so i had the worst meltdown, ever...

[senorchipotle]

... i finally got my driver working and hitting most of the fairways, so i was excited to play golf today. i started out striking the ball beautifully, had 5 tough putts for birdie on the front, but i put a good stroke on it and left them all for tap in pars, finishing +2 on the front. on the back, i triple bogeyed the tenth, tripled the 13(a par 3), doubled the fourteenth, and ended up shooting +9 on the back. it was atrocious. how do you recover from that? it was like two different people playing golf. have you had a day such as this? how do you get your confidence back and stop second guessing yourself?

[Scaldy]

I can totally relate. I shoot an 86 one round and felt like I could have done better. Next round, same course, my short game blows up and I shoot a 97. It took everything I had to pull in a few pars down the stretch to not shoot over 100. My only advice is to build off of the positives and do your best to ignore the negatives. I think I just let my nerves get to me. Experience will hopefully help me next time. I flew the green twice....twice in one hole and salvaged a triple bogey. Garr!

[CG031]

... i finally got my driver working and hitting most of the fairways, so i was excited to play golf today. i started out striking the ball beautifully, had 5 tough putts for birdie on the front, but i put a good stroke on it and left them all for tap in pars, finishing +2 on the front. on the back, i triple bogeyed the tenth, tripled the 13(a par 3), doubled the fourteenth, and ended up shooting +9 on the back. it was atrocious. how do you recover from that? it was like two different people playing golf. have you had a day such as this? how do you get your confidence back and stop second guessing yourself?

Yes, I've done this a lot. In my recent tournament, I wasn't playing too bad at all. I got to the 9th hole at +6 on the day, nothing special, but for a tournament round I was pleased because I was just a little bit off to be shoot around 2 or 3 over. I made a triple, went to +9, 45...should have been a 42.

End up shoot +9 on the front, +11 on the back, for a 91. So yea man we all have days like this where we make big numbers even though we are seemingly striking the ball well on all the other 16 holes.

[julius06]

... i finally got my driver working and hitting most of the fairways, so i was excited to play golf today. i started out striking the ball beautifully, had 5 tough putts for birdie on the front, but i put a good stroke on it and left them all for tap in pars, finishing +2 on the front. on the back, i triple bogeyed the tenth, tripled the 13(a par 3), doubled the fourteenth, and ended up shooting +9 on the back. it was atrocious. how do you recover from that? it was like two different people playing golf. have you had a day such as this? how do you get your confidence back and stop second guessing yourself?

Its funny how that handicap system works.

I went 39/48 and then 47/39 my past two rounds. So I am very familiar with the two different golfers. I agree with the earlier post about focusing on the positives, then identify where you consistently had trouble and begin addressing it. My big numbers generally come off the tee - OB, hazards, trash, etc... I generally can check the ego and hit long irons, hybrids, or my nor so trusty 3w off the tee - but sometimes I try to take on that long par 4 or 5 all in the first bite.

[Taylor Shrake]

I've shot a wonderful 29 on the front 9 at my home course. Then done a 50 on the back. How its even possible? I don't know.

[enis750]

i feel your pain bro
posted this yesterday..guess it was in the wrong section though

yesteray i golfed 18 and shot a 76 (par 72)...was a good "safe round"
spent 2.5 hrs on the range and 1.5hrs on the putting surface - was a good day

today i did another 18..shot 37 on the front (par 36), again a very "Safe" nine holes
driver stayed in the bag as it was a super tight front nine

started out good on the back, went par, par, par, birdie, triple! - i pushed it right and ended up in the bogey dust (par 3 156yds into the wind)
i dont have anywhere to practice bunker shots, so i struggled on that hole
this put me 3 over so far for the round

the wind had picked up at this point and the next par 4 was only 420yds, but felt like 600..i played driver, 6i into the green - par

next hole was a 545 yd par 5, with the wind and i said "you know what, i need to make up some ground here", so i went for it - driver, 5i and YES on in two! PIN HIGH, but about 30ft to the hole

missed eagle by 3" and tapped in birdie

ok, i am on the last two holes and 2 over
island green 17......and wet (16 different expletives later I double out)
18 - wind in my face, driver is high and right into the fairway bunker
7i out, PW in and 2 putt for a 5 bogey

i honestly thought i had the game to get even or even under today, based on my first nine..boy was i wrong

so i finished at 77 (par 72) 6580yds long
4 sets of tees - black, blue, gold, red - we played the blue's as i was playing w my wife's cousin - he's about a 15hcp or so

not one to complain about a 77, BUT man did i fall apart and was up and down on the back nine

front nine i hit 7 GIR, 7 fwys and had 18 putts
back nine i hit 3 GIR, 2 fwys and had 19 putts

[chriskzoo]

Sounds like you just compounded your mistakes. My philosophy is to avoid double at all costs. If I'm blocked out a bit on my approach I now always play the safe shot and see if I can get up and down rather than trying to hit the miracle 2nd shot. THat will lead to a bogey/double more often than playing it safe and trying to get up and down from 100 yards.

[Macmike2112]

do it all the time... haha

[Grip it n' rip it]

I had a pretty bad meltdown yesterday. I typically shoot in the 90's and have flirted with the high 80's on several occasions, only to lose it on the last couple holes.. I was playing pretty well on the front with the exception of the 8th when I tripled a par 3 and then doubled a par 4 (left me with a 45 on the front). I started off the 10th with a ball in the woods and went 4 over on that hole.. Calmed down and birdied the next hole which was a long par 5. After that I settled down a bit with a par on the 12th which was a shot over water on a short par 3, then a couple bogeys and another double on a par 5. So, I'm at the 17th (I needed to have been off the course 15 minutes ago at this point, so I'm rushing to get done). I hit my 6 iron right of the green on this par 3 and then it all crumbled.. I was basically playing ping pong with myself going back and forth over the green trying to finish this hole.. Long story short, I finished 5 over on this par 3 and then doubled the 18th.. What started out as a pretty good day ended up with me throwing my putter in the woods and a 97..

[64degrees]

I've had several meltdowns this year....100+ scores. It's always one part of my game that blows up and causes the meltdowns. Sometimes it's my short game, sometimes it's tee shots... lately it's been my 2nd shots and long irons on par 4's and 5's. My best score on 18 is an 89, a year ago... and on 9 holes a 37 (2 over par), a year and a half ago... which was a freak anomaly. I've shot low 90's many times, but I can't seem to break into the 80's.

[schapman]

Last round for me was 47 front + 57 back

Before that was 43/59

Damn that elusive breaking 100

[64degrees]

My meltdowns usually occur on par 4, dog leg lefts. There's two holes like this on the front nine of my home course... and it seems like they beat me down every time.... double bogey or triple bogey.

[uppi]

I had a tournament this past weekend. Shot 164 for 36 holes (81-83). On my second day, I was doing OK, but not great (had a 40 on the front, and if I shot 38 on the back that would put me in a tie for the lead and would have been a playoff). Well I had two doubles and a triple, and STILL managed to shoot 43 on the back. I finished my last 3 holes at -1. I did the same thing on the front 9 with my 40, finished the last 3 holes at -1. So not only do I understand the different golfer thing from 9 to 9, I understand completely different golfer from hole to hole.

[zubiq]

I can totally relate with this one. However I find myself usually getting of to slow starts in tournaments and bringing it back on the back nine. I start off best when Im playing for par