aaauuuggghh!!!!

Even though I'm a beginner, I thought I had been doing OK. Before yesterday (my 12th time playing), my last 4 outings were 105, 99, 102, and 98. Although I was still slicing some shots, I didn't shank, whiff, or top any of the shots during those times. Yesterday, however, was the worst I ever played; worse even than my first time. I shanked balls, missed balls, whiffed balls, topped balls--you name it it happened. Besides just keep practicing, what are some other things I can do to avoid this in the future?

You don't avoid it. You will have more days like your 12th time out. You will have another your 24th time out, then your 50th, 100th 200th...

But it is all mixed up with your best round ever. After a while, your really bad rounds will but considered one of today's best round.

You didn't ask any specific question about your swing, so I gave you a general answer, hopfully putting all this into a little perspective...

Your round fell to pieces. It might be because you let it get to you. You started to fiddle around with ideas in your head. Try this..."Wiff!"...ok, try that..."Chunk!"...and you think to yourself, "well now I have no idea what to do now!".

One of the first lessons I give new players is that there is a big difference from the practice facility, to the golf course. You need to think and treat them differently. Playing golf is for fun, so whatever level you are, that is what you will bring with you that day. Don't expect to be better then you are, and accept your flaws (we all have them). Practice golf so you can bring a better game to the course. It means to not practice while playing. Gain expierience, knowlege and formulate a plan on what to practice at the range later, but don't get all mixed up trying to fix everything on the course. Slight adjustments are ok. Forgetting about something that worked earlier and realizing you didn't do it on that swing is ok. But making radical changes for one swing and having a bad result does not mean you get to exclude that possible change as being invalid.

Conception and Execution are two items that have to come together for a swing to work. If you make a mistake on either one, you can have a bad result. Which was it that went wrong? Guessing is a 50/50 proposition. And then what do you change it to? There are several ways you can change. So the possibilities are so far againt you getting it right AND in just 1 attempt, that you will loose just about every time. (There is that really rare occassion that you get both wrong and it goes well, and you think..that felt different, that must be IT...I HAVE FOUND IT!...only to execute or concieve it wrong on the next shot and now you are really questioning yourself again)...

All this means what I said earlier. Do not practice on the course. Play with what you know...regardless of how bad it is getting. If you stick to what you already have in your abilities, then you just might figure out maybe 1 key thought that you can take with you to the range next time, and spend the time to work it out.

Until you have played enough, practiced hopfully the right stuff enough (see a pro 2 times a year too to keep it on track), then you can see those really really bad days go away...basically what you were asking, "How do you make these go away?".

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I'm a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn't help me. They'd have to put me in prison, and then I'd talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. ~Lee Trevino

Thank you; your response put it all in perspective and helps tremendously. Today, I just practiced in my backyard using plastic (whiffle) balls. I worked back from PW to 9I to 7I. I made at least 50 swings w/each club. I found that my PW and 9I, using a chipping technique were fine. (I had consistent loft and placement.). However, I struggled with the full swing on the 7I, except during the final 15 swings when I was able to place the ball where I wanted. I really can't afford lessons; do you have any suggestions to improve w/o lessons? Thanks in advance.

Just focus on the shot at hand, if you have a bad shot try to figure out what you did wrong,but don't dwell on it. When you approach your next shot just clear your thoughts and focus on a clean shot.

Alot of golfers I play with will let the bad shots over take their thought process and that just leads to more bad shots.

Just keep practicing and practicing and try to develope your own style of play....... remember that golf is a game you never truly master, it will always find a way to humble you.

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The books listed in my signature are not too pricey and well worth reading. In fact, IMO, should be must reads for any golfer, especially beginners like me.

I agree with Greg on this one ... trust me (us), you're going to have B-A-D days every now and then. Hey, there are even going to be days where they are even worse than that.

But, when you're having one of those days, just accept it - as difficult as that may be. Don't try to fix the problem or experiment or practice on the golf course. Leave that for the practice tee. Just accept the fact that you're having a bad day and play accordingly. Don't try to pull off tough shots, just keep it simple and try your best to avoid any more trouble. Forget the score, just make sure you get home without doing yourself any bodily harm.

To help you, I'd like to share this with you. I use this often when students come to me frustrated that they've had a bad game and they feel the world has now come to an end.

6 years ago, I was in a tournament playing a with a guy by the name of Grant Esterhuizen, a good player. We teed off T30th and Grant was not having his best day. He was actually playing shocking golf topping tee shots and shanking chips and stuff. By the 16th he was 11 over par for the day and dropped to 58th. He proceeded to duff his tee shot on the 16th into the water about 120m in front of the tee. We started to walk up to the fairway and as we got to the water, Grant took his bag from his caddy, lifted it up over his shoulders and threw it into the water. Without any hesitation, he walked out to the ropes where he got onto a cart and got a rules official to drive him to the club house.

Now ... not only didn't he get a cheque because he RD'd, the Tour fined him $2000 and Titleist didn't give him another set of clubs - he had to pay full retail for the replacement.

So, even though you have bad days, they could be A LOT WORSE.

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Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)