How do you recover after a horrible round?

[Topper]

I started golfing last year and almost quit in November after topping the ball almost all the time.  This year I've tried to simply my swing and focus on reducing tension and have been making real progress.....until today.

I was golfing with a neighbor and his friend on a links-style course which is a little harder than the courses I normally play.  The weather was horrible (rain) and we only made it 6 holes before calling it quits.  But in that time, I topped or thinned ALL drives and approaches.  Some of the topping was so severe that the ball actually bounced straight up in the air on 3 occasions. It was terrible and reminiscent of last year.  The only exception was pitching or chipping once I was around 75 yards to the green and then I had a few decent shots.  Putting was OK.

I understand that progress is slow and sometimes it's 2 steps forward with 1 step back kind-of-thing.  This feels like 2 steps forward and 10 steps back.  I know conditions were not ideal but I simply do not understand how I can go from making decent contact on Friday to topping every shot on Sunday.

Does anyone else have their game go through extremes like this and do you so anything to recover?  I'm already having "flashbacks" to 2010 when golf just wasn't that fun.

[bplewis24]

To be blunt, I don't think there is any way to recover from that other than going to the driving range and practicing swinging properly.  Otherwise, you may have some rounds where you minimize your swing flaws somehow, but eventually they will come back out in big fashion if you don't try to fix them through practice.

Brandon

[boogielicious]

Best advice is to focus on the good shots.  Remember what you did right and how it felt.  It probably felt easy and smooth without much effort.  The bad shots probably felt tense, rushed and off balance.

In bad weather, footing is a huge issue and slipping may have caused the problems.  It is even more important to be smooth and easy.  Club up and swing easy.

Forget the bad shots.  Everyone has them.  Jack Nicklaus said he never remembers the bad shots, on purpose.

[zeg]

Normally after a round, I immediately either type in or sync my scores with the Scorecard database and look at the statistics for the round.  If the round was so bad that I'm fuming when I finish, then I usually wait a few hours to a day or two before doing this.  Then I examine the statistics when I've cooled down.  This often helps me keep things in perspective and figure out what the problem was.  Often I realize that it was really not as severe a problem as I thought---e.g., it was all due to bad tee shots and mediocre putting, but my irons and short game were actually ok.  If I put my scores in right away, I am less likely to do that reflection, and figuring out what went wrong is key to learning from the outing.

[newtogolf]

I know exactly how you felt, I had a round like that last week, first nine holes were a mess double par'd them all.  I was almost ready to give up on the round and go home, but decided to "tough" it out.  I figured out that I was so tense I was choking the club and my swing.  I remembered Hogans waggle tip, and made sure my wrists were loose.  The back nine went much better with a few double bogeys, bogeys, a par and my first birdie.  For me, it's all in my head, I put too much pressure on myself to see results from my range work when I hit the course.

I realize no matter how much I groove my swing on the range if I don't learn to relax on the course I'll never see the results I want to.  I am now making the waggle and practice swing part of my pre-hit routine on the range to take to the course to help verify I'm not strangling the club.

  Topper said:

Originally Posted by Topper

Does anyone else have their game go through extremes like this and do you so anything to recover?  I'm already having "flashbacks" to 2010 when golf just wasn't that fun.

[Topper]

  newtogolf said:

Originally Posted by newtogolf

I realize no matter how much I groove my swing on the range if I don't learn to relax on the course I'll never see the results I want to.  I am now making the waggle and practice swing part of my pre-hit routine on the range to take to the course to help verify I'm not strangling the club.

I think you hit on my main issue.  Tension. When my swing is tense, I have a severe "chicken wing" problem.  Anyway, I thought that I had it a little more under control.   I'll try to forget about the bad shots (per Boogielicious) which is pretty much everything about today and get back to the driving range (per bplewis). Hopefully I can get to the range this week to work on a smooth,relaxed swing and good follow-through.

[walk18]

For me it's back to basics, what's happening at impact and how am I getting there? Work it out at the range, maybe take a lesson. I have some previous lessons on video I like to go back to from time to time. You're probably forgetting one or two key things that helped you hit good shots before.

[Gerald]

All wrong ...... I just visit the 19th hole and drink a few quality beers and soon remember only my best shots, practice a bit more next week and go with a blank mindset into the next round

[akabilk]

Quote:

Does anyone else have their game go through extremes like this and do you so anything to recover?

A couple of JD's + crushed ice. works almost every time.

For really, really bad cases of poor play, when every shot goes to hell, blame the clubs and hurl them all into the nearest water hazard. March off and buy a brand new fitted kit :-)

[Topper]

  Gerald said:

Originally Posted by Gerald

All wrong ...... I just visit the 19th hole and drink a few quality beers and soon remember only my best shots, practice a bit more next week and go with a blank mindset into the next round

You're right and I do feel better.  I need more beer to improve my golf.  I should have know.

[BostonSully]

  akabilk said:

Originally Posted by akabilk

A couple of JD's + crushed ice. works almost every time.

