Going Under Par or Even Par

[Dominic]

Well everyone thanks for the advice. I shot 40 on my front nine. Then i started the back nine eagleing the 10th hole. After that I knew there was a chance and completely shut out the thought of going under par. I took the rest of the round one shot at a time. I hit every green in regulation and birdied another hole to finish 3 under on the back nine! bouncing back from a 40 to a 32!

[right handed phil mickelson]

Well everyone thanks for the advice. I shot 40 on my front nine. Then i started the back nine eagleing the 10th hole. After that I knew there was a chance and completely shut out the thought of going under par. I took the rest of the round one shot at a time. I hit every green in regulation and birdied another hole to finish 3 under on the back nine! bouncing back from a 40 to a 32!

How the hell are you a 6 handicap? Hmm....

Haha anyways I'm glad I could help (probably not my comment but I'd like to think so). Great round!

[killerduck]

I assume that the scores you've been blowing are on the same course. Your home course, even? Therefore, it's safe to assume that at some stage you've hit the perfect drive, approach, chip etc on every hole at some stage....

DRAW ON THOSE MEMORIES

I know at my home course, the 8th (very tight driving hole, OOB within 2 metres of the fairway) I stopped aiming away from the OOB (into the trees, hoping for fade) and started aiming straight, with desregard to the OOB, my score or anything. And I keep hitting the fairway....

Draw upon the good shots you've hit. THAT, is mental strength.

[sean_miller]

I've subscribed to this thread. Last round of the summer was 42/37 rounds and a couple weeks before that I started my round with 4 straight birdies and still ended up with a 38 on that side. Boo!

Hopefully reading these tips will help. My motivation came last summer when while playing with a guy I taught how to play (over 3 summers) and now breaks par - when the hell did he lap me?

[ry1808]

A few years ago I got down to three and was consistently shooting around par or better 71's 72's on a regular basis. I even shot a 69 to tie the amateur course record (at the time) and missed a 6 footer on the last for a birdie, damn!

But anyway I am starting to get back into golf and I am adamant that the only thing that is stopping most people from breaking that golden barrier is between the ears. So I am working on stripping back my mental aspect of golf to the bare minimum.

If someone asks me before a round, "what is your aim today" my answer is "hit the 1st fairway". I am trying to work it so that every shot is considered as an individual rather than a group of 70 or so shots. If you stand on the 1st and think "right, i'm gonna shoot 3 under today" you think, gee that's tough and you put pressure on yourself from the start. Now how much pressure is there on you to hit the fairway, far far less. Then once you've done that you can think, "right, i've got to hit the green now" and build your round from there.

Also with that ethos you can compensate for bad shots, if you do, say hit one up a tree your next aim will be, "get it back in play" rather than, oh boy i need to be 2 under at the turn and i'm 1 under after 6 I need to hit a Seve shot here to stay on course and then run off a double by taking on a far too risky shot.

Now I know this is far easier said than done, but this is something that I am determined to work at and want to get myself into this mental state. Then you can almost measure your success by how many goals you achieved rather than you real score and eventually the scores will come down.

Good luck everyone.