So, you may have made a few more bogeys or double-bogeys than usual on the opening nine of your round. We’ve all been there. Lucky for you, there’s a lot of golf left to play and a lot of chances to redeem yourself and salvage a decent score for the round.
Whether you’re playing your home course or are on a Myrtle Beach golf adventure (with your rounds booked at myrtlebeachgolf.com, of course!), here are three tips for turning things around at the turn.
Take a break and fuel up
A frustrating first nine holes can fill a golfer’s head with all kinds of negative thoughts. The worst thing you can do in these situations is to speed on past the clubhouse (assuming the ninth hole of the course you’re playing returns to the clubhouse) and directly to the tenth tee to immediately resume the torture.
Instead, treat your stop at the clubhouse as a five-minute mini-vacation. Take a deep breath, rinse your face, and get a snack — a banana, peanuts, heck, even a hot dog … or maybe even a beer if you feel like it might help you get the mojo back on your side. It doesn’t much matter what you do as long as you’re taking a little break to refocus. That way, there’s a much better chance that your second nine will feel like a brand new round.
Spice things up by raising the stakes (without going crazy)
A lot of golfers, especially when on vacation and playing an unfamiliar course, don’t seem to like to put anything on the line when they play. In my experience, that’s a great way to ensure that you’ll never improve. If there are no consequences for bad shots, bad holes or bad rounds, it’s easy to let them pile up. I’m not saying you should play for mortgage payments or anything, but a $2 Nassau bet (i.e. $2 for the front nine, $2 for the back nine and $2 for the entire 18) seems to be just enough to keep all players interested. If you don’t want to put any money on the line, fine: Loser has to clean the winner’s clubs. Never underestimate the positive effect a little competitiveness can have on your golf game, and never overestimate the unhelpfulness of not caring about the shots you’re hitting.
Tee it forward
Most golfers who go on golf vacations tend to play from too long a set of tees at unfamiliar courses. If you feel like the golf course is beating you up, no one’s stopping you from making it a little bit shorter. If you put up a really crooked number on the front, move up a set of tees and adopt the mindset that you’re about to set an all-time personal-best back-nine turnaround. I’ve seen golfers shoot 51 on the front nine and 36 on the back simply by taking a little pressure off themselves.
If you find yourself struggling at the turn of your next round, try one or more of these strategies to turn your day completely around. In the meantime, come on down to the Grand Strand. Book your golf by visiting myrtlebeachgolf.com.