Blowing a great round on the final hole

[trilerian]

I feel like I have to recount my own sob story here... Last season my best round was a 37, 1 over for 9. I was 2 under starting the 7th hole. Missed a 5' putt for par on 7, then missed a similar putt on 8, and finally missed a 12' putt on 9 that stopped on the edge of the cup. So 2 under and the last 3 were bogeys. A couple of weeks ago I was even par through 7, then doubled 8. I wanted to cry... The bad thing about that round, is I haven't had a decent round since.

[Miss_Tee]

> @trilerian said:

. . .

A couple of weeks ago I was even par through 7, then doubled 8. I wanted to cry... The bad thing about that round, is I haven't had a decent round since.

 

It’s a long summer. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of good rounds. Good luck!

 

 

[clp34vmp]

I definitely let the nerves start to creep in when I'm on the back nine of a round where I know I'm shooting a good score for me. (I typically don't add up my score during a round but it's usually pretty easy to know in your head about where you are.) Unfortunately, it's easier said than done for me to stay focused on each shot and not start to think about the bigger picture. In those situations, I often try to tell myself that it really doesn't matter that much - I play golf for fun not for a living, and at the end of the day does it really make a big difference what I shot? Still I guess my brain is just results-oriented. There's been a few times where I have been able to fight through the late round jitters and keep things going, so in the future I'm just going to focus on those instances as I try to make it in to the house while avoiding the dreaded late round trainwreck.

[Qqq123xx]

Well can't add anymore to this cause all my great ideas have already been greatly taken. I will though use the old adage that the more you put yourself in that position the easier it will be to handle and/or produce.

[Exactice808]

Too many chokes to count.... thats life and likely why we have day jobs....

Most recent I posted this past April

4 over front, 1 over back after 16th, (1 bird, 2 bogeys)

17th hole sliced into the trees, walking down a slope to go look for my ball, tried to jump over the cart path barriers (string and poles) and landed funny dislocated my ankle on the 17th hole....... popped it back in... kranked my shoe laces to keep the swelling down and tried to finish in excruciating pain. went bogey, double to shoot 80 missed 79 by one and likely could have Par-ed in if I didnt dislocate my ankle. Golf Gods taught me a lesson to be humble....

 

Last years, 6 over front, Birded the 10th hole was -1 till the 14th made bogey.... even par, chip in eagle off the fringe 10ft -2 under after 16.....17 make par......18th and easy 18th.... choked on a 3ft put for 3 putt bogey. shot my first under par ever on a 9 but could have been more...(greedy bastxxx i know...)

[dan360]

> @ladygolfer2 said:

> So last night in league (9 holes) I had the round of my life going. Par, bogey, par, par, birdie, par, par, birdie. -1 after 8 holes.

> The ninth hole is a par five. There's a water hazard along the right side of the fairway, the last half of the hole, and bunkers on both sides of the green. I have birdied it a few times but usually make par or bogey. Occasionally I get into trouble and take a double.

> I knew I was -1, and my best-ever 9-hole score is 37. I decide to play it safe, thinking I'd settle for a bogey and have my first-ever even-par round.

> Can you see where this is going? I take an easy swing with driver and end up in long rough on right side of fairway. Second shot gets me in the fairway but about fifty yards back from where I usually am. Third shot I choose a club to put me well short of the green to avoid the traps. Fourth shot I make a weak chip and barely get on. Pin is in the back of a long green. I three-putt for a double bogey. 37.

> I'm somewhat happy that I equaled my previous best score but am kicking myself that I let up like that and totally blew that last hole.

> So here's my question. What do you do near the end of a great round to remain calm and keep playing your game rather than becoming too careful and coming up short? I'm hoping I get another chance to lower that score and want to have a better plan next time.

 

Look at the positives, you had diarrhea on the final hole and still equaled your best ever score.

