I'd Be Scratch with a Better Mental Game

[Lihu]

5 minutes ago, Big Lex said:

Great point. I think one issue here is that nobody defines the mental game. And I definitely agree that you can't think or visualize or pre-shot-routine your way to a par round. But there is absolutely no chance, zero, that you can accomplish what must be done physically to become a scratch golfer if you have the wrong mental approach. There are many facets to it, but I think something all good athletes have in common is the will to practice and the patience to practice enough to see improvement. The sheer amount of work it takes, hours-wise, to become an expert is more than most of us think. We make a big deal about Tiger's or Jason's athletic "gift," but even with that gift it requires tremendous work to become an expert at golf. 

Good point, I suppose it was not defined perfectly. I think the idea behind "mental game" is that having one will reduce any outside effects like apprehension and negative thoughts?

Not sure, because certainly good ball striking takes mental effort and focus as well?

[jkelley9]

I'm having a hard time accepting some of the advice I'm reading when it comes to this "mental game" thing. Primarily the consensus of it being in the general realm of an "SV1 skill," if anything.

Yesterday was a prime example of this for me. Nowadays, I am going to the range and feel very comfortable with my new swing. I can take a large bucket of balls and hit very few poor shots. I'm always, of course, focusing hard on improving some aspect of my swing. But typically all the other elements of my swing hold very true. 

But after work yesterday I did my routine of hitting a small bucket of balls - had no problems. I think I hit only 1 "bad" shot. Then I started my 9-hole round. I was constantly having problem with my swing. I kept trying to tell myself not to overthink it, but then I would make a swing (especially with my driver) and would find myself in the follow through with all my weight on my back foot and looking up... I NEVER do that at the range. I'm trying so hard to get better but what frustrates me is not that I make a poor shot... it's that the poor shot I hit I will literally never hit that TYPE of poor shot at the range. Not a single time. I'm not making ANY swings like that at the range. So I'm trying to "not have a swing thought and just play naturally," but when I do that it all goes to hell. But the same scenario (play without a swing thought, and only my natural swing) I have no problems at the range, although no progress in my swing either of course.

So wouldn't this be pretty conclusive for me that I have a mental hurdle to overcome?

Then again, I'm not saying "I could be a scratch player, if XYZ." I'm just saying that I have this mental hurdle (I feel) that I need to overcome to truly get better at the game.

Edit: Although in reality, when I added up my score yesterday I had a 43 on a par 37 which is very good for me. I just thought it could have been a lot better. Again, I'm not saying I could be scratch (not even close) but my misses on the COURSE are NOT the same misses I have at the range. And I'm talking perfect lie to perfect lie. 

Edited March 23, 2016 by jkelley9

[chspeed]

23 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

I'm just saying that I have this mental hurdle (I feel) that I need to overcome to truly get better at the game.

Yes, but the range and the course are different, even if your course is completely flat and you're always in the fairway (unlikely).

For one thing, you have to walk/ride and wait between shots so your body position changes after every shot. For another, you're using different clubs on every shot. While you could attribute these to "mental" differences, they're bona-fide physical differences that make it harder to consistently hit good shots unless you have a better swing.

Finally, people are terrible judges of bad shots on the range, since there's no out-of-bounds, no hazards, etc.

Edited March 23, 2016 by chspeed

[freshmanUTA]

On March 12, 2016 at 8:50 PM, iacas said:

Then stop playing like an idiot.

So, I posted this in the what did you shoot today thread, but I'd like to do it here as well because it relates to my original post in this thread.

My last 9 hole round I shot a +3 on the first hole. My terrible "F this" mindset instantly settled in and as I was teeing up the ball on the second hole I remembered this line from you, and I told myself that bad holes happen to everyone, even PGA pros(Granted they very extremely rarely shoot a Triple), and that I wanted to try to salvage the round and shoot as good as I possibly could. I parred that hole, birdied the medium length(507) par 5 and then proceeded to par every hole except the last which I bogeyed after I hit an approach shot fat.

