5 Ways to Recover From a Poor Round of Golf

9 September 2022

There are few worse feelings in life than when a round of golf turns sour. Every golfer has been there at one time or another: one of those days where nothing seems to be going right. After watching yourself shank them off the tee, lose ball after ball in the rough and lip-out with every putt you strike, it can be easy to feel like the only solution is to leave the clubs in the shed and take up a new hobby.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. By heeding the following 5 points the next time you feel your game falling to pieces, you should be able to bounce back from that disaster round – or failing that, come to your next game equipped with the tools to shoot your lowest score ever.

1. Don’t let a few bad shots rattle you

This one applies in a more proactive sense and can be used during a bad round to ensure things don’t get worse. Just as a gambler might chase their losses, many golfers tend to try and make up for a bad shot by playing increasingly risky strategies, or by swinging outwith their natural tempo. Unsurprisingly, this usually compounds the problem they were trying to counteract and results in things going from bad to worse.

Therefore, when you do notice your round going downhill, it is best to avoid any heroics and try to write-off any previous poor shots when you walk up to the next tee. Keeping a calm demeanour and playing within your own ability should help you to recover.

2. Simplify your game

In golf – and with a golf swing in particular – there are lots of variables and moving parts which can cause things to go wrong. As you probably know, even a slight error in the way you deliver the club to the ball can have a profound effect on the shape of the shot. So, in order to combat this, why not reduce the number of places where such mistakes can be made? An easy way of doing this could be to simply shorten the length of your backswing or reduce the speed of your swing – both of which will give you a greater chance of making consistently solid contact with the ball.

This simplification can also be applied to your strategy. Rather than playing elaborate shots over hazards or attempting to shape the ball round doglegs, choosing a safer layup shot can help you to avoid losing any more balls.

3. Analyse your round with Performance Tracking

Thanks to great advances in golfing technology over the last decade, it is now possible to seamlessly record every shot you hit with GPS tracking devices such as Shot Scope’s award-winning V3 watch. This opens up a world of post-round analytics which can be utilised by golfers to focus on their biggest areas of weakness. Had a poor round? Simply upload your V3’s data to the Shot Scope dashboard and you have over 100 performance statistics at your fingertips. Such information can then be employed to hone and guide your future practice sessions so that you know exactly where to spend your time.

4. Find the silver lining

It’s easy to become dejected after a bad round and fail to acknowledge the more positive elements of your game. Despite this, it is worthwhile looking for areas where you played well – as this will help to improve your confidence in your golfing ability. Handily, Shot Scope’s performance tracking makes it just as easy to view the positive areas of your game as the negative ones.

 Features such as Strokes Gained can show you how specific components of your game were played at a better level than the average golfer in your handicap group, ultimately helping to bolster your confidence and reassure you that all is not lost.

5. Forget about your bad rounds!

Sometimes the best thing you can do with a terrible round is to forget about it. We’ve all experienced some of our best golf after a terrible game – and vice versa – so why let last week’s performance sully how you play today? Stepping up to the first tee with the confidence ingrained from your guided practice, and a fresh and positive outlook, will set you up for success.  

In conclusion…

Although there is no sure-fire way of guaranteeing you will play your best on every outing, the handy tips mentioned in this article should help with both damage limitation when things don’t go to plan, and practice to ensure such a disaster doesn’t happen again.

If you’re struggling to figure out where you’re going wrong, or simply want to enhance your game, why not try one of Shot Scope’s innovative performance tracking devices? With an average 4.1 shot reduction, can you afford to overlook the benefits of shot tracking?