[TaddNOhio]

I am sure there are countless people here this has happened to including myself and a really great round i had going that seemed i could do no wrong (boy was i wrong). After shooting a 2-over 37 on the front nine i started out the back par-par-bogey-par -- * Eagle so i was ecstatic that after 5 holes i was -1 under and on my way to my lowest round ever ... then all went to hell as i finished bogey-double-double-par for a 37/40 77 my lowest round on that course had been 76

[jarhead]

My story is similar. Three week's ago I approached the 18th tee needing only par to shoot 79. Having never broken 80, I was a bit anxious. The 18th is a short par four requiring a short tee shot carry (about 120 yards) over a waste area and then a short to mid iron into the green with a creek running across the fairway about 40 yards short of the green. The hole is so short and the ground so firm that I cannot hit a driver from the tee without rolling into the creek near the green.

I step up to the tee with a five iron and literally shank it low right into the waste area. No one says a word as I calmly pick up my short tee and move away from the tee. After my three playing partners had hit their tee shots, I stepped up again to hit my third from the tee with the same five iron. Boom, I hit it flush but it's drawing and the wind's got it. Hit's in the fairway and takes a hard left bounce into the woods. Dropped there, hit a wedge on and two putted. Walked away with an eight on the hole and another 84 on the card. But that's golf I suppose.

[HackinNut]

> @RayGorman said:

> 1st problem- You knew what you needed when you walked up to the tee. Well, to be fair, that is also the 2nd and 3rd problem.

> It's the old: "Wow, all I need is x for y!!!" syndrome.

> One day I was on fire (kind of) and my buddy says after we finished 16 : "Wow, Ray, you're 1 over today!" I nearly hit him with a 3 wood. "NEVER tell me the scores". Naturally, I bogeyed 17- an EASY par 3 that is usually a perfect PW. thinned it and had to chip up from over the back. Fortunately, I settled down and birdied 18 (par 5). But seriously, You probably already knew you had a good day going and had a really good frame of mind for the round. And even if you didn't know exactly what your score was you probably would have had the doubts on that hole anyway because you said it ALWAYS gets you. And that's another problem. Don't remember the days it eats you up, remember the days you bested the hole.

> What I've tried to do is not play 1 18 hole round, I will play 18 1 hole rounds. Each hole is it's own entity apart from each other. A bad hole is only one bad hole out of 18. If you go thinking "oh, man that's gonna ruin my round", it already has.

 

This by far is the best advice I could give. I agree 100%

[uitar9]

> @longballjs said:

> Unless its necessary, i try to not think about my score, never add it up between 9's, play my game. You can second guess all day, if you played aggressive this or that, played safe didnt work that time. play your game, dont run from it.

 

Good advice. That double could have been two pars on the two birdie holes. Now the ninth is a par and not a boogyman hole.

 

After playing a while many of us seem to have the score calculated in their head at all times. I find score a distraction until I add it up after the round. Then a can mope about those two blow up holes until the next round lol.

 

[HonestPlayer]

One shot at a time.

[lchang]

Oh I've got a good story. 5-over thru 17 holes (I'm a 10.5 index). On the par-5 18th, from a fairway bunker from 115 out for my 3rd shot, I pure-skull it over the green, over the rough behind the green, over the cart path, over the shrubs, and hit the wall of the hotel on the fly (Half moon bay, Ocean course, for those that know it). OB. Triple bogey. Hey, at least I didn't break a Ritz Carlton hotel window!

[wkuo3]

You should strike the iron while it's red hot instead of pulling back being conservative.

Never a good idea to throttle back while you're doing well. Unless you have physical reason to believe that you could not repeat what you had been doing that day up to the moment, Don;t short change yourself. You might have gotten a birdie to equal your best on that hole.

You'll get it next time........ the learning process can be a Rocky road.

[Miss_Tee]

> @lchang said:

> Oh I've got a good story. 5-over thru 17 holes (I'm a 10.5 index). On the par-5 18th, from a fairway bunker from 115 out for my 3rd shot, I pure-skull it over the green, over the rough behind the green, over the cart path, over the shrubs, and hit the wall of the hotel on the fly (Half moon bay, Ocean course, for those that know it). OB. Triple bogey. Hey, at least I didn't break a Ritz Carlton hotel window!

 

That IS a good story. Thanks for the chuckle. Sometimes we just have to laugh about the things that go wrong on the course.