I know it's 9 holes, but I still felt amazed that I shot 3 over after triple bogeying the first hole! The mental game is something I've always struggled with in sports and Boxing was especially bad. I had a boxing record of 10-8 which isn't terrible by any means but I always told myself I was terrible and maybe if I just practiced harder id be 18-0 even though I'd spend hours with my trainer practicing. I always had a vision of me being way worse than I actually was and my trainer used to have to tell me how good I was before a boxing match. That carried over to MmA when I started but it wasn't as bad, and golf is the only sport where I feel I'm better than my scores show. I can't wait to play 18 holes and see how I do then.

[newtogolf]

44 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

I'm having a hard time accepting some of the advice I'm reading when it comes to this "mental game" thing. Primarily the consensus of it being in the general realm of an "SV1 skill," if anything.

Yesterday was a prime example of this for me. Nowadays, I am going to the range and feel very comfortable with my new swing. I can take a large bucket of balls and hit very few poor shots. I'm always, of course, focusing hard on improving some aspect of my swing. But typically all the other elements of my swing hold very true. 

But after work yesterday I did my routine of hitting a small bucket of balls - had no problems. I think I hit only 1 "bad" shot. Then I started my 9-hole round. I was constantly having problem with my swing. I kept trying to tell myself not to overthink it, but then I would make a swing (especially with my driver) and would find myself in the follow through with all my weight on my back foot and looking up... I NEVER do that at the range. I'm trying so hard to get better but what frustrates me is not that I make a poor shot... it's that the poor shot I hit I will literally never hit that TYPE of poor shot at the range. Not a single time. I'm not making ANY swings like that at the range. So I'm trying to "not have a swing thought and just play naturally," but when I do that it all goes to hell. But the same scenario (play without a swing thought, and only my natural swing) I have no problems at the range, although no progress in my swing either of course.

So wouldn't this be pretty conclusive for me that I have a mental hurdle to overcome?

Then again, I'm not saying "I could be a scratch player, if XYZ." I'm just saying that I have this mental hurdle (I feel) that I need to overcome to truly get better at the game.

Edit: Although in reality, when I added up my score yesterday I had a 43 on a par 37 which is very good for me. I just thought it could have been a lot better. Again, I'm not saying I could be scratch (not even close) but my misses on the COURSE are NOT the same misses I have at the range. And I'm talking perfect lie to perfect lie. 

You're not alone, I have experienced the same thing, heck even Tiger Woods in his last few years looked better at the range than he did the course. 

When we're at the range we're focusing on a particular swing thought and most people do their practice with a singe club so it's easier to groove the swing.  Out on the course we get caught up in scoring, it's no longer just about making sure you clear your hips or keep your head steady.  Add to that the less than perfect lies, the wind, the hazards and our mind is filled with negative thoughts that we try to block out so we can focus on the one we want to. 

Part of it involves having a more consistent swing that doesn't have to be thought about and gaining the confidence in your swing so that you're not stressing the swing mechanics and just about what type of shot you want to make.  

[jkelley9]

26 minutes ago, chspeed said:

Yes, but the range and the course are different, even if your course is completely flat and you're always in the fairway (unlikely).

For one thing, you have to walk/ride and wait between shots so your body position changes after every shot. For another, you're using different clubs on every shot. While you could attribute these to "mental" differences, they're bona-fide physical differences that make it harder to consistently hit good shots unless you have a better swing.

Finally, people are terrible judges of bad shots on the range, since there's no out-of-bounds, no hazards, etc.

Ah, these are good points. One thing that I forgot about was that I was playing at a pretty brisk pace and a 2-some let me play through - whenever that happens I rush a little and I get a little winded walking to my next shot. Especially because I played through at a part of the course that was a HUUUUGE hill. So I was definitely getting up to my shots breathing a little heavy... I should have realized this.

Also, I ran a 5k the day before so that coupled with walking the course my legs were definitely not at 100% lol.

