Mental game

[Johny]

Hi,

I have a problem and I think many other players has the same problem..
I play training rounds with score 0. When I play competion round my score is +5 or much more.. Because mental game..
What tips you can give to those who can't play good in competions..?
I have played 4competions and all has been almost a disaster. I dont get angry or be nervous much, just a little.. But still putts, approaches and drives suggest only about 50%.. Why this and what you reccomend to do? Just more competions rounds and after it thinking why you dont suggest? Any tips to training it because I dont want to go competions and fail it? I want to play my own skill-level..

Hope you understand what i mean!

Thank you!

-Player, who is giving up playing competions, because it is so damn hard.

 

[DavidSauls]

Depends on what's sabotaging your competitive rounds.

One danger is getting outside your game to try to match your opponents. If the rest of your group parks a difficult hole, doesn't mean you have to try to park it too, if that's not the best percentage shot for your game. If someone hits a 50' putt, you don't have to try to follow by hitting your 45' putt, where a miss risks a 3-putt.

Another is trying to make great recovery shots to make up for a bad previous shot, just because people or watching, or perhaps because you don't want to lose a stroke on that hole. Much better to play the percentages from the bad lie your bad shot left you; content yourself that you already lost that stroke, don't make it 2 or 3.

Pace of play can be a problem, and I don't know of a solution other than playing a lot of competition, and getting used to it. That 28' putt seems harder when you haven't putted for 25 minutes.

 

[Johny]

Thanks. Good advices! Maybe i need to just play tons of competions and then it starts going well.
More tips please!

 

[DavidSauls]

Lots of people shoot worse in tournaments---or, at least in their minds, worse than their good casual rounds, as we tend to dismiss our bad casual rounds in assessing how good we are.

At least, to hear people talk during tournament lunch breaks, this seems to be the case.

So as you struggle, consider that your opponents might be feeling the exact same way about their games.

 

[cdunlapb12]

Try to make your casual rounds competitive. Me and my friends make sure that every shot means something. We're not out there just throwing discs. Preparation is what separates good players from great players.

 

[thrembo]

I think that the more tournaments that you play in, the less stage fright there should be. Playing in a league would help settle the jitters and get you used to playing with different people.

 

[jcf5083]

Play your game and laugh it off when it doesn't work.


That's it for me.

 

[Johny]

Thank you guys! Day after my last competion, i think i must to go try again. Someday the difference between my casual and competion rounds will moderate.

 

[Lazerface]

You have more down time in competition - more time to "think". Try not to think too much about your next shot, what you did in practice, what the other players are doing, etc. When you are playing casual, especially alone, it's very easy to stay in your zone. Not the MJ zone, but your personal mental zone. Climo said he tries to think about non disc golf stuff between shots in competition because mental exhaustion is an actual hurtle to overcome in competitive rounds. Check you fantasy football, talk to your card mates about your kids, whatever strikes your fancy. The key is to approach your shot with the same level of focus/thinking you do in a casual round if that's where you are seeing the most success.

At some point you may find you play better in competition because you have a heightened level of focus. Like a previous poster said, we tend to pretend we shoot really well in casual rounds and "forget" our bad casual rounds, or the 6 mulligans during our best casual rounds.

I will also agree that if you listen to the war stories at lunch break at any tournament you will here 95% of the field talking about what they "shot" VS what they "usually shoot" so take comfort in the fact your competition is also in their head.

 

[Johny]

Thanks! lots of good tips to try!

 

[tdschrock1]

Read 'Golf is Not a Game of Perfect' and play in more events. These 2 things helped me a lot

 

[aevew]

I like a lot of what I have read on Mind Body Disc. One thing I found especially helpful was the post talking about how you can't control your score.

 

[Johny]

Thx!