How do I keep those 8's and 7's off my card?

[NeilV]

Been lurking for a little while and finally decided to join as this is something I can REALLY relate to!

I'm a returnee to golf after a break of about 10 years, and have progressed from shooting around 110-120 a year ago to mid 90s now, with my best last weekend of 90, 4 pars, 10 bogies and 4 doubles.

I'm an OK ball striker in that there are very few duff fat or thin shots, but I am well capable of spraying the ball about with the longer clubs.

On reflection, there were a number of things that felt different about the weekend's 90:

• Mindset - I hadn't played for a couple of weeks and wasn't expecting much, so I was relaxed.
• Acceptance - having low expectations meant I wasn't phased by a poor shot (I hit 2 fairways and 3 GIR so it wasn't like I was short of opportunities to practice acceptance).
• Decision making - I (except on one occasion) made sensible decisions to get the ball not just back in play, but back in position.
• Focus - I made a big effort to make every shot the best it could be. Often after a poor shot in the past, I would switch off for the rest of the hole.
• Humility - I didn't let ego drive my club selection. I'm the longest hitter in my regular 4 ball, but I hit hybrid off the tee 3 more times than usual including one of the par 5s.
• Target selection - I avoided getting drawn in to pin hunting. I hit 1 bunker and a pond, both due to badly pulled short irons.

I know a lot of this has been posted already, but it feels like a breakthrough for me, and I can now go on to break into the 80s again. The list hasn't got a single mechanical change on it. Everything was brain related.

 

[sweaty sock]

Are you not being hopelessly optimistic about hitting tge green with a nine iron? I think most would miss the green with a nine iron, not get up and down, your basically planning for a 6...

 

[RichA]

Are you not being hopelessly optimistic about hitting tge green with a nine iron? I think most would miss the green with a nine iron, not get up and down, your basically planning for a 6...

Not really? I'm no low handicapper, but I can put my most lofted iron on the green more often than not.
I wasn't suggesting blindly playing 9i, 9i, 9i on every hole. I was suggesting favouring a more reliable club over the long clubs to break out of a psychological cycle of failure.
In reality, a short par 4 is reachable with just 2 x 9 irons. An average par 4 would be a couple of 9s and a chip.
I was only describing what has worked for me, not prescribing it, but it can't hurt the OP to give it a try.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

After making a total ricketts of a hole don’t imagine that there is any way of ‘getting back’ the shot or shots lost to par or your handicap. It’s done - the shots are ‘gone’. With a mindset of recovering a position lost, I have found that I am more likely than not to make wrong decisions on the next hole - and often as a result will mess up that hole also, indeed often messing up worse than the previous one.

For me it is important that my aim is to simply ‘steady the ship‘ after a horror, and not play some misguided form of catch-up. For that No Risk / Very Low Risk rules the day, and so I will often take the approach advocated by @RichA above.

 

[bradleywedge]

Been lurking for a little while and finally decided to join as this is something I can REALLY relate to!

I'm a returnee to golf after a break of about 10 years, and have progressed from shooting around 110-120 a year ago to mid 90s now, with my best last weekend of 90, 4 pars, 10 bogies and 4 doubles.

I'm an OK ball striker in that there are very few duff fat or thin shots, but I am well capable of spraying the ball about with the longer clubs.

On reflection, there were a number of things that felt different about the weekend's 90:

• Mindset - I hadn't played for a couple of weeks and wasn't expecting much, so I was relaxed.
• Acceptance - having low expectations meant I wasn't phased by a poor shot (I hit 2 fairways and 3 GIR so it wasn't like I was short of opportunities to practice acceptance).
• Decision making - I (except on one occasion) made sensible decisions to get the ball not just back in play, but back in position.
• Focus - I made a big effort to make every shot the best it could be. Often after a poor shot in the past, I would switch off for the rest of the hole.
• Humility - I didn't let ego drive my club selection. I'm the longest hitter in my regular 4 ball, but I hit hybrid off the tee 3 more times than usual including one of the par 5s.
• Target selection - I avoided getting drawn in to pin hunting. I hit 1 bunker and a pond, both due to badly pulled short irons.

I know a lot of this has been posted already, but it feels like a breakthrough for me, and I can now go on to break into the 80s again. The list hasn't got a single mechanical change on it. Everything was brain related.

Pleased my post got you out of lurking mode ? and welcome to the forum

I can relate to all your points, I was the same about focus, I could forget the bad holes and bounce back with a par on the next, but recently frustration has got the best of me and I tend to lose it, I suppose its the regularity of it happening too often that gets me down