How do you refocus after missing a putt you should make?

[gammaxgoblin]

I was having a great round at leagues tonight until I missed a 15 foot birdie putt to go to -3 on hole 14. I then gave up 5 strokes on the last 3 holes. I see it now, how that missed putt affected me and the "extra" I was putting on subsequent drives to "make up" for the mistake...which didn't work out well. Do yall have any routine or exercise you do to refocus after a missed putt or otherwise mistake shot to regain focus and not carry it forward?

 

[Kennets]

Refocus? I'm exactly like the situation you described. I'll completely crumble and get hulk-like mad. Unless you're a mpo player, stuff like that will happen. It's expectation vs reality, at least for me.

 

[biscoe]

The fact that you recognize what happened is a start. "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect" does a good job of stating a bunch of stuff about these situations that should be obvious to all of us but is not. Part of it is simply doing it enough times that you get used to it- not in the sense of accepting the failure but in the sense of not allowing it to bleed over to the next few holes.

I played team sports most of my life before disc golf- they teach you precisely the wrong thing to do in these spots (get mad/try harder).

 

[jupiterboy]

I'm not one to get tilted, but if the card is down I'll correct with a second putter to get the miss out of my head.

 

[HyooMac]

The mistake you identified - trying to make up with drives on the next holes - is a good insight.

You're trying to fix one thing (bad putt) with another (better drive). You may well have been driving as well as you can before you put extra pressure and higher expectations on yourself at the tee. You mess up a teeshot, and now you're thinking "great - now I suck at both", and the whole thing starts to crumble - and becomes a lot less fun.

Pros often talk about recovering by putting the last hole behind them, and treating each next hole as it's own thing. I personally find that pretty hard to do. A variation that might apply to the situation you describe is to say to yourself: "OK, my putting needs a little more focus, because I just missed a 15 footer. I'll remember that the next time I putt. But not until then, and not while I'm standing on the next tee." Or something like that.

Sort of compartmentalizing the parts of your game...

 

[drk_evns]

Get over it. Think about the next shot. See how quickly you can let the emotion go and make that your focus rather than what you did wrong.

 

[Brychanus]

Sometimes ~ 12:48 - 13:05 applies

 

[Putt for D'oh]

I still have not identified anything that fixes it but a lot that can help. I've had some epically disastrous meltdowns in this regard. Yips that make other people cringe.

"Golf is not a game of perfect" "Zen Golf" and "Zen Putting" have all helped. A lot of the Zen stuff with breathing techniques have helped my focus in other areas as well.

I did watch one of our top local MPO guys miss a short putt on hole 4 of a round and immediately dropped down an do 10 pushups. I didn't ask him about it, but I can see several potential benefits as far as re-focusing on something else, getting blood flowing to relax some twitchiness in the arms. If the same shoulder issues that prevent me from throwing overhand or sidearm didn't also hinder my ability to do pushups I would think about trying this myself.

Long and the short of it. The books above have a LOT of info on how to stay in the moment and move on. The other part when you are trying to makeup for it with driving needs to change on just simply going back to focusing on basics. Throw the easy shot and just be smooth or whatever YOUR personal que is to simplify the rest of the game. I know when i've melted down its because I feel like my make circle is literally a 6' diameter around the basket so i put way too much pressure on myself to park every single drive or upshot. That just makes everything worse.

Practice putting. Practice mindful awareness. Practice moving to the next throw and keeping everything simple in your mind.

 

[HyooMac]

Sometimes ~ 12:48 - 13:05 applies

This is one of my favorite videos ever.

I loved watching them sort of struggle with the other's approach - but admired how quickly they "mastered" something that didn't come naturally.

I also liked McBeth in this video. He tends to come off really stiff in a lot of things, but it seems that when you can see him just being chatty with a peer, he's able to come off better and show some humor.

 

[Mike C]

I view the round at 18 different puzzles, so to speak.

Each hole I look at the available lines and try to think of the best way to achieve the lowest score with the smallest margin of error.

