One bad result ruining a great round.

[Mrd19abhs]

So yesterday I was playing my best round to date @ my home course, could have beaten personal best @ course by 5 shots if i bogeyed out til a great shot ruined my round.

Hole is the par 3 7th(16th hole of the day) 144 yrds to front of green, 153 yrds to center, and 162 to back. Middle pin location, Water in front left of green and along hole left side of green, sand trap right behind green. Pin is tucked in front left corner so I played for the center of the green since I was playing a good round and figured Id just go for the long two putt for par. So I grab my 8 Iron start it @ right side of green and draw it back towards center green. 8 iron typically carries 145 yrds, well this must have been the best struck 8 iron of my life cause this thing flies the green and landed on the back lip of the sand trap . As i approch my ball I notice its in a foot print and on a down slope of back of bunker, just freaking great. Two shots to get out of sand and then a three put 6, FML! Ok so now I can still beat my personal best by 3 shots if i bogey out. To bad i couldnt get my focus back and on next hole pulled tee shot 2 inches form being Ob, now im pissed and push my 5iron Ob and post a 9 on a par 4 and there goes my personal best @ this course. FML I hate this game sometimes.

[2bGood]

Focas on the shot and not the score and you'll do better next time. It hard to do it, but when you are in that zone, you really can focus on getting the best value out of each shot and forget about the larger contex

[tristanhilton85]

It's easier said than done, but you have to be able to forget about what happened on previous holes. On top of that, you can't really have the mentality that you have to "recover" strokes after you have a bad hole as that just adds to the pressure. What's done is done and you just have to move on and take one hole at a time.

[kpaulhus]

Today I had a double to start my back 9...proceeded to bogey 11-17. Then on 18 I hit a good drive, then stuck a 6 iron to 4.5ft on the par 5 18th, putting for eagle. I missed my putt high, but tapped in for Birdie. Ryan, you can play some good golf, but dont worry about the end score. Remember, you won $95 on skins in your game, and you shot a 114 or something. Just keep on keeping.

[B-Con]

Sorry to hear about that. It's a maddening game.

Every blow-up hole you have gives the the experience of playing through yet another a blow-up hole. Now that you've had this happen, next time you're in a similar situation you'll have this mental experience and it shouldn't be as disturbing to you. Shrug off what you can and focus on playing the game that got you the good score you've posted so far. If you're really shaken, back off by 10% so you don't get yourself in trouble.

[Skragbait]

That sucks. I've had a similar thing happen to me on a similar par 3. 155 yd to the center, 165ish to the back of the green, back pin location. I hit an 8i and air mailed the green by a long shot. I hit it about 180 yd. I managed to get par though. :D

Today I started my round with a 5 over on the first hole though. Rest of the round sucked pretty bad from there, too. First time I've shot over 50 on 9 holes in over 2 months. It's a short 310 yd slight dogleg left par 4. Skulled my tee shot with a 3 wood but ended up about 150 out in the center of the fairway. Pulled my 2nd shot about 30 yards left of the green. My 3rd shot flew right over the green by about 15 yards. 4th shot hit a tree and fell well short of the green. Chunked a chip with my 5th shot. 6th shot finally puts it on the green then I 3-putt. Felt like my first time playing again it was so horrible. I just tell myself I've only been playing a year, it's not so bad, heh. Yesterday I shot 41 on the same 9 holes though.

[DarkPrince]

Like everyone else said (and struggles with) you just have to put bad shots behind you, which is of course harder than it sounds. Sometimes I just need to sit down on the bench at the next hole for a few minutes, grab a drink of water, just cool off and let the steam out. It usually happens to me when I play by myself, so if there's anyone behind me I either let them play through or ask if they mind if I play along since conversation and laughter often distract me from whatever bad I just did.

Interestingly enough Pelz mentions an idea in some book called damage control. He mentions that most players play 5-6 strokes better than their handicap indicates...and then has a blow up hole or 2, or 5 :P According to him its not about staying OUT of trouble since everyone gets in trouble some time (even pro's), its learning how get out of the trouble to control the amount of damage you'd cause to your round. Basically if you put yourself in the position, don't be stupid, don't go for the hero shot unless you KNOW you can do it 9.9999/10 times, or at least when you miss it leave it in a manageable position.

[saevel25]

sounds like you got caught up in your score.

Here is a tip, don't keep a running total of were your at. I usually don't check till the 18th hole.

[oneoverwrx]

should have done the backwards shot like phil.

[ghalfaire]

After a particularly bad hole and before I hit the next shot I tell myself "the process is more important than the result" and the only shot you can influence is the next one. I also try to keep my head up as I walk (body language is important) and not hurry to the next tee.

[Mrd19abhs]

Well went out today to try and tackle the beast again and broke my personal best by 12 strokes on this course. could have been alot better to blew up on last two holes. went whole round without one penalty and took three over last two holes. oh well theres always next time to beat this round.

[meenman]

Well went out today to try and tackle the beast again and broke my personal best by 12 strokes on this course. could have been alot better to blew up on last two holes. went whole round without one penalty and took three over last two holes. oh well theres always next time to beat this round.

I would suggest snapping your 3 wood in half and start using that driver - and then just watch the scores shrink ;)

[stianvm]

sounds like you got caught up in your score.

Exactly. I dont add up shots nor points before i am in tap-in range on the last putt on the 18th. I have some clue on how my round is going, but getting down to shots/points during the round does me no good at all.

[JWL1957]

When you are going low................. enjoy it. If you start looking worrying about where to miss it....... your screwed.

Like Tin Cup said: Ride her till she bucks ya!

[Mrd19abhs]

I would suggest snapping your 3 wood in half and start using that driver - and then just watch the scores shrink ;)

I actually only he three wood once today and it was a beauty to recover from a duffed tee shot on 16 over that creek. :)