The 10 things that effect your game the most?

[golfer1]

Everyone that enjoys this game trys to score well. But unfortunatly, your game is affected by a variety of things. I'm not talking about hooks or slices. Here is my list, starting with items that hurt the score card the most to the least:

1) A poor nights sleep
2) Hangover
3) Both of the above
3) Body pain
4) Too hot or cold
5) Slow play
6) Poor course conditions
7) Marraige or girl friend troubles (or both!)
8) Lousy equipment
9) Financial problems
10) Problems at work

What's yours?

 

[SiberianDVM]

1) pain; I seem to keep either a pulled muscle in my back or a sore wrist
2) poor vision; I had 20/15 vision when I was young; now I have to wear glasses to see where my ball went (another good reason to keep it in the fairway)
3) golf partners that get in a foul mood when they make a few bad shots; so what, it's not like we're playing in the Masters; get over it!
4) excessive heat; if it's over 95F, I'm not playing, don't even ask
5) cell phones; I'd lov3e to see how far my driver could hit the next one I hear on a golf course
6) pushy singles in carts; the next time one of you drives up to the tee when I'm taking a practice swing, your head will be my target
7) no water points on every tee; when I'm out of water I don't want to have to go back 3 holes to find some
8) fat cart girls; no explanation needed
9) not being able to find my tee shot that sliced into the rough; it's rough dammit, not rainforest
10) diabolical pin placement; I never knew it was possible for a groomed piece of turf to slope in 4 different directions at once until I played the 16th at Forest Hills.

 

[Rockford35]

1. Mental lapses
2. Missed practice time
3. Wind
4. Worn grips
5. Worn gloves
6. Rain
7. Indecisive shotmaking
8. Becoming competitive instead of playing within my own game
9. Putting quirks....greens, poor posture, no follow through, ect...
10. Beer...too much vs too little

R35

 

[The master]

1. Rushing for tee off before competiton
2. Lack of fluids and food on golf course
3. Club descion
4. A poor nights sleep
5. Lightening quick greens
6. Slow hairy greens
7. Playing with people I don't like or I compete against too much
8. Hard conditions
9. Not well enough prepred etc: no wet gear no bag cover not enough warm clothing
10. Thing negitaive etc: I can't make this putt i've made 3 5 footers in a row i'm bound to miss or this fairway is soo hard to hit I have no chance off hitting it.

 

[VtDivot]

Any combination of the 3 below spell immediate disaster for me

1. confidence
2. inconsistent green speed
3. wind

 

[DaveE]

1. Back pain.
2. Distractions, other than back pain.
3. Did I mention back pain?
4. Loss of concentration during a round.
5. Lack of confidence in a particular shot.
6. Thinking about my score instead of the shot at hand.
7. Dumb shots.

 

[The master]

1. confidence

My biggest killer. I never go onto the golf course with confidence I reckon if I could build some confidence I could be a good player, and maybe win a few boys championships. It has actually got to the stage were I don't like to practice because I know that I will go to the range and hit 50 balls with my 7 iron 160 every tiome and straight as a die, and when I go out on the course I will miss the green or at least miss my target by 20 -30 feet because i'm thinking off all the negatives.

 

[VtDivot]

1. Back pain.
2. Distractions, other than back pain.
3. Did I mention back pain?
4. Loss of concentration during a round.
5. Lack of confidence in a particular shot.
6. Thinking about my score instead of the shot at hand.
7. Dumb shots.

Dave - forget lessons...

Vicodin is the key to sucess for you... you won't even realize you have a back, you'll be a superstar

 

[1st Tee]

1. slice
2. putting
3. slowplay
4. rain(i dont wear golf shoes so my feet slip)
5. tired
6. angry at dumb friends who tell me the can only play golf for an hour and we're an hour and a half into the round!

thats al i can think of right now

 

[DaveE]

Dave - forget lessons...

Vicodin is the key to sucess for you... you won't even realize you have a back, you'll be a superstar

I've tried it and you're right. If only it was available over the counter. One of my best rounds in years was a day I had vicodin and a muscle relaxer before teeing off. I had totally forgotten what it was like to play without pain.

Or maybe it was just that I forgot how to count and thought I played a good round.

 

[IrishGolfer]

So here goes....

My domestic situation (ie the mood of SWMBO)
Work or other distractions
My hip / lower back
Fitness / tiredness, especially on 36 hole jaunts!
Lack of practice (akin to confidence) especially with the flatstick
Occasionally excessive alcohol before or during a round
Dehydration - lack of water
My playing partners
Seeing lines that don't exist
Judging ground / wind conditions

 

[dave.]

No warm up
Timing inexplicably goes out
Cricket on the tele

 

[VtDivot]

Dudes that use cool speak like cricket and tele rock!!!


Dave you are a true James Bond mofo!

 

[Golfbum]

My biggest killer. I never go onto the golf course with confidence I reckon if I could build some confidence I could be a good player, and maybe win a few boys championships. It has actually got to the stage were I don't like to practice because I know that I will go to the range and hit 50 balls with my 7 iron 160 every tiome and straight as a die, and when I go out on the course I will miss the green or at least miss my target by 20 -30 feet because i'm thinking off all the negatives.

Master you have to learn to tune the negative thoughts out. Try this, when you need to hit that 160 yard 7 iron think back to the swing on the range, the ball flight and the end results. Block out the bunker, water or whatever is there to distract you from hitting that perfect shot.

Sooner or later you will learn to do that, it is a hard thing to master. If we could all do that we would be better players.

I try hard to do it, but like you said it is not easy to forget the bad shot you hit on a certain hole last round. The bad driver, wedge or whatever. Just think "Man I can make this shot, and I am going to do it" Then trust your swing and let it happen.

If it was easy then the PROS would not have "Head Coaches" who help clear their minds of negative thoughts and put positive thoughts in place.

I have played a different course 4 times this year, par 70. Scores were 73,74,75 and a 76. One round included a -1 on the back 9. After every round there I go back to my course and blow up. Why? Because I have had a mental block about some holes on my course this year, that I never had in the past. Now I am getting over those negative thoughts and my scores are coming
back down.

THINK POSITIVE, PLAY POSITIVE REMEMBER HAVE FUN. IT IS ONLY A GAME, NO ONE IS GOING TO DIE FROM A BAD ROUND OF GOLF. RETIEF GOOSEN blew up in the final round of the US Open, 81. One of his comments was "No one died out there today, it was just a bad round of golf"

 

[NorCal707]

1) Left shoulder. Its been in chronic pain for about 2 weeks now, but it goes away when my homegrown medication hits it.
2) Trying to play after taking my homegrown medication
3) Wind! Worse than rain for me. Theres always gear to cut out the rain.
4) Hunger.
5) Golfreview.com advice

I figure half is alright.