The usual Front/Back 9 split.......

[Macster]

Out in 1 over Gross......
Back in 9 over......with 3 Double Bogey card wreckers.

Ok, I played to my Handicap, but I have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory far too often, and i'm sick of it.
Cant say I get nervous or tense or try and protect my score after being so far under, it just seems I dont concentrate and get sloppy on the back 9.

*shakes head*

 

[TWM]

I sympathise but I cannot even complete the back nine these days. It means I can only go out on my own for nine holes. Reason, decrepitude in old age.

 

[drawboy]

I totally sympathise with you on this.I struggle on the back nine to keep my concentration level up and end up blowing good front nine scores. I think I will keep the socialising, jokes and conversation a little lower key from now on and just try to keep my mind on the job in hand filling a good score card.

 

[JustOne]

I struggle on the back nine to keep my concentration level up and end up blowing good front nine scores. I think I will keep the socialising, jokes and conversation a little lower key from now on and just try to keep my mind on the job in hand filling a good score card.

I'm OK in strokeplay but put me anywhere near a stableford or matchplay and I'm awful.... but I have a good time. I'd rather be on the course playing badly than stuck at work.

 

[User 105]

I have it the other way round. Typically I'll shoot something like 50ish on the front then come back in 45ish.

Except for today. Shot 42 on the front Best front 9 I have ever shot. I was thinking finally, got a front 9 going.

Back 9, was playing great until the 15th. Double bogey, but I get 2 shots there. But I was smack center of the fairway.

16th, Long par 5. Stuck two drives OOB. And carded a 9.

17th, 210 yard par 3. Dropped tee shot just short into front bunker. Thinned the bunker shot. Duffed chip, another duffed chip. Ended up with a 6.

18th si1 Par 4. Drove into fairway bunker to right. Got out well and dropped it 20 yards short of the green.Nice chip on. Then 3 putted for a 6.

For a 91 for 40 points.

tbh, I should be over the moon as my game has been slipping for the past few months. I've gone from consistent low 90's to high 90's and the occasional 100+. Last few rounds it's felt like things were coming back together. And today things clicked.

My previous best was an 87, which I should have blown away.

Ah well. Club Champs next weekend. Looks like my game might be coming back at just the right time

 

[rgs]

Had a superb front nine--4 over gross 21 points striking the ball well, parred 10 bogey on 11, stood on 12th tee par 3 180 yds--no shot, tee ball in water--blob, followed with a 7 on par 4 14th-blob--double bogey on 16--1 pt-bogey par 3 17-1 pt--par 5 18th OOB off tee, fourth shot in water, anothe blob. Stod on 12th tee on 26 pts finished with 32 pts. What a nightmare the poor shots came from nowhere as i felt very comfortable over each shot.
Thats life--next weekend is another chance to shine.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I've chronicled on here how I blew two events earlier in the summer over the last three holes standing on the 16th at +5 and +7 respectively and finishing +6 for the last 3 holes (double, treble, single bogey) so you pain is not unknown.

That said I'm a lot fresher since switching to a trolley and so feel much more alert mentally and can really focus, especially on the 16th tee shot which I find the most intimidating on the course. I do find in a lot of games I've played recently, there has been plenty of banter (even in competitive rounds) and so I've felt nice and relaxed on the way round and have probably swung with less inhibitions. However I've noticed that by 14 or 15 even in roll up games most guys are either having a bad day and so not in a talkative mood or are playing well (competitions especially) and so become more focussed on their game.

Either way I start to get more tense as a result and so it becomes a mental battle to keep swinging loose and to stop the little voice in my head from startin, telling me how bad I'm playing, what I need to do, how to swing etc. Perhaps this is happening with you too and that you just need to find a way of keeping the mood lighter and thinking less about what you are doing or the holes still to play.

 

[RGDave]

I had a good front 9 today and had to stop myself from getting too far ahead of myself!!

I ended up with the best score I've made in a comp for years. I posted something up here (started a thread) only to get a text message not 5 minutes later to say we were actually ineligible to enter after a certain "cut-off-time"...

News to me. According to the ass't I'd have won the division.

Good score, but also bad news....

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Its a pretty smart car especially the chip in at 6. Most of our medals have a deadline if you want to play in the drawn sections but in the summer you can enter on a roll up basis later in the day (providing you are in groups of 3-4). In the winter the whole event is drawn and if you miss the deadline you can't enter.

If you think you are in with a shout I'd be arguing the toss with gusto

 

[USER1999]

Hey, it happens, that's golf. Twice recently I have been 1 over for nine holes, yet scored rubbish. It is an 18 hole game. Play for 18 holes. Simples.

 

[Herbie]

Out in 1 over Gross......
Back in 9 over......with 3 Double Bogey card wreckers.

Ok, I played to my Handicap, but I have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory far too often, and i'm sick of it.
Cant say I get nervous or tense or try and protect my score after being so far under, it just seems I dont concentrate and get sloppy on the back 9.

*shakes head*

Sometimes no answer to it, you know the golf is there, just look at what you scored with all the bad luck or errors. I have experienced this many times, more as I get older, is it just consistancy,.. who knows? All I know is that after a round like you have just had, I know I can do it, its just a case of all things comming togeather for the whole round, not just some of it.

 

[JustOne]

Which website creates that card for you?

