Finishing a round strong and making clutch putts

[beefstuf]

Hey Guys,

I am in the process of reflecting on my year of golf and although I have made some significant progress in terms to my ball striking, and short game I have some concerns with my putting and my level of concentration during a round.

First Question:

How do you stay focused for an entire round and to add to that point how to you get over that dreaded bogey train (2 - 3 holes with straight bogies) or get over that dreaded double bogie?

I have in many cases been even or -1 after 14-16 holes, but for some reason can never stay focused long enough to finish strong. My index is at a 4-5 these days, but I tend to have a blowup hole and cannot seem to quickly get over what happend on the last hole. I start thinking of the last holes' score or start thinking about the current rounds' score and this ultimaltey leads to me either bogeying the next 3 or 4 holes to finish my round.

My main question is how to you prevent yourself from thinking about your swing or score when you have had a bad hole and how do you move on and get your mind and swing back to harmony? Any little tips or things that you do during your round to get you back on track or to get your mind at ease?

Second question:

More often than not I miss many putts for birdie from 12 feet or inside. In addition to that I tend to miss 50% of my putts from 3 feet or inside when having to make that crucial putt. I often think I cannot read greens properly or I just cannot gain the confidence necessary to make those critical putts. When I reflect on my round the putts I have missed are result in me shooting a 78-81 when I could have easily shot a 73-76. There are often 3-4 putts for par that I miss inside 4 feet.

Any advice on both aspects would be greatly appreciated.

[nokids]

it sounds like you're asking "how do i not choke when i have to make a big shot". some people are just cool under pressure, while others dont do well under pressure. The former are probably all pro's, the latter are joe's. Of course, Phil Mickelson was a choke artist in majors, but he overcame it.

[beefstuf]

well its not even under pressure it is all the time; How do you stay focused on executing each golf shot, or how do you stay within yourself when playing a round of golf.

[atomic]

I'm no scratch golfer, but for my short putts, I try to take a smaller backswing and extend the follow-through. It cuts down on the "dreaded deceleration" stroke for me and puts a better roll on. I also assume that it is going in, and I'm conceited enough to trick myself into believing it.

[jvincent]

The general consensus is that if you looking to improve on this area of your game the best book out there is "Golf is not a game of Perfect" by Bob Rotella. Rotella is the biggest head guru on the PGA tour and the stuff you are talking about is all mental.

I'm a 7.4 (or thereabouts) right now and I can attribute the majority of my missed strokes to bad technique and/or course management. Once you get into the near scratch zone the mental side will start to dominate. Unfortunately mental toughness is not something that can be easily taught.

[byerxa]

I don't think there is an easy answer. I am trying to figure the same thing out (currently a 9). FWIW here are my thoughts.

Trying to avoid getting anxious over making a good score. We all know that feeling - hey, if I can just par out I'll shoot a career best (insert score here)! Of course the pressure we place on ourselves screws that up. I know myself I'd start to think that way during 9 holes, i.e., on say the 7th start thinking about a good score and then bombing out. But as I got better I broke through that 9 hole barrier and now I can shoot an even or sub-par 9 and not even think about it. But if I have a good round going I will still start to think about it around the 12th or 13th hole with the usual bad results. Knowing I broke through the 9 hole barrier I feel I can eventually work through the 18 hole barrier (hopefully).

Ebbs and flow of a round. Lets face it - nobody plays perfect golf for all 18 holes. To me a good golfer is able to minimize the damage when going through some "rough" holes. Knowing when a bogey is an acceptable score and recognizing when your game is not quite on at a given time. This is when smart defensive golf and a good short game keeps the round afloat in between the holes that you are throwing darts at the flags.

I think ultimately it is keeping in the here and now. The golf ball only knows the faction of a second your club hits it so all attention needs to be placed and ensuring the best result possible for that fraction of a second. Nothing more, nothing less.

Easier said than done

[tmacgolf]

Certainly a very difficult area of the game when you get to a point where you are happy with the mechanics but struggle with the mental. I'm certainly not an expert, but you may be putting too much pressure on the final number/score, and as you get closer to recording that score, you are forgetting the simple mechanics that you obviously have a good grasp on to have gotten that index. Do you have a pre shot routine that you stick to at all times? Does that routine change as you get toward the end of your round e.g get faster, slower, etc..?
One thing that worked for me was to have my playing partner keep my score and not tell me what it was. We did this for a few weeks (I had his card). Obviously I had an idea of my score, but by not tracking it after every hole, I was able to get away from it a bit during the round.
Do you track other things during your round (putts, GIR, Fairways)? Sometimes we over analyze during the rounds and that too can get exhausting by the time we reach the last few holes. On the other hand, perhaps by tracking some other areas that you normally don't, may keep your mind off of your final score.

[davevandyk]

it sounds like you're asking "how do i not choke when i have to make a big shot". some people are just cool under pressure, while others dont do well under pressure. The former are probably all pro's, the latter are joe's. Of course, Phil Mickelson was a choke artist in majors, but he overcame it.

I must disagree. I don't think there are certain people predetermined to be cool under pressure, while others are not. I think its a mental issue that needs to be worked on. As was mentioned above, look at stuff like 'Golf is not a game of perfect' or 'The 15th Club' both by Bob Rotella. Your mental thinking needs just as much care and hard work as your physical golf game does. I know personally in the last 6 rounds I have changed my rounds of 79-84 into rounds of 74-76 because of much better thinking. I can honestly say that I have not had 1 swing thought on the golf course in those 6 rounds... I used to have 3-4 thoughts per swing!!

As far as the putting goes, I believe the theory that you must have an unwavering quiet confidence that you are the best putter in the world. You must have a complete confidence that you will make your putt, but at the same time be indifferent about the results of that putt. Confidence in short putts especially is the difference between hammering them into the back of the hole, or tentatively hitting them, so that in case you do miss its just a tap in!

Just taking todays round into consideration: I walked from the car directly to the 1st tee on our South course today. Proceeded to start bogey, par, double bogey and all I thought was 'here we go again, a round I am gonna struggle to make pars and be mid-80's.' Instead ended up going EVEN for the rest of the round, including 35 on the West 9, first time busting par for 9 holes at Hunt and a 75. This was a round that just 3 weeks ago was IMPOSSIBLE for me given the start and my 'old' way of thinking on the course.

[nokids]

I don't think there is an easy answer. I am trying to figure the same thing out (currently a 9). FWIW here are my thoughts.

Trying to avoid getting anxious over making a good score. We all know that feeling - hey, if I can just par out I'll shoot a career best (insert score here)! Of course the pressure we place on ourselves screws that up. I know myself I'd start to think that way during 9 holes, i.e., on say the 7th start thinking about a good score and then bombing out. But as I got better I broke through that 9 hole barrier and now I can shoot an even or sub-par 9 and not even think about it. But if I have a good round going I will still start to think about it around the 12th or 13th hole with the usual bad results. Knowing I broke through the 9 hole barrier I feel I can eventually work through the 18 hole barrier (hopefully).

Ebbs and flow of a round. Lets face it - nobody plays perfect golf for all 18 holes. To me a good golfer is able to minimize the damage when going through some "rough" holes. Knowing when a bogey is an acceptable score and recognizing when your game is not quite on at a given time. This is when smart defensive golf and a good short game keeps the round afloat in between the holes that you are throwing darts at the flags.

I think ultimately it is keeping in the here and now. The golf ball only knows the faction of a second your club hits it so all attention needs to be placed and ensuring the best result possible for that fraction of a second. Nothing more, nothing less.

Easier said than done

that was soooooo well written. wow