Oh no, not again!

[edhalsim]

This past weekend was the club championship; a two day event (36 holes total).  I've been striking the ball better lately and have worked on my putting so I was feeling pretty good going in.  It's flighted so I'm playing against other members in the 5-10 hcp. range (I'm a 7 on that course).

The first day went really well.  Managed a 39/38=77 to put me in second one shot back.  The second day, I played in the final group with the leader and the guy in third two behind me.  All three of us played extremely well on the front;  the guy in first and I tied with 37s (+1) and the guy in third shot even par.  I know, those scores sound like a bunch of sandbaggers but I assure you my hcp is correct (as you'll see).

On the back nine, my wheels fell off.  I had a stretch of holes:  double, double, birdie, double, quad to finish with 37/47=84 out of the money.  My full swing basically fell to pieces, which forces me to rely on my short game more, which also crumbled (it took me four shots from just off the green 2-3 times).  This kind of self-sabotage thing happens to me pretty regularly.  I do a pretty good job not getting down on myself, but I just start hitting wild shots like a 20+ hdcper.  I can accept hitting a really bad shot now and then, but at times like this when everything falls to pieces I'm lost and can't seem to stop it.

Don't know if this is primarily caused by mental stuff, or my swing/game is just not consistent enough.  If anyone has any advice/comments, I welcome them good or bad.

Thanks for your time.
Ed

[Gunther]

Couple weeks ago I went 37-48, so I feel your pain.  My blowup involved 3 triples and my mistakes there were 2fold:  1.  Trying to hit the hero recovery shot.  And 2.  Getting so pissed that I didn't think about the next shot, rushed it, not caring.

Lessons learned:  play conservative, could have been 2 bogies and maybe a double had I done this, a 5-stroke swing.  And probably would not have gotten mad and rushed shots.

No idea if your blow ups were similar but those are the reasons I explode. Shot 42-40 this weekend with only 1 double so consistent, if not great, results.  I learned but know that I will forget again soon.  Hard to get your mind right all the time.

[Groucho Valentine]

I did the same thing in my club championship last weekend. I was actually up 5 shots with 5 holes to go. I bogeyed my last four to lose by two. I cant explain what happened. A combination of bad luck, a couple of bad swings and poor putting. Had a chance to save par on all 4 of those holes inside 7-8 feet and didn't make them. The guy that won (also in my group) made a clutch birdie on 17 and made a tough par on 18. 

Tournament golf is mostly mental, IMO. If you tense up, you swing gets short and choppy then its hard to execute shots. Sometimes you get this fog come over you where you dont think as clearly as you should, which might have happened to me on a couple of holes. On 15 i pulled a 8iron for a green side chip when i thought it was it pitching wedge. Needless to say that chip went a lot by the hole.... I just wasn't paying proper attention to what i was doing at that moment and made an mental error.  Thats golf, though. 

[metbid]

What I have is commiseration and empathy.  I know your pain too well.  I am an 11.3 HDCP, and generally shoot in the lower 40's for 9 holes, mid 80's for 18....That said, I live in Northern Minnesota and our weather is starting to turn to Fall pretty fast, so I have been trying to get in as many 9 hole rounds as I can.  Last Monday I shot a 36, got one birdie, then missed a 2 foot putt for bogey on the very next hole to compensate  .  Everything was just clicking, 5 FWYS hit (even the mis-hits were just off the FWY), 6 GIR, 3 one-putts, no three-putts.  Then after feeling really good about my swing, I went out and shot a 50 three days later, my worst round of the year.

I guess the only thing I can figure is even though I don't feel like I'm doing it, I think I am living in the past instead of the present. Remembering how good I played and not concentrating on the present shot.

Edited September 26, 2016 by metbid

[jkelley9]

Do you feel yourself tensing up when you're in those situations? That's what I do. I get tense and focus on forcing the club into the slot which never ends well. 

However, I don't play in competitions under really high pressure. Just in the company of my father-in-law and grandfather-in-law... so maybe my stakes are higher! lol j/k

I combat this by telling myself that "x" is the worst shot I could hit right now; for example, that shot might be thinning the ball sailing over the green. I somehow tell myself that that's not that big of a deal even if I did hit that thin shot and then focus on just making a relaxed swing. Now instead of hitting that thin shot 50% of the time it's down to about 10%. But that's just me.

