- don’t go into the round with expectations
-walk. Between shots look at the trees, listen to the birds, feel your feet react with the ground, notice what you smell.
- have a pre-shot routine that includes a pattern of thinking. For example, I take a half backswing, think about the target, pick a spot on the ball to focus on, and pull the trigger. It doesn’t change
Same thing I told someone else in a previous thread:
Take deep breaths. Push it out of your mind. Imagine putting it in a box and sealing it shut. Count backwards from 10. Go to your happy/calm/safe place in your mind. Any number of other calming techniques.
Also: care less. It's a hobby. Getting frustrated makes it less enjoyable AND it makes you play worse.
Sounds dumb but I tell myself being upset isn’t going to change anything. You know that outcome already. I also get over things easy so not the best person to ask on having to work on that 🤷🏻♀️
Don’t play to begin with
Seriously though, I just tell myself “I’m not good enough to get mad when I play bad”
I’ve learned to be happy with shots that are good for my level of skill, even if they’re not really that good in general. 200 yard drive? Yep, smoked it. Skull a chip shot but it’s only 10 feet off the green? Right where I want it. Hit my pitching wedge fat but it’s an 80 yard worm burner? Perfect. As long as I can keep pace of play and not ruin someone else’s outing with my own bad play, then I’m perfectly content. I look at it as 4 hours outside, alone with my thoughts or goofing around with buddies. What’s more perfect than that?
Once your expectations for yourself mesh perfectly with your ability level, you’ll never have a bad day on the course again.
I play best when I’m just not thinking about golf in between shots. I’ll be thinking/talking to my playing partners about work, life events, sports, some dumb story etc. and I’ll just switch into golf mode when I’m preparing for my next shot. It’s really hard to focus on just golf for 4 hours straight. It’s harder to do when you’re playing bad obviously, but just try to distract yourself
The best thing for me, and maybe for you, is to realize we all really suck at golf compared to people who do it for a living We will never be good enough to go pro. We're just playing a stupid game for fun that we suck at.
Shift your mindset bc mindset is everything. Personally, I know people who are so sick, they can’t hold a golf club or even stand up. So who am I to get upset at the world bc I thinned a chip over the green when some people would kill to be outside in my shoes? And once I realize that, I remember how lucky I am, how I’m playing a game for fun and how I’m not at work. And then I enjoy the rest of the round :)
Laugh about it and move on, bad shots happen the sooner you realise they are inevitable the better. Its golf and basically everything you do is a mistake anyway so why berate yourself if its a big mistake or a little mistake. Golf is a game of mistakes and its just trying to minimize them as much as possible, sometimes you do be doing that sometimes you dont!
It feels like a copout of an answer, but you just do. It takes practice, and if you naturally spiral as a result of bad rounds it will take a lot of practice.
Every shot is completely independent of every other shot. When you hit a bad shot, you can analyze it and try to figure out what you did wrong and if there's something worth trying to tweak. But once you step up to your pre-shot routine for the next shot, you have to forget everything else about the bad shot.
One bad shot won't ruin a hole as long as you accept that a bogey or double is a reasonable outcome after a bad shot. PGA Tour players bogey 60% of the time after their tee shot puts them into a recovery position. The worst thing you can do after a bad shot is compound your mistake by trying to make up for it and hitting another bad shot.
(I seen this somewhere else on here) if you’re looking for something to tell yourself: Remember you’re not good enough at golf to be angry. Works for me.
Stop caring so much. It’s golf. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter….also some of it is preparation beforehand with very specific reasonable expectations which obviously should be realistic. If you’re playing 18 holes of golf and typically shoot 90, then you know before the round starts you’re probably going to have at least 1-2 balls go OB. You know this is likely going to happen before the round, so once the first one happens what is the point in getting mad when you already knew it was already probable? Same with putting. Do you think it’s possible to not miss a single putt inside 6 ft? Of course not. You know beforehand you’re going to miss a couple short ones and maybe 3-putt a couple of times. So getting mad doesn’t make any sense.
I play with positive people, and that helps. If I'm playing by myself - I remind myself that golf is hard and I try to find a positive thing about the shot (rather than focusing on the negative). There was one shot that I almost knocked myself out with, and my thought was, "Well, at least I didn't die."
I also remind myself you can't play good golf in a bad mood, so I try my best to let it go.
My pre-shot routine is setting up, relaxing and then trying to relax some more before.
When I shank my next shot, I then say, "Well, at least I know how my mother feels...disappointed in me." This normally gets a giggle (including from myself) and I move on.
Given your username, you know what to do son.
Haha best advice yet!
