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I'm teeing off on 14, having a decent round. On that tee box, I did not know my score. I deliberately allow my caddie to score, I just play.

Little did I know, I'm plus three, trying to get home with it at plus three, maybe shave one off from there and get in at plus two, for what I now realize would have been a lifetime best.

Instead, I finish double double par bogey par.

What the heck happened?

I could tell you how I melted down, but I'm certain it was mental, not physical. I pushed a drive, I flubbed two long putts, and hit one approach too fat. I did not feel panicked. I've been there before. My pulse was not too high, I was not trying tooooo hard, but heck yea I wanted to finish plus three, plus four would have been acceptable. Between the shots that scorched my score, I hit solild shots off the tee, a good sand shot, and a hybrid from the fairway 225 or so, onto a par 5 in two.

I should tell you, at no point was I sure what I was shooting. I knew roughly, but the caddie was keeping score so I did not know I was plus three when I crashed and burned. I knew I was playing well, but I honest to jeepers did not know I was plus three. So that was not completely it.

I walked off the final green and the caddie said I shot plus eight, and I wanted to throw up.

Can any of you low handicaps help me close the deal?

I remember thinking "I am on the home stretch, just keep it smooth and coast home like Davis Love did this weekend, and I'm there."

INstead I threw up all over my dang self.

What is your mental game heading into the home holes? The way I see it you think about how you will finish, whether you intend to or not. But somehow you have to be able to terminate, and I blew chow today trying.

Throw me a life line. Tell me how you do it.

You started thinking about finishing on +3, instead of focussing on the shot in hand. You probably realized that you had a pretty decent score on the tee and what I try to do whenI realize I have a score going is to make sure I keep the ball in play with the tee shot because usually you will swing harder in order to make birds. BTW, I struggle with this as well so we're inthe same boat.

One of the biggest challenges is keeping an even keel. Too many times golfers coming down the stretch put too much pressure on themselves to put a certain number of the card and end up losing focus of the shot at hand. Furthermore, the pressure takes the ability off of execution and lets the mind get ahead of itself.

A lesson I learned that helped a lot (and not just in the closing holes) was to visualize the shot at hand. Step behind the ball and mentally watch the flight path it needs to take to set you up for the best possible 2nd shot. Take a few practice swings using the swing you'll need for the shot and step up to the ball. The last time (before you start the swing) you look down the fairway you should see the ball flying on its intended path.

Beyond that realize its often tough to forget about the overall score and it leads to tension (which hinders your ability to execute the shots you need). A classic example would be the time I reached the 530 yard par 5 18th on my home course in two. Knowing that a birdie would put me at 79 I was anxious to make it happen. Problem is...the nervous energy got the best of me and I pulled my 12 foot eagle putt three feet left of the hole. I rushed the three footer for birdie (completely taking it for granted and making a huge mental mistake) and had it do a 360 on the lip coming to rest a 1/2" from the cup. I tapped in for a 5 and walked off with a disappoint 80. The sad part is that the eagle putt was straight uphill and very makeable, meaning I could have easily walked off with a 78.

Maintain your focus on the shot your playing and forget about everything else.

It makes no difference that you didn't know your score because you knew you were "...having a decent round...". This in itself is enough to get the adrenaline flowing, and unknowingly cause you to change your game plan. You mentioned, "...I am on the home stretch, just keep it smooth and coast home like Davis Love did this weekend, and I'm there." But it sounds like up till that point you were being "smart aggressive". So...

Stay in the present. There are 2 shots in golf I can't do anything about, that's the last one and the one after this one. Hogan said something like..."a round of golf is like making a pearl necklace. Each shot is a pearl. You want the best quality pearl you can add. If you add up all that quality you will have very high quality necklace...".

I plan my round before I play (for example I'll deduct my average driver distance from the par 4's yardage to get an idea of what approach club I'll be using the most, then I'll gear my warm up to that club. At the same time I'll also figure the club I'll use on each par 3 and hit a few of those before I tee off, finally I'll plan my par 5 strategy - which holes I'll lay back on and which ones I'll go for. Then I'll work my plan one shot at a time, making adjustments as I go along.

Take note of your distance early in the round, you will probably start out hitting it short, get longer as you loosen up, and shorter again as you play the last six holes and the muscles tighten up. Beware of long waits late in the round as muscles will start to tighten. Do some stretching of the back muscles later in the round, a simple easy twist will suffice.

