When I play bad I know what is going wrong. As a double digit handicapper it's pretty obvious when I shoot over 90.

Hitting it fat, spraying the ball around, 3 putting come to mind. It usually lasts an entire round. Rarely something happens and the game fixes itself. Usually when all hope is lost and I swing angry-hard with no expectations. A round that went 54 front 37 back comes to mind... LOL

But what when you scratch types go off the rails. Do you know what is wrong or is it a mystery why the ball isn't going where you expect it to?

Is it something you can fix it during a round or is it range time?

Watching Tiger and Rory match play and Rory is struggling so I was thinking "does he know why and is he trying to fix it" or just hoping something will happen.

Thanks

I play off a 0.0 in midsummer, a poor round for me i guess would be anything over 80. In a season i'll definitely shoot a few 84's or whatever , i had an 86 last year i think which was my high round.

Usually it's just you're a little bit off. I rarely have days where i'll hit the ball off the planet, but i play a tight course, so hooks into trees or OB can happen. Add a couple of those up, plus some missed greens where i don't get up and down, and you have an 82.

You might also have days where the swing looks the same, but you're just a fraction of a second "off" and you end up hitting 4 greens or something, plus a couple of lost balls.

I never feel like i have a "major" problem to work on, sometimes i get lazy with my address position and it will cause me to push the ball instead of draw. But i usually figure that out quickly

I'm not a scratch player by any means.

I'm an 8-9 index and am usually 77-84. Rarely over 86, and that would be a "bad" day for sure. Likely attributed to either horrid weather or

Good news is I can generally put well, so my worst round in a long time was a 90 a few months back.

When playing poorly, it's usually my chipping and or bunker play that cost me strokes. An occasional foul ball off the tee, perhaps.

Play off a 4-6. Recovery shots after hitting a poor shot prior. If I somehow put 2-3 of those together the ensuing 8 ruins an otherwise good card. Bad day is around 86-90. In the winter in Texas the bare tight lies are problematic when not hitting greens.

Play anywhere between a 1 and 4. Not the most accurate driver even on a normal day and that doesn't really change for a bad round. The biggest difference on my bad days are not making the long par putts and missing birdie putts. Can get to low 80's on the bad days.

Very frustrating!!!!

Bad day for me is anything above 80. I can gauge it really when I feel out of sync. I feed off of a good driver and a better short game. For me, if my Gir is bad and I don’t freak out too much but I’m such a feel player around the greens and if I don’t hit the spots I want, I feel frustrated for sure.

I usually have a fairly good idea what the problem is, but I often just can’t find that “feel” that fixes it.

Way back in the day when I was 'good' most poor performances sucked during, but by the following day or two they were out of my head. Gotta keep thinking positive or else you'll get crushed.

The first few times I stank it up during a tournament, I was living in Florida and must confess that the thoughts going through my head during the stankage were pretty dark--secretly hoping my then gf would just dump me so I had a somewhat valid excuse to leave Florida and give up on golf, without having to admit I was mentally broken because of poor golf.

That kind of negativity didn't last long, and was a byproduct of 'big fish small pond syndrome'--thought I was 'good' but then got around a bunch of 'good' players and figured out real quick I had to be 'really good' to actually be 'good'

clear as mud? Dunno...

On the occasional really bad day, personally I think it's more physical, as if my body just won't work properly. Everything just feels "off," and making pure contact is challenging, even on chips & pitches. Wish I knew how to avoid it

Sometimes I can attribute it to injury, fatigue, hangover ?, etc., but other times it comes out of the blue, like my biorythms are out of whack or something...and I don't even know what biorythms really are LOL!!!?

In any event, on those rare days it literally seems impossible that I can (and do) shoot under par. Likewise, when I'm "on" and flushing everything, it seems impossible that I'd ever shoot mid 80s or higher.

