Bad day of golf?

[keller19xc]

How do you handle those days where you literally can not get good contact. Thin.fat.slice.hook. Whatever it is, how do you cope with this kind of problem? Do you set the clubs down? I always after a round can not stop thinking about it. Need some advice, this drives me insane.

[ejimsmith]

take a week off.

[TommyBoy]

I hit 3/4 wedges till I get my tempo back. Verify your basics too...grip, stance etc. Just to make sure you haven't changed your set-up due to not paying proper attention.

[Dave2512]

That was yesterday and thankfully I was just playing a par 3 to practice short game. Never made it past the 1st tee. Shanked 7 balls into a ditch and got in my car and left. Chilled for a few hours and went back. Shanked all but one on the range and decided to call it a day. Not sure why it happens but it does. Few weeks ago I had my step-dad meet me at the course to shoot some vids to upload for my instructor. The previous day I had never hit the ball better. Spent 40 minutes hitting ground balls and shanks. The more I tried to stop it the more frustrated I got. Next day, poof, gone.

[keller19xc]

I think there will always just going to be one of those days....it's hard to let it go. I'm kind of answering my own question now but what I do is pull out some tools that helped my faults in the past. For example I use a therapy rubber band thing and tie it around my bicep area to help keep my elbows tucked in on my swing. I only hit about 3/4 shots like tommyboy was saying.

[hacker101]

This last Sat was like that with my putter. Every dam green was a 3 putt could not putt to save my life. Even the few short par 4's I was on in two a foot or more from the hole 3 putt.You would have thought I was blind the way I was putting.

We all have them all I can say is go back to your basics 3/4 or even 1/2 swing, club up to a club you know you can hit even off the tee and toss this round out.

You have picked up somthing that is not part of your normal swing, so slow it down.

[Grumpter]

I find a nap or alcohol (which usually leads to a nap) are just enough attitude adjustment to get me through to the next round which is hopefully soon thereafter. Life is too short. Surround yourself with people you enjoy playing with and shake off the bad days.

[LuciusWooding]

Originally Posted by keller19xc

How do you handle those days where you literally can not get good contact. Thin.fat.slice.hook. Whatever it is, how do you cope with this kind of problem?

Do you set the clubs down?

I always after a round can not stop thinking about it. Need some advice, this drives me insane.

For me, it's never a matter of swinging and not getting good contact. It's a matter of trying to do something too specific with the shot and overswing and stuff, resulting in bad contact. It's surprising how far and straight you can hit the ball focusing on pure contact alone. It's also surprising how I sometimes get out of the mindset of going after that result every time.

Find some drills that ingrain solid contact and build your confidence back up. It's the addiction to that feeling of a pure shot that keeps me working on my swing. Same thing on short game shots and even putts. If I focus on solid contact and execute, I hit good shots almost all the time and usually get good results in my practice this winter. When I get myself into trouble it's usually because I try to force something too exact or too exaggerated. My first round this year I want to see what I shoot from trying to hit nothing but a clean shot on every hole.

[SloverUT]

This has been my last 3 golf outings/range trips.  For the last three weeks literally all I do is smack my club into the ground and hit it fat.  I haven't made solid contact in a long time.  Mentally it frustrates the hell out of me and makes me feel defeated.  Amazingly, I just come here, try to learn, and keep at it.   Hopefully I'll figure it out sooner rather than later!

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by keller19xc

How do you handle those days where you literally can not get good contact. Thin.fat.slice.hook. Whatever it is, how do you cope with this kind of problem?

Do you set the clubs down?

I always after a round can not stop thinking about it. Need some advice, this drives me insane.

I handle it in a manner where I hand over my monies to whomever I was playing against... It sucks.  But it happens.

[RichWW2]

Usually I take a week or two off when it's really bad.  Then hit the range and start by chipping the ball and making solid contact and getting a good rhythm.  Once I feel a good rhythm I'm able to relax some and get out of my head then I'm able to hit a lot better.

[MS256]

I leave the course to go home intending to never play again, and wondering what kid would like to have my clubs. Then as soon as I pull into the driveway I take my clubs to my net and hit some 4 irons into the net to try to figure out what went wrong. Since I never hit a bad shot with a 4 iron (and they feel great) I decide to hit a few 7 irons down across the hayfield (and they are better than anything I hit on the course all day long).

Then I get out my wedges and practice all of my wedge shots from 125 yards and in (and once again no sign of a bad shot).

I finish up by wasting a few practice balls by ripping them down across the neighbor's pasture and into the woods with my driver.

Lastly I go into my house and sit on the couch and wonder how in the heck I played so badly at the course and had just hit 100 balls at home without a single bad shot.