...and well done on your round

regards...

 

[Region3]

Which website creates that card for you?

...and well done on your round

regards...

It looks like an Excel spreadsheet I think.

 

[Smiffy]

Just got back from my week-end in Cornwall, playing a course called Lanhydrock. Played it many, many times before, know the layout like the back of my hand.

The seven of us had a four round Stableford competition and I'm ashamed to say these were my four round scores. If you can work them out, then you're a better man than me!!

Friday PM. Front 9..5 points Back 9..16 points. Total 21.
Saturday AM. Front 9..7 points Back 9..12 points. Total 19.
Saturday PM. Front 9..14 points Back 9..21 points. Total 35.
Sunday AM. Front 9..11 points Back 9..21 points. Total 32.

Total and utter crap!
How can you only score 5 and 7 points on the front 9 two days running, yet score 21 points on the back 9 twice???

The front 9 isn't particularly hard. The back 9 isn't particularly easy!
I have never felt so dejected on a golf course as I did at the turn on rounds one and two.

I won the drinking competition on Friday night though...

 

[User 105]

Either way I start to get more tense as a result and so it becomes a mental battle to keep swinging loose and to stop the little voice in my head from startin, telling me how bad I'm playing, what I need to do, how to swing etc. Perhaps this is happening with you too and that you just need to find a way of keeping the mood lighter and thinking less about what you are doing or the holes still to play.

Homer, there is a lot of truth in what you say here. Up until the 15th I was having a good laugh with my partner and was relaxed and swinging as free and as well as I've done all year. 15th tee I was fine, not a care in the world, and then I just hit a bad one. I guess that's going to happen during a round for a 23 handicapper like me. From that point my whole attitude changed. I know this can happen and I really tried to put it out of my mind and focus on all the great shots I'd played until then.

Then I put the second OOB and my brain went to jelly and no matter what I tried to get it out of my head it just stuck. Kind of red mist type moment, that lasted 3 holes.



I think I'll work out a quick NLP routine this week to use at the weekend if it happens again.

 

[viscount17]

mine is less a 'game of two halves' than a 'game of three thirds'. which will be the more disasterous and whether I have one bad and two OK, or two bad and one OK seems to be at the whim of the golfing gods lately.

now where's that virgin I need for the sacrifice before tomorrow's medal?

 

[nulassilb]

Consistency would be nice - how many times do I simply fail to keep steady during a round? I think David Duval recommended taking three holes at a time and setting a realistic goal for each set of three - I've tried it and it takes any pressure of the whole round looming away from the game. However, I always play best when I just go out and enjoy the fact that I am playing and when I take one shot at a time - after all it is the only shot that you can possibly play.

Recently, I have managed between 5 and 9 par scores for each round - usually in little spurts of good golf. Off 16 this is good - but I don't seem to be able to take bogey as the next best - the scores on the other holes manage to become doubles and triples....

Perhaps reflecting upon where the shots are leaking and then working on those parts of the game is the only answer. At the moment, it is off the tee. Last month it was definitely the short game.

Anyway - keep going. The good score is just round the corner.

 

[RGDave]

Sometimes I start good but finish poorly and vice versa.
I really need to score well on the first 4 and last 4 to be in with a shout of a good score, nothing to do with starting and finishing strong (I'll take pars anywhere!) but that's where the holes are easiest for me.

There are 3 lots of 3-holes-in-a-row where I know potential disaster awaits. I tend to "erase" my overall position from my mind playing these holes and knuckle down to make bogeys at worst. I might bogey them all, in which case, the rest of my round has got to be pretty good to be in with a chance.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I found the 3 hole segments didn't work for me as Iwas always getting ahead of myself and thinking what I'd need to do if I had a bad hole on the one I was playing, sub-consciously talking myself into errors.

I try and play one hole at a time now but the problem I'm having is with the voice in my head telling me where all the trouble is, think about this swing move, you got x here last time etc

I am having real issues shutting the inner demons up and it is definitely costing me shots. Any suggestions.

 

[RGDave]

I found the 3 hole segments didn't work for me as Iwas always getting ahead of myself and thinking what I'd need to do if I had a bad hole on the one I was playing, sub-consciously talking myself into errors.

I try and play one hole at a time now but the problem I'm having is with the voice in my head telling me where all the trouble is, think about this swing move, you got x here last time etc

I am having real issues shutting the inner demons up and it is definitely costing me shots. Any suggestions.

I do know where you are coming from. Each to their own I guess with thinking in 9s 6s 3s 1s etc. I don't choose to think in 3s, it's the way the course is.

At mine, I'm thinking about 1-4 5-7 (3 holes) 8 and 9 (individually) 10-12 (another 3) 13 and 14 (individually) 15-17 (another 3) then the last.
It might sound crazy, but I find it helps to "allow" myself to struggle if necessary on the 3 lots of 3. If I par (or better) all the other holes, I only need 9 bogeys on 9 holes to beat my h'cap.

Take 10/11/12.....I par the 12th more than 50% the time, so if I make a double on the 11th, I don't get up or down (mentally), I just wait 'till I've played all three, and if I'm 3 over for those 3 holes, so be it.

Apparently, it's better to think "I want to go there" rather than "I don't want to go there". So, on the 10th, I just try to hit the ball a bit left of centre confidently rather than fear slicing into the stealth hedge.