A back 9 carcrash, Why o why o why.......

Oddsocks

Oddsocks

Ryder Cup Winner
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Why is it despite all the advice about avoiding a back 9 breakdown the still continue to happen?

Recently my game has been struggling so after a couple of lessons to identify the fault and some sheer frustration I opt to miss a few weeks to let things settle as I find this works for me. Last week in my first game back around a course that normally destroys me (Westerham) I come in after 18 with the same ball I started the first with, and a nice juicy 35 points off 15. Great the passion is back.

Yesterday morning sees me tee’ing off at 7.30 on a frosty morning at Woldingham.

1st Hole Par 4: A medioka drive down the right edge of the fairway gives me 150 yards in. A slightly fat 7 iron up hill and I am just shy of the fringe for 2 with a shot & a nice little chip to about 18 inches for a gimme. My response is “great first hole with a par I’m off”

This hole leads to what I can only describe as a steaming front nine, I drop a shot on the par 3 2nd, Par the 3rd, Bogey the 4th, then par in to the ninth missing a birdie on the 5th. By now I’m looking at my score card seeing a nice amount of 3’s in the points section, with 2 1 pointers.

At this point I look at my playing partner and state quite clearly “ I know I’m only 2 over but do not tell me my points, I don’t want to know”, I thought this was pretty clear.

Onto the tenth with a great amount of faith in my new found swing/grip/attitude and after a near perfect drive down the right opening the green up nicely to a wedge in I hear “ ere baz, you had 7 pars and 23 points on the front 9 “

***** Cue Car-crash *****

My second shot results in a complete miss-alignment of the green, with a recovery chip and 2 puts – bogey number 1, the 11tha par 3 7 iron and I find the front left of the green only to 3 put – Bogey 2. I proceed to bogey 12, & 13, with a double bogey on 14., Par the 15th par 3 uphill with an updown save, bogey the 16th and then par in.

So after romping in with 42 points its time to reflect.

Gross 80, 9 over (6 under h/c) – Banging!
Puts down to 31 – Lowest of the year and could have been 29/30 for a couple of silly lips
GIR 4/18 – A crap stat but some awesome recovery shots results in lower put numbers so still happy.
Fairways hit – 9/13 Another lowest of the year
Sand saves – I only found 1 bunker all day and played out to a gimme putt that was just amazing.
Points 42.

So why am I so pissed off with the bank nine that was 1 lower than my h/c with 19 points. Another “could have been” round that’s gone forever.

Dam this sport!
 
after the nightmere ive had of late it was a relief to know i could still swing a club half decent. In recent form ive been posting 33/34/35 points at max over 18.

It was funny as you say with expectations, i went out to the 1st tee with a couple of thoughts:

1) i was far to early
2) it was bloody frosty
3) where the hell is my beenie.

Whats interesting is the guy i played with i just normally have a laugh with, so there is no expectations in my game, but as you say after 9 holes at +2 my thought was " if i made twice as many mistakes on the back 9 ill still be only 6 over,"

then walking down the 14th after 4 bogeys on a row and being somewhat bummed about it, i just had a lightbulb moment, " althought its 4 bogeys your score card still shows 2, 2, 2, 2, so why are you bloody moaning. so after a nightmere regroup and and a double bogey on 14, new attitude see's the final holes go par, bogey, par, par.

Is golf just positive attitude?
 
I think that's the only thing I have left... well, even that is fast dissolving
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isnt it amazing what we tell ourselves to recover. lol.

The one negative i have is the misses isnt impressed about me saying how much i love my new yes putter, which is names after my ex... its causing ermmmmmmmmmm.............. issues. :D
 
You start thinking score and not what got you in the good position
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this is exactly it. Yesterday i went back to the old game:

Lining up from points infront of the ball on Tee shots.
Lining up off practice swing grazes on irons.
Putting with confidence not stabing
and playing the percentages

what was interesting is my playing oponent has starting playing "safe golf", Par 5's as par 5's solely playing for position for he's 3rd shot for example, or on long par 4's using he's shot to allow him to play for position for up and down saves and although he is not a long ball hitter by any means, he's cards are getting better every round.
 
Is golf just positive attitude?
Click to expand...

Mostly, I think.

I like CC07's idea of taking 3 holes at a time. When I was first off 9 I used to take it 6 holes at a time and just think easy peasy. 3 bogies, 3 pars. I can do that in my sleep. Even a double bogey gave me a chance to recover in my mind and even with the new handicap it doesn't sound too bad trying to play 6 holes in 2 over each time.
 
That back 9 is nowhere near a car crash. Finishing 6, 5, 12 is a car crash. Last medal for me, 6 over for 15 holes, 11 over for the last 3. Still buffer zoned though, with a gross 89, net 79.

Writing the winners speach standing on the 16th tee probably didn't help, but then there was a pause in play, so I had the time.
 
It wasn't that bloody cold, :D

I cleared the thinnest of thin ice of my car (only one side) at 6.45 and it was 3 degrees when I left at 7.00, and by the time I got to my course it had risen to the dizzy heights of 6 degrees. :cool: :cool:

When I teed off at 8.00 I bet it was up to 8 degrees and the sun was shinning :cool: :cool:. What are you going to do when it gets really cold? :rolleyes:

As for continuing hitting scores of 33/34/35 that constitutes a good round for me, In approx 50/55 rounds this year I think I have only beat my handicap about 5 times. :(
Which opens the question on what percentage of rounds do you think you should beat your handicap, one guy once told me that you should only break your handicap about 6 times a year.
 
Oddsocks, sounds like a similar, but different round to the one I had yesterday, but with a similar result. I've been playing this course in Barnstaple all year, I'm off 14 but I'd never managed to break 90 (and I've been whinging about it here pretty regularly).

