Mental breakdown tips

[lohizz]

Hi DGCR!

When I compete in tournaments, I often have "mental breakdowns" during a round, you know when nothing works and you take a doublebogey out of every hole.

What are your tips on preventing this? What do you do differently to get out of the breakdown? What are your worst breakdowns? Do you even get these?

My worst one is when I was at the second round of Hyvinkää open, played a 0 out of the front 9, then had a breakdown and didn't come out of it.. shot +14 from the back 9 and finished last.. :wall:

 

[bradharris]

The key is to just keep looking forward and forget the past. When you have a bad hole, it's easy to get down on yourself and let it carry over to the next one. Just remember that you can't control what already happened, you can only control what you do the rest of the way.

Another thing I tend to do during tournaments is go in with the mindset that I'm going to have a couple bad holes. That way, when they happen, I don't beat myself up about ruining an otherwise good round. Instead, I just say to myself "okay, there's that bad one, time to move on."

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Shouu don't matta!

Hakuna Matata!

Dawnt trip dawg.

-- you need a saying to go by and play vicariously though it. A shots a shot let it go!

 

[Johnny_Crunch]

An old guy once told me when I was getting mad playing poorly at Golf that "you're not good enough to get mad". I remember those words everyday and it keeps me level. I don't put the practice time in or work hard enough at disc golf to get mad and when I make a bad shot. Those words have really kept me from getting pissed off and ruining my game by getting mad and dwelling on bad shots.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Yeah being upset in general doesn't do much good, ever.

 

[Broken Shoulder]

An old guy once told me when I was getting mad playing poorly at Golf that "you're not good enough to get mad". I remember those words everyday and it keeps me level. I don't put the practice time in or work hard enough at disc golf to get mad and when I make a bad shot. Those words have really kept me from getting pissed off and ruining my game by getting mad and dwelling on bad shots.

Perfect.

 

[Qikly]

For me it's about learning how to stay even. I try not to get overly excited about good shots or overly upset about bad ones. Whatever happens I tell myself it's not a big deal and move on. Though I do take a moment to appreciate a nice shot sometimes.

It helps me to completely ignore my score. I avoid keeping score for my card if at all possible, and just don't keep track. The other day at league I had a good round and ended up tying a much more experienced player than myself for first. He had a bad round for his standard, and boy did it get into his head. What struck me the most is that when we finished he knew we had tied without having been the scorekeeper. He was tracking it in his head the whole time, and seemed really hung up on it. Not thinking about my score helped me to stay loose and calm and treat each putt like a meaningless shot at my practice basket.

Just some thoughts. The mental game is a very personal thing, of course

 

[xlhammy]

Have a short memory for bad shots. What's done is done, and you can't undo it. Just play the situation for each shot you are in as best as possible. Consider every possible line and pick the highest percentage shot you can make with the lowest risk.

And, like Qikly said, ignore your score until it's time to total it up. What you shot on a previous hole shouldn't dictate your shot selection in any future situation. Play YOUR game and don't let any shots (good or bad) by others you are playing with on the course change your decision making when you know what you can/can't do.

 

[saaber]

For most of us, golf is not and will never be a game of great throw after great throw. Rather, it is a series of recovery shots. How you recover from a poor throw or a bad lie makes a huge difference.

Confidence in yourself is crucial, and the ability to stop second guessing yourself will keep you from further disaster. Develop a pre-shot routine, it can help a lot with your nerves.

Remember, take each shot as it comes. Don't worry about the past throw or future throws. You can't do anything about previous throws, so stop worrying about them.

Lastly, I highly, highly recommend the book "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect" by Dr. Bob Rotella. It's helped my mental game a lot.

 

[Jashwa]

This thread has a misleading title. I was hoping to find tips for HAVING a successful mental breakdown, not preventing one.

 

[JC17393]

All the previous advice about having a short memory and focusing on what you have in front of you is really good. One of my favorite mantras, if you will, is that you can't make up every lost stroke with one throw. I think the snowball effect of once something goes wrong, everything seems to go wrong often stems from making a mistake and then trying to make up for it with a hero shot on the next throw or the next hole. Hero shots fail way more than they succeed, otherwise they wouldn't be considered hero shots, they'd be considered normal/average/boring.

The way I try to approach things is rather than view it as one round of 18 holes, it's 18 rounds of one hole. We always look at a new round as a fresh start. Why not view every hole that way?

