The psychology of blowing up: How do you stop it?

[NJpatbee]

I accept the fact that playing and practicing once per week I can only improve so much.  Typically I have a blowup hole when I lose concentration and either top, pull, or slice my drive into a penalty situation, which then leads to a struggle to make double bogey - it is usually worse.  Once my confidence is shaken it may take a couple of holes to get back in the game.  I always try to break 90 on my home course but most rounds I do not.  I also gauge my progress by my HCP Index which includes the best 10 of my last 20 rounds, and some of the not counted 10 can be real whoppers.  Lack of consistency due to insufficient practice, play, and natural ability is something I have learned to accept for now.  Within a couple of years with retirement and continued good health I expect to get more consistency but still have those occasional blowup holes.  I just remember that my score is not life or death and move on.

[No Mulligans]

Two bad shots on a hole and you could easily have a blow up hole.  Imo, it's has much more to do with statistics than psychology.  Psychology is just the wrong place to look.

You can lower the chances with a more solid and consistent swing but you can't eliminate the blow ups.

 

[natureboy]

8 hours ago, NJpatbee said:

I accept the fact that playing and practicing once per week I can only improve so much.  Typically I have a blowup hole when I lose concentration and either top, pull, or slice my drive into a penalty situation, which then leads to a struggle to make double bogey - it is usually worse.  Once my confidence is shaken it may take a couple of holes to get back in the game.  I always try to break 90 on my home course but most rounds I do not.  I also gauge my progress by my HCP Index which includes the best 10 of my last 20 rounds, and some of the not counted 10 can be real whoppers.  Lack of consistency due to insufficient practice, play, and natural ability is something I have learned to accept for now.  Within a couple of years with retirement and continued good health I expect to get more consistency but still have those occasional blowup holes.  I just remember that my score is not life or death and move on.

 

50 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

Two bad shots on a hole and you could easily have a blow up hole.  Imo, it's has much more to do with statistics than psychology.  Psychology is just the wrong place to look.

You can lower the chances with a more solid and consistent swing but you can't eliminate the blow ups.

 

I agree with @No Mulligans. At our level, it's typical for the average score to range from 4-7 strokes above the HCP differential. A lot of it is due to the 'better half' of your scores and equitable stroke control from skewing the HCP toward your best rounds. Just expect it and work on making your swing more consistent.

Wherever you are regularly hitting awful shots that really cost you (stroke and distance, a gakked short putt, terrible lagging, duffed chips, topped shots, etc.) work on that part of your game.

[Swungover]

20 hours ago, Strandly said:

I've noticed I just randomly forget how to swing the club while I'm playing and that usually results in a bad hole(s).  It's pretty damn irritating.

I probably just need to pay closer attention to what I'm doing is all.. which is hard to do when it's so damn nice outside. 

God yes; my exact problem. Had my blowup hole on the second today. Tee shot and subsequent mulligan both off the toe and lost. Drop one, topped it three times straight! Finally on the green for a three putt. 

Why? All my normal rules and routines went right ou the window as I proceeded to try and kill the ball. Arrggghhh 

[natureboy]

1 hour ago, Swungover said:

God yes; my exact problem. Had my blowup hole on the second today. Tee shot and subsequent mulligan both off the toe and lost. Drop one, topped it three times straight! Finally on the green for a three putt. 

Why? All my normal rules and routines went right ou the window as I proceeded to try and kill the ball. Arrggghhh 

I guess this 'overcorrection' tendency is kind of a mental hurdle. It's improved by a more reliable swing for sure, but even a duffer can work on keeping cool and not deviate from their good swing pattern and fall into 'killing it' or 'steering it'. Same can happen on the greens where in frustration at leaving one short you blast one by then get too caution on the next one.

[Natural Patrick]

4 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

Two bad shots on a hole and you could easily have a blow up hole.  Imo, it's has much more to do with statistics than psychology.  Psychology is just the wrong place to look.

You can lower the chances with a more solid and consistent swing but you can't eliminate the blow ups.

 

For me it's all Psychology. How can I be even par for 7 holes and consistently end up shooting a 40? My swing was consistent for 7 holes.  I can start good and finish bad, just like I can start bad and finish good.

[Aguirre]

A few thoughts:

1) If you're regularly playing match play vs your partners, you kind of have to accept that you'll have some blow up holes, because you may take chances you normally wouldn't to try and halve holes where you've found trouble or win holes when you're trailing. Remember if you took chances in those spots, and forgive the blow-up if they backfired. It's okay. You prioritized your match over your posted score, and that's fine. It's your decision.

