Thats when I just keep doing what Ive been doing... Maybe try distracting yourself by chatting with your group.. Play the next tee shot or hole in your mind.. Or dont even think about golf!

Thanks Todd, good thoughts!

Erich, when you put the peg in the ground on hole #1 think of hitting the fairway, and nothing else.When you get to your ball, think of hitting the green and nothing else.When you're on the green, pick a line and commit to it.

Focusing on the shot at hand, eliminates the tendency to look ahead and wonder how many over par you are.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Mike!

I have always looked at a golf course as 18 different challenges..so I take one hole at a time and focus on each shot for that hole.good or bad..I move on to the next hole and plan my shots for that hole and forget about what happened on the last hole because you can not change it so why worry about it....this helps me kept in the moment..and when Iam done I will add up my scorecard and then reflect on it at the 19th hole..keep then in the fairways and greens..

Thanks Steve, appreciate the advice.

If we had the magic formula for that one, DJ would have shot a 56 on Friday. It gets us all from time to time. I personally will not add my scorecard until the end of the round. Just right down each hole and try not to keep a running total.

Dale, thank you I will give it a try.

Try a round with no score card and at the end ask yourself how you thought you played. I quit recording GHIN scores this past Jan. and been playing my best golf so far. No pressure.

Hi Dave, might try that trick, but my buddies on Sunday would never let me get away with no GHIN! These guys are more quiet than Marcel Marceau when your first putt ends up 6" from the cup. Thanks for your reply.

Besides "golf is a game you can never win"? Don't keep/add your score up until you finish and just enjoy the next shot.

I liked what Sophia Popov had to say about playing her winning round on Sunday. She said she wanted to hit every shot full out, no being tentative since when she tends to take a little off she hits it right. I've caught myself doing similar and hit it better when I hit every shot firm and full, not steering the club.

Hi Rick, thanks I like that philosophy.

You know I used to focus more on score than the game itself. I found when I go to have fun, my scores seemed to find me because I started relaxing. Thinking on the golf course is a disaster in the making. I find so many wonderful things to enjoy on the course, the birds, the foxes, the trees, the leaves blowing, the idiots blowing their horns as they pass the course, people in front of us and their funky swings. I try to find things that make me smile.
Things to talk about and to laugh about. Golf after all is a four letter word and a game and at our levels, do not see it putting any food on our tables. So I loose a five dollar bet. That's one beer in the 19th hole. You worrying about what could'a been is turning into what should'a been......as my mentors have always told me, slow down, one shot at a time.....with much respect, Erich, no worries, have fun, pal.....

Thanks Chuck well said.

You'll break 80 soon enough. I've been playing this game for 46 years now and am 58. Here is my philosophy... Every season I play a lot of golf and I will have a few great rounds and a few why did I come to the course today rounds - but mostly I will shoot the same 5-6 scores each time out. I have come to the conclusion I have no control when those rounds will happen during the season. So I just play, enjoy and let it happen.

I have learned that for myself keeping a running score puts too much pressure on me. I just wait until the end and add it up.

I think we are all guilty about looking ahead. I know I did one time and it got me!!

I try to concentrate on a certain swing move or when on the green focus on a certain thing regarding putting.
Basically I focus on something small in my golf swing/putting and try to emulate it.