A trend for me: Good front, terrible back

[Rugger]

I played a tough course today. I played great on the front nine(for me) with my only problems being off the tee box, as usual. I had 43 on the front and was hitting my irons great.

After a sandwich and bathroom break we took to the back nine. My card went double, double, double, boge, triple, bogey, triple, double, par.

Talk about a train wreck.
This isn't uncommon for me, either. I am regularly on pace for about 85-86 after 9 but totally fall apart on the back.

Any mental tips for me?

[andy101]

I would suggest not worrying about the scorecard on the round. Don't sit and work out the numbers in your head as it will put too much pressure on you. You need to go out and play. Being confident I find is also good, i.e. stick to your guns. For example on putting, what you read is where you putt. I find too many people change their minds (specially when its an important putt) at the last second causing a miss everytime. This applies to all area's of the game. As soon as you can be confident in yourself your golf will turn around. Trust me this won't work over night and takes sometime. Remember you not playing for other people, but for yourself, so you know how you played, cause sometimes the golf thats displayed is not true reflection. You hear it all the time, with the pros. They can have a crap tournament but will tell you that they were happy because their ball striking was on song, or their driving or whatever.

Hope it helps :)

[Kieran123]

I'm the other way. Bad front, better back.

Personally I always keep track of my score so I know what I want to shoot to break 80 or shoot low 80's

I like putting pressure on myself.

[alomar123]

Try playing the course backwards. Maybe the back is just hard.

[ERdiesel]

Possibly fatigue or tension? Sometimes you may not necessarily feel physically fatigued but the golf swing i've come to notice begins to break down for me when i'm fatigued even if I don't feel it, but my swing does. Also, when i say tension, for me, when i'm adding up my score for the front 9 and i'm hitting well, i begin to put pressure on myself to do as well if not better on the back 9, and unconsciously or consciously begin tensing up as I begin to "try" to play better or repeat my front 9 performance. I've found in golf, when I "try" to do anything, I tense up, i grip harder, and my swing becomes affected.