If you’re a professional golfer playing in PGA-approved Tournaments like the British Open, you’d better know how to salvage a bad round. When you play for the purses today’s pro golfers play for, a bad round can really cost you. If you’re a weekend golfer playing in local tournaments or just with friends, you also should know how to salvage a bad round. It not only increases your fun, it also prevents you packing strokes on to your golf handicap.
Bad days are a part of every golfer’s life. Even the best struggle once in a while. Unfortunately, most teachers don’t show you how to salvage a bad round in their golf instruction sessions. Usually, you learn how to do it through personal experience or by reading about it in golf tips newsletters or sports magazines. However you learn it, it’s a good skill to have. Below are some tips that can help you reverse your momentum and reclaim your game when things go bad.
Disastrous Driving
It’s really frustrating when you can’t get off the tee. It also costs you strokes. But there’s never been a golfer yet who hasn’t had some bad driving days. Many golfers try to make mechanical adjustments during the round. Unfortunately, this often leads to more mistakes and more frustration. Save adjustments for the range. So what do you do during the round?
Try hitting a fade. A fade is the most common ball flight in golf, as I explained in one of my recent golf tips newsletters. To hit a fade, open your stance a little, aim down the left side of the fairway (right side if your left-handed), make a full turn, and hit the ball hard with your right side. Make sure you hold on past impact with the last three fingers of your left hand, which keeps the clubface slightly open, producing a fade. If bad driving persists over several rounds, take golf lessons to help get back on track.
Inconsistent Irons
A good mantra to recall when your irons let you down is: more club, less swing. Your first priority when your irons go bad is regaining the feeling of making solid contact and swing fluidity. If this happens to you, take an extra club and make an easy three-quarter swing. This relaxes your muscles. It also relieves the tension generated from hitting several bad shots in a row. Three-quarter swings give you more control over the clubhead and the ball, and revive the feeling of what it’s like to hit a good iron.
An off day on the green is most apparent from eight feet in. Dave Pelz, the short game guru, calls this distance the “golden eight,” to give you an idea of just how important he considers putting from this distance. Tiger Woods is better from here than anyone on Tour. Maybe that’s why he’s won so many majors and is still considered golf’s top dog.. Weekend golfers who improve their average putts made from eight feet in slice more than a stroke or two off their golf handicaps.
Change Your Approach
If you’re having problems draining short putts during a round, try changing your approach. Instead of finessing the hole, bang it into the cup’s back. This technique takes your mind off your putting woes and your mechanics. Use this technique to create a break in a string of bad putts and help yourself regain good rhythm and tempo when putting. Once you regain rhythm and tempo, you’ll see more putts go in.
Keep these tips in mind when you start going bad. You probably won’t find them taught in many golf lessons. But they’re a proven way to help reverse the downward slide and reclaim your game. More importantly, they’ll help you revive your confidence. Restoring confidence helps you play your best. That in turn prevents you from falling into a slump that could see you pack several strokes onto your golf handicap.