Is the cost of a ball making you play badly?

[jim8flog]

I can play with the same ball for 5 rounds, or lose 5 in one round. I never know what is coming next. No point in getting stressed about it. It is what it is.

Same ball for 5 rounds!!! The ball would have deliberately been hit in to the water before then by me

 

[Imurg]

Same ball for 5 rounds!!! The ball would have deliberately been hit in to the water before then by me

A couple of years ago I played a Chromesoft for 200 holes before retiring it to my "trophy" drawer....

 

[ScienceBoy]

Why lose a new good ball, when you can lose an old crap one.

Yes not really the best attitude to have, and yes maybe changing the approach to the hole would be a better option, lay up in stead of trying to man up.

If you are going to do this then do one thing, plan your ball and tee shot before you go out. Select a safe club to hit pre-round and where you want to hit it. Practice this tee shot on the range before you go out! Plan the entire hole if you can. Maybe if you leave yourself 240 yards out then hit two 120 yard shots to the green.

Planning it all in advance is critical to overcoming your issue and finding a safe way to play the hole. Stick to your game plan until your confidence has been restored. Then do it exactly the same successful way with a new ball.

The worst thing you can do is switch balls on the spur of the moment/based on how you are playing each time and then hit an arbitrary tee shot with an unrehearsed club. It shows no indication of what you can do, just how much you can let a hole/tee shot get into your head.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I agree that swapping to an old ball when facing a difficult shot over water or on a "bogey" hole reinforces the negative mindset and makes it hard to commit to a positive swing. It is something I have been guilty of, especially on our sixth which was a hole that got right in my head for a long time, even though it's only 178 yards. I am working on hard on my thinking on the way round and have stopped this and peg up the ball I've been using. Stand there, pick a club, and trust the swing.

 

[Chisteve]

I hate to lose a new ball If i lose one early I tend use pick ups just to keep me happier in my usual Saturday morning games it will not change my game though if in comp will use brought balls

 

[cookelad]

I normally just limit myself to say 3 pro-vs a round after that I use a second tier ball, if I've lost 3 balls I've already given up my handicap in penalties so I'm probably not having a great day anyway, I would never be thinking about it going out (it rarely happens) and I might well amend it depending on when I reached that 3 ball limit - if I'm 3 balls down stood on the second tee it'll definitely be a AD333 or similar if the 3rd one goes on the 17th/18th I'll probably use another Pro-v.

 

[OnTour]

Yesterday I started with a new ball and had a positive mindset to commit to every shot and it worked a treat, I've be bailing out slightly which makes a 70yrd miss !! new ball survived the round infact never except for 2nd hole @ Harborne,Birmingham (the big miss) stayed in play and learned a lot about myself again.

Confidence is KEY the ball is just a part of the game #MindGames