The one point I disagree with (on myself, not on the face of the comment alone) is the range and bad shots. When I hit all shots on the range, I have a target, and I have a window. I always visualize shots being "fairway, left rough, center green, etc." So when I say I hit good shots, I might hit 10 yards left of the green because I was visualizing an approach shot. But that would be an acceptable shot for me. When I get to the course though, most of my BAD shots are because I sliced the crap out of it or skulled it bad and it went majorly wayward. Not even CLOSE to target. And that would be with a GOOD lie. For example, I hit a nice 4h the the center fairway on a hard dogleg right and had 190y into a well guarded (danger) green with a heavy wind in my face. The back of the green was the only safe miss because it was a huge hill so I decided a 3w would be a good choice to cut the wind and smack the hill because it would end of fine. I sliced the crap out of that shot and found myself on my back foot after the shot. I never do this on the range.... not even once.

8 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

You're not alone, I have experienced the same thing, heck even Tiger Woods in his last few years looked better at the range than he did the course. 

When we're at the range we're focusing on a particular swing thought and most people do their practice with a singe club so it's easier to groove the swing.  Out on the course we get caught up in scoring, it's no longer just about making sure you clear your hips or keep your head steady.  Add to that the less than perfect lies, the wind, the hazards and our mind is filled with negative thoughts that we try to block out so we can focus on the one we want to. 

Part of it involves having a more consistent swing that doesn't have to be thought about and gaining the confidence in your swing so that you're not stressing the swing mechanics and just about what type of shot you want to make.  

Wow, yea this is also a great response. Thanks! This make sense because just as you said I am trying to take peoples' advice on not having a huge swing thought in my round and just hit the ball with my normal swing. But with all those other factors it just compounds and majorly screws up my swing on the course. Even perfect lies. I don't know how I made it through without blowing up any holes yesterday (- +1 +1 - +1 +1 +1 +1 -) because I swear I hit 1 BAD shots on at least 6 of those holes. I must have scrambled like a champ. (I made some good putts to boot so that definitely helped).

[Lihu]

6 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

Ah, these are good points. One thing that I forgot about was that I was playing at a pretty brisk pace and a 2-some let me play through - whenever that happens I rush a little and I get a little winded walking to my next shot. Especially because I played through at a part of the course that was a HUUUUGE hill. So I was definitely getting up to my shots breathing a little heavy... I should have realized this.

Also, I ran a 5k the day before so that coupled with walking the course my legs were definitely not at 100% lol.

The one point I disagree with (on myself, not on the face of the comment alone) is the range and bad shots. When I hit all shots on the range, I have a target, and I have a window. I always visualize shots being "fairway, left rough, center green, etc." So when I say I hit good shots, I might hit 10 yards left of the green because I was visualizing an approach shot. But that would be an acceptable shot for me. When I get to the course though, most of my BAD shots are because I sliced the crap out of it or skulled it bad and it went majorly wayward. Not even CLOSE to target. And that would be with a GOOD lie. For example, I hit a nice 4h the the center fairway on a hard dogleg right and had 190y into a well guarded (danger) green with a heavy wind in my face. The back of the green was the only safe miss because it was a huge hill so I decided a 3w would be a good choice to cut the wind and smack the hill because it would end of fine. I sliced the crap out of that shot and found myself on my back foot after the shot. I never do this on the range.... not even once.

The problem is the range masks bad shots. The shot could look acceptable even though it was a terrible swing and strike.

Mats are forgiving, and making the same movement over and over in succession mask swing flaws.

[jkelley9]

1 minute ago, Lihu said:

The problem is the range masks bad shots. The shot could look acceptable even though it was a terrible swing and strike.

Mats are forgiving, and making the same movement over and over in succession mask swing flaws.

I never play off mats though. Only on very rare occasions. 

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, jkelley9 said:

I never play off mats though. Only on very rare occasions. 

Okay, then the repetition in succession masks swing flaws. The range is flat and nice as well. You are standing on the same lie and almost in the same spot. Mat or grass on a range is almost the same thing anyway.

[Patch]

IDK, but I think one would be hard pressed to do anything well without one or more of the three mind habits helping out. http://www.mindset-habits.com/conscious-subconscious-unconscious-mind/ 

lmo

 

[saevel25]

For the average golfer the mental aspect is most likely negligible compared to the importance of the full swing, short game and putting. For the PGA Tour player trying to win a tournament, then the mental aspect might be slightly more important, but still less significant than all other aspects of the game because of the energy involved in trying to maintain that elite level of focus.

