half empty or half full

[marinemac]

whenever i have agood start birdie, par par i then get into my head it can only go down hill from here. followed that with the worst round of my life including in total 8 blobs!
Am i the only one with that mindset?

 

[CMAC]

if you start that well think you now have a safety nett (small one granted but at least you have one) so start attacking.......

your mindset comes, I feel, from protecting or getting nervous about hanging onto that score plus you talk yourself into going downhill, you are a self fulfilling prophecy..............its a mindset thats easy to change, it cant get any worse can it?

 

[JustOne]

Starting well means that you are playing to the level that you want to... is there any reason not to? I'm sure anyone can talk themselves out of a decent round if they want to.

It's when you start badly that you have to switch on your game.. and that is much, much harder if you left your swing in the car.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Just keep saying to yourself.......more of the same.

The fear of winning has won me many matchplay ties.
My opponents see the winning line and press the panic button.
I once won a semi final 8/6 and my opponent commented how hard I pushed even when I must have known the game was won.

My comment was that he missed a short putt on the 11th and we played in. If he had holed that putt and if the match was alive he would have lost on the 18th.

Don't be frightened to win. Once you have done it a few times it becomes a habit.

 

[Master-putter]

I know the feeling m8 , but you need to start thinking that more of the same is coming up. But if you do drop a shot or two, take the positives out of the bad holes, and move onto the next with a positive mind, always works for me

 

[Fish]

If I don't get off to a decent start that I can take some positives from, its going to be a long round...I am my own worse enemy.

 

[DaveM]

Just forget the holes you have played. Don't think of the ones to play. There is only one thing that matters and that is the shot you are just about to take. The rest is irrelevant

 

[Andy808]

I was like this then I got a bit of Bob in my life. So much difference even though I've only played 2 competetive rounds I didn't blow up in a biblical storm like I normally would.
(Golf is not a game of perfect, Doc Bob Rotella.)

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Our opening four holes are quite tough so I always look to try and get through those in level 2's. I'm happy to be one over that as the fifth is a par five that should be a par 8/10 times.

I don't really worry too much and try to forget bad holes and focus on thise left to play.

 

[louise_a]

My better rounds often start with 2 doubles or a double and a bogie, if I start par, bogie, the round often goes off.

 

[connor]

I hate startin with a par! Even my playing partners know I'm in for a shocker if I do haha. I don't know why but I just have a poor round. My best ever round I started with a 7. Funny old game really.

 

[Region3]

Lots of people have that mindset, but it's sooooooooooooo wrong.

Positive thinking might not turn you into a world beater, but negative thinking is almost 100% successful.

How much would you tip a caddie if you were -1 after 3 holes and he's walking alongside you saying how you're bound to blow up soon and haven't got a cat in hell's chance of keeping it going?

 

[Mattyboy]

You must start the round with no expectations.During the round, what has happened you cant alter so do not worry about it. The next hole etc you cant alter so do not think about that (or what score you may shoot).
All that matters is the next shot and being focused on that. Get focussed by doing through your pre shot routine.

 

[chrisd]

Every golf pro, golf psychologist, coach, teacher will tell you to take one shot at a time. Stay in the present and only concentrate on the next shot and they are absolutely correct. You cant do anything about the last shot you played and only the next shot is important. It isn't written in the stars that your round will blow up and the current round could always be ""the round"

When they interview Luke Donald and ask him what his plan for the final round is when he is leading after 3 rounds I guarantee that he will say "I'm going to enjoy myself and see what happens" and truthfully that what you have to do.

 

[jammydodger]

This must be the one topic that always comes up in golf bars the world over. If only I could get out of my own way. Its the old curse of thinking about what you could shoot if this and that were to happen. Blimey another 9 holes the same and its my best ever round/a h-c cut/etc ooooorrrrrrr thats me done for the day after a couple of doubles to start and all of a sudden you par the next 6 and start to count your score again , which then leads to a couple more doubles.

You have to just play each shot on its merit and tot them up at the end of each hole and worry about the total when you've finished. Easy to say but in essence its the thing to do. I can know exactly what my score is at any time in the round but it doesnt affect my next shot.

Starting badly is annoying as we all want to play well but it does give a freedom to relax as the expectations are diminished. Conversely , starting well ramps up the expectations in our minds and as amateurs it can get overwhelming to the point we invariably self destruct as we think we aren't good enough to actually go out and carry on playing that well. Or we just expect to blow up which has been said is self fulfilling.

The answer is one we hold in our own heads and is basically one of how good we expect to get at this game. You find the lower the h/c the more able to cope with not just adversity but also with the good golf too. Its sometimes just as hard to carry on playing well as it is to relax and play well after a bad start.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I played a medal once with a promising young junior who started his medal round with 3 bogeys. He had not played bad shots, just a wee bit untidy and unlucky.
He started to go into a real strop, round ruined etc.
Unlike me, I then gave him a real dressing down and said a three handicapper should be able to play 15 holes in level par, are you telling me you can't do that.
He finished with a good score and went on to play for England boys and became a decent pro on the Austrailian tour.

Set yourself expectations level with your handicap, a bad start is not always a poor round.

 

[Fish]

a bad start is not always a poor round.

It certainly isn't at our course.

Our 1st is a 475 yard par 4, slight right hand dog-leg and a ditch running across the fairway and all the way down the left hand side and tree's all the way down the right.

Looking at the course & comp stat's since March, and there's been lots of comps in that time, the average is only 3-4 pars per comp!

Its an index 7 and used to be a par 5 but is now a par 4!

If you single bogey it, that's a good start!

 

[6inchcup]

at my new club the first hole is a card wrecker and strikes fear into a lot of players when we play of the back tee's and have often heard the comment "i will be happy to get a bogey on this one" i have never had that thought and it seems a bad attitude to start a game with,i just play it like any other hole and don't try a play a risky shot that i have no chance of executing just play within yourself and play each hole at a time and forget the holes coming up.

 

[need_my_wedge]

Was away on our golf trip last week. The last round at Hardelot Les Pins, I started par, par, bogey, par......had 11 points in the bag after the 4 holes and was thinking good things. Then proceeded to shank the tee shot and provisional at the next hole (par 3) - blob, then walked to the 6th and sliced the drive and provisional OB right - blob. lost 4 balls in 4 shots and wound up with 2 points on the next 5 holes giving 13 points on the front nine. Topped that up with 13 points on the back nine. Had the perfect swing for 4 holes and then played like a complete tonker, unlike one of my mates, who god knows how, was playing off 28 (had been given two shots back after day 1) - he shot 27 points on the front nine......