Are you a streaky golfer? Will you play 5 or 10 rounds of great golf followed by the same number of mediocre rounds? If so, you might have an ailment I call flash in the pan golf!
I am not sure what causes this aliment, but I experience this frustrating cycle once or twice a golf season. The trick for me is to limit the mediocre rounds and maximize the good rounds. However, noticing the change is the key to my lower golf scores!
Flash in the pan golf is not serious, but there is no quick fix, and no one is immune to this aliment. Personally I think I can boil everything down to one aspect of my game, but first here are a couple of my signs that things are starting to falter in my game.
- I have to take a 7 day forced break from golf because of important life stuff.
- I am not thinking about the game at hand.
- I feel rushed on the course.
- I do not practice much.
- I start making excuses for my poor play that have nothing to do with golf.
As I read my list of triggers, I realize they are all symptoms to a greater problem. It is simple to me and I have learned to recognize the onset of poor play.
Flash in the pan golf is rooted in my mental side of playing golf. During the season I forget that preparing to play golf mentally requires attention and fostering to shoot low scores.
Mental preparation starts away for the course as much as on the course. So as my golf season unfolds this year, I am going to make a point of staying mentally prepared to play golf through focused meditation, visualization, creating a practice plan and to remember the positive emotions of playing great golf.
Have you ever experienced flash in the pan golf? Do you mentally prepare away for the golf course during your golf season?
The Grateful Golfer 
Aloha Jim,
I am familiar wit ha version of this problem … I call it “mind share”. What percentage of my mind can I devote to golf? The lower the percentage the higher the score.
Rarely do I get to play a round in a vacuum where I can concentrate totally on golf. There are most always unresolved worries that demand mind share. And of course the bigger the worry the bigger the score. In each round I deal with fairways, bunkers, greens, and worries – but I guess that is true of all golfers.
I do put some effort into eliminating the worries before I step onto the first tee. That way I have more mind share for the fairways, bunkers, and greens. Success in this shows up on the score card.
A Hui Hou,
Wayne
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Wayne
You said a mouthful. I to try to separate my off course worries and for the most part I am pretty successful. I hope you can put your worries away next time you play.
Cheers
Jim
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Jim, great topic. With me, bouts of poor play are more physical than mental. Generally, if I haven’t had enough reps (early in the season) I’m prone to poor stints. Likewise, when I return from my Myrtle Beach trip (12 rounds in 6 days) I need to get away from the game to let my body recover. The mental aspect does kick in when football season starts in late August and I am susceptible to poor play because of waning interest. I guess the best you can do is know yourself and your tendencies. Changing your routine also helps to stay fresh.
Thanks!
Brian
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Brian,
Your last point is spot on. Knowing your game and understanding the effects of life challenges is very important. I generally start to lose interest in late Sept.
Cheers
Jim
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