 

 

 

[Big Lex]

2 hours ago, Lihu said:

Good point, I suppose it was not defined perfectly. I think the idea behind "mental game" is that having one will reduce any outside effects like apprehension and negative thoughts?

Not sure, because certainly good ball striking takes mental effort and focus as well?

Your post fairly well summarizes what I think most people think of as the Mental Game. In other words, sports psychology. Managing your thinking and emotions, while playing, in such a way that you don't sabotage yourself, and get the most out of your ability. I have a lot of respect for sports psychologists, and the fact that many professional athletes use them is a testament to the validity of what they do. I have no idea how much it helps an 80s or 90s shooter to be "great" at this particular skill. I'm sure it can turn an 89 into an 84 at times, and lousy thinking might sabotage a 78 into an 81. But it will not prevent you from the 92 if you are simply swinging terribly that day. I totally agree that to strike the ball well takes mental effort and focus, although some people say they "focus" while others say they have to quiet their mind, or let their mind go blank, trust, etc. When you think of it, there really isn't a "mind-body" distinction....our muscle movements are controlled by our brain the same way our thoughts are. So you have to train both parts of your brain, the motor control and the psychologic aspect. And clearly the two interact.

But I believe there are other mental skills - things that any person can do irrespective of their size, strength, balance coordination - that go beyond what is thought of as sports psychology. I think the most important mental skill to have if you want to be an expert at golf is more of a long term thing. Some people just believe in themselves, don't get discouraged, and keep trying. And they have the sense to get help and work on the correct things.There is a whole thread on this site about "conning" yourself; and while I don't like the connotation of conning, because it sounds willful, dishonest, etc., the idea that people do not see their game for what it is is 100% accurate. It's natural to think that if you pipe 5 straight drives on the range before the round, that you have a "mental block" when you half top it on the first tee. But in reality, you (we) forget that before the 5 good ones on the range, there were 15 others that weren't so good at all, and included a couple of half-tops. Confirmation bias, wishful thinking, whatever you want to call it. Recognizing this is a mental skill, it isn't a character flaw if you don't have it. I don't know if it's maturity, integrity, "inner strength," etc., but to be able to see yourself for what you really are is something you can learn to do. I think a lot of it is fear, of failure, of looking bad, and one way to handle fear is denial. And there is will, and motivation. Who doesn't "want" to be a scratch player? But there are far fewer players who want to arrange their life so they can play and practice 4-5 times per week, stick to a program, be disciplined about getting proper feedback, etc.

So before you can do work on the practice tee to become a scratch player, you have to get yourself to the tee in the first place....and stay there....and do the right things while you are there....and continue working even when it doesn't seem to be getting results.

I was trying hard to play something on the guitar once, and my teacher was trying to get me to do some finger exercises, drills, and I asked my (very expert) teacher if _he_ did the finger exercises. He said YES without hesitating, and pointed out that the benefits take a while to show up. He made the great analogy that you don't lift weights in the gym on Monday and expect that your muscles will look bigger and you will lift 50% more weight on Tuesday. It takes time.

 

[Big Lex]

Please delete the comment. I worked up a long edit to a much shorter statement, but didn't get it in in time....I'm at work and some things come first . Sorry to clutter the thread....what is above is not really what I meant to say.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, Big Lex said:

I think one issue here is that nobody defines the mental game.

Fair point, so let me take a stab at it.

I define the mental game as almost everything you do to prepare to hit a shot as well as how you assess and react to the shot on the golf course except GamePlanning. The reason I exclude GamePlanning is because I view the "mental game" as having a far more emotional role, and GamePlanning anyone can do. Your caddie can tell you a GamePlan, but how you feel about it, how you react to it, how you feel standing over your hybrid with a 180-yard carry, that's the mental game.

I think "the mental game" in that context often gets looked at in hindsight.

I've seen it happen countless times. It happens all the time with my daughter, in fact. A guy does the same exact thing, and if he hits a bad shot, he looks for an excuse. Often the easiest excuse is "ahhh, I didn't do my pre-shot routine." Never mind that on the previous hole with the same 7-iron from the fairway he was telling a joke until two seconds before his backswing and he hit that one to 20 feet. That thought doesn't enter his mind.

