Rushed from Church yesterday to play 9 holes before the afternoon Masters coverage got underway on CBS. Played at a course that I just became a member at in February. Started out pretty hot (for me) with a couple bogeys on the first 2 holes (2 long par 4's). I then got pars on the next 2 holes and was getting really excited. I then did the mental breakdown thing where you feel you are playing well above your level and I then started to just want to hold on to a great 9 so far. On the par 4 8th hole I pushed my driver right and got into trouble (I think my swing was pretty tentative and left the club way open). I managed to scramble somehow and hit a great 3rd shot wedge to 15 feet and 2 putted to bogey.
I was at the 9th hole which is a short par 4 with a 39 on the scorecard (on track for a all time low for 9 holes). I again had a tentative shot that went right and was in the trees. I could advance the ball through 2 trees and got up to about 100 yards. I then hit into a deep bunker on the left front side of the green.
HERE COMES THE EMBERASSING PART -- The pin was playing back so I knew I had to do a long bunker shot. I got set with the clubface square instead of open (for a longer bunker shot) and then I swang pretty hard. I watched in horror as the ball went way up in the air, sailed over the green, over the back of the fringe, over the cart path and towards a father and son loading up their cart by the entrance to the clubhouse -- I yelled fore!!! and look out!!!. Luckily the ball didn't hit anyone and just bounced of the top of the cart. I yelled sorry to them. The ball bounced back and was on the cart path. I dropped it by the cart path and chipped up and 2 putted for a triple.
I could not get out of their quick enough...and didn't even shake hands with my golf buddy. There was a outdoor terrace with people eating lunch that saw the whole spectacle. When I got there before teeing off the head pro knew me by name and said "You're all set Mr. Painter...go ahead to the first tee"...I was impressed that he knew me by sight and then I was pretty ashamed that he might have seen that shot!
Anyway, that left a pretty bad taste in my mouth after the round. It seems like I have allways had to go through psychological hurdles to move to the next level. Last year I had many many rounds around 101-105 before I finally broke 100 and then I broke 100 regurarly. Seems like you have to convince yourself you are good enough to meet your goals for awhile before you can make that leap.
Anyone else had similair experiences with the mental/psychological aspects of the game?
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