Mental Issues

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I have a real problem. We all have a bad hole from time to time, but my problem is that, whenever I have a bad hole, I can't stop it turning into a run of bad ones. It has happened a lot recently ... I can't seem to get over the first bad hole and put it out of my mind and move on. It is clearly a mental issue.

Has anyone read a self-help book that covers this that they can recommend ... perhaps with mental drills/exercises designed to gain closure on a bad hole and start again? Or does anyone already use a mental exercise to address this problem?

Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
It's easier said than done but I've been working hard lately to focus all of my thoughts on the next shot - what I need to do with it, what club I'm going to use etc - and this helps me forget about the previous shot if it was a bad one. This is the same sort of thing here, you have to try to forget that bad hole by focussing everything on your next tee shot (not even the next hole in it's entirety - just the tee shot). Where are you going to put it? Picture the ball going there with a nice smooth swing.

Sorry if this doesn't help, I know it can be hard to change your way of thinking just like that. But it's something we all have to work on when at least half the battle is in your head.
 
Bob Rotella's books are good. They are not everyone's cup of tea, but I found/find them very useful. "Golf is not a game of Perfect" sounds like it would help.
 
Read Vision54. Talks about creating a process which you stick to for every shot. It then allows you to focus purely on the shot your about to play and stops you from letting negative emotions ruin your next shot.
 
You can only affect what happens next, not what happened last. Thinking about a bad shot is a complete waste of time.

As for a particular hole that gets in your head; There is a reason why some holes can do that. Its their design. Easy answer is change the way you play it. If a driver puts you in trouble on that hole, or the shot into the green is extremely difficult, play a 3 wood off the tee and then lay up to your preferred yardage.
 
IMO, it depends on the underlying emotional reaction. Is it anger and if so, angry for what reason - just playing a bad shot, or screwing your gross score for your round? Is it panic, fearing that it's a contagion affecting your entire game? Talking from experience, not so long ago, I used to get down after a bad shot because I was overly conscious of it's effect on my overall score and in following shots/holes I felt under pressure to claw the stroke back. This had the effect of changing my mental approach to the shots and holes that followed.

Recently though, I've tried to take steps to isolate individual shots and individual holes. I no longer obsess or track overall score and instead I treat every hole as a game within a game. Instead of starting on the next tee still reeling from the double bogey at the last, I reset my thinking and leave it behind. My principle measure of success isn't necessarily gross score but rather other metrics that are more relevant to my inconsistent but general improving game - improving the total number of pars I get, reducing the total number of double bogeys in each round, etc. In doing this, if I have a bad hole, I can write it off and refocus on what's ahead. I also make a concerted effort to quickly adjust expectations after a bad shot - instead of raging at myself that it's cost me a par or even a bogey, I immediately challenge myself to get out with a bogey or double bogey at worst - this helps me focus on playing a good, but very doable recovery shot rather than taking on a low-percentage, highly risky glory shot that only compounds the situation. As such, I find myself much more willing to chip out onto a good position in the fairway rather than taking a 6 iron from the rough and going for the green.

The more you can isolate your performance for every shot, the more your overall score will benefit.
 
Roops said:
Bob Rotella's books are good. They are not everyone's cup of tea, but I found/find them very useful. "Golf is not a game of Perfect" sounds like it would help.
Click to expand...

I second this 100%. A lot of the stuff he talks about is obvious, but he presents it very well, with some interesting stories and anecdotes to go with it. Unfortunately, while obvious, it is a lot easier to read about than to actually put into practice.. But I genuinely believe that if you can take away even one or two things from his books, it can help your golf game huge amounts..

I've read 6 of his books (which is totally unnecessary as they are mostly similar/ the same ideas presented from slightly different angles) and I think "Golf is not a game of perfect" was probably th best of them.
 