I shot 87 in a qualifier last yr only rd in the 80's on any golf course in two yrs. Simply could not stop hitting hooks. I was working on something and man did it go bad, I actually putted really well to shoot 87. golf happens, I don't get mad or upset at anytime, days like this you just have to take on the chin and not ruin your playing partners day. Mind you it was a brutally tough day and a decorated am in my group shot 85. When those days happen go out of your way to act appropriately, you know in your group when this happens to someone you think to yourself how bad is this guys anger going to get. We all play bad at times. Also nothing worse than someone whinning when this happen like I can't believe how bad I am playing, just stay quiet take it on the chin and shake hands at the end of the day. As you can tell I have seen these way too many times.

Won my league two years and tied this past year with lowest average. Was invited to a very nice, private course and promptly shot 92. I’m not satisfied unless I at least break 80. What I can say is that sometimes it feels similar to catching a cold. Not sure why it happens. It could be that you slept funny, have a sore back, timing is off, balance is off for some reason. Frustrating and humbling.

I used to think I was a good golfer who has bad days. I’ve grown to realize I am a bad golfer who has good days.

Op. It feels very much like what you describe. Just putts missed are for par and not bogey or double. Bad drives are short flares that leave longer clubs in , or they end up behind the one single tree in play. and every ounce of “ luck “ you get is bad.

as for fixing mid round. Depends. If it’s swing or contact related. Yes. Normally can easily. Or at the very least figure out one side to miss with and band aid it around. What I find really hard to fix mid round is putter speed or feel with a wedge. If you wake up without either it’s going to be a long day.

It helps to be really delusional Yuck. Then you can go on thinking you can play a little bit.....don’t ask me how I know!?

Just looked at my last 6 months Scoring. 20 scores between 69 & 74. 40 scores between 81 & 87. CR between 71.5 &. 74. Clearly a bad player who plays good on occasion.

When I have "bad" rounds they usually land me in the high 70's and it's caused by a flare miss to the right caused by an open club face or a swing slightly off plane that day. Misses are always one sided unless there is trouble to the right and I choose to over correct my mistake and miss left. I always try to fix it mid round, but it gets difficult when you cant miss left, because an over correction will be worse than a simple miss right.

I did have one round last year where I shot 49 on the front 9, and I quit after 9 holes. That day was the hooks and I dont know why.

For me, chasing the fix rarely salvages a round. Usually it's the opposite. Nothing is worse than standing on the tee box and or facing an 8-footer for par and doubting yourself. Subtle things like grip pressure/strength and a slight ball position change is normal but anything more usually leads to over-compensation and disaster because you're soon LOST. I've found having a stock shot where you can always find your target with the center of the clubface is the best way to get on track or at least salvage what you can.

There's many different versions of it. Sometimes the contact just feels stale. No real zip on the ball even on good shots. It feels more like thinking about the swing instead of almost like reacting. Usually I will take a video and see something drastically wrong and it's usually something in the backswing that is way off and I need to fix it.

If there is a time that I'm working on something, I'm usually going thru the discovery phase. It's usually trying to determine every pitfall as to why I do not do what I am working on. That's okay. But when I have little or no idea why I'm hitting it bad or why I can't execute what I've been working on...that's when my temper starts to get the best of me..

When it goes really bad, it's usually something that I've struggled with for a long time and it's rearing its ugly stupid head. When it gets that bad and I can't fix it on the course, it's most likely at least 2 things going on that need to be repaired. I will agree with Jamie Mulligan on what he said on Chris Como's Swing Expedition...when you get to the level of say scratch or better...it's usually something in the backswing when it goes off the rails.

RH

My bad rounds come from a couple of bad swings, generally off the time, that come from simple lack of commitment. Nothing technically per say I do wrong just total and complete bailout at the last second that generally lead to off the planet super block that usually lead to doubles via penalty shots. If i don't have those hiccups I play well, if i do I don't. Bogeys you can overcome, doubles and worse you cant and you really cant overcome multiple doubles in a round. Cant tell you how many times I've shot 5-6 over with more then one double.

I'm not really sure where the off swing comes from. I can tell you a lot of times it happens when I least expect it. Feeling confident over the ball, playing well during the round etc. But they happen and more often then I would like.