Help me!!! Great front 9 bad back 9

[trog2233]

The last 4 rounds i've played i've done this and i'm confused. The front 9 i hit 39-42 range and the back i hit 48-52. Its on different courses. I just fall apart. Any idea why or how i can fix this?

[brgolf]

The last 4 rounds i've played i've done this and i'm confused. The front 9 i hit 39-42 range and the back i hit 48-52. Its on different courses. I just fall apart. Any idea why or how i can fix this?

When you say you 'just fall apart' do you mean the mental side of your game?

[trog2233]

not really. I dont feel any different mentally.

[sean_miller]

When you say you 'just fall apart' do you mean the mental side of your game?

Answer these 4 questions - the answers should provide the answer to your original question (personally it sounds like a fitness issue - mental or physical):

• What type of course are you playing - varying difficulty on the front versus the back? Google Dinosaur Trail Golf course for an example (Drumheller Alberta - the front nine designed in the 1960s is vastly different and much easier than the desert nine built in the mid 1990s)
• How do you get around the course (walk/carry, walk/pull cart, or ride)?
• How would you rate your physical fitness?
• Do you drink on the course?

Your game is likely solid, but it sounds like you're running out of gas.

[bsettle]

This most definitely sounds like a fitness issue. I tend to do the same thing on really hot or humid days. I am in pretty good shape, but sometimes I just get a little winded and start leaving things short or right.

[trog2233]

Answer these 4 questions - the answers should provide the answer to your original question (personally it sounds like a fitness issue - mental or physical):

1. I've played a couple different courses and this is still my problem.

2. When this happened i'm riding a cart 3. I'm in great shape. I run everyday. I'm 27 years old 4. Yes i drink but these rounds i wasnt. Could it be that i need to eat to get more energy after the first 9? Just running out of gas?

[brgolf]

I'd like to look over 10-20 rounds before being assured there is a trend such as this.

[sean_miller]

1. I've played a couple different courses and this is still my problem.

Not even water? How hot/humid is it where you are? Heat exhaustion could be a factor. If you typically consume alcoholic drinks, why not these rounds? Did you recently quit smoking/coffee/extramarital sex? I agree with brgolf - 2 rounds is not a trend, it's a speedbump.

[trog2233]

Not even water? How hot/humid is it where you are? Heat exhaustion could be a factor. If you typically consume alcoholic drinks, why not these rounds? Did you recently quit smoking/coffee/extramarital sex? I agree with brgolf - 2 rounds is not a trend, it's a speedbump.

HAHA yea i drank water. I just drink alcohol every once in awhile. It doesnt effect my game. No i never smoked...dont drink coffee and same amount of sex haha But thanks guys for trying to help. I'll just ignore it and see if it changes

[lionking]

i've got the same problem. have shot 2-4 over on the front many times but have yet to put two of them together. from my experience:

- on the back 9, i think about the fact that i shot +2 on the front 9.
- it's easy to concentrate or be composed for 9 holes (or 2 hours). to do so for 18 (or 4 hours) is more than twice as hard.

i think it just comes down to being able to focus on a hole by hole or shot by shot basis.

[pittpanther]

from my experience:

I think you have nailed it. For the OP, it's probably not a matter of physical fitness, it's mentally focusing for 4 (or 5) hours. Shot after shot, trying to remember a dozen different things, becomes a grind after a few hours. You forget one or two things, your fundamentals break down ever so slightly, and that's all it takes to add strokes.

[Happy Dragon]

I have the same issue with my scoring as well. I agree with the poster who said that mentally, you are more aware and your level of concentration is better the first nine because you're fresher.

Ever notice when you try to replay holes in your head after the round, you remember the first 4 holes the best and the subsequent holes are kind of a blur? One thing that may help is to go off the back first at your home course a few times. You'll get to know the back as well as the front because you'll play it when you're mentally fresher and you may trick your brain in the process and curb the pattern and start playing at your potential the entire round.

[Gioguy21]

I have the exact OPPOSITE problem...i'll be hitting awful on the front (usually 4-6 over) and the back i'll be lights out...(1-3 over)...played the same course...switching the front and back and still have this issue...any ideas?

[Alex B]

I had this issue in state summer junior tournaments this year -- here were the six I played in:

1. 35 (E) - 37 (+3) = 72 (+3)
2. 36 (E) - 38 (+3) = 74 (+3)
3. 35 (E) - 40 (+5) = 75 (+5)
4. 37 (+1) - 42 (+6) = 79 (+7)
5. 40 (+4) - 39 (+3) = 79 (+7)
6. 38 (+2) - 40 (+4) = 78 (+6)

The first tournament was played on the hottest day of the summer. Idiotically, I forgot to pack a water bottle -- without any on-course fountains around the turn, I went +3 from holes 10-13. Then, after getting a drink on the 14th tee, I was even the rest of the way in.

In the second tournament I made double on 18 because I was playing for the win. It hurt (I lost by two), but I wouldn't have played the hole any differently.

The third tournament was played on a course (my former high school team's home course) where the back is nine much longer and harder than the front. A mental mistake leading to double on 17 made things worse.

In the fourth tourney, I was playing terrible golf. The 37 on the front was sheer luck (half-topped irons leading to birdies, etc.). On the back, I got way too aggressive and went double-triple on 12 and 13. A mental blowup -- tried to force a game that wasn't there at all.

The fifth tourney I did better on the back than on the front.

The sixth tourney I got distracted near the beginning of the back nine, lost all confidence in my putting stroke, and made three dumb bogeys from 13-15. Somehow pulled myself together mentally and parred the last three holes.

So there are a lot of reasons it can happen, but most boil down to getting mentally distracted. On the front nine, you feel you can save a mistake because there's a lot of holes left to play. On the back, you get too caught up in your score, and start forcing the issue, trying to make heroic shots to make up for a bogey or whatever, and end up compounding the errors. You just gotta play every hole as if it's the first hole of the day. Just like multiple flips of the coin aren't related, the eighteen holes are all individual -- you start fresh from the tee on each one. It's when you treat the entire course as one massive interconnected hole that you run into trouble. I'm trying to get myself to think that each hole is the first and only hole of a one-hole course.

[Motley01]

wow interesting thread, I do the EXACT same thing. I start out great, then by the back 9, I lost mental focus, get tired, etc.

[chspeed]

I do the same thing. As do many golfers. I think this is a psychological effect more than a physical one for most people.

One thing I'm going to try is to stop thinking of a round as 2 nine-hole courses, and instead play it as 6 3-hole courses. That way, I can feel like every 3 holes I have an opportunity to "start over".

[sean_miller]

I do the same thing. As do many golfers. I think this is a psychological effect more than a physical one for most people.

What if you thought about a round as 18 one hole courses - sorry if I just blew your mind.

[Nickynoodles]

Im complete opposite. I shoot like 39-45 front nine then the back i'll shoot 35-41. I normally dont hit my groove till around the 4th-5th tee. Once i get through nine ill grab a couple dogs and a gatorade and just start killing the ball. Also start putting a hell of alot better because you get a feel for the greens that day. One question do you hit balls at the range before you play? I find that if i hit a large bucket before i tend to tire out early and start slicing my drives and hitting my irons short. If i split a small with my buddy and hit 10 drives and 10 iron shots im good and dont waste to much energy and still get a few practice drives before tee 1.