Advanced Scoring Tips - What do you do to keep momentum going in your favor?

[Beachcomber]

I'm curious what tips or advice you have for a golfer that is playing really well... Far below their handicap for consecutive holes... Then the wheels slowly start flying off hole by hole.  I'm at a point where my game... I know I can score.  I know I can go out and take down birdies and pars and get my way around the course.  But then I start questioning myself over the ball.  Especially on par 3's.  Any advice on how to get over this?

I was thinking on par 3's - to stop teeing the ball up on a tee.  And just hitting it off the turf.  For whatever reason... Its like par 3's... I'll hook it left.  And then that starts to creep into my game and my dispersion starts getting loose...

Look at this freaking score card.  First let me say... This course is short.  But it is not easy... The greens are tiny.  And there are a lot of huge trees... So if you go left or right, you most likely have to chip back into play.

Anyway... My card is just sickening.

#4 is where I hit the hook on the par 3.

I was an inch short from making eagle on #5... So I had a nice bounce back birdie.

Then #7... I three putt - I actually hit a very nice 7i about 25ft short of the pin.  But had a poor putt, then lipped out the par putt from 4ft.

From there... I literally felt like I was struggling to hit the ball on the tee on the par 3's.

#10 - I hooked off the tee with a driver... Then found the green with my approach.  The pin was in a ridiculous position and I actually putted off the green (LOL).  Then short putt from the fringe.  Then drained the next putt - but after I had a penalty on myself for touching the ball with my putter when I was lined up over the putt.

#13 - I hooked a 5i - it was playing uphill to a blue flag with wind in our face... So I was playing it 195... And it was a terrible swing.

#14 - I hit a draw which started left and landed left.  Felt like my swing plane was off.

#16 - I hit an 8i fat.... Short of the green.

#18 - I snap hooked it off the tee.  Got lucky and it bounced straight down out of a tree.  Then hit a 3W from 380 out... Again hitting a hook - but was safe in the rough with 155 left to the flag.  Then hit a 7i thin and short of the green.  I actually chipped in on 18 which was a pretty sweet save...

My contact on the back 9 was terrible... But I swear - I was stripping it until that 4th hole par 3.  Then I just started over thinking...

Any tips on how to get your mind right on the course would be appreciated.

[Audaxi]

I would say that you need to head to the range for a bit and see if you can create a par three situation in your mind with one of the close pins. Remember to hit down, and you can work on your irons off the tee that way. It seems like what happened to you is you lost focus after some of your birdies, which I know I do, and you can just try to not get overconfident and try anything you can't pull off consistently. Another interesting thing was that you had more putts per GIR than not, which means that either your short game is superb or your putting is sub-par. Based on the fact that they are both under 2, I would guess the prior is the case, but there's one more thing you try. Overall though, it seems as if the par 3's are what hurt your score the most, so it couldn't hurt to practice while on the course even by hitting 2 or 3 balls off the tee and playing them all out. Other than that, the only bad thing I can notice is 2 doubles, which are always nice to get rid of and turn into a bogey at worst if possible.

[Harmonious]

One shot at a time.  Oh, and cure your hook...they don't listen.

[Pakoh]

i start thinking about what my score is gonna be... that doesnt help any.  Dont do that.

[LuciusWooding]

One thing that jumps out at me is the poor scrambling performance, probably due to your misses putting yourself in a bad spot. Par 3s are hard to get birdies on, but shouldn't result in too many bogeys if your short game is up to standard.

The penalty is a pure mental mistake, just keep your focus and don't allow that to weigh on your conscience.

Your driving is pretty good, you clearly have good distance, but I think you only need to hit your driver on hole 3 and the par 5s. The rest, you could hit 3w or an iron and still have an easy GIR. On a day like this where you feel like you don't have your best stuff, the odds of making pars are better with conservative play. Your putting isn't too bad on average, but you could have scored at or below par if you sharpened it up a bit. Missing 4 footers is just as bad as the penalty stroke, just a mental error.

