Late Round Blow Ups

[Ian_123456]

WHAT THE F***

i hate it so damn much when your playing good and then for the last few holes you just absolutly explode

i was +3 throught 13 in a tournament on sunday and then this happened Double, Triple, Double, Birdie :bad: , Double :ok: i ended up at +11 83 like holy freaking crap i had a good chance to win this damn tournament and i explode the winning score ended up being 77 and T-2 was 82

i think most of it had to do with i knew i was playing good and i started to expect thing out of my self that i shouldn't have, then i would get down on myself.

its just so damn frustrating when im know im playing good and then boom it happens, this used to happen all the time last year but i thought i had gotten away from it but now it comes back.

Anyone have any advice for how to not blow up late in the round im thinking of bring a gameboy or something to just keep my mind off the game because i think thats whats hurting me

[TRAPI]

If someone has the answer please share it! Something similar happened to me in last Saturday's tournament at my home club. I was -2 (for my hcp) with 5 holes remaining and I screwd up on 14th, 15th and 17th I ended up +4

[jcjr34]

You probably starting thinking about the end of your round before you got there which put pressure on yourself to do well. Keep your mind focused at the shot at hand instead of thinking "wow, I could shoot a low score!". I've read that this is where most golfers make there mistakes in the mental approach, their whole mindset changes the second they put pressure on themselves by 'expecting' to do well. Just think about nailing the next shot until the round is over. :bad:

[dpriester]

I play with five zero to two handicap players. They all swear learning to play the game physically is easier than learning how to win mentally. Sometimes I can do it, most often I can't. I'm an 11.5 that went double, single, double to finish at 81 on Saturday. Absolutely negated the three birdies I had. The absolutely best thing you can do for yourself is to have someone else in the group carry the scorecard and ask them to not give you any updates on your score until your done. If you don't have the card, you won't be tempted and you can't start getting ahead of yourself which is where all the trainwrecks are waiting to happen.

[BigEd]

This is an issue that impacts all golfers to verying degrees. Pretty much everyone has a range of scores that is their "normal" round -- using myself as an example, the vast majority of my rounds are even par to +7. I once heard a sports psychologist refer to this as a mental "comfort zone" -- meaning, as long as you are playing in your normal range, you feel comfortable.

 

Where we all (to some extent) get in trouble is when we are playing considerably better than normal. As the last poster suggests, we start thinking of final score and that gets in the way of concentrating on shots. Even worse, sometimes we might think something like "this is such a great round...if I can only not screw it up / hit it in the woods / not make worse than bogey / etc". These thoughts are mental killers. In turn you might tighten up and start hitting bad shots.

 

IT IS THE HARDEST THING IN GOLF TO DO IN MY OPINION, but the key is to focus solely on the execution of each shot, without regard to final score. In my case, some of my best rounds ever were scored when I had a big match in my foursome and was so focused on the match that I had no idea what my score was.

 

Anyone who has ideas or keys to how to maintain this focus...I'd love to hear them!

[golfman1229]

read golf is a game of confidence

[InspiredGolf]

One shot at a time and don't think about your outcome.

[Zach Heusser]

It could also be your fitness. It is easy to get mentally, and physically tired in tournaments.