Recently picked up a book by Darren Clarke called Golf - The Mind Factor. Touches on a similar principal as mentioned earlier that you only think about a shot for a maximum of ten paces before you move on. Many pro's will apparently even utter "done" after to ten paces to reinforce this. I've found this has really helped me let go of those bad shots before they become bad holes or bad rounds.
 
Hobbit said:
You can only affect what happens next, not what happened last. Thinking about a bad shot is a complete waste of time.

As for a particular hole that gets in your head; There is a reason why some holes can do that. Its their design. Easy answer is change the way you play it. If a driver puts you in trouble on that hole, or the shot into the green is extremely difficult, play a 3 wood off the tee and then lay up to your preferred yardage.
Click to expand...

Agree 100% - and my approach is to immediately forget what has been, and concentrate on the shot I have now to play. And I will start that thinking as soon as I put my club in my bag. I start thinking about the shot I am going to play next - to put the past out of mind - and then focus my thoughts on how I play that shot - actually trying to forget what my shot objective is. I then stand over the ball and make the swing I have decided upon - without worrying at all about the outcome.
 
try the free headspace app trial 10 days, has plenty of options available, it's helped me loads to be honest. I've even stumped up for a years subs.
 
Learn to play with a brick wall following you and a fog on the holes ahead. In other words you just have the shot in front of you, hitting it to where you want to play your next from.

I use this technique when I have a score going, really helps.

Last weekend it was essential as I was two under quite quickly and had to keep from planning how I would celebrate a new record. Having been so close and blown it on the last hole just a tee rounds back I had to put what I learnt from that into action.

If you only have to hit a ball to where you want to play the next from then nothing else matters.
 
I am quite good at forgetting individual shots or even bad holes.

My issues start when my score is totally irretrievable. My current way of dealing with it is to completely not care. I just can't find the effort in me to scrap for each shot that would turn a +8 nett into a +6. I just can't make myself care.

I guess this doesn't help much :mad:
 
I suffer like this too, a bad hole links on to thinking how can i claw it back, I break clubs and throw stuff around in extreme cases. My game is good, my mind isnt.

I tried reading Bob Rotella books and I couldn't get into it, It felt to me as it wasn't going anywhere. I'm going to look up the suggestions mentioned here.

If all else fails I do give just give up, like Region 3 says. If It looks like a +14 or more being posted I just give up. I even been known to be just 3/4 over after 6 holes, only to have a triple and give up there. I could walk off but I'm not that rude, but the good balls go in the bag, the crappy practice balls come out, the new gloves goes away and I just whack it about for the remaining holes. This approach has even led to me posting a better score than I'd of thought was on the cards!

Frustrating old game.
 
I find that a natural ability to 'not give a s**t' helps greatly where having a bad hole or two is concerned...

That 'natural ability' that I speak of is something I have an abundance of luckily...
 
Don't know what to recommend to help beyond what others have said. All you can do is focus on the next shot.

I shanked a wedge into a fairway bunker on the 1st hole yesterday. Forgot about it and concentrated on the bunker shot, stuck it to a foot and won the hole after my opponent 3-putted. If I'd got angry about the shank I would have lost the hole.

There's nothing you can do about a bad shot, so it ain't worth dwelling on. By all means think about the reasons for doing it and try to correct them, but getting annoyed about it does nothing positive.

It's just a game, we're not playing for a living, and it beats the hell out of working.
 
Thanks to everyone who replied ... I shall follow up on the suggestions and see what happens. I particularly like the idea about setting other goals for the round once the gross score has clearly been stuffed ... but I shall give them all a go. I can emphasise with mashly's comment that he played better once he gave up trying ... earlier this week I played a round that prompted my original post ... I had a nightmare seven hole run that took me to the 15th tee. I told the guys that I was playing with that I was sorely tempted to walk off and see them later in the clubhouse, but that I would carry on merely to be sociable ... and then hit 5, 4 and 5 (i.e. to my handicap) on the next three holes. Bobby Jones said that golf is played on a 5" course (i.e. the brain) ... boy, ain't that right!

Thanks again everyone.
 
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