I try really hard to focus on my potential and good golf I have played recently, in the past, etc. “Damn I just played that three hole stretch +__, that’s alright I’ve had six hole stretches of ____ golf before, let’s do that again starting right now with this shot” etc. Easier said than done but it has worked. Fake it til you make it.
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38-54?! Omg. That’s sort of impressive.
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Yeah, not my proudest moment… Or maybe it is. Who can say. The birdie on 9 was a chip in from off the green. I was rolling into the back 9 thinking “this is the day I break 80”. Silly me
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I find it easier to turn a bad front 9 into a decent back 9 (because I stop caring) than to rescue a dissolving back 9 after a good start. Coming down the stretch when the wheels are falling off I just want to go home/get some fries.
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If the score you end up at is your normal score… sometimes it’s just reverting to the mean.
45/56 on Saturday. Not the same…but also kind of the same.
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
But technically, as a guy who does math for my job: if you usually shoot 90 and shoot a 40 on the front reverting to the mean means you score an 85. It’s a misconception if you are 5 better than avg that you’ll then be 5 worse and end at your mean when people say reverting to the mean.
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I’m just saying: sometimes you flip heads six times in a row, but if you flip them enough you’ll still end up around 50/50.
Sometimes your “good holes” all tend to be on the front nine. Other times you’ll get them on the back nine. More often, they’re kinda spread around a little.
It’s super cliché, but the more I focus on what my score is, the worse I play. I try to never feel like I need go “make up” for a big score by going for birdies.
I try to just trust the process. I may make a double but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a birdie right around the corner. Don’t let it change how you play. Stick to your game. I play some competitive golf on 7000+ yd courses against people that hit it easily 30+ yds further than me as I only hit it 250-260. I play my best rounds when I stick to my game, trust the process, and don’t get sucked into how differently my playing competitors can play the course.
Focus on what your doing well. If you’re having a good ballstriking day, focus on how you’re giving yourself chances and a putt has to go in soon. If you’re scrambling like crazy, focus on how many shots you’ve saved and once you put the ballstriking together, you’ll string together some solid holes.
I didn’t read every reply, but I’m sure general consensus is that getting frustrated past a certain point is only detrimental to the rest of your round. That’s easier said than done though!
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Pretty much any sports psychologist would tell you you’re wrong. Going low, then getting ejected on the back 9 and telling yourself “we’ll, that’s what I should have shot anyway” is conditioning yourself to accept shitty play. I look at the lows I’ve had on both 9s previously and go “I should be able to shoot xx, because I’ve shot an xx and xx before on those 9s”
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I mostly agree with your statement except the bolded word. I’m a 14 handicap currently, and once last year I shot 1 over on the back nine of my club. I had an insane day where I got 4 birdies on the back. The first came after a shitty drive left me 210 to the green on a par four and I punched a hybrid onto the green and sunk a 20 footer. I put a tee shot to an inch on a par 3, and sunk another 15 footer. For me to think I should shoot 1 over on the back would be as demoralizing as thinking I should have a rough back nine if I play well on the front.
Nah.
People lie to themselves all the time. Sometimes it’s beneficial. More often it’s the opposite.
If you shoot 81 (or 91, or 71) typically, sometimes you’re going to have runs where the good holes all come in a group. Trying to con yourself into thinking an occasional front-nine 35 (followed by a back-nine 45) means you should be shooting 70 doesn’t help you much. It’s just a lie.
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I think their’s a difference between picking your “best one time never gonna do it again score” to compare against versus something you do occasionally.
If I shoot a low score occasionally, I don’t necessarily expect myself to shoot those scores, but I do consider it a realistic possibility.
The difference is realizing the difference between what’s possible and what’s still a good score for yourself. And not getting frustrated when you land somewhere in the middle.
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Fair. Maybe better wording would be “I have the ability to” 4 birdies may be unreasonable but turning one or two bogeys to pars or doubles to bogeys isnt
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This is a decent definition of sports psychology IMO. “Here is how you can trick yourself into performing your best.”
There is also a could versus should element at play. If a 4 index goes out in 35, they certainly could break par if they repeat that performance on the back nine (which they probably have before in isolation). However that would not be expected by an outside observer. The whole point is trying to channel confidence and execution to reach that potential in the moment.
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I’m talking about shooting a low score for a few holes and thinking you can do that the whole time. Sometimes you make a few 20-footers in a row… doesn’t mean it’s sustainable.
Not so fast. If you remember, in a much earlier chapter, we talked about the 16-handicapper who says “if I could only hit every shot like the one I hit on number 14 today, I’d be scratch in no time!” We pointed out how that great shot on 14 was the anomaly, and he’s a 16-handicap golfer because of all the other shots he hit that day on his way to a 92.
That happens far more often than people realistically think “I bet that 35 was just me flipping heads a few times in a row rather than mixing in some tails about half the time.”
444 444 444 555 555 555 often says no more about your “potential” than 454 545 454 545 454 545.
Yeah… You’re not as good as you think you are is a way more beneficial way of thinking. Scores are gonna plummet thinking that way….
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Because lying to yourself really works out well.
I find that players are better off having realistic expectations… and building a plan to work based on the actual state of your game rather than conning yourself into thinking that “I’d be scratch if I had a better mental game” (said the guy to me who didn’t break 90…).
I think most everyone else is talking about in-round adjustments and strategies for getting over/through stretches of poor play. Not how to build a plan for your overall game.
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Saying you are going to be scratch when you can’t break 90 isn’t realistic expectations.
A bogey golfer who shoots 3 over on the front 9 should have a mindset of “I can play to bogey on the back” not “I have to make up for that front by shooting 15 over on the back”
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