2) Remember that as amateurs, we should take trouble out of play more than pros. A pro on the tee at a daunting Par 4 with water down the right may favor the left-center of the fairway. We should probably favor the left rough. Like, for real. If you hit it straight and you're 140 out in the rough, that's so monumentally better than 175 out after a drop (also in the rough). I mean, circumstances dictate the severity of your adjustment (such as, in the previous example, the left of the fairway having penal fairway bunkers), but remember we should adjust more. 

There's a hole on my home course that is about a 380 yard par 4 that is straight, but left is dead. There are trees and also a steep hill not far off the fairway. The fairway itself is flat, but right has a lot of room and is a hill that slopes back to the fairway. I literally line up with an ideal drive that will land 10-15 yards in the rough. Sometimes, I'll get a kick back to the fairway. But if I hook it (I'm a lefty) up on the hill, I'll still have a shot. If I slice while aiming down the fairway, it's essentially a one stroke penalty, possibly worse if I end up under a pine.

3) Always ask yourself: What's the worst that can happen on this shot? That greenside bunker with a tucked pin? OB left? Etc. Always avoid the worst that can happen. And don't give me any crap about the power of positive thinking. As a 5, 10, or 20 handicap your scores are better not because you stuff a 165 yard shot to three feet, but because you didn't double bogey that pain-in-the-ass 14 hole when you hit your drive in the deep fairway bunker.

4) When you're in trouble, get out. And I don't just mean the obvious situations where you have a tight gap through trees to punch a ball near the green or the safe route to the side and have a 125 yard approach. I'm talking about playing to the right of a pin by twenty feet from a greenside bunker because you may run it through going at the pin, but have more room and can keep it on with a different line. If you're chipping from above the hole, and realize you have to juuuuuuuust land it on the fringe to get within a reasonable par putt, hit it harder. If you run it twenty feet past the hole, putting uphill from there will be far better than getting too cute and having to putt from the fringe twenty feet above the hole. Or worse, chipping again.

In short, play defensive. Then when you realize you're playing defensive, play twice as defensive as you thought you should. We all overestimate ourselves. 

[Grinde6]

You have to be aware and not compound a bad stroke.  I was playing a par 5 yesterday, pulled my tee shot about 1 foot into a lateral hazard.  I could have went for the "make-up" shot and tried to put myself about 100 out, but I took my medicine and punched out sideways with a 7 iron.  I was 205 yards out, hit my 5 iron to 8 feet and birdied.  Had I tried the "hero" shot I probably would have doubled.  I always tell people to take their medicine, its better than trying a very low percentage shot.

I think I remember reading that you put 3 balls into the water.  After the first, and especially after the 2nd I would have been looking for an area I could hit to with less carry (if there wasn't water all around you) and gone there. 

[Aflighter]

Blowup holes are 100% pyschological.Has nothing to do with a consistent swing.As golfers we can be the dumbest people sometimes.When you get frustrated after a bad shot we let it stay in our minds too long.I was playing decent for first 6 holes last weekend but I let outside things cause me to rush shots and next 7 holes I blew up because my mind wasnt on my shots.Last 5 holes after problem went away I did good.By the way , slow play was problem.Tried to speed my game up to compensate for slow player.

[Joe92385]

I have a great deal of experience with blowup holes, not so much with the recovery, haha.  But if it's particularly bad, it usually helps me to take the scorecard out of my sight for a hole or two.  Sometimes I just throw it away, but mostly I'll put it in my bag.  Almost every time, that helps me let go of the frustration mentally, and I can take the card back out once I relax and my swing goes back to its usual less-than-mediocre-but-hopefully-not-awful form (I usually remember my scores for the holes when it was out of sight).

That, and beer.

[Zekez]

Have to agree with those that recommend taking a minute or two to collect your thoughts after a bad shot and PLAY THE SAFE SHOT!   Every golfer has to take their medicine occasionally.  For most League/weekend golfers you have to understand and accept that in every round you will hit a few bad shots.  We all do.  

[DaveP043]

I've read some that say blow-up holes are 100% psychological, and others saying just the opposite.  I'm in the middle.  Golfers at every level hit bad shots.  Same preparation, same concentration, just a minor variation that produces a bad result.  Statistically, we're occasionally going to hit two or more bad shots in a row, even if the shot we're trying to hit is the right choice for the circumstances.  Some blow-ups are relatively unavoidable.