Some other advice: Drink plenty of water on the front nine. I fill a 2 litre pop bottle with water and i'll drink at least that before and during the front nine. It's too late to start drinking after 14 holes. Athletes from other sports usually skimp on water (and even drink alcohol! but I won't go there in this thread) because that's what they do during physically demanding, stressful games that move quickly. Golf is spread out over 4 1/2 hours (if you're lucky). It is very easy to get dehydrated without knowing it. When this happens blood leaves the extremities to protect the major organs (this affects your putting touch as well as your pitching, chipping, full swing and thought process).

As well, tension from progressive frustration can have a snowball effect. If you loose feel for the clubhead and only feel the grip end you are going to hit some crooked shots. A push (like your drive) happens when the arms try to hit the ball but the shoulders haven't unwound enough. The path will be out to the right. Activating the hips to start the downswing and getting belt buckle facing more to the left of the flag in the finish should help. As you do this let the hips and body swing the arms. Do a few left hand only practice swings to get a feel for this - you should feel connection between the upper left arm and the chest while the hips unwind. Keep this connection until late in follow through.

Go out to the course when it isn't busy and play these finishing holes over and over. Find out where you don't want to hit it, and also hit 3 or 4 drives until you hit a good one. Skip your approach shot and putting, and go to the next tee, hit 3 or 4 from this tee until you hit a good one. Hold your finish and absorb the shot. If you salt this image away (think video tape) in your mind you will be able to re-create it.

Finally, don't dwell on bad rounds, everybody has them, in fact the more you dwell on them the more you cement them in your mind. The first thing I do when I hit a bad shot is laugh. I know it's a tough game, so I give myself a break. I try to remember the good shots only. It doesn't hurt to fist pump (see Tiger) once in a while either! After my round is the best time to work on my swing. My faults are fresh in my mind at that time.

Hope this helps.

Thats good advice golfguru, I will take some of them tips for myself.

I had a similar experience at the weekend, +2 on the front, then +6 on the back. Don't get me wrong I was still under my handicap and happy that I scored well, but it could have been so much better.

I know where it went wrong, one bad tee shot when I hit about 2" behind the ball, it still landed on the fairway and I still made my net par, but it really unsettled me and my ballstriking for the last nine wasnt the same.

By the time you get to the back nine, you should know exactly what kind of shots you're producing. Say you've got a gentle fade going for you that day. Use that to your advantage, even if you typically play a draw. You can work on getting the draw back after the round. During the round, use what is working that day.

The best advice I can give you is to keep pushing for a better score. As soon as you start protecting your good start you will start to make mistakes. Even if you are having a great round say 1 or 2 under with 4-5 holes to play keep pushing for more birdies.

If you believe you deserve to end up with a great score at that point you probably will. With many people, when they get to the last few holes and realize that they have a great score so far they basically talk themselves into finishing poorly to get the usual score. I see this all of the time.

Expect to finish those last few holes well and feel that you deserve an even better final score.

If it is a course you often play just think about how many times you have done well on those last few holes and that you should do it again now.

I broke 70 for the first time last week after playing for 33 years. On the final putt I was saying that a 34 on the back would still be good if I missed the birdie putt, but I added "33 would be better" without pausing. It was better...69 hehe. Others said to make it for 69, but it's what your attitude is at the time that really counts.

Some good advice but I think experience will be the best possible teacher. You are not used to being in that position. Many of us have been there done that. What you said tells me you definitely knew you had a good score and you were thinking about it. It is impossible not to anticipate the final four holes when you are in that position. I hope you have to go through that again and again. That would be a good sign for your game.

Having both won and lost tournaments on the last few holes, here are my thoughts on the mental approach. The mindset in playing to win is much different from that of trying not to lose. The first keeps your mind and game on a positive track, while the latter lends itself to fear, playing defensively and a negative focus. Laying up on a long par 5 to give yourself an ideal approach shot is not the same as laying up because you are afraid of the pond in front of the green. Stay positive and you'll see good results.

That's it right there...


Experience and having been in that position will make you more at ease of course...not counting scores, not writing mental headlines, figuring out how many strokes you need to come home with a pb...like the others said, stay away from these and you'll be able to concentrate on the shot at hand a little better...but the biggest factor in late hole meltdowns down the stretch is what Billy was talking about as far as trying to play it safe...the second that I start trying to protect my score and not make mistakes, guess what? And IMO it is not an entirely mental thing...if I don't swing freely and make an adequately aggressive pass at the ball, I'm not squaring the face and the ball isn't going where I want...simple as that...I'm not saying to take driver on the short par 4 and try to drive the green, but do take clubs that you can hit hard and don't try to finesse a par out of a hole...if you are in PB land, you're hitting the ball well, and if you're hitting the ball well, then go attack and get the job done...