Convinced my problem is mental: Need help!!!!

[brianc]

Hey everyone. I'm looking for some tips (preferably from the better players amongst us) on how to keep myself calm and loose on the course from the first tee to the eighteenth green. I, along with my teaching pro, am convinced that my issues on the course are all mental. On the range and during the course of lessons I can't seem to hit a bad shot: Not a stretch to say that I can hit the ball consistently as well as any single digit player. But as soon as I step foot on a course I fall apart. It has become infuriating to me because with my swing i should be playing to probably no worse than a 10 hc and because of all my mental anxiety I can't even break 90......Why can't I swing the way I do every sing practice session on a friggin golf course!!!!

ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Thanks all.

[flopdarock]

my brother is the exact same way... he's a range hero/course zero... lol... he kills balls shapes shots hits targets when he's on the range... his swing is completely different on the course... like he wants it sooo bad he can taste it... then ends up chunking alot of shots...
he got out of his funk(but not totally) by playing alot of practice rounds...
you have to get comfortable on the course... so if youre playing a round where score doesnt matter... it helps you get a feel for being on the course... familiarity

[golfdad]

although we all tend to perform worse under pressure, with the exception of that pilot that landed on the hudson, your question begs more details about your situation.

first of all, driving range essentially does not cover the most crucial part of the game, the short game. without good management around green, it is easy to add couple strokes each hole and add up to over 90, even with 14 fairway drivers. you and your pro may want to break your on course score down into short vs long game. some of the better junior players that i know of essentially spend over 90% of practice time on short game which is done away from the range. on some level, practicing a lot on the range basically does not prepare you to score well on the course. 10 driver swings is not as useful as 10 chipping touches, for instance. very difficult to stay in the 80s if long putts means 3 putts often.

assuming your short game is decent and that it is your long game that suffers under pressure as compared to the driving range, then you may benefit from increasing some "pressure" on the driving range. self torture
for instance, you and your pro can device an hour lesson playing an fake 18 hole on the range. he picks a target for your driver, you do it. he records it in terms of quality,,,distance, sideway deviation. then a wood or hybrid. then a short approach shot. repeat it about 18 times. it won't be a walk in the park i can tell you discuss afterwards and try to deduce a reasonable score. how do you perform after bad shots on the driving range under this format where you feel and know your teacher is watching and evaluating you.

during this process on the driving range, you may learn a lot about yourself and consequently find ways to cope and help yourself. how to strike a balance between relax and enjoy yourself and relax but focus on goal after goal after goal...

usually, our goals on the driving range are rather simplistic and when we push ourselves to the limit, it is often about hitting further or even straighter, but rarely about quality of contact and distance control...

[cody west]

your exactly right and it is mental. jsut think about where you want the ball to go. its called a mental block i had the same problem at the beginning of the year because my new course is very tight and now i have fixed it on every hole on my home course. you have to be able to make a confident swing only focusing on the hole and you will hit a good shot.
on many holes with ob, hazzard, bunkers, or rough people tend to think more about the hazard than the hole. subconciously they change their swing path to the place they are focused on not hitting the ball into. it sends the ball directly into the hazzard or ob, according to the high school psycology teacher/coach. the key it to block out everything but the green and the hole dont even think about the drinks at the halfway house. just think about hole and nothing else, as long as you can do the swing once you can do it everytime.
we have a big meeting and speach on this for the golf team.

i have a friend who is a terrible bunker player, hes a very low single didget but if he gets into a bunker it takes him atleast 2 to get out, he can play good but if your in a match with him and you mention a greenside bunker hes in it every time. all you have to do is get him thinking about it and hes in it.
just focus on the hole and nothing else, and focus on the shot at hand, dont think about the shot your going to have if you miss or about the next tee shot because that just distracts you.

another thing is here are some stats phil mickelson vs 5 handycap
phil 75% from 6 feet 5 handycap 75% from 5 feet
phil hits greens 90% from 100 yards 5 handycap 75% from 100 yards
phil hits greens 50% from 200 yards 5 handycap 50% from 190 yards
phil hits greens 25% from 250 yards 5 handycap 0% from 250 yards

if you see how small the difference is between the 5 handycap and the #2 ranked player in the world. just by improving percentages a little bit you can improve your game alot

my big tip would be to stop thinking and close "your eyes" to everything but the hole and try to make every shot no matter what hazzards lie in your way. if your swing is a good as you say.

