generally goes like this:

Have a period where I can hit the range and play a lot, slowly but steadily improve.  Then hit sort of a plateau, decide I need to fix whatever my main flaws/misses are at the time.  Work hard at the range making some adjustments.  Get worse for a while, shoot scores I thought I wouldn't shoot regularly anymore.  Feel very frustrated.  Then swing changes start locking in, improve again to slightly better than my last plateau, rinse and repeat...

Work to relax on the course and stay out of your own way mentally and you'll get that upswing again!  

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdl 

One other word of encouragement.  We all have single bad days.  

 

 

Yep. Yesterday I played 18 with a buddy who is usually a better golfer than me. He regularly scores in the 70s and I have yet to break 80. He had a horrendous day and shot 94. I shot 89. He was humiliated and said, "Man, you gave me an old fashioned butt whippin' today." I said, "Nope. You whipped yourself." I knew he was in trouble on the front 9 when he made a triple on the 3rd hole and grumbled because he had just given me 3 strokes. I wasn't looking at it as a competition. We weren't playing for anything and I was just trying to play well regardless of what he did. I still wasn't content with my 89. I thought I could've played a whole lot better but at least it was an improvement. He would've played a lot better if he had paid more attention to his own swing instead of worrying about keeping up with me.

I shot a 105 in a match I really wanted to play well in on the 3rd.  The week before I shot a 79, 3 days before I shot a 37 on not an easy nine.

Its golf.  It made me depressed for the whole day still, but it happened.  Its hard to get out of a bad funk on the course and sometimes you just can't (at least me).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drew Chung 

been shooting anywhere from 83 to 88 for the past month. just getting myself out of trouble and not making it easy on my game by missing a lot of fairways with my driver.

 

went out today and shot a 96.

 

this sickens me like no other. honestly, i get mad like most golfers, i don't throw clubs etc...i keep it within and i just cuss myself out but i'm about to just give it up. it's unreal how i can still shank like a brand new golfer. from the fairway. yes, my clubs (titleist 990 DCI's) are tuff to hit, there just like blades but with a cavity back...but still, shanking it like a noob? totally uncalled for and NOTHING, i mean absolutely nothing went right with my swing today. driver was so erratic i was getting sick of it all.

 

i've been golfing on and off for alot of years...to many to count and been putting my time in for the past 2 months...rigorously practicing and playing and have seen slight improvement but to shoot what i did today and swing the way i did, just made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

here are my excuses that i won't use. my irons, got 2 hours of sleep last night...woke up at 4:30 and tee'd off at 6am. ate nothing, just a cup of coffee...but STILL. that's just a very tiny percentage of why i shot so bad. my swing just SUCKS and i can't fix this.

 

i'm really at a loss right now....i do love this game and i do want to get better and i enjoy going out with my friends but wow...i feel like i got 10x's worse today. just really messed with my mind today!

I have never broken 100 let alone a 96.  I would be happy with that.  You know you can do better, isnt that what keeps us on the course?  Keep it in perspective, we have all felt like you did.
 

wow, opened this up and was wondering if i got drunk and wrote it myself!! LOL!

dude, I feel your pain

check this sh*t out....

started the year as a 1.9 index, currently a 6...yes A SIX!!!!!!!

breaking 80 has become what used to be "the norm"

and shanking? yesterday i hit a mint 3w up the guts on a hole that is only 385yds, but maybe 75yds wide, treelined, elevated bunker protected green (hole index is a 1)

im 130 in and flat out shank it right in the bush....really now?????!!!!!!!

uugghhh....

played the front 8 at 2 over, double 9, bogey 10, double 12 and 13, bogey 14, 16 and triple 18 (par 71 course)

talk about a smooth 85 hey????

and this was my home course that i played over 60 rounds at last year

last night as i was thinking about what happened, i realized i only hit 3 fwy's (two i didnt hit driver on) and 4 GIR

pretty tough to score w those stats

im exhausted today after that round (also cause i was in 38ºC heat) but still

my mind is fried

i keep telling myself that it will get better, but it hasnt

ive seen a pro....2 of them to be exact

just cant bring the game form the range to the course

im not to the pint where i wanna quit, but something has to give

one hole ill play like a scratch or better and feel like its coming back, then follow it up w a double or something stoopid

sorry, but having "FUN" is tough when your used to scoring

and i play 2-3 times a week and practice on the days i dont play

nothing has helped......

I'll add a bit to this thread...I was in the same boat last week..

This game of GOLF is all mental, just when you think you got it, NOPE.  One day everything you do from tee to green is awesome, the next day its complete hell.  First time last week I was able to shoot 87 and 89 back to back...Followed by 96 and 102.  I am taking a week off and looking to get back down to the 80s again in 2wks...

Arnold Palmer shot a 91 in a tournament once -- in his prime!  (Even with the 13 on one hole, that's still a very large number, with a lot of bad holes to throw in for 19 over par.)  I recently had an 86, which is a HUGE number for me to put on the board.  Could not do anything right that day at all.  Amazingly bad play for somebody who's been playing as long as I have.  Every shot I hit wound up in a bad spot, seemed to three-jack every hole, chili dipped, skulled out of bunkers, topped a couple of fairway woods...and I wasn't even drunk!  Some days are like that.  Just look at some of the pros at the bottom of the leaderboard every week.  71, 69, 81...it happens more than you might think.