Fix it up n the course or play with what you got?

[turkish]

when you’re hitting a bad shot mid round are you trying to fight it or do you just play with what you got on the day? And what handicap are you?

IE if hooking it badly are you trying to fade it, or just aiming down the right? Or both?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I play off 13 and have been the epitome of poor. On Friday I was shocking and really couldn't feel my swing at all and even if I had the skills I to play with it I had no idea what the next shot was going to be. Saturday started off a tiny bit better until the wheels came off in spectacular fashion on the back nine (8 points). Yesterday was best of a bad bunch with 28 points. So many misses left and right. Usually if I warm up and have a definite miss I'll play with it.

 

[Wabinez]

At the weekend, I played terribly. I will try and adjust to find something functional for the day. Normally aim up the left and try to hit a cut...and don’t commit to it so hit it a club shorter or more!

 

[Depreston]

when you’re hitting a bad shot mid round are you trying to fight it or do you just play with what you got on the day? And what handicap are you?

IE if hooking it badly are you trying to fade it, or just aiming down the right? Or both?

9 times out of 10 a bad shot comes when I get a bit tense and this can be compounded relentlessly by bad shot after bad shot

I will then get to a point where I don’t care and stop trying to choke my grip I star to smoke drives and irons down the 17th and 18th

 

[Birdie2]

I never try to fight a bad shot. I trust my swing and try to play every shot with the best intention and to fully commit. My bad shot with a driver is a snap hook and with an iron would be slightly fat.

There's a chapter about this is one of Bob Rotellas books called 'golf is not a game of perfect'. It's intention is to teach you to accept the outcome of every shot. My game has improved dramatically since I stated accepting that an outcome might be finding a green side bunker. I find that I'm more focussed on the shot I want to play out of the bunker than getting pissed off that I'm in it in the first place.

 

[xreyuk]

I play off 9.

I had a horrible weekend where I got a case of the lefts with my irons, but it wasn't every time, just every now and then.

I just carried on trying to play my game and wherever I missed tried to use my short game to save it.

Didn't really try and fix it on the course, just tried to concentrate harder on what I was supposed to be doing.

 

[Orikoru]

I get really angry at first, then if it persists it ends up being funny to me, so I just laugh it off and wait for the pint at the end.

 

[jim8flog]

Most times I will know what is causing the problem and will attempt to fix it.

Sometimes it is just the state of my body and will go with what I have got.

Handicap 10

 

[Capella]

It depends on what is wrong and on the situation. If it just a social round, I'll just keep going, maybe fiddle around with it a little bit, but other than that just try to enjoy the weather, the views, the company etc. In a comp situation I try to limit the damage. If it is a specific club that is not working (like for example the driver or my hybrid) after a few mishits I will just leave it in the bag for the rest of the round. If it seems to be a general problem with my swing, I try to shorten my backswing and keep everything a bit more controlled, giving up a bit of potential distance for better control over the clubhead and therefore better ball striking. That helps most of the time, but since distance is a problem for me even on a good day, it is a bitter pill to swallow nonetheless.

 

[bobmac]

Knowledge is power.
Being able to know the cause of the bad shot and therefor the cure is huge in my opinion which is why I teach self analysis.
Nothing worse than hitting a bad shot and not knowing why

 

[Dibby]

Knowledge is power.
Being able to know the cause of the bad shot and therefor the cure is huge in my opinion which is why I teach self analysis.
Nothing worse than hitting a bad shot and not knowing why

It's good to understand why bad shots happen, but you also have to know that sometimes a bad shot is just the result of being a few mm out with the clubface and ball interaction. There are times when you want to correct a miss, and times when you have to accept you are not a robot and hitting it a few mm away from the middle is not due to any kind of fault, but just the fact you are not a robot.

 

[Maninblack4612]

I always struggle to stop the ball going straight left and had this problem particularly badly a couple of weeks ago/ After 5 hoes I thought "sod it, I'll just aim right & sort it out at the range". I only dropped a couple more shots for the rest of the round. Freed from the constant need to make sure the ball didn't go left I was swinging much more freely & most drives were finding the fairway. It went so well that I have been doing this ever since & am hitting the ball much straighter. The odd shot misses right but the ones I pull still finish left of target but not as much as they usually did.

so ask yourself whether it's a bad shot or just something in your natural swing that, without hours of practice, you're never going to eliminate. Certainly, in the short term, just allow for it & sort it out during practice.

 

[User 105]

One bad shot. No, i just accept it. I'm an amateur off 11 so I'm going to hit bad shots. I'll just accept it and move on.

If it keeps happening and I know why then I'll try and fix it, if not then I have a 'go to' safe swing I can use to get it round if needed. I'll drop some distance but gain a lot more control.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Golf is a game of chance and fine margins, a few degrees off here and there and the shot is in the trees or the next field. I almost play around on every shot I take, golf would be boring if I didn't.

Just don't let it affect you on the course and still believe the next shot will be the best shot ever.

 

[Deleted member 25172]

Playing off 13. My biggest weakness is my mental game. I can get absolutely furious with my missed shots. I have become better to hide it though, but when it happens, it feels like I'm about to explode and I can't let it go for x minutes. It's so silly, but I can't help it. I have actually started meditating which have helped, but unfrotunately the meditation has fallen between the cracks at the moment, so...

My biggest foe are my long irons. As soon as I'm hitting any iron longer than 7, it's like I'm gripping the club like I'd never let it go and I try to hit the ball as hard as I possibly can cause I think I won't reach. Which I don't - cause I hit fat. Pretty much every time. And I still haven't learned my lesson.

 

[Crazyface]

I try and fix on the course. I know I can play the game (13) so if things aren't going well I'll take a bit longer over set up / practice swing / tempo before hitting each shot. That soon sorts everything. No point just shrugging shoulders and slashing the ball all over the place. Where's the fun in that?

 

[Orikoru]

I always struggle to stop the ball going straight left and had this problem particularly badly a couple of weeks ago/ After 5 hoes I thought "sod it, I'll just aim right & sort it out at the range". I only dropped a couple more shots for the rest of the round. Freed from the constant need to make sure the ball didn't go left I was swinging much more freely & most drives were finding the fairway. It went so well that I have been doing this ever since & am hitting the ball much straighter. The odd shot misses right but the ones I pull still finish left of target but not as much as they usually did.

so ask yourself whether it's a bad shot or just something in your natural swing that, without hours of practice, you're never going to eliminate. Certainly, in the short term, just allow for it & sort it out during practice.

Whenever I aim left or right to account for a fade/hook, that's when I hit it straighter than I ever have in my life.

 

[Wolf]

I go with whatever I have on the range during warm up on that day.

I've found if I try to make adjustments to swing during the round I end up playing Golf swing and not golf if that makes sense. To much empathis on swing mechanics and not on the shot or putting a score together detracts me from the objective of play in as few shots as possible.

Anything that needs fixing I can do on the range after or another day, but when I'm in the course I go with what I have and focus on keeping it in play and getting the ball in the hole. Some of my best scores have come from days of average to poor ball striking but keeping in play and holing out well.

 

[Curls]

What Bob said. Which for me usually involves looking at my divot. I would be disappointed to hit the same bad shot twice in a round. Luckily I have a vast array of bad shots to choose from.