There is nothing worse than playing a bad round of golf. Let’s be honest, a bad day on the course DOESN’T beat a day at the office. When I was a kid, I didn’t agree with this saying and now has a working man, I still DON’T agree with this saying.

Yesterday I was playing the first round of a tournament. I started off with an eagle and everything proceeded to go down hill and it resulted in an 80. Yes, an 80! For a golfer that calls themselves a professional, this is an embarrassment, but hey – it happens.

I learned a couple valuable lessons during my round of golf yesterday.

  1. You get out of this game, what you put into it. – That being said, I played one round of golf in 3 weeks. Why should I be so upset with myself. Golf is a game of skill. Without adequate repetition anyone is going to suck. Look at Tiger Woods, the best player to ever play the game. When he comes back from his injuries it takes him months of practicing 8 hours per day to be back in tournament shape.
  2. Don’t think about your mechanics on the golf course – Being a golf coach, I am constantly talking about the fundamentals and keys to the golf swing and game. This can be very helpful at times and very bad at times for my own golf game. Yesterday, it was bad for my game. I thought I had figured out the best putting stroke from me. Not because I had practiced it, but because I had talked about it and it made sense. That’s great that this new putting method makes sense, but without proper practice and repetition it was just a thought and NOT a good putting stroke.  I proceeded to have 3, 3-putts and 35 putts for the round. My putter is lucky to have survived the day still in one piece. On the last hole, after hitting 2 balls into the water (after trying to lay up with a pitching wedge) I hit it to 20 feet for 7. Walking up to the green, I finally accepted that there was not a perfect putting stroke and I was going to putt this ball without thinking about mechanics. I briefly read the putt. Stepped up to the ball, rehearsed a couple strokes while visualizing the ball go into the hole and hit it. The ball went dead center to shoot that magic score of 80! lol, at least it wasn’t 81! If I reflect back to working with my sports psychologist in college, he said to NEVER think about your putting stroke on the green. 100% off your focus needs to be focused on the hole and making the putt.
  3. How it applies to all you golf students – after each golf lesson, I am very specific when I tell my players, not to apply the changes made throughout the lesson until they have practiced it on the range or practice green. The changes made will not benefit you during a round of golf until you have rehearsed through repetition hundreds, sometimes thousands of times and are comfortable with the changes both physically and mentally.

So today my goal going into round two is to go with what I’ve got, which isn’t much! lol. I am going to “see the ball, hit the ball” whatever happens, happens!

Remember these two elements and it should ease your anxiety when you are having a bad day on the course!

I saw this photo on instagram after my bad day of golf badresults
Click Here!