Touchy shots under tournament pressure

[aphilso1]

TL;DR: how do you improve on touchy upshots, especially when under tournament pressure?

Full post: After a year of playing only casually, I finally played my first sanctioned round over the weekend. My scrambling was absolutely atrocious...if I missed getting inside C2 with my drive, then it was almost an automatic bogey. Granted I'm not great at touchy upshots anyway, but even compared to my usual scramble % I easily lost an additional 3-4 strokes on Saturday. I was pretty disappointed with how I played, since I feel like I'm significantly better than how my round rated (838). It was a small tournament field and a few guys played way better than their rating, so I'm guessing that may have skewed the data a bit (I've been told that how I scored would normally be rated around 870). Not that 870 would've made me super excited either, but that rating wouldn't sting quite as much.

Ultimately what I learned is that I need to get my mental game stronger. I've never felt pressure while playing before, and I wasn't expecting to feel nervous at the tourney. It definetely impacted my performance, especially on those touchy shots that are not my stength. Not sure how I can duplicate the feeling of having to score well under pressure, other than the obvious answer of to play in more tournaments until it feels normal. So really, my question is twofold:
1. What have you done that allowed you to improve the most at scrambling?
2. Are there any effective ways to replicate the feeling of tournament pressure other than playing in tournaments?

 

[Tripper]

The most effective improvement to my scrambling game is..... scrambling.

 

[Mocheez]

1. Play difficult courses and empty your bag when you have an upshot... throw different lines, both sidearm and backhand. Play on windy days.

2. Do you play leagues? It's a step down from tournament pressure but a step up from rec rounds. Practice upshots in a field (a park with trees is even better). Make a game of it by trying to land a certain % in a small circle... or play HORSE with a friend and put money on the line.

 

[roggenb3]

I think I am least nervous while scrambling in tournaments. Like, "Well, that drive sucked so this hole can't get much worse" seems to take the nerves away. I'm more nervous on a wide open tee shot that I need to park than I am throwing some touchy line from jail.

 

[racer93]

The only way to get used to being in that situation is to put yourself in that situation. Play more tourneys, take your worst shot in casual rounds, etc. Most of all, do field work. Practice all types of shots, not holes. This will vastly and quickly improve your game.

 

[Putt for D'oh]

1. Play difficult courses and empty your bag when you have an upshot...

I think all the advice in this thread has been good, but I would honestly say no to this piece of advice for a while at least.

I would get one disc you like and trust for approach shots. Zone, Harp, Wizard, Nova... whatever stable understable overstable that YOU believe is money. Throw it on every single upshot period. Take it to a field and learn it. Just like putting, feel that smooth feeling and learn lots of lines with that disc.

Also if you are scrambling don't go throwing at the chains. Accept this is an upshot and you are landing in a small circle around the basket. Don't be afraid of going a bit long... but if you are throwing at the ground near the basket instead of in the basket this helps. I have found though there is a tendency to pull up REALLY short if i'm worried about going long.

Get confident with that one disc, then eventually start using a variety of discs for different upshots.

 

[slowplastic]

The mental pressure is tricky...that's for you to figure out to deal with and probably from practice in more of those situations.

For shot practicing, I find it can be good when warming up to go to 80-150'ish area and toss in your putters and approach discs as well as you can...concentrate on each shot like it is a real shot. Then putt from all of the locations once. The goal should be to be able to get every approach shot close enough to make the putt, as your goal should be on the course to always get up and down from inside 200'. Plus this gives you a more true practice putting experience as the shots will be more scattered.

Also remember you don't need to get your approach perfect, just in a 20' circle. Figure out if you want to float it, throw it hard and at the ground early, or slight hyzer approach. Practice FH and BH approaches...FH approaches will cut a ton of strokes off your game every round if you can do that with a neutral putter as well as a Zone/Harp type disc when necessary. If you can't FH a putter when within 100' of the basket, learn it now.

The more you trust your approach shot, the less nervous you'll be when you have to do it.