For par 3s for me, I tee it up very low and often put it right in front of a divot. I basically leave the last 1/8th inch out of the dirt, the ball is still touching some of the grass. Basically this allows you to hit down and through more cleanly than any other lie. The higher off the ground I tee it, the more I tend to hook or hit high balls. And you'll hit it higher and spinnier than normal, so account for the slopes and pin location.

[Golfingdad]

I think it's all psychological.  I played baseball in high school and during my senior year our rivals started the season ranked number 1 in the country.  We knew we had a pretty good team capable of beating them, and sure enough, each time we played, we dominated out of the gate.  But each time, we ended up choking and losing.  Our coach chalked it up to a lack of confidence.  Not that we didn't each know that we had the abilities, but moreso that when we took the lead, we left uncomfortable.  It felt "right" to lose to them (because that's all we ever did in the past) so once that stopped happening, we didn't know how to handle it.  We had to learn how to win.  I think these are the same demons that PGA guys fight to get their first win, and the same demons that pros need to overcome to "go low."

We all know what we usually shoot and how we usually get there, so we start to expect it and I think that helps us get there (A self fullfilling prophesy, if you will).  For example, I have never got more than 3 birdies in one round (that I can remember) so if I were ever to start a round hot, say 3 birdies in 4 holes like you did Saturday, something in the back of my brain remembers that I have "reached my limit" and I will be more inclined to lose focus and sort of "play down a level" to meet that expectation.

Just another great thing about golf.  Once you reach the level, physically, that you have, where the swing is solid enough that you could be shooting par or better on a good day, it becomes a whole lot more about the mind than the body.

I realize that isn't really very helpful, is it?  I don't have any idea how to overcome that other than to say I think its about experience and developing the confidence in yourself that you are that good.

Good luck!

[Audaxi]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

I think it's all psychological.  I played baseball in high school and during my senior year our rivals started the season ranked number 1 in the country.  We knew we had a pretty good team capable of beating them, and sure enough, each time we played, we dominated out of the gate.  But each time, we ended up choking and losing.  Our coach chalked it up to a lack of confidence.  Not that we didn't each know that we had the abilities, but moreso that when we took the lead, we left uncomfortable.  It felt "right" to lose to them (because that's all we ever did in the past) so once that stopped happening, we didn't know how to handle it.  We had to learn how to win.  I think these are the same demons that PGA guys fight to get their first win, and the same demons that pros need to overcome to "go low."

We all know what we usually shoot and how we usually get there, so we start to expect it and I think that helps us get there (A self fullfilling prophesy, if you will).  For example, I have never got more than 3 birdies in one round (that I can remember) so if I were ever to start a round hot, say 3 birdies in 4 holes like you did Saturday, something in the back of my brain remembers that I have "reached my limit" and I will be more inclined to lose focus and sort of "play down a level" to meet that expectation.

Just another great thing about golf.  Once you reach the level, physically, that you have, where the swing is solid enough that you could be shooting par or better on a good day, it becomes a whole lot more about the mind than the body.

I realize that isn't really very helpful, is it?  I don't have any idea how to overcome that other than to say I think its about experience and developing the confidence in yourself that you are that good.

Good luck!

The problem you mention here is the problem that I have that keeps me from shooting lower than I am sure I can. I know that, physically, I can shoot better than I do. However, when I get on a roll I lose focus thinking that if I'm playing good that day I'll just keep on playing well. It's inevitable, without fail I'm distracted by one thing or another after a birdie or two. The times when I have a good day it's because I can focus on the shot at hand and actually visualize it well.

[Pakoh]

its helps if you can bounce back from your bad shot/score on a hole.  can you recover quick and get back on track or does it mess with your thinking.  If i can make a bunch of pars or even get a birdie after a bad hole/score, that helps get my mind back on track... it so easlily can go the other way, like having a string of bogey holes.

[MEfree]

One hole/shot at a time and try to continue to do what is working well.

