Melt down!

[Ingster]

So I played a club stableford board competition today and it was like I forgot how to hit the ball and ended up scoring 18 points! I had a practice yesterday and scored 35. Going through my head was... Is it tiredness? Just one of those days?! Or am I just sh*t at golf?! I have been playing 2/3 times a week with lots of practice. 

How do you guys cope with these melt downs? What do you put the blame on? 

This is is my first post here. Thanks for reading! 

[Valleygolfer]

Welcome to the sandtrap. It's hard not to be mad at yourself when you are not playing to your expectations. I get like this, when I have a long stretch of poor play or when a part of my game s#!ts the bed and I can't shake it during the round. The best thing I can do is get to the range. Usually I figure it out in about 10 minutes in. 

[Yukari]

Welcome to TST!

We all go through a slump.  Mine usually starts a few rounds after I had a great round.  LOL! 

I generally go back to the range and go through all the basics one at a time: Grip, stance, alignment, etc.  

It seems my slump typically is result of one of two things: (1) alignment and/or (2) too much head movement on my swing (especially on the down swing - trying to see where the ball is going and lifting up too fast rather than staying focused on making the contact is my #1 culprit).  It's amazing how soon you forget about those two simple things during a round.

[Patch]

Welcome. 

I don't see poor issues as a melt down. It's golf, and this happens to everyone. Handicaps don't matter. It's just another day of golf, with some days being better, or worse  than others

Blame, and where do I place it? On myself of course. Eveything that happens during a round of golf, good, bad, or really, really ugly is on me. 

Maybe I didn't hydrate properly before the round. Maybe I partied too much the night before. Didn't eat right.  Maybe I just don't have a good swing that day. What ever the problem is,  it's mine. I like it that way, because I am still out of doors, doing something I really like to do. 

[RickK]

Hey, I had a similar situation yesterday.  Played lights out on the front 9 for me (2 over) and got to the back 9 and never made a par.  It was all me.  I lost my concentration after I let someone else releasing the cart brake in the middle of my backswing bother me.  Never got it back.  As I said it was all me.  I just need to concentrate more and be able to stop my swing if I get distracted.  I used to be pretty good at doing that.  But, well all have days when it just does not come together.  Sometimes it is concentration, sometimes it is fatigue, sometimes it is putting to much pressure on ourselves in a competition situation...it is golf.

[Ingster]

Cheers for the responses guys! 

It's the range for me tonight and then a week in Portugal on Wednesday. So hopefully that'll help to iron out all the problems.... or make them worse!

[fishgolf]

Was it the result of excessively slow play?  Did that timer counting down behind you get into your head?    As @Patchso well stated, it's golf and it happens (to varying degrees) to everyone.  I had a round in Yuma, AZ this past winter that had me wanting my 5 weight fly rod so bad my teeth ached.  It's like the 9 hole jinx, another unexplained phenomena, where upon making the turn your game suddenly changes .

[dennyjones]

1 hour ago, Ingster said:

Cheers for the responses guys! 

It's the range for me tonight and then a week in Portugal on Wednesday. So hopefully that'll help to iron out all the problems.... or make them worse!

Pics or it didn't happen!

[DaveP043]

17 hours ago, Ingster said:

How do you guys cope with these melt downs? What do you put the blame on? 

This is is my first post here. Thanks for reading! 

First, welcome to TheSandTrap! 

Second, I go to the clubhouse and have a beer and poke fun at myself.  Not long ago, I shot a 93 on my home course, as a 6 handicap, my worst score in several years, and that's just what I did.  If we didn't have bad days, the good days wouldn't stand out the way they do.  

[saevel25]

I wouldn't classify shooting bad as a meltdown. Being a 12, you probably shoot in the mid 80's on average. You probably range anywhere from low 90's to upper 70's majority of the time.

Outlier scores happen.

 

 

[The Hook Meister]

Bad days happen if they didn't we would probably get board with the game. Focus on all the good shots you had and don't worry about blame stuff happens. Go to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls you will feel better.

[cooke119]

My bad rounds happen when I start to think to much or forget to do something during my swing. I hate when I have a bad round then remember half way through that I should be doing something different with my swing, e.g., keepings elbows in, tempo, alignment, you name it. But if my round sucks I chalk it up to it being golf and go have a beer. I usually hit the range a few days later and work on all that I forgot.