So I finished part 2 of how to get over a bad round of golf.
I actually had a bad streak of rounds…4 out of 5 in fact until I finally broke through with a 77 on a championship course.
Like everything else in golf, contrary to the golf industry, this is 90% of the time, a mental problem and not a physical one. Golfers go crazy trying to “fix” what they think is wrong and create more problems in the process.
…can you say David Duvall?
I give you 2 techniques in the video below to come back and ride the see-saw of you playing this game back up to the top. As usual, I say things in this video that many golf instructors would never teach.
You watch and see and make the call yourself. I might just save you a bunch of time and money.
Transcript
Hi Craig Sigl here. This is part 2 of “How To Get Over A Bad Round”
Getting right to the point here, there are 2 things you need to do in order to wipe out a bad round from your psyche.
1. and this is the most important. You’ve got to come to some sort of a resolution thought about the whole experience. In other words, come to a conclusion that you can accept and live with about what happened that allows you to move on. For instance. After my bad round, I just tell myself that I have those bad rounds every once in awhile to remind myself that you never master this game and that is why it is so addictive and also satisfying when I do have a great round. It’s the contrast of high scores that make the low scores I shoot such an awesome feeling. Part of the deal!
We don’t need to understand what mechanically went wrong with our game necessarily in order to come to a conclusion. If a mechanical flaw in our game is obvious, then sure, go ahead and get some instruction or work it out on the range if you know how to deal with the issue.
What you don’t want to do is walk around with an endless thought stream of “Why did this happen to me, I need to fix it” It happens to everyone like I mentioned in the first video. And here’s the key: More than likely, there’s nothing wrong with your game. There’s often nothing to fix! Don’t go trying to fix something that isn’t broken.
Golf is a weird game. One day, you go out there and you hit every fairway off the tee and a few days later, you can’t hit a one. And then a week or two later, you’re back to hitting every fairway! Be patient because more than likely, this is going to be the case for you if you take my advice here in this video
Because your golf swing or putting stroke isn’t necessarily like a machine where parts get broken and have to be replaced like a car. No. Human beings cannot be reduced to their parts like a machine. Sometimes all you have to do is wait it out…
which brings us to the 2nd thing you need to do to get back on track.
2. Distance yourself from the event. When we think of our choke or bad round, it’s like an object taht seems like it’s right there around or in front of us. We sense it being close to us. Maybe that it surrounds us! What you want to do is some kind of imagination or mental intention to get away from it…literally.
You can think of the choke and then “push it away or behind you” You can walk away from it yourself. You can drift off to sleep at night and “breathe it out of your body” There’s lots of ways to do this. Be creative. Your way is best for you. Just get some distance between you and that round. It’s a mental intention.
To make this easy, I recommend that you not play any golf for awhile. Give it a break. Allow those overall good feelings you have about the game come back on their own without being contaminated by your latest round. They will. They always do if you give yourself some space to clear it.
Craig, I’ve been following you for a long time now and I don’t always give a reply, but
that doesn’t mean that I don’t think you’re right on. You are Right On and I believe you and your thoughts cause you’ve lived it and have been there.
Thanks for your insights once again Craig. I’ve been making some real improvements on
the golf course. It is truly a mental game. Patience is the name of the game.
Thanks for comments Judith! I have been through most of what average golfers experienced and loved ALL of it…the good rounds and the high score rounds.
Greens and Fairways,
Craig
hi Craig at the moment every round is a bad round (usually 4-5 holes that make it that way)but I look at it this way I know that I have shot a 76 on this course a few years ago and I was regularly in the 80’s(before I had the problem I told you about)so I just go out with the attitude that if I have a bad round well tomorrows another day and you can’t change history as what has happened has happened and there’s no point in getting wound up over it as that only makes matters worse (been there done that!!!)Golf is a game of luck, some good, some bad and as someone stated for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction (but it is better when you play well)and remember that there are people who wish that they were capable of being able to play at all.
Hi Ron,
You’ve got the right attitude. I love your thought about just being grateful to be able to play. It’s just a game, right?!
Greens and Fairways,
Craig
It just happened to me: i usually don’t have much time to practice, but in the last two weeks i was on holiday and i trained every day.
Very well and very sharp.
Then on the weekend i played both days and scored the worst in my life, playing like a dog!
Luckily, i started to work yesterday and i’ll be away from golf for the next two weeks, so hopefully i’ll forget how bad my game was…
Hi Fiber,
Hope these tips help you out! Golf is a funny game…and we get tested often. I’m confident you will pass the test.
🙂
Greens and Fairways,
Craig
Hello Craig,
just received your CDs in the post, thank you.
I would like to mention the cards in Tom Kubistantns package and how relevant to a incident in a competition I was in last week. Finishing of a round, I was one up in a match play semi-final on the 17th……..how I wished I had that card to think of walking to the simple par three finish. I fluffed it and went to the 1st to play off again. Good drive good position….two minded wanted a greedy finish, which failed to workout on this dog-leg par 5, and lost the match.
Mentally I had won it before the finish and pooped, then forced myself into thinking panic instead of control.
I welcome yours and Toms psychology treats to steady my boat in times of stress.
yours sincerely
john m Ryan England.
75 yrs play 14…..looking to single figures.
Hi John,
It’s all a learning experience to get better and wiser from! Glad I could help and assist you in your journey. Thanks for commenting!
Greens and fairways,
Craig
Craig, I have followed you for some time without posting. On the issue of coping with a bad round though I am really having difficulty on 2 counts. Firstly, I honestly believe that I am going through a phase, in Competitions, where I am experiencing the most diabolical luck. Now it is easy to say that it was Bad Luck that made for a Bad Round but, last week for example, I was playing very steady golf for 6 holes when I nearly reached a Par 5 in 2. I decided to Putt from off the Green – bad decision in hindsight- but then hit the hole with the next 3 Putts without holing out. Bogey. Next hole “lip out” for an up&down from sand. Next hole I drove off downwind and hit one of the longest drives I’ve hit for ages, clear the Fairway bunker but then kick right off the back bound forwards another 75 yds to finish unplayable under the lip of the furthest Bunker on the opposite side of the Fairway. Drive went 275 yds – not bad for 69 yrs of age but not good for the next shot! By then it was extremely difficult to be sanguine about these issues! I should have been because the wind proved quite testing & I could have still played to the Standard Scratch for the day in hindsight. The other issue is mechanical in that I tend to tire, as I am recovering from knee Surgery 6 months ago, & this can affect the Mental state. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for commenting Walburghian. The thing I would ask myself, if I were you in this scene your wrote, is: “Did I carry my bad hole over to the next holes and let it affect my play.”
If the answer is “yes” then you’ve got some emotional mastery work to do.
If the answer is “no” then just chalk this up to “luck” or “chance” or whatever this game offers as I describe in the videos and then take my advice there.
Greens and Fairways,
Craig