After a horrible day how do you deal with golf dejection?

[tanktwo2]

just have to take one shot at a time brother.  It really is that simple.  if you hit a bad one you MUST forget it, otherwise playing any sort of competitive golf successfully is nearly impossible

[meenman]

Just copy one of my playing partners - he has a score in his head before he starts and posts it that way whether he shot 10 or 20 strokes higher

[NI4NI]

Go home and play with the kids.  This is the best way that I have to focus on what matters most.  Golf is definitely not that important to me to have it alter my mood for too long.

There's always tomorrow to sink even lower on the course.  Or, rise above it all for a career-best round.

[awmgolfer]

Something I also try to remember to help keep things in perspective is not even the pros shoot great scores (great scores in relation to their level) every round. They don't go out and shoot low to mid 60's every single round and every single week. Their scores just are a few levels above most of us but they still have that variation in their own game.

[Albatross Ace]

Originally Posted by awmgolfer

Something I also try to remember to help keep things in perspective is not even the pros shoot great scores (great scores in relation to their level) every round. They don't go out and shoot low to mid 60's every single round and every single week. Their scores just are a few levels above most of us but they still have that variation in their own game.

This is very true. Even professional golfers choke.

http://www.suntimes.com/4853689-417/********er-kevin-na-shoots-a-16-...-on-one-hole-video

Thanks for all the advice. I shot a 44 today so it was an improvement but definitely left some strokes on the course (of course who doesn't.)

I think the key to consistency is to make bad rounds a bump in the road and not a precursor to a slump.

[Tomboys]

As some others have suggested, the score itself is neither here nor there.  I, like OP, used to live and die by my scorecard.  However, I later realized that while I am capable of a good score one day, there was no telling what I would shoot the next time I went out.  Sure enough, I rarely followed up a good round with another good round.  Most of time, my scores would be worse.  Sometimes horrendously worse.  It was at that point I decided not to let my score determine the quality of my round and, more importantly, my mood for the time being.  Rather, regardless if I score well or not, I grade myself on one basic attribute, ballstriking.  At my level, I will see the biggest benefit to shooting lower scores by improving the consistency of my ballstriking.  And, when I say ballstriking, I mean the quality of contact, distance and direction.

For instance, during my last round, I played 3 (random) holes in the following manner:

389 yard par 4:

Tee shot:

3-wood popped up--went a whopping 170 yards.

Approach shot:

219 yard 3H that I had to hit a hard draw (@20 yards) because there was a mountain base that obstructed my direct line to the green.  Also, the green sits on a plateau that is elevated @20' higher than where I stood on the fairway.  Since the face of the plateau was almost vertical, I couldn't land it short and run it onto the green.  I had to fly it there.  Hit my approach shot to 10' of the flag.

Putt:

1 putted for birdie.

175 yard par 3:

Tee shot:

6i where the ball looked like it landed close to the pin, but it took a big bounce--greens were very firm and according to the starter, they were running @ 12 on the stimp.  Thought the ball rolled to the back of the green.  Turns out that my tee shot bounced off the green, went through the rough and into the water.  Took a drop, chipped onto the green.

Putt:

1 putted for bogey.

414 yard par 4:

Tee shot:

3-wood 257 yards

Approach shot:

8i pulled into a greenside bunker.

Bunker shot:

Out in 1, 12' from the pin.

Putt:

1 putted for par.

Now, if I relied solely on my scorecard to determine the quality of my round, it showed that I played these 3 holes even and it would be easy to get a false sense of security about my abilities.  However, once I reviewed the holes based on the quality of my ballstriking, a glaring problem was uncovered.  The problem is that the inconsistency of my swing produces shots that have too great a variance.  A 3-wood that goes 170 on one swing and 257 on another is unacceptable.  Similarly, a swing that results in a 175 yard 6i online with my target can also result in a 157 yard 8i that is pulled 15 yards left of my intended target.  Again, unacceptable.

It's because of the above that I don't fret about my score because I look at each shot that makes up the score.  From there, I have an idea of what I need to do (improve ballstriking consistency) in order to affect my score.  Until I can bridge the gap better between my good shots and my bad shots, it will be very difficult for me to have a realistic idea of what score I can reasonably expect to shoot on any given day.  Also, just because I hit a great recovery shot and drained some exceptional putts, doesn't make me a good player.  All those shots are low percentage shots that I successfully converted (read: got lucky).  Over a prolonged period of time, I will fail on these types of shots more often than I will succeed.

As such, the only hole that I was truly satisfied with was the par 3.  Why?  Simple.  I executed 3 good quality shots in a row.  Sure, I had to take a penalty stroke and it led to a bogey, but that was due to me being unfamiliar with the course and the condition of the green (my first time playing it).  Had I known that firing at the pin at the back right corner of the green would bring the water hazard behind the green into play, I would've opted for a shorter club aimed at the center of the green.

I guess all I am trying to say is that while the scorecard is the "ultimate" determining factor of the level of any given golfer, relying solely on it can do more harm than good.

[Albatross Ace]

I agree, there is much more to a round than just the scorecard. One day I couldn't stop grossly overswinging on my tee shot and topped 4 of my drives. I hit fantastic 230+ yard approaches with my 4 wood and went up and down for par 3 of those times and shot a 41. Yet I still left the course feeling bad about my game.

[GaijinGolfer]

I deal with it by reminding myself that I play golf for fun and that Im not good enough to get mad at myself for playing poorly.

[SteelCitySlice]

I tend to not deal with a bad round DURING said round very well.  I get very frustrated, and very rarely am I able to "right the ship" (something I really need to work on).  However, the minute the round is over, I'm already thinking about how I could have done better, what I have to do to hit the shots that I missed, how I can take advantage of that hit fairway or GIR, etc, etc.  So I think just having a positive attitude after the round is over, not thinking about how bad the bad shots were, but thinking about how to improve on those shots for the next round and envisioning hitting those same shots with the desired outcome will make the post round depression seem a little more manageable.

Probably just a different way of saying exactly what everyone else has on this post, but just my $.02.

[Lee Westwood]

Drink a cold brewski and watch the socks. Thats how to deal with any hardship in life.

[MSDOGS1976]

I usually go play the 19th hole after a bad day. Of course I do the same after a good round. ;)

[jamo]

I just try to go out the next day and make some birdies. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. It's just a game. [Insert cliche here.]