The STRANGELY GOOD ROUND

[cypressperch]

Was reading Irish Golfer's story of doing well putting with his two-iron. It got me to thinking about the nine holes I played yesterday afternoon. I had not played in two weeks because I had burned my toes on my left foot. There was still pain, but I could not take it any more, I had to go to the course. I hit a small bag of balls and was topping a few and not hitting but a couple of acceptable shots. I was also wearing new sun glasses with a new prescription, so I did not know if it was the lay-off, the pain, or the glasses that was causing such poor shots. Still, I decided to go play a few holes anyway. My expectations were low. Somehow, I shot one-under par, thirty-five. Could easily have been a thirty-three since I missed a four foot birdie on sixteen and did not get up and down from the edge of the green on fifteen.

While playing, I was not able to swing as forcefully as normal. I started thinking that this would be the way I would have to swing in the not too distant future, being sixty-one at present. In this mode of thinking, I was really thinking out each shot as to position, etc. I was not thinking that much about my swing, mainly just to complete the back-swing and not rush things getting back to the ball. I was never in really serious trouble during the nine.

Why was I able to score better this round than I usually do when I am playing regularly? Why did Irish Golfer putt very well with a two iron? Why are good rounds common after a lay-off? Why do we sometimes get on a course we have never seen and score far better than we thought we might? Why are there these STRANGELY GOOD ROUNDS?

We are told to develop a routine in order to develop consistency. I know this is good advice, but what if in doing so, we start to rely so much on routine that we do not think things through as well as we should? What if we play a course so often that we get to thinking we don't have to think since we know the course so well? Even if we do not consciously think of this, what if that is what we are actually doing, but are not conscious of the fact that we are unconsciously doing such? Novel situations force us to think things through. Also, we probably do a better job of zeroing in on the most significant things and keep things simple.

They say that many golfers have their expectations way too high. The way that some golfers rant and rave from the start to the finish of every round they play is proof that this malady afflicts many. We become greater perfectionists than the best of pros. This dooms us to failure and therefore loss of confidence and therefore higher scores than we should be making. In a novel situation, we seem to correctly lower our expectations but we also are thinking freshly because of that novelty. This seems to be a big part of why we can often have the STRANGELY GOOD ROUNDS that are really quite common with just about everyone who plays golf.

We are sometimes amazed at how well some of the older players score given their physical limitations. Perhaps the older player has reason to cherish somewhat more than younger folks each and every round that he or she plays. And, if Dirty Hairy is correct that a "man needs to know his limitations", perhaps the wiser, older golfer puts that thought into practice somewhat better than the more youthful golfer, though I cannot blame the young for wanting to crush it while they can.

Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Bravo]

I had such a Strangely Good Round last summer.

Went up to the course stone cold...1:30 in the afternoon. There were two guys I didn't know on the first tee. I asked if I could play with them and they said sure...

I shot even par. Hit ball in fairway, onto green and two putt.

At the end of the 9th, they surprised me when out of the blue they said they had to leave...

So I go to the 10th and sure enough there are two fellows I've never met getting ready to tee off. Same thing...can I tag along?

Shot one over....73 on a par 72 course with slope rating of 136....

You're right Cypress....I had no expectations, almost played mindlessly...fairways, greens and two putts....

[The Salt Vampire]

I think it has something to do with expectations, playing like a kid, playing smart, etc... .

My strangely good round was in a four-club tourney last year. Shot 74 off an 8 or 9 handicap. Putter, SW, 8-iron and 7-wood. Just tried to manage my way around and really grinded. Scary thing was about 4 of the 8 guys I knew that played that day shot their best scores of the year and in two cases, ever. Me, I finished 3rd.

[warbirdlover]

This all makes sense...

[IrishGolfer]

Cool post CP and sweet round.

Funny thing is the other night when I reached the 1st green and discovered I didn't have my putter, strangely it didn't bother me. It was a friendly few holes so wasn't a big deal, but I actually enjoyed the challenge. I was surprised I did as well with it.

[Eracer]

Great post CP, and I think it's one of the great mysteries of golf. How can it seem so easy at certain times (relatively speaking) and so difficult at others?