[GamerJG]

Hey everyone. I'm looking for some tips (preferably from the better players amongst us) on how to keep myself calm and loose on the course from the first tee to the eighteenth green. I, along with my teaching pro, am convinced that my issues on the course are all mental. On the range and during the course of lessons I can't seem to hit a bad shot: Not a stretch to say that I can hit the ball consistently as well as any single digit player. But as soon as I step foot on a course I fall apart. It has become infuriating to me because with my swing i should be playing to probably no worse than a 10 hc and because of all my mental anxiety I can't even break 90......Why can't I swing the way I do every sing practice session on a friggin golf course!!!!

practice ON the course that you usually play to get yourself comfortable hitting all the shots. hitting the ball great on the range means nothing. you mentioned swinging and hitting the ball. as you know, golf is a game of scoring. focus more on scoring and short game, than hitting the ball. i think if you concentrated on course management more, you would score better. you have to be comfortable over the ball on the course to hit the shots. also don't put so much pressure on yourself. it's just a game and who really cares what you shoot as long as you have fun. sometimes i don't even keep score, i'll just play to have fun and practice out there. the more tension or stress in your swing, the harder it will be for you to hit good shots, simple as that. relax and loosen up out there. don't think as much, just hit the shots.

[DBeane]

Not to sound sarcastic. A good swing shouldnt break down that easy. True, your head can cause problems, however a good swing and solid ball striking builds confidence, confidence leads to good or improving trips to the track.

I would get a second opinion from a different instructor. An instructor saying "its between your ears" to someone struggling to break 90, is like a preacher saying your sick because you don't give enough money to his church.

Good luck,

-Beane

[Chief Broom]

I like the idea about playing practice rounds for a while. Just keep an informal score in your head (how many strokes over or under). You can also commit to playing bogey golf. Bogey golf changes your focus and takes a lot of pressure off your game. Getting one more stroke to put the ball on the green can allow you to not worry as much about scoring and begin to focus instead on course management. Shoot bogey golf and on a par 72 course you've shot a 90. Another tip is to focus on the shots you stand the best chance of making under pressure. That might mean leaving the driver in the car and hitting at most your 3 wood off the tee.

Change your expecatations about your game so that you can gain familiarity on the course. You'll still have those mental lockups but over time they won't be as bad. Also once you start scoring better you'll begin to believe in yourself and in your ability to play well at any time.

[MiniMoe]

The longest walk in golf is from the range to the first tee. Playing the game is more about just swinging the club and controlling the ball. When the swing is not working good on the course, you have to learn to get the ball in the hole with a sub-par game. Tiger is the best in the world at winning with his "C" and "D" games. Why??? He knows how to play his misses to give him the best opportunities. If he is missing everything right, he will aim left and play it. If he is not hitting the irons good, he will take more clubs and play 3/4 shots to help control the shot.

The best advice I can give is to learn your misses. You have to know where the ball is going to go if you don't hit it good so you can somewhat plan for it. After that, you have to learn to play one shot at a time without expectations. On the first tee, you only job is to get the ball in the fairway, or at least in play somewhere. After you find it, then your job is to get it on the green, or at least somewhere that gives you a good chance to make par. Playing golf is all about one shot at a time. You add up the score when you get done.

One more thing... small targets means small misses . Standing on the tee, pick a very small target to hit to. Don't aim for the fairway, aim for a tree limb in the distance, or anything that is very small in the distance.

[mc0388]

I like what MiniMoe said.

