How was your head on your last round?

Myksyk

I'm guessing most people would agree that golf is particularly susceptible to and affected by our mindset on the course.

We've probably all read Doc Rotella and nodded sagely while reading that this all makes sense. I'm just wondering how many of us actually manage to come close to a round of golf where you ticked all the mental boxes. I'm a psychologist and should have a little edge on this but still manage at times to be destructively self-critical and self-deprecating on the course. I had a good 'head' round last week where I played a bad first few holes but never got on top of myself about it. It made a big difference in terms of my enjoyment and the quality of my 'comeback' (I managed to string 35 pts together out of an awful start - 14 on the first nine). It was very satisfying and confirmed my belief that the mental side of the game is crucial ... even at my/our level.

Mentally, how did you do in your last round?

stockdam

I'm as bad as anyone.

When I'm playing well then the sun is shining and the flowers are in bloom and the bunnies are skipping. However one bad shot later then it all changes and I blame myself and the storm clouds sweep in.

That's a bit of an exaggeration.

I do try to keep plugging along and say to myself that some days the breaks will go against me and I will hit some bad shots. But if I don't change my game then I know that sooner or later I'll get lucky the other way. When everything goes well I'll have a good round but when it doesn't I'll have a bad round. It's just a matter of hitting my best shots and if things go against me then there's another day tomorrow when it will go my way.

Mister Sifter

head was generally ok at the start, wasn't playing the best but stayed positive and kept going and was doing ok. Trouble i'm having in club competitions is staying focussed and not getting worked up. As much as i try to stop it affecting me, playing fourballs with high handicappers and 5 hour rounds are killing me... i think it just kinda wears my brain down after 12-13 holes.

PhilipMarlowe

I suffer from lack of concentration, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, euphoria, paranoia, delusion, shock, the odd bit of panic, mild tourettes... but when I'm off the course I'm grand.

ShriekingSheet

For the purpose of discussion, I think it helps to simplify the key tangible benefit of a good mental game as follows: being able to score well after a bad shot, a bad hole or even a series of bad holes.

Golf psychology can get complex and confusing but boiling it down to that very real benefit helps discussion. You just need to find what mindset works for you and gives you the best chance of hitting a good shot after a bad one.

There's other important aspects of course, such as forgetting score and focusing on the process etc but "bouncebackability" is probably the most famous and most tangible evidence of what a good golfing mind can do.

The most common problem is of course getting angry and analytical after a bad shot. As the OP has said, guys usually appreciate the need to stay cool in order to hit a good next shot, but the temptation to lose the rag is too great. There-in lies the challenge.

Personally, my mental game has strong and weak points. I have a relatively solid track record of getting a good score going and seeing that score out, in big and small comps. Not so great in the opposite situation - if my score starts to slip early, on the first 6 or 9 holes, I have a tendancy to continue to faulter and shoot a high score, as opposed to getting it together and keeping it respectable.
I guess my stats this year reflect this - getting cut from 9 to 5 despite almost 2 full shots of .1s back!

I appreciate that this is not as annoying as shooting good scores for 16 holes and finishing 7, 7, but it's still something I've always been working to improve on.

Our course has a very tough finish, 17 being index 1, 16 is a long par 3 over water and 15 is an index 5 par 5 over two rivers. To me, this means a good mental game gains a player an even bigger advantage than on a course where you can get the tough holes out of the way earlier and cruise in. It also makes it a big challenge to pull a score together after a bad or even average start.

I'm pleased to say I have a good example to share, from our presidents prize the week before last. I was having one of those stop-start days and slightly worse than h'cap after 14, making a bogey to go +6 gross. Was trying to keep to my routine, keep trusting etc. Something clicked and I birdied 15, 16 and 17, with short putts on each. I almost birdied 18 too.

What's even harder to believe is my score of 39pts (17 + 22) was beaten on the back 9 by a guy with 16 + 23!!

All the same, I was happy. And I found that it was exacty the mindset that's described in the books. Not trying too hard, letting it happen as opposed to trying to force a good round after a bad start. It's a confident feeling when you think about it. That you don't have to have an immaculate front 9 for the best golf you've ever played to show up on the back 9.

SuprSi

It's an interesting question and one I can answer from my own experience in the last two rounds I played - Powerscourt last Saturday and Heritage yesterday.

For the 4 days before each round I was monitoring the weather, hoping that it would be good. Each week the forecast was crap, showing no signs of getting better by the time I was due to play golf. Last Saturday came along and it was very windy. I had never played the west course in Powerscourt and when I arrived I can't say I was looking forward to it due to the very high winds, but I hit around 30 shots in my warm up, spent around 20 minutes on the putting green, and was ready to go. I felt I'd found my groove, stood up on the first tee, a cracked a drive straight down the middle, holding the ball into the wind and everything. I continued to hit the ball superbly off the tee for the whole round and we won our match 2 & 1. My head was in a pretty good place as I'd hit some great shots, finding tricky fairways from the tee, hitting greens, and generally felt confident.

Different story yesterday! The wind was pretty bad again, but there was the added element of quite heavy rain and soft ground in the Heritage. I didn't get to hit any shots beforehand, didn't get the practise any putting, and because it was a shotgun start we began on the 18th, one of the trickier driving holes on the course. Without warming up, I couldn't find my groove, couldn't settle or agree with myself what felt right, even down to something as simple as my grip. I snap hooked my first drive into the water off the tee, and proceeded to do this quite regularly for the rest of the round. As a result, I lost confidence and continually fought with myself to correct the problem, which I never really did. The weather made the round very uncomfortable as everything was wet, and as a result my head was definitely not in a good place.

If I'd been able to warm up properly yesterday I might have been ok as simple things like my grip would have been fine, but this added to the crap weather ensured I didn't enjoy my round. Instead my head was cluttered with insecurities about the basics, rather than just completing my backswing, which is the key to me hitting the ball well. Anyway, I guess the moral is that once I warm up and find my groove (which usually happens on the practise range), my head is immediately more relaxed and prepared for the coming round, and even hitting a few bad shots won't put me off.

stevire

I feel that if you try fix things mentally on the course its just as bad as trying to fix a part of your swing on the course. The mental aspect should be drilled into your head off the course just like your swing.

I know its easier said than done but that's my two cents... If you head out to the driving range, drill the mental side and routine into each shot. If your trying to work on a certain part of your swing on the driving range then I would not use my routine as its not a part of your usual swing....

That's my usual methods for practicing and playing! To answer the main question, I feel I was pretty strong mentally in the last round, had two double bogeys and one bogey in the first three holes alone last week, front nine was one of my worst but back nine I was 8 shots less than my front 9!