 

[ru4por]

Things that helped me:

Throw drives that put you in good positions. Playing the fairway often means throttling down a touch on power to gain accuracy. It is much easier to play an upshot in the fairway, than a "trick" recovery shot from the shule.

Practice your putting. The more confidence you have in your comeback distances, allows for more confidence in upshots. Less fear at running the pin when the situations call for it.

Learning when not to go for the pin. Wind, terrain, distance, pin location, ground cover...are all considerations dictating whether to run the pin or play to the pin. Sometimes par is good, heck even a bogey to save the double or triple.

Play the hyzer approach when possible. Hyzer approaches are usually more dependable. Play them out to the right and let them skip and run into tap in zone.

Disc down to the most putter like disc possible. Learn these discs, they are your money.

Tournaments are often about getting your pars and taking the birdies as they come. Find your comfort "go for it zone". Again, this is determined by your comfort "comeback putt zone".

Nerves are a tough nut to crack. Have fun. You only spend a handful of minutes in a round executing a shot. Use them wisely and really focus on having a good time in between. Take your time, think through the shot and all the ancillary influences that go into the shot.

 

[Future_Primitive]

Grab 4-5 of your favorite putter and find a good practice location and work on 100 ft and in. Have a course by me with a practice basket and nice row of 5-6 trees, with big tree about 100 ft away. You can't go straight at the big tree from basket, but you can go right or left around the 4-5 normal trees and land near the big tree. Tell myself, throw 5 anny flex lines to big tree, throw them and go to them. Then do same shot back to the basket, 5 anny flex shots as close to basket as possible then putt each one out. Now do 5 hyzer lines around trees to big tree. Then 5 more hyzers back and putt them out. The repetition allows me to tweak angles and find that right line.

Try high spike hyzers, laser hyzer lines, anny flex lines (soft landing), rollers, forehand upshots (if backhand dominant), any other creative approach shots. Do this a few times and see which ones feels the most comfortable and maybe do an extra set or two of those. The easiest way to avoid nerves is to throw whatever shot is most comfortable for you, one you have thrown hundreds of times. Build up that shot memory so you can call back to it when needed, oh yeah just like at my practice spot just a simple hyzer spike to the basket.

The other thing that works for me is to be a better putter. When I was putting badly it put way more pressure on my approach, felt I had to stick it within 10 feet or I might miss the putt. Hard to stick perfect upshots especially if they are coming from the rough. When I put in putting work and expanded my range to even 20 feet it took a lot of pressure off of the upshot, just get it nearby and I can make the putt.

Lastly, play catch. Find somebody to play catch with your putter. Again work on lines and speed, should help you dial in that range. Are you making them move to catch your throws? Can you judge the distance right and have the throw die out as soon it gets near them? Can you throw a bunch in a row without that person having to move? Once you dial in catch just think back to it when you have an upshot, just playing catch with my buddy Mr Basket over there. Just gonna put this one right in his chest.

 

[jjtwinnova]

Approaching is the best part of my game, which is great, because I can't putt to save my life.

My trick is to play the highest percentage shot, meaning I'll throw whatever I know works for me the most.

To get over nerves, it's all about not putting it in's play catch with the basket. I'm 99 percent accurate from within 10 feet, so I'll try to put my disc in the 20 ft diameter. Don't go for in, just let it softly land by the basket.

 

[Atvizory2000]

Pick the biggest opening for your line/throw. even if your not as comfortable with it. Dont try to hit a 5 ft backhand gap when there is a wide open forehand gap. Even if your forehand is terrible, it should at least give you some kind of putt, rather than hitting the trees in the 5 ft gap.

 

[slowplastic]

Pick the biggest opening for your line/throw. even if your not as comfortable with it. Dont try to hit a 5 ft backhand gap when there is a wide open forehand gap. Even if your forehand is terrible, it should at least give you some kind of putt, rather than hitting the trees in the 5 ft gap.