 

[Stardoggy]

This thread has a misleading title. I was hoping to find tips for HAVING a successful mental breakdown, not preventing one.

I could introduce you to my ex....

 

[steinkecm]

I could introduce you to my ex....

:hfive:

 

[NSDallin]

For me it's about learning how to stay even. I try not to get overly excited about good shots or overly upset about bad ones. Whatever happens I tell myself it's not a big deal and move on. Though I do take a moment to appreciate a nice shot sometimes.

It helps me to completely ignore my score. I avoid keeping score for my card if at all possible, and just don't keep track. The other day at league I had a good round and ended up tying a much more experienced player than myself for first. He had a bad round for his standard, and boy did it get into his head. What struck me the most is that when we finished he knew we had tied without having been the scorekeeper. He was tracking it in his head the whole time, and seemed really hung up on it. Not thinking about my score helped me to stay loose and calm and treat each putt like a meaningless shot at my practice basket.

Just some thoughts. The mental game is a very personal thing, of course

couldnt agree more. whether its banging a 50 ft putt or missing a 6ft birdie putt, I always try to stay level. No matter whats going on during the round. Cant get too excited or too crass.

Also I HATE being scorekeeper for the reason you listed. Im the kind of player who does a lot better when my mind is off somewhere else while playing, not right on the game. If I do keep score, I just yell out names and write down the number they tell me. I dont think about how many shots they took or if they told me the right number, I just write it down and forget about it.

 

[whentherainscome]

Doing some sensory trickery is helpful. Forget about disc golf just look at what you're seeing - chances are, if you're playing DG then you're somewhere beautiful. And if you're mad, you're probably not seeing any of it. Focus on that and your breathing til your next throw. A little mindfulness helps me calm down, reduce tension and lower my heart rate if I'm excited/agitated after a good/bad throw.

It also helps to know how good you are, what your scoring range is, and what your success rates generally are with shots. Be honest with yourself and don't be mad when you try a low percentage (and I'm talking a shot that you nail maybe 70% of the time) shot and it doesn't work out.

Assess your f-ups. Was it a misjudgement of the wind? Did you throw the wrong disc? Was your stance off - did you pull right because your hips were pointing you that way or because your feet were going straight down the pad instead of along the line you want? There's usually a perfectly good reason, and it's hard to get mad at perfectly good reasons.

 

[Jashwa]

I could introduce you to my ex....

:clap:

 

[saaber]

Doing some sensory trickery is helpful. Forget about disc golf just look at what you're seeing - chances are, if you're playing DG then you're somewhere beautiful. And if you're mad, you're probably not seeing any of it. Focus on that and your breathing til your next throw. A little mindfulness helps me calm down, reduce tension and lower my heart rate if I'm excited/agitated after a good/bad throw.

It also helps to know how good you are, what your scoring range is, and what your success rates generally are with shots. Be honest with yourself and don't be mad when you try a low percentage (and I'm talking a shot that you nail maybe 70% of the time) shot and it doesn't work out.

Assess your f-ups. Was it a misjudgement of the wind? Did you throw the wrong disc? Was your stance off - did you pull right because your hips were pointing you that way or because your feet were going straight down the pad instead of along the line you want? There's usually a perfectly good reason, and it's hard to get mad at perfectly good reasons.

I agree about the first point. Take solace in the beauty of the game.

I disagree with the last part, about assessing your poor throw. During practice rounds, that is exactly what you should do, but in a tournament round it can be the Worst. Possible. Thing. Focus on the shot at hand, not the one you just made.

In a tournament round, you want to focus strictly on your current throw. Trying to figure out what went wrong on your last throw can introduce doubt into your game. This is especially important with regards to technique, in that a tourney round is not the place to worry about your mechanics. You have to have the confidence to trust your body, and any attempt to correct your throwing motion can introduce doubt. That doubt will often counteract any confidence you may have, and you will shoot a worse score than you would if you maintained complete confidence in yourself.

 

[Vonbeezy1]

Perfect.

I'll second that

 

[burdphil]

Get pissed if you need to. Release that negative energy. Not everyone can play like a hippie...

 

[lohizz]

Thanks for the answers!

I want to ask you one more thing: Do you listen to music from headphones while playing a tournament round? I see a lot of pros here in Finland doing that and I was wondering, that does it help your concentration and reduce the chance of the snowball effect from happening?