Your mental toughness?

[pokerjoke]

I would really like to know how people rate themselves in the mental toughness stakes.
Im not interested in matchplay just individual rounds that you have played this year.
The reason im asking is because I used to think that I was extremely strong mentally,
not much gets me down to the point of throwing clubs,hitting bags,trolleys throwing balls etc
,however I do suffer from Torrettes from time to time.
But recently I have started to look at areas of my game that's costing me.
Putting always costs me shots because im either good or bad,short putts mainly being
my nemesis.
A couple of rounds recently that have really cost me due to mental errors and letting it effect me,
or something happening around me that I have let get to me and its effected my game considerably.
Is this down to my lack of mental toughness.
I used to think I was a 9 but lately I would say nearer 6.
Have a good think about it and see if any circumstances have cost you,and do you think
if you were mentally tougher you could have done better.
Im starting to think being mentally stronger will save me more shots than any new club could.

 

[chrisd]

That's an interesting question.

I have a couple of moods when playing, one is a semi serious, plenty of chat and banter and whilst not wanting to play badly, the company and enjoyment is all important. The other is the serious Matchplay or strokeplay where I do concentrate more over shots and, if I feel the need, I walk ahead of my playing partners to help concentration at times. I still want every round to be enjoyable in the company I'm with though, but, like most sports lovers I do play to win where I can

I have read quite a bit of golf psychology and find it useful when I need it

 

[Spear-Chucker]

Interesting subject to me as it's been one of the biggest obstacles I've faced. Used to be a 3/10 and somehow got to around 8 hcp. Took some time to develop skills and never looked back. Would happily say I'm 8/10+ consistently now, but still learning. Easy when you're playing well but the real skills, or lack of, are apparent when having a tough time. Top players ability to put stuff behind them is priceless.

 

[Ads749r]

That's an interesting question.

I have a couple of moods when playing, one is a semi serious, plenty of chat and banter and whilst not wanting to play badly, the company and enjoyment is all important. The other is the serious Matchplay or strokeplay where I do concentrate more over shots and, if I feel the need, I walk ahead of my playing partners to help concentration at times. I still want every round to be enjoyable in the company I'm with though, but, like most sports lovers I do play to win where I can

I have read quite a bit of golf psychology and find it useful when I need it

^^^^^im like this too. Like a chat but try and be serious about the shot and be considerate to my playing partners concentration too. When I first started playing boy did I have an anger problem. Getting angry at bad shots because I knew I could do good shots. When I say angry I mean launching clubs, kicking bags over, ripping gloves off my hand in half. Then over 3 years ago my mother passed away and I played golf 3 weeks after her funeral and I played amazing because I was so calm and accepting that it does not matter if I play bad shots there is more important things going on in the world and that we play golf for enjoyment. The past couple of months if I do a bad shot I do a 10 step rule where for 10 steps I will talk to myself why that was a bad shot then forget about it. I just downloaded that new golf thinking book and its brilliant they way it makes you think of scenarios from a positive angle. Calm and relaxed and happy is the best golfing way to be because you get angry and your shoulders and traps tense up and more mistakes happen. Have you ever been that upset you gone full circle and say I don't care anymore I'm just going to swing at the ball then you start playing good again. Find ways of venting stress, anger and disappointment. Fingers hurt now

 

[garyinderry]

The absolute best thing about golf is the next hole!


Playing good or bad! There is always an opportunity to keep your run going or to redeem yourself.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Most of my golf is social. At that level I am a 9. I don't get flustered, I don't get worried by poor shots.

Put a card in my hand, proper competitive golf, and I am a 2. I get uptight, my swing collapses and I get anxious. Each year I wonder whether to bother playing in competitions. I do hoping to get past this block and end up regretting it half way through the round. I had two particularly awful rounds in competitions this year which I am still scarred by. Silly beggar No rants or anger issues, just a collapse.

 

[Sir Scoop-A-Lot]

Generally in life I would say I'm an easy 1/10. I always get told if I was any more laid back I'd be lying down and can always put a positive spin on things. On the course however is a completely different story, at least an 8/10 maybe even 9/10.

It just gets under my skin! :angry:

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I'm both a 8/10 and a 2/10, if that's at all possible.

