Ever have one of those days??

[mcbush25]

Where no matter how good you play your opponent beats you?

So every so often four of my normal group of guys decide to play a little match play competition. So I got paired with my brother-in-law which is a good thing I thought as we had never been beaten by anyone that we had played against. Not that we are good golfers, but our games compliment each other.

So we started with birdie, birdie on the first two hols to go 2 up. I thought we were on the right track, we stumbled on the third and gave up a hole, but got it right back on the fourth. This is were it all goes down hill.

I couldn't believe what happened. We hit shots like we should have and we thought we would be in the best position, but our opponents (My two best friends) hit shots that normally wouldn't have happened. They were all over the flagstick all day long and not that we weren't they were just closer. I really thought the tide had turned as we were 1 down going into the ninth and my brother-in-law holed a chip for par while our opponents miss their par attempt, but they killed us on the back nine. We lost on the 16th hole as my putt went in the hole and then back out. We lost 3 & 2.

I hated to lose as we all did, but have you ever just had one of those days were you played so good, but your opponent just did absolutely nothing wrong?

[2005h4]

I usually play same three guys all the time, and no matter how hard they tried, I always beat them.... hehe!!

[hbear]

That's golf.

 

I've played in matches where my opponant goes par/birdie/eagle/birdie/birdie/bogey/par/par/eagle and I'm down 4 after 9 while playing some pretty good golf. (-3 on the front)

 

Hard to handle mentally, as although I KNOW there is 9 more holes....insdie my head I'm thinking my god what do I have to do to keep it close?

[mcbush25]

That's golf.

 

I've played in matches where my opponant goes par/birdie/eagle/birdie/birdie/bogey/par/par/eagle and I'm down 4 after 9 while playing some pretty good golf. (-3 on the front)

 

Hard to handle mentally, as although I KNOW there is 9 more holes....insdie my head I'm thinking my god what do I have to do to keep it close?

 

I know it's golf, but it is funny how it happened.

 

You are right about the mental aspects. We kept thinking we haev to put it closer than they are and that caused a little unneeded pressure on us and we made a few mistakes.

[hbear]

You bet, that self pressure is a funny thing. I was thinking the same thing during my match.

 

We all know better, but man is it hard to do on the course....especially if you are down.

I remember thinking, all he needs to do is make 4 pars and I'm done....which put that self pressure on myself to try and force birdies. (which is not a good strategy)

 

In strokeplay, I find it much easier to be patient and take what the course gives me...

match play is a different animal altogether.

[mcbush25]

You bet, that self pressure is a funny thing. I was thinking the same thing during my match.

 

We all know better, but man is it hard to do on the course....especially if you are down.

I remember thinking, all he needs to do is make 4 pars and I'm done....which put that self pressure on myself to try and force birdies. (which is not a good strategy)

 

In strokeplay, I find it much easier to be patient and take what the course gives me...

match play is a different animal altogether.

 

I agree 100%. On the 16th for us we handled pressure well at first. Off the tee my brother-in-law darn near drove the green and we have a simple pitch from about 10 yards. Our opponents hit a good drive in the middle of the fairway and then one landed short of the green and the other went over the green. Once that happened we knew we had a chance, but that we had to put it close.

 

We put it close enough, but they drained there par put from 10 feet and we missed our birdie putt from 4 feet when my ball went in the hole and came back out.

 

We put the bulk of the pressure on ourselves though throughout the day.

 

If it had been stroke play we would have been fine as we kept playing through 18 and they stumbled and we caught them on that hole. Weird how things happen though.

[RagingAardvark]

You are right about the mental aspects. We kept thinking we haev to put it closer than they are and that caused a little unneeded pressure on us and we made a few mistakes.

 

That right there is key. I've played a lot of 2-man scrambles with and against my father-in-law. The easiest way to beat him is to jump to an early lead. Last time I was back in Ohio, on all 3 occasions my partner and I just started tearing it up on the front nine and by the turn he was pushing so hard it was almost certain he'd crumble. People do funny things when they are pressured, and usually it's in your head more than anything else. As soon as you start thinking "ok, now I have to....." things go goofy.

 

This is why I no longer look at my total score during a round, I wait to tally till the parking lot. :russian_roulette:

[mcbush25]

You are right about the mental aspects. We kept thinking we haev to put it closer than they are and that caused a little unneeded pressure on us and we made a few mistakes.

 

That right there is key. I've played a lot of 2-man scrambles with and against my father-in-law. The easiest way to beat him is to jump to an early lead. Last time I was back in Ohio, on all 3 occasions my partner and I just started tearing it up on the front nine and by the turn he was pushing so hard it was almost certain he'd crumble. People do funny things when they are pressured, and usually it's in your head more than anything else. As soon as you start thinking "ok, now I have to....." things go goofy.

 

This is why I no longer look at my total score during a round, I wait to tally till the parking lot. :russian_roulette:

 

I have quit counting my score on the course as well. I write down my score, but I don't tally it up until I am done with the round.

 

We got out to a good start, but our problems came when we made a couple mistakes and then we were playing keep up and that is hard to do like you said.