Tournament Golf

Had my third golf tournament ever today and yet again a little disappointing. I shot a 96 meaning I have shot 97,110. 96.

I usually shoot low 80's to mid 90's when playing casual rounds where I still play all rules and make every putt. Like the team captain and my coach and I all played the course on Saturday and I shot an 89 totally legit but today I went out there and shot a 96, I did have 4 putts lip out and posted 2 9's on par 5's but I just don't get it.This is my first year on the golf team so I wasn't expecting a ton but I know I can do better. I don't really get nervous I just make stupid mistakes or get a bit unlucky here and there.

Any advice from all you guys who have played a bunch of tournaments? And how could I simulate the actual tournament in my practice round?

Yup.  Just try not to get frustrated, and know that it's all a learning experience, and just keep plugging away.

Like the previous said, play more tournaments.

But consider for the time being trying to make the tournament experience and the casual experience the same, as best you can. Whether that means treating casual rounds like tournaments, getting your routine down so you don't have to think about it, thinking stuff through, putting pressure on yourself, etc. or playing mind tricks to make tournaments seem less special/pressured, whatever it takes so that you perform equally well in each. First option worked best for me.

Since you know now what the tournament grind can be like, just be that way all the time when you play until you can turn the tournament grind on and off and back on. Everyone feels pressure at some point, its just how do you respond, and routine and positive thinking (done this before and gonna do it again now) is a great thing to fall back on.

Think positive! Time to show off (at least on the inside)

You would be surprised what a wager as small as a hot dog after the round will do to prep you for tournament golf.

Get used to, and learn to enjoy , the pressure of the tournaments by playing in tournaments firstly and adding pressure to your casual rounds as a backup for when there are no tournaments around. Set wagers with yourself or friends, enough to feel significant to you (whether that's a $10 Nassau or $0.10 skins, whatever is enough to cause you to care), when you're out playing instead of just going out with nothing on the line. If you're alone maybe tell yourself you have to do 25 pushups or whatever after the round if you don't score below a certain mark, and with friends find a number of different games to play to keep it interesting.

One of my favorite games that teaches shotmaking and adds pressure to your round is a variant of a skins game. Each hole is worth one skin, and whatever rules on pressing that you like apply as well, but the loser of each hole gets to pick one club from the winner's bag (usually excluding the putter and maybe the driver) to take out of play for the rest of the round. Alternatively, the loser can choose to restore one club that they "lost" earlier to their bag instead of taking a club from their opponent. Continue like this until the round is finished and you'll soon figure out how to make a bunch of different shots work. It's great practice for knockdown shots if your opponent takes all your wedges and you have to bump an 8-iron to the green 80 yards away. Either way it's a fun way to mix it up and try new things that may come in handy later (I know I've learned to control my clubs' distances much better playing that game).

Don't get discouraged either. I entered my first tournament when I could consistently shoot in the 90's. I then proceeded to shoot 108-116 in the two day tournament while my playing partners shot 71,69,73, and 72 over the two days. With time and practice you'll eventually get to the point where you play just as well in tournaments as in practice or, in some cases, play better in tournaments than practice.

A few checklist things to think about:

• Due to extra pressure, do not hit a shot you cannot commit to. If you're 190 yards out from a tight green in somewhat iffy rough, lay up to in  front of green with a 7i rather than gambling with a 4H.
• Set up properly for short putts. If you lip out a couple of tap-ins, this raises both your score and your blood pressure.
• Remember everyone has to play the course that day. A cautious bogey 5 on a long par 4 may be the relative par for the day on that hole.
• Use practice range wisely. In multi-day tournaments, the course often includes range balls in your entry fee - hit all you want!  It's helpful to warm up before the round, but don't hit 100 balls before you play or you'll get tired on the back 9. ... A few corrective shots after the round can be helpful,.... BUT... don't hit 100 balls, or you will be too tired to play the next day.

