Re: On Poor Shots

Unless we are certain of our ability, a poor shot will destroy our confidence. Perhaps because we relied on luck in the first place. Golf is not a game of luck, it's a game of skill. Only through practice can we develop, improve and maintain skill. As we develop and improve skill, we also build our confidence. Then confidence feeds back to our skill which improves further. So practice is the first part of the solution.


Bring only the clubs you know how to use, you've practiced with.

Why do you bring a 3W if you can't hit it from the fairway? Only to finally get to use it on the fairway and destroy your confidence. Don't bring it. If you don't bring it, you can't use it. If you can't use it, you can't destroy your confidence with it. Consider all the clubs you use. Take out those you can't use with confidence. Bring only the rest. You may find that you can use only three of four clubs. All the better. It will make your life easier. The alternative is that you want to destroy your confidence and you want to make your life harder.

Re: On Poor Shots

I've been employing the 'hit it, find it, and hit it again' theory for a while now, with some measure of success. I employ the following technique when my shot goes awry: I say out loud 'cancel' - the same thing I do when I lose focus or have it pulled while executing my PSR. Then I visualise the shot I wanted to hit - more or less the same shot I wanted to hit (and visualised) in my PSR.

Then I move along. It only takes a couple seconds to still hold the finish, say 'cancel' and visualise the shot I wanted to hit. Then I go find it, and hit it again. It's cut down on the number of thrown clubs drastically.

Re: On Poor Shots

Snr,

How do I cope - now, quite well.

I accept it and focus on doing the next one right. After completion I often go over my round. I alter my next weeks prac to focus on the short fall(s). But I always pat myself on the back for the positives.

As for getting out of trouble - I always tell myself bogey is good. If I can go for the green - I will. If not, I just get the ball within the 150m mark on the fairway.

I changed the way I react to my poor shots, why, cos I saw myself in a few other players and thought - oh my goodness.......

Re: On Poor Shots

The key to recovering from and forgetting your bad shots is deciding before you hit it that it won't bother you if it goes bad, but you'll celebrate it if it's a good one.

You can have it both ways. And you'll hit better shots more often.

Re: On Poor Shots

There are good shots, OK shots and learning shots. Nothing else