Exactly, and in practice rounds practice the best shot, not the shot you are the best at.

 

[Orioles_Lefty]

I'm an inconsistent intermediate player who only shares this tip because it was shared with me and helped me substantially in tournaments.

Don't make the mistake off the tee you can't afford to make.

What that means is say with a 330ft tunnel shot that requires a finishing hyzer to park the guarded (by the tree edge line) basket, the mistake I can't make is to be short on the hyzer side (pin side). So while that hyzer disc might be best for a low-percentage park job birdie, that disc is also most likely to do me wrong. A straight disc thrown flat successfully gives me an outside birdie look and, at worst, a scramble from the "correct" side of fairway.

I joke that intermediate stands for consistently inconsistent. So I try to invite consistency by trying to avoid the "par save requiring tough scramble" big mistake.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

Its all good advice... only thing I have to add is if you want to put pressure on yourself play quarter skins with someone or in a three some.. Less people means more pressure, playing with someone you think you may lose to and take your money.. Double that pressure. End up two bucks down after 9? Triple the pressure

Not fun but it creates pressure and stress as requested.

 

[Stardoggy]

The only real way to avoid pressure overload is practice. Those short, touchy shots require tons of practice to master. It's just like giving a speech...the better you know the material, the better you'll do...especially on the finer points.

I go in my back yard and practice like crazy on 100-130' putter shots, from all kinds of odd angles.

 

[lines]

I go in my back yard and practice like crazy on 100-130' putter shots, from all kinds of odd angles.

Even though he peaked, i agree with this. Practice from bad lies. Practice shots taking a knee. Practice shots on bad inclines. Practice shots when you can't see the basket. Practice uphill and downhill. Practice fh and oh shots. Practice shots that seem impossible.

 

[rhatton1]

The other thing that works for me is to be a better putter. When I was putting badly it put way more pressure on my approach, felt I had to stick it within 10 feet or I might miss the putt. Hard to stick perfect upshots especially if they are coming from the rough. When I put in putting work and expanded my range to even 20 feet it took a lot of pressure off of the upshot, just get it nearby and I can make the putt.
.

^all of this post but especially this bit.

Taking pressure off your approach is key. Realising that you don't have to be under the basket from your scrambled shot suddenly changes everything. You have loads of different spots to aim at. it makes everything easier.

If your putting range is 90% from 5 meters this gives you a really big diameter circle to hit. If you can take that out to 7 meters that circle is huge and scrambling suddenly seems easy, there will be a line somewhere that allows you to get into that circle.

stop thinking about the basket and think about a landing area that is easier to reach and within a confident putting area.

If you hit that area from the scramble even if you then miss the putt at least you did the scrambling bit right.

 

[riltim]

I go in my back yard and practice like crazy on 100-130' putter shots, from all kinds of odd angles.

This for me as well. Most nights when I come home from work I grab a beer and hit the backyard. I have probably 150' max of space where I can throw to my basket but it works for me. I try to practice every upshot imaginable including FH rollers.

 

[B The V]

Are there any effective ways to replicate the feeling of tournament pressure other than playing in tournaments?

Instead of trying to replicate tournament pressure in practice, try to play your tournament round with a casual round mentality. Taking the stress out of a round will help you get over a bad shot here and there. Dwelling on a bad shot or fearing an upcoming shot will only hurt your score.

 

[aphilso1]

Do you play leagues? It's a step down from tournament pressure but a step up from rec rounds. Practice upshots in a field (a park with trees is even better). Make a game of it by trying to land a certain % in a small circle... or play HORSE with a friend and put money on the line.

No, I've never played leagues before. Saturday was my first competitive round. And without getting into details that no one cares about, I've got a variety of responsibilities that make committing to playing leagues for X number of weeks in a row rather challenging. I'm going to to try to start playing a Monday night league this year though.

I like your idea about playing upshot HORSE for cash. I'm a tightwad, so the prospect of losing even a couple bucks would probably be enough to get the blood pumping.