The best thing for you to do is work on course management to drop your scores immediately. You are definitely going to hit some bad shots here and there, but you can improve your scores. Even when I play, I am always picking and choosing my angles, how much room for error I have, staying as far away from a penalty stroke as possible, etc. Also, you MUST feel comfortable off the tee shot. If you don't feel right with your driver in hand or have bad thoughts, don't use it. You want to be in play hitting it into the green. If you get nerves, develop a process that you use to hit the ball. For me, lately, my process is just to make sure to get my hips through first. That is all I am thinking about. So when there is pressure, it kind of clears out of my mind because all I am thinking about is my process.

Like the OP, I am bogey golfer and started playing tournament since only a year ago.   I don't have advices but some experience.

Early on, I had some success.   Of late, I have been really sucking air, really, really, bad.   The main difference was, in earlier tournaments, my attitude was "these are my 1st tournaments. I will pretend it's not a tournament but just a learning experience."  I was relaxed, played casually, and ended up playing to my handicap index (which was good enough to finish high!).    Then, as I played more tournaments, my attitude was, "what do I need to shoot to finish in top 3?"   I was trying to win rather than play for fun.

Welp spent last week practicing and really working on making my rounds tournament like. I shot a true 88 on saturday with the captain of our team and I played great and it was on a hard course. Sunday I played the course our tournament was on today and I shot a 96, I didn't play great and made a lot of mistakes so I was hoping for a 90-95 in the tournament.

114

I just like forget how to play golf in tournaments, I bogied the first hole, doubled the next, parred the next and then it just all went downhill and I topped balls, pulled balls, pushed and sliced balls. We didn't get to warm up which hurt me and thankfully I started on the 3 easiest holes or I would of shot like a 125. But I hit 2 drives out of bounds and my coach came around and I legit gave him my driver and just used 3 wood the rest of the round and it didn't even really help.

We have one more tournament but I may not even get to play in it after that awful round but I'll just keep working

@Tgb02 Don't get to frustrated.  I know that's easier said than done.  Tournament rounds are going to get you a little more comfortable playing under pressure.  Honestly, @Pretzel post has some great advice.

In addition, don't try to fix or correct anything your doing while your on the course.  if you keep slicing it or playing a fade, just go with it that day.  At the range prior to the round don't try to fix anything either...   Hit a few shots using your pre-shot routine and pick a small target on the range.  Pay attention to what your doing and go with it for that day using the same routine and swing thought.  Now, on practice days, work on your game, fine tune your swing and work on your swing thoughts or swing keys.

Realize that you don't have to consistently hit perfect shots by any means.  Your goal at this point is to have consistent "misses"... Start learning where you miss most often and work from there.  You're goal in tournament golf is to try to limit you big numbers and penalty strokes.  Take hazards out of play when possible.  If there is water on the right of the fairway that starts 130 yards from the hole, go ahead and play to the 150 marker and take the water out of play off the tee.

Set some clear goals to improve upon this year and work on those.  My initial thought without ever seeing you hit a ball would be to find a 200 yard go to shot off the tee box or something that you have some confidence in.  Then work on your iron work.  The more you can get Greens in Regulations (GIRs) or Near Greens in Regulations you will see your scores improve in tournament golf.

Again, avoid hazards and penalty shots during your tournament rounds.  Mentally, play the course in sets of 3 holes.  Try to play each set of 3 holes at 3 over.  If you double the first hole, don't panic, just work on a par on one of the next two holes... and bogey the other.  Once that set is over, leave it behind and move on to your next set of 3 holes and so forth...  If you success in your game of 3's you end up shooting 90 -   That type of approach took pressure off for me and helped me move on if I had a bad hole or two.   It's a simple mental approach that helped me stay focused during tournament rounds.

Good Luck!  Keep your head up!  Learn to enjoy the pressure and learn to feel confident with your short game.  If you can get near the green in regulation and have a chance to get up & down... you will have a chance at saving par...

Oh, one other thing... Know where the OB markers are and the hazards are when you are selecting your target, but do not focus on them.  Select your shot, pick your target and focus on that target.  Once your target is selected the OB and hazards markers shouldn't be a thought in your mind.  Visualize you hitting that shot on the range at your selected target and it will take care of itself (most of the time lol)...

