After a winter of grafting on my game, I was ready to hit the golf season with gusto – to see how all that practice would come to life in my play. But I’ll be honest with you… it didn’t start as I hoped.
I’ve been struggling to score well when I’ve had a card in my hand. Over my last few competition rounds, there have been laugh or cry shots that haven’t shown themselves since I was a beginner.
It was like my mind made choices I wouldn’t normally take on, and my body made swings that sent my ball scurrying. It’s been disappointing – confusing, even. And if I had one… there would be quite a few pennies in the swear jar.
So I asked myself, what is it about playing a Medal or Stableford that’s different to when I’m playing a round without a card in my hand?
That’s when the answer came to me: expectation.
There’s a hope when we play in a competition. We hope to do well. We hope the practice we’ve been putting in will pay off. We hope to finally break 90 or 80. We hope our good streak won’t end. Or that today marks the day that our 'bad' run is done.
We long to finish the round with a smile on our face rather than a sigh of disappointment because we know we can play better than that.
And that hope was hijacking my mind from golf’s golden rule of one shot at a time. When a wonky shot happened, I found myself wondering how that would impact the rest of my round. Without intending to, I was focusing on what might happen, rather than what was happening in that moment.
So here are the 5 things I’ve been working on to get unstuck with my scoring, especially in those competition rounds:
Direct Your Mind
When a round didn’t start as I hoped, I noticed myself trying too hard to save a good score. If I had a double, I would chase down a birdie – not by plotting my way around but by taking on those brilliant or bust shots that rarely pay off.
I was trying too hard to fix the damage from the hole that had been rather than being present with the shot ahead.
That’s why, when I catch myself trying to make up for a bad hole, I’ve started to direct my mind to the shot in front of me – doing my best to forget what’s been and instead, focus on what’s happening.
Pinpoint Your Patterns
There are always going to be rounds that leave us wondering what happened but they don’t have to be write offs. There’s feedback in the shots that leave us sighing.
That’s why, when I’m reflecting on my round, I look for the patterns in my play by asking myself: where did I leak the most shots and why? I’ll do my best to pull out my consistent misses so I can work on plugging those leaks in my practice.
Celebrate Your Progress
This can be tough to do when it feels like your golf game left you and all your mind wants to do is replay your worst shots of the day. But even in our roughest rounds, there will be that spark of progress – that highlight hole or super shot.
That’s why, even when it feels like I’ve taken a step back with my scores, I’ll draw out the positives – the signs of progress in my play. Maybe it’s a shot I’ve been practising that paid off, an up and down that saved my score or a bounce back after a blow up.
Set Yourself Challenges
When I’ve had a rough round, the disappointment dampens my excitement to sign up for that next competition. The dread kicks in that it might happen all over again.
So to help me move through that fear, I’ve been setting myself challenges within my round. It might be Two Putt Tops, where my quest is to two putt maximum – keeping those pesky three putts off my card. Or To The Target, where rather than fixating on my swing thoughts, I focus on sending the ball to a specific target instead.
I’ve found that setting myself a small challenge, within the 'bigness' of a round, gives me something to focus on over every shot.
Trust Your Scores Are Coming
This was one of my takeaways from watching Yuka Saso win the US Women’s Open – “I’m going to stay patient”, Saso said.
When I look back on the scores that slipped away in my last competition rounds, patience wasn’t an ingredient that was present. I would try too hard to claw a score back, rather than trust it was coming. And that I just had to stay patient.
Even now, after carding a few scores that I’m not over the moon with, rather than rush to ripping it up on my next, I’m going to stay patient. I’m going to trust that, by focusing on one shot at a time, those scores I’m seeking aren’t so far away.
I would love to hear if you’ll be giving one of these 5 tips a go – send me a message on Instagram to let me know.
