When Doubt Creeps Into Your Game…

[Sandy Lie]

So after a great great start on this date having my best round of the year, my round fell apart.  My afterthoughts on why led me to believe that one bad shot, leading to a bad hole then subsequent bad holes was what happened. When your playing well, your really performing, not really thinking about anything. Your just making shots, putting well. Your just having fun, then a bad stroke happens.  Your mind says no big deal let’s get up and down. Then you don’t! Next hole you shrug it off make a par. Then two more bad holes. Now your going through your rolodex of what’s going on!  You try to adjust to make a better stroke, sink a putt.  The round ends and although it wasn’t a bad round your thinking you just lost at having a great round.

Now I admit I changed my stance slightly for better alignment which resulted in two consecutive rounds of 76, it may have helped but I think it’s something else. I feel that good players know how to hold it together mentally.  Somehow they block out that bad shot and recover easily.

What do you do to keep that mindset and not let doubt creep in?  How do you finish to have a great round? Now I’ve had great rounds and I am streaky player and in doing so go for weeks playing well.  During that time I just play. I don’t think, just hit it and hit it again then add it up.

[Piz]

It took me a long time to figure out that I was not very good at letting the bad stuff go.  A friend pointed it out.

Friend:  I knew you were going to do that.

Me:  How so?

Friend:  Because you haven't said a word.

It was my habit to remain calm...no club throwing, cursing, etc.  My friend helped me to realize that I needed to actually clear my head...not just pretend to do so.

[Vinsk]

There’s no letting go, re-focusing or any of that Zen nonsense for me. Why? Because when my round goes South we’re not talking about missing left or pull hooking. No ‘ Oh I flew the green on that one.’ Yeah, big deal. We’re talking utter chaos. Once my shanks kick in, that’s it. It’s over. I either have to just hit my putter and my driver for the rest of the round or if I’m in a group, I’ll just stop and provide comic relief and become the group caddy. 

Any attempt to get back on track will only anger the Gods and prolong my sentence. Sometimes they give a 24hr virus, sometimes longer. I have no control over it.

[klineka]

38 minutes ago, Sandy Lie said:

So after a great great start on this date having my best round of the year, my round fell apart.  

Or another way to look at it is you strung together a number of holes where you likely performed above your average, then had a couple subsequent holes where you performed back at or below your average. 

I bet your thoughts on the round would have been different had you had a couple bad holes to start and then had a great back 9, or if you had a more random mix of the good and bad holes throughout the round but still shot the same score.

 

41 minutes ago, Sandy Lie said:

I feel that good players know how to hold it together mentally.  Somehow they block out that bad shot and recover easily.

What do you do to keep that mindset and not let doubt creep in?  How do you finish to have a great round? Now I’ve had great rounds and I am streaky player and in doing so go for weeks playing well.  During that time I just play. I don’t think, just hit it and hit it again then add it up.

If I hit a really uncharacteristic shot for me, say like a topped tee shot or a snap hook that goes completely against my normal left to right ball flight, I just chalk it up as an outlier and move on. Outliers happen to everyone, even the pros. Thinking about that shot 3 holes later isn't going to help me complete the hole I'm currently on in as few strokes as possible, so why worry about it?

[Double Mocha Man]

10 minutes ago, klineka said:

If I hit a really uncharacteristic shot for me, say like a topped tee shot or a snap hook that goes completely against my normal left to right ball flight, I just chalk it up as an outlier and move on.

I do the same thing.  Until I have four outliers in a row.  Then I'm grasping at a new swing key... or several.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, klineka said:

Or another way to look at it is you strung together a number of holes where you likely performed above your average, then had a couple subsequent holes where you performed back at or below your average. 

Yep.

2 hours ago, klineka said:

If I hit a really uncharacteristic shot for me, say like a topped tee shot or a snap hook that goes completely against my normal left to right ball flight, I just chalk it up as an outlier and move on. Outliers happen to everyone, even the pros.

Yup.

[billchao]

3 hours ago, klineka said:

If I hit a really uncharacteristic shot for me, say like a topped tee shot or a snap hook that goes completely against my normal left to right ball flight, I just chalk it up as an outlier and move on.

Same here. If I’m pulling the ball a lot during a round I’ll adjust, but if I hit a shank, I’ll be like, “Where did that come from?” Then I move on.

[boogielicious]

11 hours ago, billchao said:

but if I hit a shank, I’ll be like, “Where did that come from?”

Orlando.😜