One of the most telling things for me is the snap hook off the tee, followed by a perfect shot down the middle of the fairway. Seems to happen often. Is it that we are too focused - too much aware of the moment - in our first swing? And we just "let go" on the second.

Another is the 50-foot putt that we KNOW is in the hole when it's 10 feet away and still has two breaks to negotiate. We've all felt it.

Not to get too philosophical, but when the shots happen right, is it a zen moment? Is the "arrow" already in the target when we first string the bow?

Are we tapping into a swing that has already happened? Is that what "The Zone" is? Simply a replay - a deja vu, if you will? Don't discount this as mere fantasy. If you've learned anything about quantum mechanics you know the concept is a valid one.

Or is it simpler than that? Perhaps we are are simply relaxed enough to allow our subconscious mind to take over. Augster, in another thread, talks about Natural Golf (not the Natural Golf Swing) and he talks about target-based, non-mechanistic golf. Allow the body to swing the club in rhythm and balance, and good things happen.

Finally, are these younger players better golfers because their minds are not yet cluttered up with all the BS that modern life imposes upon us?

Anyway, good questions, CP - ones I would love to learn more answers to.

[cypressperch]

and I am certain that being relaxed is a big part of playing great golf. We will have a professional tournament getting really tight on the last day, and an announcer invariably will say that such-and-such golfer has "been there before." Such a golfer will be better able to stay relaxed under all the pressure. With the pressure on, there is every motivation to be motivated, but there just might be so much tension that relaxation is impossible, and it may even be too much to stay focused. Somewhere in a book on the mental side of golf, I came across the concept of being "relaxed and focused." We can get overly relaxed to the point of becoming lackadaisical so that we make careless mistakes, and we can get so overly focused that tension builds which cripples our efforts. To be both relaxed and focused is to have found a happy medium.

I think you are on the right track with bringing out the importance of the subconsious. When a hypnotist performs, he always speaks slowly, very, very slowly. So slowly. So very, very slowly. Your eyes are getting heavy. So very, very heavy. Well, you get the idea. They certainly do not yell people into hypnotic trances. We cannot possibly think of everything that goes on during any golf shot while we execute it. The subconscious is in control and can handle such speeds because the subconscious does not have a vocabulary. Thoughts do not have to be in word form which takes so much time. This is why it is so important to be relaxed. It is not just so that our muscles have no tension. It is that along with allowing the subconscious to be in charge of moving the relaxed muscles.

I think the focused aspect is of primary importance in analyzing the shot, club choice, pre-shot routine, etc. Everything that goes on prior to pulling the trigger. Some develop a swing trigger such as a foward press. That is done consciously, and from that point on, the subconscious is in charge. If we truly "trust our swing," it will be. Swinging to the finish is a good idea so that the subconscious is in command throughout the whole swing.

You have brought up a related topic, the really long putt that goes in as you somehow knew it would. There is an almost spooky feeling that comes over me when this happens. It may have a scientific explanation, but it seems very, very mystical to me. I have holed out many pitch shots and chip shots in which I had a distinct feeling that I was going to even as I was addressing the ball. It all felt so right. I and the shot had become ONE. This stuff is at a higher level than just having a positive attitude, though that attitude may be a necessary key to unlocking such massive powers of mind over matter.

"Relaxed focus" has been one of the main things that I have come across in trying to improve at this game. Some of the stuff we have been discussing while on the topic of the STRANGELY GOOD ROUND might just help to get to that state of mind. Lowering expectations to something more realistic, keeping things simple, finding ways to make things novel or fresh to stay out of ruts of stale thinking, all of these and more might prove helpful.

Someone out there is saying, "Balderdash! Just do it!" To which I might add, "How true, but why include 'balderdash' at all, and just say, 'Do it!'" And some of us just cannot let something go so simply. WE HAVE GOT TO KNOW 'WHY?'

Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Eracer]

I would love to hear other people's discussion of this - especially the younger players we have on this board.

