Every round of golf has the potential to result in many poor shots. Sometimes, when the stars align the number of poor shots drastically reduce. I have had my share of great rounds (and the other ones as well) where my number of poor shots determined my low score. During the great and poor rounds, I always wonder if any of my poor golf shots were preventable. The answer is always yes and I think I know why!
Yes, I realize that many of us have never been accused of overthinking. 😉 Most of my issues stem from trying to be far too delicate and end up being short. Then, on the next shot, I make an adjustment to compensate for my poor mental approach and another mistake happens. Through the ‘toing and froing’ process of making mistakes, I realize my challenges are all mental.
Standing over the ball I realize that I think of too many variables instead of making a decision and moving forward. I know that all of the thinking needs to happen in my pre-shot routine. Then once I decide on the shot I want to make, I should grab a club, hit a few practice swings (when chipping only) and then commit to the shot.
Regardless of what situation on the golf course, committing to whatever shot I select is critical to lower golf scores. It is important to quiet the white noise and stop overthinking. The only true way to take my game to the next level is to commit to every shot without letting a million swing thoughts rattle around in my head while trying to make a shot.
Poor golf shots are preventable. At least mentally they are from what I can determine. Physically, I still make poor shots because the execution phase of my golf game will always need work. I can help myself by not overthinking every shot through committing. I cannot promise that I can prevent all poor shots, but I think I can limit the number through my pre-shout routine and committing to the shot. Thoughts?
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Jim, I have outsmarted myself on the golf course many times. If you have a good game going, forget that shot! My next shot will be my best ever. Lol
Sometimes golf is a grind. The variety of shots you face because of the conditions of the course means you never have the same shot twice. I know that from the practice range. The adventure is what makes the game interesting. Gotta have the memory of a golf fish- Jon Rahm
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Jimmy K,
You are right about having a short memory. I too have outsmarted myself on the golf course, much to my chagrin. I hope your game is going well this year, mine is starting to come along.
Cheers Jim
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Commitment and routine will help keep the worst shots away, sure. But we have to allow for the terrible anyway. You can hit the pin and end up in the water after all.
It’s how fast and how well we reset that counts. For me sometimes the severity of a miss or a failure that repeats will cause me to search for an answer and that’s a mental failure. My concentration divides doing that and resetting gets forgotten. That’s pretty much what I think I did Saturday on review. I reset finally, just 6 holes too late.
And if anyone is working on their swing mistakes are going to come a lot more often for awhile. I feel for me that I’m just getting settled in with the changes I made. They’re working well. And the swing is more consistent. But I still make old mistakes. And I make some bad guesses about what the new swing will get me in specific situations. It’s part of the learning curve.
So right now in my game it’s even more important to reset after every swing and stick to a solid routine. And to commit fully to each shot.
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Kevin,
During the transition period of swing changes, poor golf shots will definitely pop up. What I am talking about is for players like myself who have a set swing and are not making changes. Poor shots at that time should be avoid if I am mentally focused and not overthinking. Regardless, I agree that poor shots are definitely part of the game.
Cheers Jim
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