Additionally golfers, IMO, give added weight to the mental game because they feel like it's an easy thing to do. They feel, but they won't admit, that it's got the allure of a quick fix. "Oh, I'll just read this Bob Rotella book and I'll be breaking 80 in no time." It doesn't work that way.

I've said countless times that Rory McIlroy could be drunk, listening to music, singing out loud (badly), given three seconds to hit, and hd still hit far better golf shots than any of us. The mental game doesn't mean a whole lot. And no, it's not just me that thinks that. @david_wedzik played on the Web.com Tour and has played PGA Tour events. He gives it little credit as well.

Tiger is given credit for having a super strong mental game, and yet… the guy can't take his game from the range to the course, either, the past six+ years.

Now, yes, in extreme cases where a guy just chokes his guts out or something, the mental game can have an effect. A PGA Tour pro who has never won might overcome some demons or something. Maybe. But how many PGA Tour pros see a sports  psychologist. Fewer than the sports psychologists would have you believe.

3 hours ago, Big Lex said:

There are many facets to it, but I think something all good athletes have in common is the will to practice and the patience to practice enough to see improvement. The sheer amount of work it takes, hours-wise, to become an expert is more than most of us think. We make a big deal about Tiger's or Jason's athletic "gift," but even with that gift it requires tremendous work to become an expert at golf. 

Yeah, I don't call that the mental game. That's just discipline, and I don't think that's what anyone else really calls "the mental game" either. It sure as heck wasn't "the mental game" the guy I played with was talking about. He was talking about his pre-shot routine, his swing thought, his visualization, whatever.

He wasn't talking about his mental discipline in practicing.

Plus, JP, I could give a guy all the mental discipline in the world, but if he's unathletic and learning the wrong things, he might still never break 90.

2 hours ago, jkelley9 said:

But after work yesterday I did my routine of hitting a small bucket of balls - had no problems. I think I hit only 1 "bad" shot. Then I started my 9-hole round. I was constantly having problem with my swing. I kept trying to tell myself not to overthink it, but then I would make a swing (especially with my driver) and would find myself in the follow through with all my weight on my back foot and looking up... I NEVER do that at the range. I'm trying so hard to get better but what frustrates me is not that I make a poor shot... it's that the poor shot I hit I will literally never hit that TYPE of poor shot at the range. Not a single time. I'm not making ANY swings like that at the range. So I'm trying to "not have a swing thought and just play naturally," but when I do that it all goes to hell. But the same scenario (play without a swing thought, and only my natural swing) I have no problems at the range, although no progress in my swing either of course.

We hear that a lot, and though it has to do with practice, it's still something I'd call the mental game. But the solution is actually fairly simple: you don't put any pressure on yourself when you practice. There's a big ol' range out there and you can hit it anywhere. You don't switch clubs up. You don't give yourself weird lies or stances.

You don't practice properly. You don't practice everything you find on the golf course, so when you get there, you are facing unfamiliar things (lies, stances) and unfamiliar pressures (new club every swing, actual targets, hazards).

The solution has nothing to do with your mental game on the course, but rather, how you practice, and actually applying a little bit of focus on the range, too.

Plus, I bet you're under-estimating how many bad shots you hit on the range. I've seen that countless times, too.

2 hours ago, jkelley9 said:

Edit: Although in reality, when I added up my score yesterday I had a 43 on a par 37 which is very good for me. I just thought it could have been a lot better. Again, I'm not saying I could be scratch (not even close) but my misses on the COURSE are NOT the same misses I have at the range. And I'm talking perfect lie to perfect lie. 

So the hurdle probably isn't that small. Maybe part of your mental game outlook should be in how you assess yourself after the fact.

Goodness knows I don't hit awesome shots all the time. People who play with me are almost always unimpressed. Then we add up the score and they realize I was near just about every green and had lots of putts for birdies and pars. I don't stick every 8-iron. I don't even hit the green with every 8-iron (nor do PGA Tour pros).

