Do you cope well mentally with a bad start?

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CMAC

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Arrive an hour early....

Practice/warm up for an hour, psych yourself up......

Then start double bogie, double bogie:mad:


So what's your attitude after that? get annoyed and give up, or just accept its not going to happen today, or take chances?

I remember Faldo starting 4 over after 2 at the Open one year and still shooting 3 under:cool:
I always remember and use that when I have a bad start for whatever reason.
 
I just set myself little goals to achieve for the rest of the round and forget about the score. Things like no 3 putts for the rest of the round. If I can achieve those then it's been a good "practice" round.
 
Sometimes it's easier if you start bad as you think oh well, let's just play no pressure. I won a medal where I started the 1st 4 over, topped off the tee, second into the pond, duffed chip and a few putts for 8.. Oh well I though, proceeded to hit a stormer and finished level handicap.. Won on count back. Yay.
 
Attitude then is to start making a few pars , to steady the ship , dont go chasing birdies , they will happen if they are going to , very seldom let bad start get me down because i know i can par /birdie most of holes so just settle down is the trick ..
 
Try and set myself a stapleford score for the remaining holes on the front 9, cup of coffee and a snickers at the halfway hut, then set myself a target of 18 points on the back 9
 
i try and put it behind me because anything can happen.

last season i did this on a few occasions and at times it got worse or levelled out but a couple of times i managed to turn it back around and score reasonable well.

one round that springs to mind was later on in the season when i was playing reasonably well......then on the 7th hole i had a quadruple bogey 8 which put me +5 and i then went bogey bogey to go out in +7.

i was raging and a bit peeved off because i was playing well before this happened.

i then started the back 9 birdie,par,birdie,birdie to be back at +4 and all of a sudden i was cheery again.i had one more drop shot and the rest pars and finished +5 so in the end up i was pleased with how i coped after the blow up.this has helped me realise that having a few bad holes is not the end of it,you can bring it back round and score well so never give up.
 
A bad start could be the best thing for me and has been in the past. I started a medal last year with triple/double/bogey on the first 3 holes. The oh well attitude kicks in and I still get a cut. The worst golf I play is if im plus 1 after the first few holes as protection mode kicks in!

Saturday I started with a double, pressure off to go par, birdie, par par birdie..... I need to learn to mess my first up on purpose.
 
I play Matchplay with my mate every other week and have a season long competition.

If he shanks, tops or generally just fluffs early on thats it, his heads gone and he wont recover. I've told him that by sulking he's effectively playing two people as he's battling against himself too! He's a great player but has his demons.

Me, I dont give a sh1t, I have never had a competitive nature (which I'm told stopped me going all the way with my snooker career), if I go OOB, slice a drive etc etc I just think 'well, I didnt mean to do that on purpose so crack on'!!

We'll all different I suppose.
 
shot a +6 last year with a triple bogey at the short par 3 5th! never really cottoned on to this fact until i looked back over the round.
 
I think back to a couple of times I started badly and turned it round. I took 11 at the second in my club championship qualifier but played the back nine 2 under par, had a decent second round and qualified comfortably.

In matchplay I had a scratch game in one of our team matches where I was three down at the turn but played the back nine in par to win on the 18th.

So no matter how badly I start I put it out of mind and know I can turn it around.... and hopefully I'll NEVER take 11 again!!!
 
Happens often to me as I struggle quite regularly with our first 4 holes.

They're not particularly hard but recently I haven't been able to score well on them. Because of this, I know I can put a score together on the rest of the round as I've done it a number of times so doesn't bother me.
 
Played with Grumps at Pitreavie last year and started off by skelping my drive OB left on the Par 5 first, so carded an 8!! Still got round the front nine in 40 strokes and have remembered that lesson every since. No matter what you do early on, there's still plenty time to get it back.
 
Interesting stuff - as its not starting badly but starting with a score on the first few holes that is out of your normal scoring pattern - be it better or worse. And if I had the answer I would bottle it and sell it for lots!

Whether I start well or badly has little effect on the overall score. I reckon 85% of my rounds fall into my 'comfort zone' which is between +3 and +8. As soon as one round is below +3 I can wager there will be more following suit.
 
Its never over till you walk off the 18th is a lesson i learnt a couple of years go.

First time i played Moray Old in an open , watched everyone in front hit driver on 300 yard par 4 with all the trouble long and left or right.

Topped a 3 iron off the tee into deep deep rough at the front of the tee. Racked up an 8. Still made buffer. Relaxed and enjoyed the round.
 
i always joke with my playing partner that i want to go two down in our matches just so i can find out where i am at mentally.
 
My PB to date is a round of 91 that started with a 10 on the par5 1st! Just decided that things couldn't get worse, scrambled a 4 on the par3 2nd and got better from there.

I suppose the answer is to relax and remember your not playing in the Ryder Cup!
 
It's quite common at our place. 1st is reasonably easy, but it's the first hole. 2nd and 3rd are tough. Tight drive with OOB once side and ditch the other on 2 and par 3 over water on 3.

If you come past those 3 only a couple over you feel like you're ahead of the field.

tbh, I've tried not to get too score focussed lately. I know it's been said time and time again but just play the next shot as well as you can, you can't do anything about the last.

Easier said than done I know.:mad:
 
I live in the shot I am in, you cant change what you have just done and you are not yet playing the chip or putt that will follow the shot your about to play.


Just play and think about the shot your playing, there is then no need for an attitude of any kind. Lets me honest you could be in the office...
 
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