It happens to every golfer—pro and amateur alike. You're playing well and all of a sudden you lose it. You find yourself slicing drives, dubbing approach shots, overshooting pitch shots, and missing short putts. Your confidence dwindles and your strokes mount. Your local pro didn't cover this in her golf lessons and it's putting a damper on your day. The wheels are coming off, and you don't know how to regroup and get yourself back on track.
Knowing how to regroup when the wheels come off has numerous benefits. It salvages a bad round, minimizes your scores, and helps maintain a low golf handicap. In addition, it turns a bad day into a good. But regrouping in the midst of a bad round is hard. Often, the more your try to pull yourself out of it, the worse it gets. Sometimes, a single shot does it, but not always. Barring that, there are some things you can do to put yourself in a position to start playing well again.
Stop Fighting It
The first thing you need to do when the wheels come off is to stop fighting it. So relax and don't press the issue. These spells happen to every golfer—even professionals. And they'll probably happen again. Don't let them throw you. And don't panic. You've hit good shots before and you'll hit good ones again. Changing your mindset is the key to regaining self-confidence. Once you've done that, you can take concrete steps to remedy the situation.
Next, work on regaining your tempo. Often, you can sense when you've lost your tempo. Your swing feels quick and jerky, instead of slow and fluid. Your upper body and your lower body seem disconnected. Your arms and hands feel weird. And your rhythm is off as well. When things start going haywire, golfers tense up. Tension is a golfer's worse nightmare. To alleviate tension, take a few deep breadths. Fake a yawn, if you have to. The more you relax, the faster you'll regain you tempo.
Tap Your Subconscious
Among the biggest reasons you lose it when playing well is that you become overly conscious of the physical part of your swing. You try to control your hands and arms or you try to put more "legs" into the shot. Whatever it is you're trying to do, you focus too much on the physical aspects of your swing and you lose touch with non-physical parts of your swing, like rhythm and tempo. That throws your swing off. In short, you over analyze your swing.
When this happens, you need to stop tap your subconscious. Good golfers, as I've mention in my golf tips, play in the subconscious. They don't over-think their shots. And they don't over-examine their swings. Instead, they trust them—and all the work they've put into it on the range. Learn to do the same. The middle of a round is no time to make major swing adjustments. Take aim at the target, and let it go.
Accept What You Can't Control
Many things are out of your control on the golf course. Take putting, for example. No matter how many golf lessons you take or how many golf tips you read, you'll never control every putting variable. Grass is a living thing. It grows and changes all the time—even as you play. These changes can affect a putt. So can mower lines, grass clippings, fertilizer, and pebbles. The margin for error when putting is small. Take your best read, focus on making a smooth stroke, and give the ball your best roll.
And don't get frustrated, if you miss. Every golfer misses from time to time. The trick is to let the frustration go. Maybe you lost your concentration because it was an easy putt. Or, maybe you didn't follow through or the ball hit a pebble you didn't see. Whatever it is, don't let it get to you. Frustration builds tension and tension, as we said before, is a golfer's worst enemy. Learn to go with the flow.
These four keys—restoring your confidence, regaining your tempo, tapping your subconscious, and learning to go with the flow—are the secret to regrouping when the wheels come off. But Regrouping isn't easy, but it's a skill you can learn. So the next time you start unraveling during a round, put these keys into affect. They'll help you minimize the damage from bad rounds and maintain a low golf handicap.
Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book "How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros." He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.