But I also don't get too harsh with myself. Golf is hard™.

1 hour ago, freshmanUTA said:

So, I posted this in the what did you shoot today thread, but I'd like to do it here as well because it relates to my original post in this thread.

To be fair to my quote you had said your own play was idiotic right before. I was just copying what you said about yourself.

1 hour ago, jkelley9 said:

Wow, yea this is also a great response. Thanks! This make sense because just as you said I am trying to take peoples' advice on not having a huge swing thought in my round and just hit the ball with my normal swing. But with all those other factors it just compounds and majorly screws up my swing on the course. Even perfect lies. I don't know how I made it through without blowing up any holes yesterday (- +1 +1 - +1 +1 +1 +1 -) because I swear I hit 1 BAD shots on at least 6 of those holes. I must have scrambled like a champ. (I made some good putts to boot so that definitely helped).

You really only need to hit one good shot on a hole to make a par. Now, the definition of "good" can vary, and it helps if it's an approach or something near the green (still lots of time to screw up a "good" drive"), but… Read over this thread, @jkelley9:

47 minutes ago, Patch said:

IDK, but I think one would be hard pressed to do anything well without one or more of the three mind habits helping out. http://www.mindset-habits.com/conscious-subconscious-unconscious-mind/ 

I don't think anyone here has "zero" things helping them mentally.

Consider the surgeon who sucks at golf. He clearly has a high mental capacity to concentrate, to do a lot of things we associate with good golfers. Yet he can't break 90. Why? Because his swing sucks.

28 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

For the average golfer the mental aspect is most likely negligible compared to the importance of the full swing, short game and putting. For the PGA Tour player trying to win a tournament, then the mental aspect might be slightly more important, but still less significant than all other aspects of the game because of the energy involved in trying to maintain that elite level of focus.

Yes.

That's the main part I think people are forgetting.

I'm not going to find a guy who can't break 90, give him all the "mental" help he can take, and have the guy breaking 85 like it's not a big deal. His swing still sucks. He doesn't putt quite as well as he needs to. He leaves his short game shots too far from the hole. His driving still blows.

Relative to the other skills, the mental game is a small contribution to success. Do you have to be reasonably decent at 15-25 foot putts? Yes. That's why it - like the mental game - is an SV① skill, and not an SV 0 skill.

21 minutes ago, Big Lex said:

Your post fairly well summarizes what I think most people think of as the Mental Game. In other words, sports psychology. Managing your thinking and emotions, while playing, in such a way that you don't sabotage yourself, and get the most out of your ability.

That's kind of how I defined it above, too. Your post was made while I was writing this response.

21 minutes ago, Big Lex said:

Some people just believe in themselves, don't get discouraged, and keep trying. And they have the sense to get help and work on the correct things. … Recognizing this is a mental skill, it isn't a character flaw if you don't have it. I don't know if it's maturity, integrity, "inner strength," etc., but to be able to see yourself for what you really are is something you can learn to do. I think a lot of it is fear, of failure, of looking bad, and one way to handle fear is denial. And there is will, and motivation.

I think we should stick with what's commonly called "the mental game," which you and I agreed upon in our independent posts (and which @Lihu apparently considers to be the same, roughly). Again, you could have someone with all the willpower or whatever in the world, but if they're working on the wrong things, they're still going to suck. And conversely, you could have someone like myself. I've never put a lot of time into golf except as a kid, and I rarely get to practice, and I'm constantly goofing around with my swing when I do… and yet I can break 75 because my swing is good.

Discipline to practice isn't what I think the vast majority of people are talking about when they say "mental game" and it sure as heck wasn't what the guy in the OP was talking about.

21 minutes ago, Big Lex said:

Who doesn't "want" to be a scratch player? But there are far fewer players who want to arrange their life so they can play and practice 4-5 times per week, stick to a program, be disciplined about getting proper feedback, etc.

I don't do those things. And I almost never practiced as a kid (except playing).

A PGA Tour player could take two years off from the game and be drunk and kick your butt on the golf course (and mine). His swing is just better.

