golfrewind.com

Hello

Well, I feel really down today after yesterdays poor medal round. Does anyone else feel so strongly about their game that a good / bad round can really effect the whole week that follows?

My handicap is (was) 4.3 so I went into the medal thinking I really needed a good round to give me some breathing space in the 4 bracket.

Anway, without going through my whole round shot by shot, let's just say I blew it on the 8th. I actually took 4 to get out of a greenside bunker for the first time in my life!!

I was +1 gross and boomed my drive on the par 5 8th, only have 8 iron in, so thinking it was eagle / birdie time I was in high spirits. Here's where it all goes wrong, 7 shots later and I walk off with a snowman.

I ended with a 78 and haven't even looked to see if I've gone up to 5

So, now 24 hrs has passed and I've thought about it, do you think I put myself under too much pressure to begin with?

Not as much as I use to. I'm older now.

It's golf, what can you say? Now I just take it in stride. I was playing 18 last week and shot a 47 on the front.

I shot a 37 on the back, which was more difficult. Go figure.

Sometimes it can get me down, but not like it use to. I know I have the shots, so if I blow a shot/hole I just focus that much more. I think we expect too much from ourselves. If we could practice/play 50 hours a week than we would expect some sort of consistency, but as it is....

Don't be too hard on yourself.

Yes, I think you put too much pressure on yourself. I had a lousy round yesterday as well. Hey, it happens - I'll get over it.....as soon as I walk off the course. I have enough pressure at work, and even though we're always playing for money($2 or $5 nassau with junk), it's only a game I play to have fun and relax. I'm a 10 handicap - I shot a 78 on Saturday and a 90 on Sunday. That 90 will be tossed out by the GHIN system so it won't affect my handicap at all.....although I wouldn't care if it did.
There're a lot of other things that are far more important than my golf game.

Yes, I also think you put too much pressure on yourself. Look at what immelman shot after winning the Masters..

As my wife asked me recently when I groused about shooting a 78 in a club tournament, "How many golfers at the club would give big money to shoot 78 from 'the tips'?" Every golfer has had or will have bad holes, rounds and tournaments. It's what you do afterwards that can build the mental strength we all need to play this game.

I agree with your wife. I'd love to shoot a 78 from the tips.

You're placing way too much importance on a round of golf. It's a GAME. It's meant to be enjoyed, and if you can't find anything to enjoy, then it's time for a re-evaluation. Jack Nicklaus took 3 to get out of a famous bunker (that the language filter won't let me name ) in the Open one year at St. Andrews. I'm sure that it didn't exactly make his day, but he didn't go all suicidal over it either.

Stop worrying about the score or your handicap. That is not a productive labour. Instead, figure out what caused you to fail to extricate yourself from the bunker and what you need to do to ensure that it doesn't happen again (practice, strategy, swing thought - whatever it takes).

You know what, you're totally right.

Last evening I went to my course and played about 50 bunker shots from that same bunker, all came out first time and the worst shot was about 20 feet away, about 10 were gimmes and I holed 1.

So, I've got that bad experience out of my system (which was the aim) and I worked out what I did wrong - I was scared of the shot, and so quit on it. If I attack a bunker shot, it comes off, so that's my mindset from now on. Oh, and that it's only a game

Glad you got it sorted out.

pressure can be a crazy thing. take some time off and i am glad to here you work through it. play on!

As soon as i have posted my card i forget the round completely,good or bad. There is always next week.