[paddy10189]

I think that this is why I play better when I am tired and it is early in the morning. I am not thinking about the tee shot I am thinking about being in bed so I am relaxed

[Shea_Butler]

I had a round three weeks ago that felt so wierd but awesome... it was like i attained nirvana or something of the sort. I could swing as hard as i felt like and it didnt feel like nething, some shots were errant all others were awesome. The errant ones, surprisingly, did not frusterate me at all. I simply, some how, approached them as if was in the fairway with a fourty yard pitch shot (my distance). It was Awwwwwesome. I loved it, now that this has come up and reminded me of it im thinking of paying more attention to my mood and calmness (word?) during a round and i guess just my mental outlook... oh i forgot to mention thats when i shot my low round thanks to this post im going to take a new approach on my next few rounds thanks CP!

[lamebums]

Yeah, I had one of those pretty recently. I dumped the front nine with a 48 and didn't have high expectations - the back nine is much harder than the front (slope 134 from the white tees in all). So, what do you know - I birdie the 10th (a long par 4 where 6 is not a bad score - the green is unmeasurable with a Stimpmeter and anything short of the hole will roll off the front), and I'm off. I didn't really care - relaxed, and I made up the crappy front with a 37 - the best ever for 9 holes, and on the hardest 9 in the area. Had a 25-footer for 36 and only missed by an inch.

[cypressperch]

errant shots somehow not bothering you is definitely a characteristic of the golfer who is in the best frame of mind. Such a person is not all wrapped up in that perfectionist business that does not allow for an occasional poor shot. As if we are not going to have such shots!! Sure we are, so when they happen to come, just accept it as natural and move on to the next shot. That is when we are truly playing the game one shot at a time without looking foward or backward. The most important shot is always the shot at hand.

Sincerely, Cypressperch

[IrishGolfer]

Hey CP

Wanted to say thanks again for this post. I just shot my best round in years and won a tourney. And it sort of came from nowhere. It was a very strange(ly good) round as the further it progressed the more relaxed I got and the better I played. I usually start "bricking myself" towards the end of a good round. But strangely I just felt really relaxed. Not sure if this was confidence. I had 4 birdies in the last 6 holes; at the time it didn't feel like anything. But I sit here now in wonderment thinking about it.

The mental side of the game is so fascinating. In those last 6 holes I hit one really super shot, the rest were just a bunch of average / good shots strung together. Maybe it was some sort of providence that they happened like that. Not sure but it would be great to "bottle that feeling".

Now I am faced with the thought that either I may never play that well EVER again or do I think I have now broken a barrier and can continue to get better. Of course the optimist in me thinks the latter.

[Eracer]

Outstanding, IG. Be proud of what you accomplished and reject the thought that you have created a benchmark for yourself. Appreciate what you've accomplished and realize that you may not (or you may) equal that performance in the future.

Take whatever positive thoughts you can away from the day and reject any negative thoughts that arise from it.

[cypressperch]

I agree with Eracer about perhaps not making such a low score become the benchmark for determining whether or not a round is acceptable or not. I am sure you are aware of that. A lot of people have such high expectations, often based on previous performances (though sometimes not), that they doom themselves to failure. Failure then produces loss of confidence and higher scores. We then get to the point of having STRANGELY BAD ROUNDS.

I like a point you made about how several of your birdies were made using some rather average shots pieced together nicely. I have had lots of those type of birdies. Such play is very similar to what professionals call GRINDING. They talk about how tough it is, how much will power is involved. Hey, a lot of us amateurs do this all the time! And I agree with you, that when we do this type of thing, it sort of makes us comfortable.
I think the comfort comes when we start to realize that we can score quite well hitting shots that are far less than perfect, far below the standard the pro has set as their benchmark. When professionals score as high as many did at the Bridgestone, I think their perfectionism did them in. Of course it did not help that Tiger was playing just about perfect, though he did some grinding after some of those tee shots.

One thing does become obvious. If we are to have low rounds with average shot-making, we are going to have to have good short games and putting.

Again, congratulations! Sincerely, Cypressperch


Hope this gets through. It is my third effort. I type something, and when I try to submit it, I am told that I have not logged in. When I log in, I cannot find what I have just written. Thought this problem had been worked out.