21 minutes ago, Big Lex said:

I was trying hard to play something on the guitar once, and my teacher was trying to get me to do some finger exercises, drills, and I asked my (very expert) teacher if _he_ did the finger exercises. He said YES without hesitating, and pointed out that the benefits take a while to show up. He made the great analogy that you don't lift weights in the gym on Monday and expect that your muscles will look bigger and you will lift 50% more weight on Tuesday. It takes time.

Yeah… that's not what people mean when they say "the mental game."

[freshmanUTA]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

 

To be fair to my quote you had said your own play was idiotic right before. I was just copying what you said about yourself.

Apologies if my post came out wrong, but it was supposed to be positive, not a rebuttal. I was playing with my cousin and on the second tee box and he asked me if that's what LSW teaches me is to shoot triples and I laughed and sarcastically said "obviously"

when he he brought up LSW was when I remembered you saying to not play like an idiot and it kinda calmed me down and it was like a "It can't be that simple, can it?" moment and so I thought why not try to stay calm and continue actually planning my shots. But who knows, it could just be the increase in practice recently. 

 

Oh and BTW, my instructor borrowed and liked my copy of LSW so much that he wants to have some of his other junior golfers buy it and read it. you guys really made an amazing book and I'm beyond happy I bought it :D

[iacas]

4 hours ago, freshmanUTA said:

when he he brought up LSW was when I remembered you saying to not play like an idiot and it kinda calmed me down and it was like a "It can't be that simple, can it?" moment and so I thought why not try to stay calm and continue actually planning my shots. But who knows, it could just be the increase in practice recently.

I've recently begun using this example, because sometimes people would "try" this "GamePlanning" stuff in LSW but want to give up on it after they miss a green when aiming for the middle (or whatever). GamePlanning is obviously for the long haul. Just as you wouldn't stop playing a "roll the die" game with 10:1 odds even if you lost the first four times, you shouldn't abandon proper GamePlanning just because the first hole or even round doesn't quite go your way.

4 hours ago, freshmanUTA said:

Oh and BTW, my instructor borrowed and liked my copy of LSW so much that he wants to have some of his other junior golfers buy it and read it. you guys really made an amazing book and I'm beyond happy I bought it :D

He should buy a set of 10 or so. I think they shake out to $17.90 or so at 10. He could re-sell them for $20, or $25, or whatever.

Anyway, OT, so I tried to keep that short.

[Pretzel]

 

So wouldn't this be pretty conclusive for me that I have a mental hurdle to overcome?

No. It means that you, like every other golfer on the planet, get into a groove when every shot is within 30 seconds of the last and this groove is broken when you go out to play a round of golf. It happens to even the best PGA tour pros, so of course it'll happen to you.

 

 

Edit: Although in reality, when I added up my score yesterday I had a 43 on a par 37 which is very good for me. I just thought it could have been a lot better. Again, I'm not saying I could be scratch (not even close) but my misses on the COURSE are NOT the same misses I have at the range. And I'm talking perfect lie to perfect lie. 

Nobody has misses that are the same, because the scenarios are not, and never will be, the same between the two. There is no "mental hurdle" here, it's something that happens to all golfers.

I would also recommend changing the way you practice on the range to be more beneficial. Less hitting of golf balls looking for a good shot, more working on your priority piece looking for the desired change there.

[jkelley9]

 

No. It means that you, like every other golfer on the planet, get into a groove when every shot is within 30 seconds of the last and this groove is broken when you go out to play a round of golf. It happens to even the best PGA tour pros, so of course it'll happen to you.

 

Nobody has misses that are the same, because the scenarios are not, and never will be, the same between the two. There is no "mental hurdle" here, it's something that happens to all golfers.

I would also recommend changing the way you practice on the range to be more beneficial. Less hitting of golf balls looking for a good shot, more working on your priority piece looking for the desired change there.

Good point. That makes a lot of sense. I read LSW and took a lot from the section on how to practice and thought I was doing much better on focused practice but I guess I still have some work to do. Rather than get in these swing grooves, which is what I'm doing for sure, I will get only small buckets and will change up my club every shot, I'll walk out of my stance between shots, and when I get into my stance I will hve a clear target in mind. I guess quality over quantity will be a big thing here.