Thanks for the advice! This is my first year of tournaments so I am hoping for a better next year but I definitely need to think about this all and really focus. I really like the 3 hole thing though and I really hope I get to play in our last tournament next week.

Play more conservative. If you make a bad shot in the trees or what ever instead of trying a heroic shot take the simple shot punch out and then go for the green. If your

good with your 9ir/wedge lay up to those clubs on par 5's. The more you play the more you'll figure out how to save a round and manage your game know your strengths and play to them.

The 3 hole approach was a game changer for me.  You will hear people say take it shot by shot, and leave the hole behind you - but that didn't work for me.  I personally worked better and stayed more focused in small sets.  It helped me piece together a good round in small chunks.  It's really finding your keys and what works for you.  Some of this may be no help, but I can at least share what worked for me when I was playing competitively.

Tournaments are really about focus without over stressing and getting tense.  The best way to work on this in my opinion is to develop your pre-shot routine and learn to "zone it" or block other factors out -  Everyones pre-shot is different.  My routine stayed the same, but my swing thought may change.  I only focused on one thing during my swing and would repeat it in my head as I start my swing and finish it.  Many times it was tempo related for me and may have been something as simple as "back smooth, through smooth" reminding me to keep my swing fluid and loose.

When I approached my ball:

-The first thing I did was check the lie and see if it was going to impact my contact with the ball or the ball flight

-Check the Wind

-Identify pin placement and the short side of the green (don't shoot for pins unless they are in the middle).  Pick your spots for going at the pin.  Identify any hazards and move your landing zone into a safe area that gives you the best chance to hit the green and stay away from any greenside trouble (like missing the green right, with the pin on the right an no green to work with)...

Pre-shot:

-Stand behind the ball and look at my target (I usually picked a tree or something behind the green for my line - I didn't pick a marker in front of my ball like a lot of people do)  I take a practice swing with the purpose of being loose - it's not a hard swing, but something soft letting gravity swing the club and just brushing the grass - I do this while looking at my target behind the green

- I walk up to my ball and align the club face with my target stepping in with my right foot first - double checking my target and the clubface alignment

- I then step into addressing the ball with my left foot and set my feet based off my clubface

- I look back up at my target, do a waggle to loosen tension in my arms, set the club behind the ball and go right into my swing thought

- From there, it's only focus on my swing thought as I start my backswing...."Back smooth, through smooth" or whatever it is at the time...   The rest takes care of itself

If you do the same routine every time, it improves your consistency and your focus.  It can help eliminate nerves and actually allows you to make target adjustments a lot easier because you trust that with the same swing thoughts, you will start having consistent results..  Focus is your key here - you will get so into your routine "Zone It", you won't be worried about what the other players are thinking or impressing your coach, or what score you need to shoot to qualify etc...

In the end, it's about finding what works for you.  Learning your swing and what swing thoughts help you make the right moves.  Keep playing, practice with a purpose, and keep learning your game and you will undoubtedly continue to improve.  I was a pretty avg. college player when I played competitively but those things helped me a ton....  Hope some of this helps you too!!

First tourney of the year starts tomorrow for me. I can't wait, a little nervous. So what I do is focus on my process that I work on at the range and on the course and I am going to play extremely conservative for round one just to hopefully get a decent round under my belt. If I have a bad round, it is because of ball striking and not throwing away shots due to bad decisions. If you are playing a two day tourney at a course you don't see very often, that is what I recommend. "you can't win the tournament on the first day, but you can certainly lose it."

Stick to what go you to where you are at. When you start messing around and getting to technical then you can throw your whole game off. If you have time, play a practice round there. If not then try to see if you can walk the course before hand to see what is out there. If not then check out google maps. I did that before heading to Florida on my golf trip. It allowed me to know which holes I might not take driver out. No way in todays age should a person not be able to get advanced scouting of the course to get a decent idea of how to play it.