 

[Grinde6]

Its for sure mental.  You were playing fine to shoot a 37 on the front.  You probably hit one bad shot or got one bad bounce and it was over from there.  Tournament golf is a different animal than that of just playing a casual round with your buddies or even a scramble obviously.  Nerves that you never thought were there come to the surface.

The thing to work hard on is to forget your last shot...good or bad.  If your last shot was a pull hook, or whatever it was forget about it and start focusing on the next shot you need to hit.  Don't compound bad shots with an unlikely hero shot that could just put you in more trouble.  Same is true for a good shot.  If you smoke a drive down the middle, enjoy it for a few seconds, then on to the next one.

[bkuehn1952]

1 hour ago, edhalsim said:

This past weekend was the club championship; a two day event (36 holes total). ...  If anyone has any advice/comments, I welcome them good or bad....

.
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Do you play in a lot of multi-day tournaments each year?

[edhalsim]

Lots of good responses here.  Thanks!  I play in 2-3 two day tournaments over the year, sometimes with a partner.

[DaveP043]

I think every one of us has had a similar collapse.  For me, these kinds of things happen when I start thinking "globally".  By that, I mean when I start adding up my score, and saying "I could shoot _______ if I.....", or maybe "I could win this thing if.....".  The other thing I do is to try to hit a shot "better" , because I know I've hit good ones already. 

 I do my best to approach each shot like every other shot.  I try not to think of making a birdie when I'm on the tee of a par 5, I try to think about hitting a solid drive down the left side, for instance.  Staying focused on "this" shot, which I think is what the pros mean when they talk about staying "in the moment", is the best way I've found to avoid those late wheels-falling-off problems.

[bkuehn1952]

21 hours ago, edhalsim said:

I play in 2-3 two day tournaments over the year, sometimes with a partner. 

Pure speculation on my part but based on my own experience, it could be one or both of a couple factors.

A. I used to play in just 1-2 events a year.  Since I did not play in a lot of tournaments, I was probably overly keyed up when one of the few events came along.  If I did not play well, it was going to be another year before I had a chance at redemption.  That self-induced pressure likely affected my performance.  My solution was to develop a regular schedule of events.  If I don't play well today, there is always some other tournament in 10 days.  I do not get too invested in the results of a single tournament.

B. Multi-day events on the same course can weigh on my fragile mental state.  If I shoot lights out on day 1, and day 2 did not start as well, I began to think, "yesterday I was X to par at this point and now I am Y shots worse today."  I realize that is my tendency so I have to make an effort to wipe out yesterday and just do like @DaveP043 suggests; focus on one shot at a time.  

Neither of these factors may affect you but if they might, then recognize it and create a solution that works for you.

[jkelley9]

3 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

I think every one of us has had a similar collapse.  For me, these kinds of things happen when I start thinking "globally".  By that, I mean when I start adding up my score, and saying "I could shoot _______ if I.....", or maybe "I could win this thing if.....".  The other thing I do is to try to hit a shot "better" , because I know I've hit good ones already. 

 I do my best to approach each shot like every other shot.  I try not to think of making a birdie when I'm on the tee of a par 5, I try to think about hitting a solid drive down the left side, for instance.  Staying focused on "this" shot, which I think is what the pros mean when they talk about staying "in the moment", is the best way I've found to avoid those late wheels-falling-off problems.

Lol so true. I think every one of us does the exact same thing. I'm a statistics-bound fella when it comes to almost everything in life so naturally I do this often with golf too. However, I've been proud of myself for being able to clear my mind of those thoughts and I tell myself I'll add it up at the end of each nine. Of course, I have a good general idea of my score through each hole because I hit a lot of pars now so... you know... it's not like I'm clueless about it. But I do really try to clear my mind at least when it comes to "if I can hit 3 pars on these last 3 holes..." (which is totally doable for me now) "...I can shoot my best score ever!" 

But, I don't play competitive golf either. So...