What Do You Do When Your Playing Bad Golf?

[dak4n6]

If you just quit every time you're having a bad round, you will never learn how to adjust and turn a round around (!). One of the integral and more interesting parts of every sport is when a player is able to dig it out of the dirt and persevere. It doesn't happen all the time, but it feels good when you can bring a round back from the cliff edge...a few weeks ago, I shot 48/36.

[aaronjohnston]

Golf isn't just a game, Golf is a mind game. I would never quit a round unless I injured myself or needed medical attention.

We all play bad rounds, and we all have so many bad shots in a row which makes us start to question our ability.

You just need to get on with it, take deep breaths, take some practice swings and take your time on each shot.

You need to find your game again, it's 100% possible to get back to your normal self if you put your mind to it and not over think

what your doing wrong. Breathe deep, clear your head of swing thoughts and concentrate on make the best back swing you can.

That's what I do :)

[gosly]

This was me last night.  Went out with a buddy for a quick 9 after work, excited because I thought I had my irons down after a lot of working on them.  After a bogey on the first hole (not bad for me) I quickly self destructed.  Terrible tee shot followed by some ugly short irons, and my chipping was horrifying.  I chipped over the green four times before I picked up the ball to walk to the 3rd cursing.

More of the same on 4 and 5.  I was fuming and I didn't even count my strokes for those holes.  I decided to take advice from this thread and just stop keeping score and start working on shots.

Long story short I went par, bogey, par on the last three holes, and walked away feeling a lot better.  They were shorter holes so I was all irons and I hit some great shots.

Moral of the story is it's worth sticking around.  You owe it to your golf game.

[Spyder]

When I am playing bad golf, I just work on different aspects of my game. Since my game never falls apart in terms of topping, chunking, etc. and is usually an alignment issue or touch around the green. I would simply try to focus on what I'm doing well, such as driving, irons, or simple contact with the ball.

Plus, a few beers and a couple of smokes always helps.

[ilikefishes]

I grind!

[shanksalot]

If I continually make the same mistake hole after hole and can't find a way to correct it I will either walk off at the 9th of 14th hole which is the easiest way to get off the course. I don't want to start seeing the shot I am hitting and I don't want my brain to accept this shot as okay. Most often I can correct what I am doing during the round. Yesterday I was playing very erratic hitting snap hooks and block fades. Tried my best to resolve this and did for a while but it kept sneaking back into my game. I finally decided this was a good opportunity to just work on my game management and short game to try and make no worse than bogey on any hole. It worked out well and I only made one double and quite a few scrambling pars. So over all it turned out to be a fun time instead of getting upset with myself I worked on what needed to be done to score on each hole.

[JonMA1]

Turn it into practice. Life is too short not to enjoy what little time I have on the golf course. I keep score for the round but after 5 or 6 holes, I know it won't turn out good. So I turn my attention to working on weaknesses - like using a driver when I know my 3 wood is the safer club. When I hit a poor shot - even if it's still in play - I might drop another ball and take the shot again just to make sure I can get it right. Then I'll go play the original ball for the scorecard. Even though my scores are horrendous, I'm usually glad I finished the round.

[WUTiger]

After a couple of hateful holes, I usually wake up and shorten my backswing a bit. Overswinging is usually the root cause of my disaster holes.

[McObra]

Usually just throw the score card away and keep on playing. Seems like my game gets better after I quit scoring it.

[MacDutch]

Try to find any excuse why it wasn't me that made me play that bad.

Why did I hit it fat? Because someone moved his eyelids in my backswing!

Why did I slice it in the water? That was no slice, it was a soft cut, but there was a gust of wind otherwise it would have been near the pin.

Why did I hit it so low? That was on purpose to keep it under the wind.

Why did I hook it into the woods? Tried something new, saw Bubba do it yesterday.

Why did I make a quintupple bogey? Just bad luck

[Rick Martin]

Originally Posted by Crusher47

Keep playing but don't keep score anymore

I do that occasionally - but not often. Usually I just try to focus more, be smarter in the shots that I'm trying (more conservative), try for bogeys rather than birdies/pars -try not to let it affect my mood or what I say to others in my group - usually I just get a little more quiet and talk less and focus more.

[Ballsndrama]

I used to blow up on a hole and it lingered throughout the whole round. Now when I have that occasional double I curse at my bad strikes that got me there under my breath until I get to the next tee. When I T it up its a whole new game, the hole I just F'd up is like A mean ex girlfriend never to be thought of again. Walked off courses before and felt like a total ***** for not finishing. Suck it up and focus.

[jimmyc]

Read "Zen Golf"

When I had a stupid shot/bad hole, my temper destroyed/drowned many clubs. Since I read the book, my playing partners can't believe how calm and collected I've become.

One of the lessons is to live in the present. The previous bad shot/hole is in the past. Nothing can change that. The next shot/hole is the present. Think going forward. Take each stroke as a present moment.

Conversely, the best way to screw up a round is this:

Your had a great front nine, so your mind starts thinking about what a great round you can have if you play the back nine even better. That's thinking in the future, not the present, and it has killed many a good potential round.

[Ernest Jones]

What do you do when you're playing bad golf?

I switch to dru nk golf.

[awmgolfer]

I first laugh at the shots, I don't play for a living so no need to get that mad and frustrated. Then I focus on the basics and if I am still struggling I tend to use one club more and take smaller swings. Usually that will keep a round within reason.

[AmazingWhacker]

When it's gotten to the point where it's hopeless, I stop keeping score and just play shot-by-shot, hole-by-hole.  Once this happens, I will usually end up have a few good holes before the round is over.

[Teamanglerx]

+1 on the "Zen Golf" book.  It started me on the path that made me realize how important the mental game is in golf.

I have a rule that I can only take a 10 on any hole.  Today I was having a bad round and after taking my 10 before reaching the green on 9 I decided to call it a day.  Nothing was going right and I did not want to keep beating myself up.  I went home and reviewed my play from Wednesday where I shot one of the best 9 hole rounds ever.  The noticeable difference is how I mentally played the game.  Today I just went out can kinda "hit the ball" and expected it to work out.  Wednesday I was focused, consistently did my pre-shot routine, and looked for the good in all my shots, even if they did not turn out the way I planned.

I have never walked away from a round before today but I did finish at least 9 (I wanted to quit on the 6th hole) and I feel okay with it.  Tomorrow I have league and I am comfortable knowing that I am going into tomorrow with a better attitude.

[onesome]

Last round went 44/38. I was 7 or 8 over after the first 3 holes and then played the next 15,2 or 3 over. I have to let it out some though and curse a bit but most of my playing partners understand I'm not angry with them just frustrated. It was freakin cold out at monterey / fort ord that day so it took a few holes to get warmed up some.I guess it just depends on the situation for how angry I may get, I'm usually ok with a bad swing here and there it's just when I compound the first mistake with either another bad swing or mental error is when I start to get pissed.