Handling the mid-round disaster

[dcg1952]

Jeff,
I'm sure this doesn't happen to you too often, but what do you do when you have 2-3 bad holes in a row. I sometimes have a great round going and then have 2 or 3 really crappy holes, and then seem to get it together again.What do you do or tell yourself when this happens??

[Kumabjorn]

Not Jeff, but two years ago I discovered that if I played really well for 12 holes, I would inevitably screw up 13, 14 and once in a while 15. So I simply changed my course strategy. If I played 12 holes well, I would take birdie out of the equation for those three holes (not that I birdied them often before), but I'd accept a longer approach shot and always for the middle of the green. Once I got my head around that, those holes were no longer a buggaboo. I know if I have trouble to the left that I'm more susceptible to loose it left (or waaays over --->), by clubing down, hitting (instead of swinging) and choking down an inch, I'm fairly certain that I'm still on the short grass. I will have a 7I instead of a 9I or PW, but I'm more likely to have a putter in my hand after the 7I.

[golfgnome]

Jeff,
I'm sure this doesn't happen to you too often, but what do you do when you have 2-3 bad holes in a row. I sometimes have a great round going and then have 2 or 3 really crappy holes, and then seem to get it together again.What do you do or tell yourself when this happens??

I have faced this situation in the past and I found a great way to get past it.

Think of a round of golf as a marathon. If at the start of the race you told yourself "only 25 miles left" how daunting would that feel? However, if you broke that race down into smaller segments, say 5 miles, then you would only have 5 miles left then start a new race.

What worked for me was playing three 6-hole rounds (3 holes for the front - 3 holes for the back). I would play a mini tournament with myself and see which match I could play the best. I would even take a "mini-break" at the end of each round. Even if I shot 3 under on each of the 6 hole matches I was trying to shoot 4 under on the last 6. This really helped me when I got in contention because I was no longer worried about a certain score or what someone else was doing, I was only competeing with myself.

Try this and maybe create your own mini tournament routine

[KevCarter]

I have faced this situation in the past and I found a great way to get past it.

Think of a round of golf as a marathon. If at the start of the race you told yourself "only 25 miles left" how daunting would that feel? However, if you broke that race down into smaller segments, say 5 miles, then you would only have 5 miles left then start a new race.

What worked for me was playing 3 6-hole rounds (3holes for the front-3 holes for the back). I would play a mini tournament with myself and see which match I could play the best. I would even take a "mini-break" at the end of each round. Even if I shot 3 under on each of the 6 hole matches I was trying to shoot 4 under on the last 6. This really helped me when I got in contention because I was no longer worried about a certain score or what someone else was doing, I was only competeing with myself.

Try this and maybe create your own mini tournament routine

If we start going low we won't get out of our comfort zone. I love this! Another great post Pro!

Kevin

[dcg1952]

Thanks. I'll give it a try when the ice and snow melt.

[GPStyles]

I like the mini games and have used them myself to good effect. I break it down to six 3 hole courses though but whatever fits I guess.

Something else I have used with good results and highly recommend is to take the score out of it and play the circle game.

The circle game is not concerned about score, it is concerned about following your routine. That means that it is process orientated instead of outcome orientated.

The idea is that on each shot of each hole, you have to follow your pre shot routine exactly. If you do, you give yourself a segment of the circle. If its a par 4 you have potentially 4 segments for a par.

If you follow your pre shot routine but still bogey, you still get a circle. The truth is that if you have a circle, you will likely have had a good score on the hole.

The idea is that instead of worrying about your score you are trying to get circles. If you have 18 circles at the end of a round you can be pretty sure you have a very good score.

[O.B.Left]

That is a great answer Jeff

Ive broken it down into 9's but 3's is way better. It gets rid of that " just hang on" tendency when you are doing well.

Keeps you charging like Arnie.

OB