[dfreuter415]

Originally Posted by keller19xc

How do you handle those days where you literally can not get good contact. Thin.fat.slice.hook. Whatever it is, how do you cope with this kind of problem?

Do you set the clubs down? I always after a round can not stop thinking about it. Need some advice, this drives me insane.

I subscribe to Dr. Bob Rotella's rule: "I will refuse to allow anything that happens on the golf course today to bother me or upset me. I will accept bad breaks and mistakes and be tough in adversity. I am going to be in a good mood and a great state of mind for the entire round today. I'll enjoy playing."  Every golfer needs to find their mental approach to this great game, so that they can consistently get as much pleasure from their 18 holes (and to maintain their sanity).

Here is an example of how powerful my mental approach statement can be... Last year I was playing my normal Monday morning game with my friend Jim, and had just bought some yellow Srixon balls. I am a 9 handicap, and I pride myself on my consistency, but this day I started with 4 bogeys and 4 double-bogeys. I can't remember the last time I was 12 over after 8 holes, but I remembered Dr. Rotella's rule: "I will refuse to allow anything that happens on the golf course today to bother me or upset me...", so I changed back to my Pro V1 white ball, and told Jim it was the yellow ball's fault. Well then next ten holes I shot even par with an eagle, a birdie and 5 pars. When I got home I told my wife I had a present for her and gave her a brand new box of 11 yellow balls and one that was slightly used. I turned a potentially disastrous day on the course into a memorable moment in time.

However, when I do have a bad couple of days on the course, I will go to a driving range and work on basic skills, working from my shortest clubs all the way to my driver.

[hendog]

One bad day: Forget it. Something was off, Body fatigued, Stars misaligned. Whatever. Next time I go I forget it happened and it will most likely be back to normal.

Two bad days (in a row): Concern. I have introduced a flaw. Simplify and grind it out. Maybe hit the range after the round and see if I can work it out.

Three bad days: Panic. Maybe need to step away for a week or two and starve the gremlin out. Hopefully next time my body will have forgotten what it was doing wrong.

Four bad days: Time to make a change. Switch it up, try a different approach. Ex. I normally hit draws so I'll start hitting all fades. Maybe change the stance or grip a little. Not going to blow it up but try some new things and give the body and mind something else to focus on. Also great time to do a lot more chipping and putting. At this point I need all the help I can get and a few chip ins or long putts have a way of putting a smile on anyone's face.

I actually just went through this cycle. Something happened late last year and I lost my mojo (6 -> 10 in a couple months). Tried to simply forget it and let it pass but it remained. Tried hitting the range after rounds but it remained. Took a little time off but still it remained. Finally I shook things up and started hitting all fades (compared to my normal baby draw) and before long I started to see what my issue was. I am now back on track with the added benefit that I have an awesome fade in my arsenal now. So my game has emerged from the darkness even better than before. Hoping to be back down to 6 by the summer.

[keller19xc]

Hit the range again today...3 bad days in a row! Taking a week off, maybe look into some lessons

[el shanko]

eeeewwww i had that crap this weekend, played two rounds sober, no beer, dude i sucked, 112 each day yegads, good off the tee box second shot good get 60 yrds from the green all hell broke loose, scold chunk duff, crap i could not get on the green safely, par 5 get there in 3, took 4-5 strokes to finish out aaaurgh. well went to the private driving range (horse barn) started working on my approch shots. my mistake was where i placed the ball in my stance, middle to the front of my right foot, well i addressed the ball back to my left foot  lo and behold damn  i had loft and spin so we will see if that works this saturday.

[Crusher47]

I have plenty of bad days and get really pissed off to the point that I tell myself I'm putting my clubs for sale on Craigslist as soon as I get home.... The worst is when I play really poorly on a string of 4 or 5 holes in a row and tell myself "I'm actually paying money to get this frustrated", it really hits hard and I want to throw the clubs in the lake sometimes....but I try and shake it off the best I can and just try to finish the round.

Usually by the time I drive home, I've calmed down enough and just wash my clubs and hope to do better the next time out.  Golf is a really weird sport....it beats you up mentally, yet you always come back for more.

[MS256]

Originally Posted by Crusher47

Golf is a really weird sport....it beats you up mentally, yet you always come back for more.

One day I was playing just about as badly as I could possibly play and had been playing really well all that week. When we got halfway down the 6th fairway I told my friend that if I hit one more bad shot I was quitting and not just for the day but forever (and I really was dead serious about it).

The very next shot I hit a 3 iron to about a foot from the pin. I looked at my friend and said, "Well I guess I'll keep playing. This stupid game won't even let me quit."