I am not sure what clubs you are hitting for approach shots on most of the holes, but on the par 3 you hit two 7i and a 5i (to go along with the SW)...my guess is that on the par 4 & 5s you are hitting a lot of wedges as this looks like a pretty short course.  Most good players with any length score best on par 5s and depending on the course, then par 4s.  No reason that you should be the exception.

[saevel25]

See i get conflicting results when thinking about it. Some days i play really well, when i dont even care to know were my score is at. Sometimes i will go three poor holes, then suddenly click over and play really well the rest of the way.

But usually i don't like to keep score, i just like to play and figure out were i am at the end. Try it this way, are you good at remembering what you did each hole after you finished a round. Like i can remember every shot i hit for that round, usually up till the next time i play. If you can, don't keep score, just play. Don't worry about stats, just play. Just hit the ball, go to your next shot, do your preshot routine and keep going. Then remember what you did afterwords and fill in the score card.

From there, what i find helps is, create a key for your preshot routine. Like you find your ball, do something that clicks in your head the focus you need for this shot. Maybe its setting your bag down and then taking a deep breath. Just something to seperate the shots, something you can do each time, repetition helps. Like a free throw shooter will do the same routine over and over. That helps.

[mdl]

One thing that helps me a bit with that is to think of each shot as its own challenge.  If you hook one off the tee, instead of standing over the next shot thinking about how you have to fix XYZ to not hook the next one, or how you have to hit a PERFECT shot to recover and not lose any strokes, just try to approach the 2nd shot as a new challenge all its own.  If you've hooked it under the trees, maybe you have to play a big high draw around a tree, or maybe you have to play a little knockdown or punch-runner draw.  Just take that as a fun challenge in its own right, seeing how well you can control trajectory or shape on THIS shot.

Same thing on the par 3s.  If I stand over the ball thinking about how I just really want the ball to go on the green somewhere so I can not bogey the par 3s that day, I don't hit it very consistently.  If I think about making a SHOT, then I do better.  Say, standing over the ball with a half club too much trying to hit a nice high cut, or with the stock distance club trying to hit a low straight knockdown spinner, or a hard draw, or whatever.  Not that I'm a + HC or anything and I'm really going to hit a PGA of those shots most of the time, but thinking about the shot instead of hoping about where it's going to end up definitely helps me.  And as a much better player I'd imagine it might help you even more, since you have more control over shape and trajectory and can more easily feel confident standing over the ball thinking of a particular shot?

[saevel25]

Even though i hit one shot, a small draw, i really do practice every shot i can with my irons and driver. Because what it does is, creates a definitive difference in feel between the shots. Like if i misshit a shot and hit a big push cut, i know what did wrong. So if i practice a push cut i can work out that feeling and, when i go to my stock shot i know its not that. The problem is that we get very use to things, muscle memory. So its good to refresh the system. Actually, i've played my best rounds, when during the round i am forced to play a shot i normally don't play.

Like this one time, i hit a drive into the trees. I though, ok the tree is taking 3/4 the green out, i can hit this 8 iron just left of it, and have it cut back. I'll just have 25-30 feet for birdie. Well, i wasn't use to this shot, and my normal mistake on aiming is to aim a little more right than what i perceive. Like many shots under stress or not common, our faults come back. So i ended up aiming more into the tree. Well i didn't know i could get the 8-iron up that fast. It was really a lucky break on my part. But i hit the shot i want, a high soft push cut with an 8-iron. Instead of aiming at the left edge of the green, i went right over the tree to the center of the green and had the ball land 3 feet from the pin in the back right. Lucky break for me, but it kinda refreshed my whole system, and i ended up playing even better in.

So, sometimes its good to maybe pick a hole that you know you wont get into trouble, and hit a shot that you know you can but don't play often, maybe a push cut off a driver. Just to bring back the concentration, spark the golf game.

I remember when Anika was going for her 59. She did so well on the front she told her caddie on the 10th hole that she just wanted to get par here. She was worried that getting so many birdies was so different than what she was use to, that she wanted something familiar, which was just to make a par. I can't remember is she parred or birdied the hole, but she ended up shooting a 59.