On the other hand, many of us follow a bad shot with a bad decision, and that's completely avoidable.  Maybe the first shot attempted was a sound choice, in that case try it again.  Maybe you realize the first attempt was too risky, so change your club or your aim.  Maybe you're tempted to take on even more risk, to make up for the bad shot.  Don't do it!  Maybe you're just frustrated, and you're absolutely going to kill the next one.  Stop and breathe!!  Good decisions result in enough bad shots.  Don't compound the difficulty by making a poor decision following poor shot.

[CarlSpackler]

I would say that lack of confidence is a major contributor to blow up holes. You have to be confident about every shot you are about to play, but that confidence has to built around your playing ability. You should not let a bad shot rattle your confidence about the next shot. A scene from Animal House comes to mind.

Flounder, you can't spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You effed up... you trusted us! Hey, make the best of it! Maybe we can help. ~Otter

[jkelley9]

Not sure if anyone has said this yet or not, but I don't think it's common to hit a "soft" wood. Especially a 3w. That's a very long shaft that can flex a good bit. So swinging it slower I could easily see changing the kick point and causing some poor contact issues. I would rather bank on hitting a flush hybrid or long iron. Sure, it's most likely a swing mechanic issue, though.

You also mentioned that you had new irons and were "swinging nice and slow" IIRC. I would think you'd want to swing at your normal speed especially after getting new irons?

I have blow up holes all the time. Just as we all do from time to time at least. Usually for me it's because I start swinging a little too loosey goosey thinking "golf is easy." Lol...  

[DrvFrShow]

If you have over a 16 handicap you're a hacker. You'll have blow ups. In theory, golf shouldn't be that hard, but it is. It's a perishable skill. You can't buy a swing. If you don't practice at least 4 days a week and play at least 2 rounds a week you'll never get better. Consider yourself lucky to play in the 90s or even luckier to break 90.

You may do fine on the front 9 and part way through the back 9. Then you may get tired and your swing may get forced. So the ball doesn't do what you want. Some days my back can only handle 15 holes. Then the mishits start, and they take their toll. They're the ones that hurt.. physically.

Yeah, my playing partner and I play practice rounds together. We play mulligans. We know our rounds don't count. "You had a 4 on that hole and I had a 5." "Yeah, but you win the hole because yours was clean. My 4 had a mulligan." That's how we score. Fair enough?

[RayG]

Only a couple of things I've posted about before...

1- Lose the "hero" shot. ALWAYS... or at least until you can manipulate ball flight on a regular basis.

2. Don't "scorecard watch". As in "Gee, all I need is to bogey in to shoot...whatever"... Kiss of Death.

3. Break it down. Don't play ONE 18 hole round. Play 18 one hole rounds. Each hole is a new start.

[Kalnoky]

20 minutes ago, DrvFrShow said:

You may do fine on the front 9 and part way through the back 9. Then you may get tired and your swing may get forced. So the ball doesn't do what you want.

This was me last Friday, 42 on the front and 49 on the back. Last three holes were double, triple, and double bogie. I just got mentally exhausted and distracted. My wife kept texting me. I missed an easy putt and my attitude tanked... It was a hot day and I started thinking about having a beer. I stopped paying attention basically.

You have to mentally engaged with this game. It is mentally exhausting. You can still occasionally score by making ugly bad shots, I'm proof of this, but once you stop concentrating altogether it goes downhill fast.

 

[No Mulligans]

47 minutes ago, DrvFrShow said:

If you have over a 16 handicap you're a hacker. You'll have blow ups.

Exactly.  If you are above a 16 HI or a 15 it is because you are inconsistent, period.  If you are inconsistent you'll have blow ups even if you play smart and never get upset.  Blowups will happen psychology or not.

Say 1 out of 5 of my drives is bad enough that I'll be OB on a certain hole.  There's a 10% chance I'll have that errant shot twice in a row.  Now I'm hitting 5 off the tee.  It's just statistics in this case at this point.  10% chance or 1 out of 10 makes it likely that it will happen on any given round.  (You could change your errant shots to 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 20, it doesn't matter, statistically you'll still have blowups).

Granted I can make it worse if I get upset or "off my game".  But even without the psychology, blowups are likely.  It is mostly not psychology.