Wherever you hit that little white ball, you ARE gonna go chase it! Your last shot is over, focus on the shot at hand

[wubskis]

You add up the score when you get done.

This has helped me out leaps and bounds. I would get so hung up on a bad shot that my next couple would be dominated by me being angry instead of re-focusing on the task at hand. I'd say I still add a couple strokes per round by just rage-hitting the ball instead of stopping to breathe and think.

[JaY_B]

Just keep your practise as close to the real thing as you can, play holes on the range hitting driver then 7 iron, or laying up on imaginary par 5's etc and make sure you follow the same routine on every shot, after 4, 5, 6 practise sessions this will start to pay off, same pre shot routine in practise, same pre shot routine on the course and you have a fighting chance.

[sonicblue]

another thing is here are some stats phil mickelson vs 5 handycap

You're correct that the difference between a 5 and Phil (what, a +6-8?) is very small when it comes to statistical percentages, but that bolded section is completely misguided. It's not like you can just say, "Gee, if I hit more greens from 200 yards, my scores would really go down," or "I think if I made more 15-foot putts, I could trim some strokes off my cap." It's all cart before the horse.

You need to figure out HOW to hit greens with your 5-iron, or HOW to make more putts. And, like this OP is finding, it's VERY mental, especially if he's a range cowboy. All of the SHOTS on the course are just like the driving range, but certainly none of the PLANNING is like the range. On the course, you have to plan EACH shot singularly, design it based on your hits and misses for that day, pick your shot shape, etc... Once you do all that, the swing part should be easy. It sounds to me like the OP is hoping his 'swing' and 'striking' carries him through, while skipping the focused planning part. As an example, I remember watching Tiger one day. He had about 185 into the 18th green. He and Stevie were discussing the shot, particularly the wind. Tiger did his 'feel' practice swings, watching the trees, staring down the green, you could see him picturing the shot, always uneasy about the wind. He got over the ball, gave the wind one more look, then finally swapped clubs with Stevie. As SOON as he made that decision, boom, he was over the ball (not rushed, but not wasting any time), swing, bang, knocks it to ten feet. Tiger spent all his time on the plan, the situation, the singular focus of that shot, and when he was decided, the swing was incidental. Most of us do it backwards: our 'plan' is devised in about two seconds, then we spend ten times that length of time practicing and/or thinking about the 'swing.' Now, granted, Tiger's swing is inherently better than most of ours', but we are NOT going to change our swing on the course, so you have to just play the swing you have that day. What we CAN control, and do well, and improve upon, every round you're out there, is our focus and our planning. No matter what swing you have, when you add in that focus, you WILL play better, and THAT is what will LEAD to lower scores (and stats).

[KaiL]

I am not a better player, but I would recommend "Beat the Bogey man" by Dr. Travis Fox.

Also, you may want to do what he recommends when practicing on the range by hitting only 5 balls on 5 different targets (i.e. each ball have a different target) for each club. And while on the course do the "check out", "check in" thing between shots, and just enjoy the scenery while walking to your ball.

[cody west]

You're correct that the difference between a 5 and Phil (what, a +6-8?) is very small when it comes to statistical percentages, but that bolded section is completely misguided. It's not like you can just say, "Gee, if I hit more greens from 200 yards, my scores would really go down," or "I think if I made more 15-foot putts, I could trim some strokes off my cap." It's all cart before the horse.

what im trying to say is practice on the course when no one is on it, im a member at a course so i play in bad weather all the time cuz i dont have to pay for each round and when no one is out i bring the whole shag bag with me and drop 5 balls at like 250, 5 balls at 225, 5 balls at 200, 10 balls at 150, 10 balls at 100. i keep track of my percentages and i can say that i have gotten much better by keeping track of percentages. if you can hit greens you can play good golf, if you hit every green and 3 putt 9 times you shoot 81. key is just to know the shot you have to hit and how you want to hit it theres nothing more than that.

what your saying is true but 90% of us dont know how far our 5 iron goes with a 5 mph into our faces. most people dont get to play in bad weather alot either.