Letting go of a "bad mental moment" on the course.....

[Scragger63]

After Saturday's round, I am looking for some tips for letting go of those "bad mental moments" that almost inevitably arise during the round.

I'd found the fairway off the 1st tee and was standing over a pitching wedge, getting ready to hit my second and as I put the club down behind the ball, I can't have had a tight enough grip on the wedge, it bounced, knocking my ball forward.

I stepped back, marked and replaced my ball, took a moment to "clear the mist" and was happy when I played my second on to the green, about 15 feet away. I'd given myself the opportunity to limit the damage to just a bogey.

What happened on the green is probably where my problem lies.

Standing over the putt, and I don't know why, I started berating myself because this was a putt for bogey and not birdie. It will probably come as no surprise that I then left that 15 footer about 6 feet short and went on to 3 putt.

The penalty came back to me on 3 or 4 more occasions over the rest of the front nine, each time, I would hit a poor shot or make a poor decision as a result.

So, there is my question... How do you let go.....???

[Hannu]

Re: Letting go of a "bad mental moment" on the course.....

After Saturday's round, I am looking for some tips for letting go of those "bad mental moments" that almost inevitably arise during the round.

So, there is my question... How do you let go.....???

I don't try to let go - more like recognize or be a ware that I have extra thoughts.
If I notice that I might slice to right, I say to my self - OK. I might also ask If I can hook it to left? OK - I might. So way not hit it straight. How would it feel. Ok - like this. And that would be the right time to swing.

Also one way to "let go of bad memories" is to fill your memory with good ones.
Try to find good in every shot and enjoy golf. Often a swing might be good, but result - not so good. Remember the feel of a good swing. Or if you have a bad swing, but ball goes to a good place - think - it's not "how" but "where" ... and so on.

I had a wonderful round yesterday:-)
You learn from your mistakes and I had plenty of learning opporturnities.

[KrudlerAce]

Let It Out

I remember reading in Tiger's book on the mental side of golf. He said something like it's okay to get upset/annoyed initially after a poor shot, but the key is to make it only last about 20/30 seconds and then forget about it.

He then pours all his focus/energy onto his next shot and playing the best shot he possibly can.

It is a difficult thing to do but as I know if you remain upset it can severely damage the rest of your round.

[Hannu]

Re: Letting go of a "bad mental moment" on the course.....

You have let go of good shots too .
It's important to be enjoy the moment, but after 20 second you need to be focused on the next shot.

[BrianW]

Re: Letting go of a "bad mental moment" on the course.....

I can remember reading somewhere (Bob Rotella I think) that a good way to deal with this is to imagine a line five paces infront of where you take the shot and when you walk through it you say to yourself (or out loud) "GONE" and let go completely of the shot and start considering the next.

[golfshooter]

Re: Letting go of a "bad mental moment" on the course.....

I think it's inevitable those thoughts pop in. I hate the one that pops in at the last minute just as you swing. I posted anxiety problems and there is nothing like that to destroy your game and are constantly floating in the background to wreck your confidence. It's funny how we can have as many "real" swings as we like but still screw the shot, drop another ball and the shot is great. The others have given you good advice all I can say is read Bob Rotella's book "Golf is not a game of perfect" it is a must read.

[radar1]

Re: Letting go of a "bad mental moment" on the course.....

Scragger63 I will add something else I noticed on rereading the post. You are really way to hard on yourself. This is why those thoughts are so constantly there. One of the others said get over it in 30 sec's, now it's a new opportunity. Another thing that helped is realizing that bogey is par for me. This made me not so worried about getting on in standard regulation which then allowed me to relax, plan the hole more realisticly and took the pressure off allowing me to start birdieing some holes without realising. So, stop belting yourself around, you wouldn't do it to someone else