The way I see it, what I did on any hole prior to the one I'm currently throwing is completely meaningless. Every hole is a new chance to do well (or poorly).

Throwing a bad tee short on #5 and missing a 20' putt on #7 has precisely as much influence on how you throw #9 as you give it. That amount can be a consirable amount of pressure in your head, or it can be nothing at all.

Why give something you can control the ability to ruin your focus?

Try viewing each hole as its own individual challenge instead of viewing the course as a whole.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Every player has a percentage they're going to make at a given distance with a big enough sample size. I know I'm around 90% from 20', and I'm super happy with that skill in my arsenal. With that being said, I know for sure I'm going to miss one out of ten of those.

Last weekend in a local C-tier I had an 18-footer for solo 2nd place on the last hole. My concentration lapsed just enough for me to let it out weakly and splash out left. I was perfect in C1 in the morning round and that was my only miss all day inside 28'. All I can do is shrug, know that I'm going to probably make 9 out of 10 from that range, trust my stuff, and keep having fun.

 

[BillFleming]

When I miss that 'should have made it putt', I finish out the hole. Then I take a moment to think about what happened. Did I choke? Did I yank the putt? Did I throw it too hard or too soft? I figure out what happened between that basket and the next tee. Then I 'accept' what happened and learn from it. I've even said things to myself like "Okay, that was a bit low, I thought it was an easy putt and lobbed it at the basket. Next putt, I'll recall that and make sure I'm putting with the correct force". In effect....what happened (I never think it was wrong or I goofed, etc....it is just 'what happened'), why it happened, and remain aware of it so I don't repeat it.

 

[seedlings]

How do I refocus? Most days something between Aaron Gossage and Joel Freeman techniques of self criticism and sarcasm. With a sprinkle of Lizotte, 'I finally did it. I threw the worst shot ever.'

 

[tmahan]

BillFleming has it right. Learn from it then put it behind you. You always hear the top ball golfers say one of the best attributes a golfer can have is a short memory. That goes for the good shots too. Pat yourself on the back for second if you must, then focus on the next shot.

'I finally did it. I threw the worst shot ever' made me laugh big time.

 

[Chucker60]

Wait, there are putts I should make?

 

[txmxer]

I find that missing the comeback putt really takes my mind off the previous bad putt.

 

[seedlings]

I find that missing the comeback putt really takes my mind off the previous bad putt.

even though I'm a guy, there is one thing I can multitask: simultaneously being mad at missing the putt and missing the comebacker

 

[BogeyNoMore]

By making the next putt.

Being good at competitive sports pretty much requires you to have a short memory. If a QB dwells on the INT they threw, or a pitcher can't shake off the HR the previous batter just hit, things can spiral out of control quickly, and suddenly the games out of reach.

DG is no different. Compartmentalize.
You can't chang the past. You can only affect the here and now.

 

[Thediscgolferguy]

I try my best to not do anything different. If I miss it, it's just a miss. Like I'm going to miss some putts, percentage-wise it was probably one of those that just did not get in. So I feel like what works the best is just to keep my head up, and try again, with the same routine as before, and not do anything differently, just keep aiming at the basket and go.

However, sometimes if it's in tournaments and the putt is very nervous and different which can sometimes happen for me, and I really lose the feel of my stroke, I try sometimes just give it a good bid and be firmer and in an attacking mentality if I noticed that I'm being scared of missing, then I might just be like "okay, I might miss this one, but lets at least give it a good go" There was also one tournament I just switched to straddle putting after missing a lot of right and it helped...

Overall I think what works the best for me is to just keep my routine and even if I miss a few, still keep putting like I'm confident. My first part of my routine is to raise my chin and stay tall and upright in a confident posture, Doing this really helps avoiding missing low and getting a good, confident stroke for me, and I imagine a lot of people unconsciously slouch more in their posture when they're not putting confidently and/or missing putts. I really like this part of my routine, beacuse even if I'm not very confidence, the posture of confidence helps both technically and mentally.