What Do You Do When Your Playing Bad Golf?

[Valleygolfer]

First I get pissed and forget about. Then I do the same thing over a hole or two later. This goes on until the 16th hole where I sudden realize what I am doing wrong and fix it. This happens often. I would love to figure it out on the 4th or 5th hole.

To stop playing? Never. My game is a ship and I am the captain. You either save it or go down with the ship....

[teed off]

A bad round happens to us all.

When I have a bad start I  focus on the next shot and just try and make solid contact with the ball. Turning this round into a practice session may be more expensive than the driving range but, practice under real course conditions can be a bonus.

Having a beer or two will also help ease the pain.

[Hyp3r]

Not over analyze every swing and try not to think about how bad I'm playing.

[newtogolf]

Shorten by backswing and finish the round unless I started it as a practice round.

[gosly]

I'm too much of a tightwad to stop early, gotta get that money's worth!

I have played some really bad rounds in my short career but hey extra strokes just means more practice right?  Practice that I know I desperately need.

[BuckeyeNut]

Originally Posted by David in FL

^^^^^ This ^^^^^

If you play any tournament golf, or even a little competitive golf with your buddies, you're going to have to work through the tough spots. No need to try to fix a swing that's gone south in the middle of a round, but you need to be able to adjust your game to it and figure out how to score nonetheless.

Another reason that match play is such a great format. One bad hole is nothing more than one bad hole.....

I'm the same way.....I gut it out no matter how bad I'm playing.

[dennyjones]

If there ever was a time for me to walk off a course it would have been today.   A local public course has a 178 yd par 3 and I hit 4...ya 4 balls into the water.   Not even close, just really bad.   The next three holes weren't any better.   Surprisingly, the last 5, my game started to come around.   Obviously I was doing something wrong but I never really thought about giving up.   I don't take golf that serious that I would walk off a course unless my car was on fire.

[ApocG10]

Stop and go back through the basics, keep a few swing thoughts firm in my mind, and tighten up my backswing, as its natural for it to get a bit long on me when I start to get frustrated.

I'm 6'4+, and small errors ten to get over-exaggerated when I make mistakes. Especally with the woods.

When my putting is bad, that is another story altogether. I will say though going to a jumbo grip has helped my stroke a lot.

I would never quit a round, unless I got extremely physically sick somehow, or injured. I know my body extremely well, and won't risk further injury to finish a round. Its only happened once though. Pulled intercostal muscle, and I knew it as soon as I swung. Left after that swing, and couldn't play for over a week. Had I finished the last 8 holes, I probably would have been out 4-5 weeks. Don't let pride get in the way of your well being. It is not 'macho' or tough to play through an injury, its ridiculous and foolish.

[Unkynd]

I've never quit on an 18 hole round.  If I pay for 18, I play 18.  Even if I'm sucking.  I might play different the back 9... meaning more aggressive, try some things, etc... but I never just quit.

[CR McDivot]

A bogey golfer by definition plays 1 over per hole. The average golfer is a bogey or more golfer.

I play Stableford, which allows to PU when there is no chance to score (+1 or better). This takes a lot of pressure off of the average golfer (and speeds play on congested courses).

Blow up on a hole - no problem. PU and start over on the next. No pressure, play the next with a good attitude. If no one is squeezing from behind you can still play out and gain from the experience if desired.

A fun way to play and learn!

[TJBam]

Have a couple beers and stop keeping score

[PirateJim]

Aside from feeling sick or something hurting more than normal (back for example), I wouldn't just quit.  If not in a competition, I would definitely quit keeping score at some point as that just rubs salt in the wounds.  Just think of it as a practice round and, as already suggested, play each shot for its own value.  If playing alone, as I do regularly, and assuming I wouldn't slow up play, I might very well start making an effort to get in some practice shots that are hard to duplicate on a range.  Knock-downs from under trees, up-hill and down-hill lies, fairway bunker shots, whatever presents itself really.  Once the score is out the window, might as well get some benefit.  Personally, I'd grab a beer or two at the turn; it probably won't make me play any better or worse, but it will probably improve my attitude about the round.

[M2R]

Originally Posted by David in FL

If you play any tournament golf, or even a little competitive golf with your buddies, you're going to have to work through the tough spots. No need to try to fix a swing that's gone south in the middle of a round, but you need to be able to adjust your game to it and figure out how to score nonetheless.

In the thread The Mental Game in Two Words the advice is enjoy pressure and I would say closely related in competitive play, embrace adversity.  The satisfaction of doing a good job (or even just better than the last time) I find can actually be pretty great.  I think it is something that has to be learned though, stay engaged, stay positive, don't panic, think and adapt and do whatever you can to score the best with what you have. So when it happens I look at it as an opportunity to test my metal and see how I measure up in being able to adjust my game to it and figuring out how to score nonetheless as David put it.

[dave s]

I think about WHY I'm stinkin' up the joint.  And trust me, I've started out double-triple-double in a league round already this year.  It's easy for this to happen when I have to be on a 4pm conference call while driving from home to the course, pull clubs from truck and put on shoes while walking to the first tee box.

Tee up and it's anyone's guess WHERE the ball will go.  After a crappy tee shot, I'm flustered, blade an 8-iron over the green and have a downhill lie in 3" rough to a green sloping away from me and a six-foot deep bunker 20' past the pin.  It can easily go from bad to WORSE from there.

How to make this NOT happen?  I try to get there early enough to at least stretch out, chip, putt and maybe even hit a small bucket of balls on the range.  And do all this beginning 30-40 minutes prior to my scheduled start time.  This way, I'm relaxed, warmed-up and in a better frame of mind to play well.

And sometimes after a nice relaxing pre-round routine, I can STILL go start off double-triple-double.  But at least I know there's a par-3 coming up where a hole-in-one is possible ... always the optimist!!!!

dave

[noSnowman]

A friend of mine has been in a slump going on two years...problem...lack of play and hitting balls. We might get more rounds in this year than the last 4 . He can hit it 320 even 340 when he is on. Lets face it if golf was easy it would get boring quick. Saw a hawk take out a pigeon today ..my putting is showing promise...and if all goes well I will go under again this year. I am trying a starter move before my takeaway...it seems to help my tempo and feels natural.. I just read about this move the other day.

[BostonBrew]

If I'm alone, stop keeping score and make it a practice session. Go through my  fundamentals checklist: balance, weight shift, shoulder turn, grip, tempo. It has to be one of those. Figure it out and focus on solid contact. If I'm playing with others, I do my best to make light of the situation. Everyone has had those days and if you're playing with friends, they'll understand. In my opinion, you have to keep in mind that it's just a game. I don't slam the chess board and quit every time I make a poor move. Same goes for golf. Plus everyone hates that guy who gets irrationally mad when he isn't playing well. Ruins it for the rest of us.

[onesome]

I just react in so many different ways, I guess what makes me more tolerant to bad shots/high scores is if I'm still making solid contact because with that I know I'm only off a little instead of totally lost if I just shanked it twice in a row and still have 75 yards to cover.

[Meddle]

Can't say I've never walked off a course before, did it a few times when I first started playing.

Now I have found that things often even themselves out in the end. I'll start out with a few bad holes, but usually I'll have some good ones down the stretch to even it all out. 18 is a lot of holes, you are not going to play bad for all of them.

On days when I really am totally off, I go back to the fact that I'm not a pro, I have a job and a family and can't get out as much as I want. You can only play with the swing you come out to the course with. Make due with what you got, and realize that you really can't expect anything more since you are not a pro and don't practice all the time.