Often I don't think too much, let things get me down too much, get angry or think about past mistakes, hence the 8.
But sometimes I give up easily, can't be bothered and get too aggressive in my play (like using driver far too much at North Hants), hence the 2.

It's very much dependant on the day

 

[bluewolf]

I'd give myself a solid 5.. I very rarely lose my temper and on the whole I enjoy the round and have a good craic with my PP's..

However, I have noticed that I've got a tendency to "give up" almost before I've started. In my attempt to relax before a round, I appear to have taught myself to admit defeat before the balls even on the tee.. Strange really. It's a relatively new phenomenon. I used to be very competitive, but now I rarely trouble the top of a leaderboard...

 

[3565]

You can be strong mentally, but have you prepared yourself mentally for the shot in hand. This is looking at your PSR now and how you approach every shot. When we learnt how to play, we went through a check list so to speak to make sure we did the basics, GASP, properly and this then became a routine which became automatic the more you did it. To play the shot we need varying degrees of info to make a decision on what the shot requires and how we can achieve it. Their are many reasons why the shot wasn't executed properly, but one obvious one is, did I go through my PSR properly? It's easy to start with a purposeful forethought/swing thought before you start to play, but continuing it for ALL 18 holes is another matter? You could look back at your mistakes and ask did I do everything correctly before/during the shot? And if not then improve your decision making process will help to save those throwaway shots we all do.

 

[Sir Scoop-A-Lot]

Generally in life I would say I'm an easy 1/10. I always get told if I was any more laid back I'd be lying down and can always put a positive spin on things. On the course however is a completely different story, at least an 8/10 maybe even 9/10.

It just gets under my skin! :angry:

I obviously didn't pay too much attention to the numbering system and had it back to front. 10/10 socially 2or3/10 when playing.

 

[Imurg]

I'm a solid 7 1/2.....
Yes I get angry when I hit a poor shot or make a poor decision but it stays on that hole.
New tee = a new chance.
North Hands showed it well. A, quite frankly, pathetic first 12 holes yielded 11 points.
The last 6 brought me 14.....
I could quite easily have accepted a bad day and 16-18 points but.......

 

[patricks148]

never though about it though on the 16th at my place a solid 1

i might say the odd FFS, but tend to to chuck clubs etc

 

[Alex1975]

9/10 for me... I don't really get angry. I do sometimes lose focus but as soon as I do I know I have and get back on it.

My brother in law pushed me a few times late this summer but I ended up showing my metal.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

My uncle used to say make sure you only hit one bad shot at a time, it all goes wrong when you hit two consecutive bad shots.
I used to be able to do that and built a habit of not making double bogeys.

Unfortunately I didn't make enough birdies!

 

[bladeplayer]

9 outa 10.. very seldom lose it , even in the ICC at Slieve Russell and boy that was a test of resolve

 

[mcbroon]

I'm a bit odd in this respect, I think. When things are going badly from the start, I'm an 8, roughly. I'm not much of a ranter or club checker, although I may throw the odd ball OOB after taking 6 at a par 3, which definitely didn't happen at H4H...

However, if things are going well, I get a bit tense and usually get defensive, which leads to not committing to shots and therefore trouble.

North Hants is a good example. I was going well through 12 holes and then tightened up, made some bad swings and staggered home. I can still remember my thought process on the 13th tee - I wanted to swing through the ball so that I just nudged a 3w up the fairway, rather than hitting it full whack and risk going left. Instead, I quit on it and went left. It all fell apart from there.

 

[ADB]

I have always been pretty positive and mentally strong on the course, but the last 12 months have seen more negativity creep in by driving very poorly. My handicap has dropped, but mainly due to good play from the fairway and a tidy short game. Consequently, any pressure situation (pairs, individual knock outs) I have wilted mentally by losing balls both ways from the tee. So I would give myself a solid 4 at the moment

Can you get driver yips??

 

[JustOne]

I would really like to know how people rate themselves in the mental toughness stakes.

3¾

I'm useless. Not much mental strength at all.....ooh hang on.... chocolate hobnobs..... BRB

 

[Deleted member 15344]

9.5 out of ten

Will tell myself off with silly mistakes but its only a game of golf at the end of the day