Couple of weeks ago I rock up with my mate and a couple of guys, who are getting used to my face, ask why I haven't joined, as I'll save money, now I can't tell them it's because I hate the course (I did at that point), so I say that I just don't want to put the money down until I know I can play to my handicap round there and I'll join when I break 90.

I promptly go and shoot 85! Front 9 was nothing special, 45, about standard for me there but the back 9 was something else, 1 over for the back coming off of 17, I know I only need a 6 to break 40 for the back 9, it's a relatively simple 18th, par 4, yes there's a big lake but it's a 5 iron down the hill (usually, wind allowing) to the plateau and then nothing more than a 9 over the lake to the green, 3 putts, easy 5. So I yank the tee shot a mile left, I can't even see the green from where I end up, although I have a shot, tough, hanging lie from longish grass but the angle allows me to bypass the lake to the left, should take the pressure off. Nearly hit it perfect but it drifts right into the wind and just falls in the lake, drop 3, 4 to the green and THEN 3-putt for a 7 and 40 shots, 85 overall, disappointing but I'll take it, it's still my second best score for the year (I had 84 at another course a few weeks earlier).

Anyway, a week off on holiday (played 27 holes of pitch and putt, which might be relevant), go back yesterday, what a beautiful day, bright sunshine, cool breeze but not enough to affect the ball, greens look good. We hit the back 9 first as the juniors have a comp teeing off the 1st. Easy par 4 on the short 10th, iron wedge, two putts, birdie 11, short par 5, second misses the green left SI over the bunker to ten feet hole the putt, 1 under, bogey the short par 3 12th, partly due to a horrible, horrible bounce, back to level, bogey the long par 4 13th, 1 over, 291 yard par 4 next, drive misses the fairway into the rough but my wedge leaves me an 8 foot downhill putt, holed for another birdie, back to level, scrambling par on the long par 5, still level, another par 3, miss the green didn't get up and down, 4, 1 over after 7 holes, 17 and 18 to go. 17 is about 311, huge lake all the way down the left, ribbon of fairway on the right of it, really narrow, death to the right of that. I finish the back 9 7-7, end up SEVEN over, 6 of them gone on last two holes, irritating but not entirely surprising, 43 shots, 17 points, ok I'll take it.

We head onto the front 9, missed fairway on 1st, nice recovery, two putts, par, 2nd, reasonable drive, finds fairway, wedge to green, two putts, 3rd, smash drive over trees, wedge to ten feet, hole it, birdie, 1 under, 4th, good drive, crap 2nd, don't make it up the false front with 3rd, chip on, two putts, messy 6, 1 over, par the par 5 5th after a bizarre "don't stop me now" ball refuses to stop on the green (my third was a 40 yard pitch from the rough to a long green, flag at the back, I land it miles short of what I've intended and don't expect the ball to get halfway to the hole and watch as it rolls, up the slope, and keeps going and going and going and off the back of the green, weird), up and down for par, still one over, come to the short downhill par 3 6th, take the 52 wedge, just miss the green left, buried in rough, 7 foot to carry to the green, with the dame distance from there to the flag, need to hit it just to get it out but too much and I'll be miles past, take the sand iron and half blade it out, pops onto the green, bounces three time, whacks the flagstick, drops in for a two! Back to level, and now with 4 birdies, move to the 7th, SI 1, just keep a pulled drive inbounds left but duff the second short (luckily doesn't reach ditch in fron of the green, pitch on to 8 feet just leave a big breaker short of the hole, 5, 1 over, par 3 8th, over water, stuck between clubs, try to hit a soft 7, miss right, poor chip on 15 foot putt for par hangs on the edge of the hole, 4, 2 over, coming to the 9th, been struggling here, death left, OOB right, smash the driver straight down the middle, A1, got 80 yards uphill to the back of the green where the flag lurks, hidden from view, punch a wedge up there, I know the line's good, how's the distance, my partners get to the green ahead of my, silence, so I guess I'm over the back, hey-ho. Cheeky sods are messing with me, it's 3 feet away, slight right to left break but I've been knocking these in all day, roll it in, easy, birdie number 5 (I've never had more than 2 in a round before!) and I'm back to one over for the front 9.

I only hit 2 fairways, I couldn't get a mid to long iron on target all day, I've had consecutive 7s and I've just shot 79 with FIVE birdies, 29 putts, only 13 on the front 9 (chipping in does help admittedly!), best day's golf ever!

It's all about the short game, remember the 27 holes of pitch and putt I mentioned? The difference in my wedge play before and after those 27 holes is astonishing, obviously helped that I've found a putting stroke that seems to be working at last but it's been a long time since the Ws felt so good, all of them, PW, 52, SI, and the 60, all worked when I needed them to.

Only trouble is now I've got no excuse not to join the damn place...
 
strangley, dont get me wrong im stoked with the card. to come off the back of a 2-3month bad patch to then put a 9 over in im well chuffed, im just gutted i posted a +2 front with a +7 back.
 
That's not a car crash, what i had on the 18th at Brora was one of those.

had an 8 on the par 3 18th, 78 net buffer was 73.

hit a good teeshot too. rolled of the front into a massive divot and again and again and again and again and again :mad: :mad: :mad:

Its only 0.1 after all, played ok for the rest of the round, only sh*nked on shot. :rolleyes:
 
strangley, dont get me wrong im stoked with the card. to come off the back of a 2-3month bad patch to then put a 9 over in im well chuffed, im just gutted i posted a +2 front with a +7 back.
Click to expand...

That's the thing with this game, I bet if I shot 68 I'd moan that it could have been a 65 ;)
 
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