Golf is Such a Crazy Game

[Fairway_CY]

I posted this in my blog (in more detail)... but I don't know how many people actually read the blogs here, so... I'll post it here as well.

I played yesterday. The course I played at is the same course I played at just 5 days prior, however, this time... we played the middle tees instead of the back tees. I felt like, since I shot a very good (for me) round of 92 from the back tees... I should have been PRETTY close to breaking 90 from the middle tees.

I was confident in my swing because, the night before, I visited the range and I had NEVER felt more comfortable over a ball. On the range... everything seemed to work. At the course the following morning... it seemed to carry over. My first hole was one of my best ever. Perfect drive on a short par 5 leaving me about 185 to the pin. My 5 iron started out left and faded back perfectly and ended up only 13 feet short of the hole. It was my first ever eagle putt on a par 5 (I've been playing since I was 13 years old). I missed the putt, but ended up with a birdie. From that point... I played the front side in a wonderful 42 (+7). I was happy and felt very good. Even shots that had given me problems in the past (3 wood off the deck) worked for me on the front side.

Back side, however... it was just completely different. I choked. Big time. On the 10th hole... my drive was hit well, but faded too far right and ended up in the right rough. My stance was on a cart path, but the lie of the ball was pretty good, so I elected NOT to drop it and keep it where it was. When I swung with my 8 iron... my back foot slipped a LITTLE bit and I skulled my 8 iron... it ended up running into a trap in front of the green. Out of there, I had a case of alligator arms on my downswing... I felt like I was going to hit it fat and leave it in... so on the downswing, I overcompensated and hit it REAL thin out of there. I overshot the green by some 30 yards and ended up in a water hazard. My drop out of there left me with a fluffy lie... I hit that fat and left it short of the green... then I chipped up... and took 3 putts to get down, giving me a 5-over par score of 9 on the opening hole of the back side.

It didn't get any better. I followed with triple bogey - triple bogey - triple bogey - triple bogey before I finally settled down some. I then made par on the 15th hole after another bombed drive and 5 iron left me JUST off the green on a par 5. The 16th hole was a bogey... 17th hole also a bogey. On the 18th, I yanked my drive when trying to play a big fade... then had to punch a 4 hybrid out. That left me about 200 to the green... and I hit my 4 hybrid really thin and it got caught up in some rough about 60 yards from the pin. My wedge to there left me about 18 feet... I ended up needing 2 putts from there for a closing double.

In all... I went out in 42 and came back in 56 for a total of 98. It's the second time I've had a real good front side and then choked away the back side. (Last time was August of 2009 when I went out in 40 and came back in 54).

It's frustrating because the mistakes on the back side that hurt me were just DUMB things... a couple of REAL poor tee shots on par 3's that made me scramble... I needed 3 putts on 5 different holes on the back. Just things that COULD have been avoided, but once I had that bad hole on the 10th... it snowballed until I hit a good drive on the 15th.

I KNOW it's a mental thing... and I've REALLY got to start working on my mental game, but... when things go bad... I don't really get angry, I just can't seem to recover. It's kinda stupid that I get that way... but - that's golf.

CY

[Teklabz]

but - that's golf. CY

Yeah it is, isn't it. Too bad about the res tof your round. I'm sure this isn't helfpul, but try to approach every hole fresh, new hole, last hole has no bearing on the outcome of this one, etc.

[saevel25]

I've done that recently, 3 over front side, 8 over back side. I was getting tired though., i should always remember to buy a sandwhich or something to keep for the back nine..

[clearwaterms]

In this season of Hank Haney's show he has a section called "taking it to the course" I think alot of people have that problem, they can go to the range and hit the ball very well, but than they go to the course and can't put two shots together to score par with any consistancy.

The first round of the year for me was at my favorite par 36 9 hole course. My best score last year was 43 and a good round was anything in the 45-47 range. The first round I shot a 47 with a double on the last hole and a triple on the first. I managed 4 pars in total, and 2 of those were on the difficult par 3's. I have been back to that course twice since and neither time I broke 50. Both of the times that I played that course I was at the range the day prior and was very excited that I had hit the ball very well, one of those times I actually posted that I had a break through in my swing. Only to not be able to repeat it on the course.