How to Stop a Bad Round of Golf in its Tracks

It would be great if you could be at your best every time you teed it up, but that just isn’t going to happen.

Hey, even Collin Morikawa hits a bad shot from time to time (although not as often as the rest of us).

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So, the question we are going to face in this article is not how to avoid bad rounds entirely – as they are going to happen – but rather how to get your game back on track when you are playing poorly.

In other words, once a round starts to go bad, how do you stop it?

The tips below might not turn a bad round into a great one, but we hope they help you salvage what you can from a tough day on the links. 

Don’t Overreact

Before we talk about how you can put the brakes on a bad round, we first need to make sure you aren’t just overreacting to a couple of bad shots.

In other words, are you really playing a bad round, or did you just make a couple of mistakes in a row? 

For example, imagine you are a player who usually shoots in the mid-80s and you head out for a round on your favorite local course. You hit a bad drive on the first hole and make a bogey.

Then, on the second hole, you hit two good shots – but three putt for another bogey.

Does this qualify as a “bad round” already?

Hardly.

You’ve made a couple of errors and are a couple over par as a result. There isn’t any reason to think the rest of the round is doomed because of a sluggish start.

Only when a string of poor play goes on for a few holes in a row should you think that maybe the time is right to adjust your approach to get through the rest of the day as successfully as possible. 

Change Your Game Plan

For the average golfer, the typical reaction to a poor round of golf is to make a swing change on the fly. You might try to change your grip, your stance, or some other fundamental element while on the course.

As you might imagine, this is a bad idea.

Swing changes should be saved for the driving range when you have plenty of time to practice – they simply aren’t going to work out while you are playing. 

What you can do, however, is alter your game plan for how you are going to approach the course that day. If you have hit driver on the first few holes and it just isn’t working out, opt for a more conservative game plan the rest of the day.

This will mean hitting longer approach shots – and you might not even be able to reach some of the par fours in two – but that’s okay. You’ve acknowledged the reality that you don’t have your best stuff, and you are now going to work on getting through the day with a decent score. 

Another way to change your game plan is to play more conservatively on approach shots, aiming for the middle of every green rather than hunting for the flags.

Again, this can leave you longer putts, but you might hit more greens and avoid the big mistakes of missing a green in the wrong spot. 

Slow Things Down

We certainly aren’t going to use this article to promote slow play, but we do want to encourage you to take a moment to take a deep breath and regain your composure when things start to get out of hand.

When one bad shot leads to another, and pretty soon your frustration level is on the rise, it’s easy to let a round get away. 

Fortunately, there is plenty of downtime in the average round of golf for you to pull yourself together and regain your focus. If you have to wait on the tee, for example, you can walk off to the side, take a few deep breaths, and figure out how you are going to play the upcoming hole more effectively.

This game can make even the best players lose their cool, so learning how to reign in your emotions is a valuable skill on the links. 

Change Your Focus

It’s easy to let your performance on the course dictate how much enjoyment you get out of the day.

Playing well? Golf feels like the best hobby in the world.

Struggling to hit good shots? You would probably rather be doing just about anything else.

Unfortunately, this kind of singular focus on the quality of your play can actually make it harder to reach your potential. 

When you start to struggle during a round, do your best to change your focus and how you are approaching the game as a whole.

Why are you playing golf in the first place?

Are you playing only to shoot good scores, or are there many other things that you get out of this sport?

Trying to bring some perspective into view as you go through a bad round can be an enlightening experience. Not only will it help you get more enjoyment out of the time you spend golfing, but it can also help improve your level of play.

Without placing so much pressure on yourself to hit good shots, you’ll be free to relax and let your ability shine through. 

Play Every Shot

We have saved this last piece of advice for last because you’ve likely heard it many times before.

While it’s a well-used tip, we can’t leave it out – it’s just too important to the core of what it means to play good golf.

Simply put, you have to take on each new shot as its own challenge.

Playing “one shot at a time” is painfully cliché and also undeniably important. Professional golfers are incredibly adept at this skill, and learning how to isolate each shot as its own endeavor will immediately make you a better golfer.