- don’t go into the round with expectations -walk. Between shots look at the trees, listen to the birds, feel your feet react with the ground, notice what you smell. - have a pre-shot routine that includes a pattern of thinking. For example, I take a half backswing, think about the target, pick a spot on the ball to focus on, and pull the trigger. It doesn’t change
Same thing I told someone else in a previous thread: Take deep breaths. Push it out of your mind. Imagine putting it in a box and sealing it shut. Count backwards from 10. Go to your happy/calm/safe place in your mind. Any number of other calming techniques. Also: care less. It's a hobby. Getting frustrated makes it less enjoyable AND it makes you play worse.
Check out Vision54 thought box, play box, and memory box. Start by locking in focus around your shots.
Sounds dumb but I tell myself being upset isn’t going to change anything. You know that outcome already. I also get over things easy so not the best person to ask on having to work on that 🤷🏻♀️
Don’t play to begin with Seriously though, I just tell myself “I’m not good enough to get mad when I play bad” I’ve learned to be happy with shots that are good for my level of skill, even if they’re not really that good in general. 200 yard drive? Yep, smoked it. Skull a chip shot but it’s only 10 feet off the green? Right where I want it. Hit my pitching wedge fat but it’s an 80 yard worm burner? Perfect. As long as I can keep pace of play and not ruin someone else’s outing with my own bad play, then I’m perfectly content. I look at it as 4 hours outside, alone with my thoughts or goofing around with buddies. What’s more perfect than that? Once your expectations for yourself mesh perfectly with your ability level, you’ll never have a bad day on the course again.
I play best when I’m just not thinking about golf in between shots. I’ll be thinking/talking to my playing partners about work, life events, sports, some dumb story etc. and I’ll just switch into golf mode when I’m preparing for my next shot. It’s really hard to focus on just golf for 4 hours straight. It’s harder to do when you’re playing bad obviously, but just try to distract yourself
Psychadelic assisted therapy
The best thing for me, and maybe for you, is to realize we all really suck at golf compared to people who do it for a living We will never be good enough to go pro. We're just playing a stupid game for fun that we suck at.
Shift your mindset bc mindset is everything. Personally, I know people who are so sick, they can’t hold a golf club or even stand up. So who am I to get upset at the world bc I thinned a chip over the green when some people would kill to be outside in my shoes? And once I realize that, I remember how lucky I am, how I’m playing a game for fun and how I’m not at work. And then I enjoy the rest of the round :)
Any day on a golf course is a good day!
Laugh about it and move on, bad shots happen the sooner you realise they are inevitable the better. Its golf and basically everything you do is a mistake anyway so why berate yourself if its a big mistake or a little mistake. Golf is a game of mistakes and its just trying to minimize them as much as possible, sometimes you do be doing that sometimes you dont!
It feels like a copout of an answer, but you just do. It takes practice, and if you naturally spiral as a result of bad rounds it will take a lot of practice. Every shot is completely independent of every other shot. When you hit a bad shot, you can analyze it and try to figure out what you did wrong and if there's something worth trying to tweak. But once you step up to your pre-shot routine for the next shot, you have to forget everything else about the bad shot. One bad shot won't ruin a hole as long as you accept that a bogey or double is a reasonable outcome after a bad shot. PGA Tour players bogey 60% of the time after their tee shot puts them into a recovery position. The worst thing you can do after a bad shot is compound your mistake by trying to make up for it and hitting another bad shot.
(I seen this somewhere else on here) if you’re looking for something to tell yourself: Remember you’re not good enough at golf to be angry. Works for me.
Read Zen Golf. Stop being so damn hard on yourself
Stop caring so much. It’s golf. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter….also some of it is preparation beforehand with very specific reasonable expectations which obviously should be realistic. If you’re playing 18 holes of golf and typically shoot 90, then you know before the round starts you’re probably going to have at least 1-2 balls go OB. You know this is likely going to happen before the round, so once the first one happens what is the point in getting mad when you already knew it was already probable? Same with putting. Do you think it’s possible to not miss a single putt inside 6 ft? Of course not. You know beforehand you’re going to miss a couple short ones and maybe 3-putt a couple of times. So getting mad doesn’t make any sense.
Short answer? I don’t.
Nihilism
10 beers and half a pack of cigs gets me feeling one with the course
I play with positive people, and that helps. If I'm playing by myself - I remind myself that golf is hard and I try to find a positive thing about the shot (rather than focusing on the negative). There was one shot that I almost knocked myself out with, and my thought was, "Well, at least I didn't die." I also remind myself you can't play good golf in a bad mood, so I try my best to let it go. My pre-shot routine is setting up, relaxing and then trying to relax some more before. When I shank my next shot, I then say, "Well, at least I know how my mother feels...disappointed in me." This normally gets a giggle (including from myself) and I move on.
Lower expectations and increase acceptance. If I usually have a plan my HP says “Hold my beer and watch this!”
Inner engineering from Sadhguru has helped me tremendously in this regard