The never ending struggle

Why on earth did I think I should start playing golf. I'm so inconsitant, I can go and shoot a 90 one day and 120 the next. Case in point, over the weekend, I was having my avg bogey golf round...hitting every other GIR, come to 13th par 4 make birdie...feeling good. 14,15,16 and 17 I completely forget how to hit the club it seems, lose all composure...my main problem is a weak right slice when I'm steaming and I mean 90* right. I actually through a club for the first time after hitting my 3rd tee shot OB (gave myself an 11). It's like my good shots come in strings of 2 or 3 followed by who knows how many bad ones until I can revert to something that works.

I've spent probably 6 hours a week practicing full swings and pitches (not including golfing, say an hour a day) for the last 2 months and haven't improved my scores anywhere near as much as I think I should have. Rereading this, it seems a bit rediculous, but I'm tired of being so inconsistant...it's no fun. Just venting

i hear yah man i play everyday lately and i can go one day shoot a beautiful round of almost in the 70s(last few holes i BLOW) and then come back the next day with the same swing and it doesnt work nearly as well so i spend half the round trying to find a swing that works and finally get it on the back nine and shoot a good score but it is ruined by the 47 or so in the front nine

\

Try not to get too discouraged. I think you need to take a more scientific approach. Practicing is good if you practice smart. Your need to figure out exactly where you are loosing your strokes. Analyze your game. After you play a round, sit down over a drink and look at your scorecard and try and figure out where you are loosing strokes. Track the number of puts, balls hit OB, etc. This should give you some feedback on where you need to practice most.

Most likely your short game needs the most improvement. In order to score better you need to practice the things in golf that you are not good at. Most people practice the things that they are good at and wonder why they are not improving. Don't waste an hour hitting your driver at the range, if you are consistantly 3 putting, chunking chips, etc. As you play more you will also get a lot more consistant.

__________________
Matt

Golf is a game of patience. When you blow up or get mad over a shot, you lose. If you tell me you play better golf once you get mad, you are lying. You play your best golf relaxed and calm. So, stay relaxed and calm. Easier said than done? You bet your ass!!! Staying calm is the most difficult thing to master when it comes to this great game than anything. Staying calm after a bad stroke of luck for those of us who are intensly competative, no matter our skill level, is more challenging than a narrow 200 yard par 3 over water.

Myself, with a true Scottish temper, I used to throw clubs, yell, pick my ball up and quit the hole, walk off the course, you name it. I learned that I needed to beat my anger to be a better golfer. Do I still get mad? Yes, but I also recognize that when I am getting to that level I need to take a deep breath and determine what getting mad will accomplish. Will it make me play better? NO. Will it take the 8 from last hole and turn it into a 4? NO. The only shot you can play is the one you are standing over. I am able to curb my frustration and regroup before my next shot. If I don't another bad shot will follow.

What you need to do when starting to seeth after a bad shot is not to figure out what you did wrong, it's to remember what you need to do right. Focus on the shot you want to accomplish (remember how well the shot you are about to attempt works at the range) and take a few deep breaths. Visualize the result you are trying to accomplish and step up and do it.

It comes down to positive thinking and breaking the bad habbit/cycle you have been creating.

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

Dustin,

I must agree with Gord, it sound to me like you are simply putting to much pressure on yourself.

Take away that 11 with a couple of other saved shots and you have broken 80, don't be so hard on yourself.


When the pressure builds with a good score remember "your only in this position because you are playing well".


Good Luck

Ian.

Yessir, I tell myself it's ok and usually have some great shots (for me). It's just when you're out there and something happens wrong and you really have no idea why it happend because 5 minutes ago it was right...that's when my head gets in the way of a fun time. I've found an easy way to get through it though...the last 3 rounds I've played, I havn't kept score. I'll probably do this for the next 5 rounds or so and then see where I stand. I guess I'm so focused on posting something lower than a 90 that I lose focus on the golf.

On a side...I had my first eagle putt over the weekend on a 320 yard dogleg right par4. I hit over the trees about 240 out, caught the cart path and got a bounce almost as high as the oak trees and found my ball about 30 foot past the hole in the middle of the green. Like to say I made it but had a 4 footer for birdie...sweet.

Durtman,

Have you been reading my mail or something?

Your posts so sum up my golf at the moment, especially the tension - isn't strange how tension messes up you game not only after a poor shot but also during a good round (for me the 15th with an 80 something in sight!).

I've some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that this afternoon I solved the tension problem and swung through the ball totally relaxed.

The bad news is that it took copious quantities of Messrs Young's Ordinary Bitter to achieve this state. I'm not sure my bank balance, liver or driving licence could cope with reaching that state for an 8:04 tee time.

Come on guys there is two of you talking about breaking 90 here.......................lets look at 90.

Par 70 score to achieve 88................difference 18 shots.

Thats easy...............1 shot on every hole.

every par you get is a birdie which cancels out every double and in Dustin's case a birdie saves two more shots.

Play the game using you h/capp, you have a shot on every hole, use it if nessasary......your suppose to score one over on every hole so try to achieve this, the game should become easier and you will save a few shots per round with pars.

You will break 90 in no time.


Good luck

Ian.

__________________
Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................

[I've just re-read this post and I seem to have gone on a bit! Apologies for that but I'm just starting to understand just how key this mental approach might be.]

Thanks Ian. You and Gord are of course so right. Realism & Patience. Good advice.

Knowing it’s a problem, I've been trying playing to my handicap and at least with players of around my own ability its beginning to work. Patience is another story. And it’s the lack of patience that costs me dear and produces the real blow up holes.

In case it helps others with the same problem perhaps I could share this recent experience.

The other week I played 9 holes with a Category 1 player who is off close to scratch. In a gale. With rain. Although I didn't score that well I played my own game and I was pleased with myself for doing that.

However 2 or 3 holes in, the guy says "Why do you do that Robin?", "Do what? says I"

Apparently after a lot of shots and after ALL the bad ones I keep hold of the club just used, grab my bag and rush on to try again - with exactly the result you might expect!

My playing partner on the other hand had a routine; he wiped his club, put it back carefully, took a look around him at the scenery, took a deep breath and then strolled down the fairway to play his next shot - with exactly the result you might expect!

Strangely enough I didn't know I was doing what I did, and from now on I'll try to use similar techniques to slow down and regroup.

If I can achieve a better state of mind and stop turning 1 bad shot into 2 so often then even without swinging better my score should come down a bit. I hope.

Robin

Hi Robin,

A simple lesson learned there, a good pre shot routine, no matter how bad the one before was..............

If you don't get out of the bunker first time do you............

A walk over and swing again.
B climb out take a practice swing and go back in and try again.

B is my answer.

A great thought I teach my son is this, He plays off 28 and he is only 10, he also broke 100 at the end of last season aged only 9...........the point is he drives just under 200 yds so I used to play this game with him:


Standing on the tee if you have two shots on this hole then you tee off, play your second.............then the third shot is actually the TEE shot, when playing with juniors or beginners this a great way to build confidence, because you will always have a shot on every hole until you break 90, so if we play together you have two shots to my one tee shot, so you should be nearer the green than me everytime.

A little complicated but it makes sense.


Ian.

__________________
Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................