For really, really bad cases of poor play, when every shot goes to hell, blame the clubs and hurl them all into the nearest water hazard. March off and buy a brand new fitted kit :-)

I lol'd/

I know how the OP feels. Today I had a legitamate chance to beat my friend who's probably around a 10-11 HCP. He hit is ball OB 30yds on the first tee shot then shanked his 2nd to where my drive landed on the rightside rough. I managed to miss the leftside of the green chip on and 3 putt while he took 2 shots to get on then 1 putt'd. Next hole I was on the green about 25ft on the hardest par4 hole on the course and he managed to chip his 4th shot to 5 feet. 1 Putt'd and beat me somehow.

After that I just blew up, I only shot one par on the round and 1 bogey the rest were double/triple bogey's. I just focused on the fact that even though it was a horrid round I hit some really nice long hybrids and chipshots.

Focus on what you doing well and remember to practice what you arent. Its all practice and nomatter how good you are you'll be frustrated you arent playing better, the scratch golfer that misses a 12ft par putt is just as mad as the 36capper who duffs the ball 4x straight., So think of it that way everyone is always frustrated but we always keep coming back WTF is with that?

[Dave H]

  Topper said:

Originally Posted by Topper

You're right and I do feel better.  I need more beer to improve my golf.  I should have know.

In one way, there might be some truth to this. You said it yourself, and I've experienced it as well: the thing that keeps me from playing better is simply tension. A beer or two might loosen you up to the point where you are swinging better. It usually takes me about 9 holes to relax and find my groove - so my rounds often tend to be a tale of two 9s. If I could find a way to shoot better on the front 9, I think my scores would improve rapidly.

More to the original topic, when I have a really bad round, I try to go to the range fairly quickly and start with the basics until I am grooving my swing. I like to get the memory of bad swings gone as quickly as possible and that's what seems to do it for me.

[The Recreational Golfer]

I recover first by realizing that it's over and it can't keep getting worse. Then I console myself by knowing that I'll work on the things that went wrong so they won't bite me again the next time I play. It's mental as often as it is technical.

[Topper]

Took some advice yesterday and hit the range.  I was returning from a business trip and googled a course that had a grass range that was just off the highway.

They gave me a huge bucket of balls so I had plenty to work with and could focus on basics with several clubs.  Started warming up with the SW.  Not too bad.  Then jumped to the 7i and took a number of shots and also not to bad.  A periodic mishit but I was able to land a few on the 160 yd practice green and many that missed were not far from the green.  Very playable misses.

Then came the longer clubs (4i, hybrid, and driver).  Normally I hit the 4i OK, but yesterday was not that great.  More mishits than with the shorter irons which was not surprising.  I purchased a 23* Ping G15 hybrid today off Ebay to replace my 4i.  The 20* hybrid (which I currently have) was back to "normal" and I was hitting it OK.  It's a relatively new club this year but I really like these hybrids.  However, I need more range time with these clubs to get more proficient.

The driver was the biggest surprise of the lot especially since I'm not a big hitter.  I had very few complete mishits.  Even when I didn't hit the center of the club, I was usually over 200 yds and reasonably straight.  I hit a number between 230-250 and few that went past the 250 yrd sign which was a total surprise.  The last ball was a perfect drive just 10-15 yards right of where I was aiming (slight push) with a nice trajectory.  I notice that the picker on on the range in front of the 250 yds sign and I'm the only person on the range.  I also notice that he has no cage on his tractor and start to get nervous.  A second later, I hear a metallic thud as my ball bounces of the top of the tractor's engine housing at around 230-240 yds.

Anyway, I need more range practice, but I feel better now and I didn't maim the picker operator.  I just have to transfer this from the range to the course.  Thanks for the encouragement!

[shades9323]

I just don't dwell on it.  Some days are just bad and should be forgotten.  Don't feel too bad.  Last year I hit 2 consecutive shots BACKWARDS!!  I was going for a par 5 in 2 and topped my 3 wood 2x's so bad that the ball jumped backwards 5 feet.

[The_Pharaoh]

I hit rock bottom on 31 May shooting 81 on a very short, straight forward golf course. I'd been playing poorly for quite some time, but getting the ball in the hole. It finally all fell apart that day and I was embarrassed after I hit nearly every shot. I couldn't wait for the round to end. The next day I asked a friend of mine to video my swing and then studied it in the clubhouse. I hadn't seen my swing for a few months or so and was astonished with what I saw. I was flipping so badly I was almost casting! The next day I played simply thinking of delaying the uncocking of my wrists for as long as possible in the downswing. I immediately started hitting the ball better and have since shot 72, 72, 71, 70, 71.

So to answer your question. You have to do something and the sooner the better. Don't just keep playing thinking it is a bad patch. You can do a lot of damage to your game in that time. Take a lesson with a good pro with a video camera, or do it yourself if you have the knowledge, and start working on the flaw(s) ASAP.

[ghalfaire]

If you play golf sooner or later the disaster round  will happen.  Never been sure of just exactly what causes these disaster rounds.  In my case it would seem that on these  days I just am not as focused as  normal.  Sometimes, but not always, I can avoid the disaster by slowing down some and playing a little more conservative.  But my advice is to learn from the experience and recognize it is an anomaly not the norm and move on, e.g. forget it.

[saevel25]

I meet with a few friends, there names are jack, jim, and johnny..