General Advice Please

In the last 3 bounce games at my course I have hit scores of 82, 87 and 84 gross par 72, which have all scored me 40+ stableford points.

How do I carry this game into a competition to get a cut. On each occasion I have had one blow up hole, what one peice of advice would you give a 21 handicapper to stop that one blow up?

Good course management is essential for consistency and to prevent the blow up holes that can ruin a good card. Don't hit haphazardly, always have a target, yes, even for lay ups. Concentrate only on the shot in hand.

John, thank you for replying.

I tend to think when I look back on the round it is normally down to one or two bad shots/decisions. It's competition day today so I'm going to try my hardest to concentrate tottaly and stop making that one/two shots that ruins what could be a winning card

Robert, there is a big difference between winning and getting cut. If your main concern is getting cut then a 'blowout' hole doesn't matter as all handicap adjustments are made on the basis of stableford points.

If you want to create competition conditions when playing with your friends, tell the pro shop you're submitting a supplementary card before your round. This will have the same mental impact of playing in a comp.

as hard as I tried yesterday it didn't work. 20 points out then the wheels fell off, returned 15 for a total of 35, hopefully in buffer.

Today started like i finished yesterday, 13 points front nine, then level par gross for the back nine totaling 37pts. I had to play of 13 this morning due to the format we use from the yellow tees but I am sat her typing this with a gigantic grin on my face. I can honestly say that I have never hit the ball so well as I did in those last nine holes, 5 pars 2 birdies and 2 bogeys.

Robert, you are in danger of getting too anxious. You'll end up thinking when the next bad shot will appear. Take all the good advice given above and try to relax and be patient. Is the 'blow out' shot a particular type of shot? if so then spend a couple of hours (or however long it takes) ironing it out on the practice field. If you're not confident about using a certain club then don't use it. Your gross figures look pretty good, well done.

It doesn't matter how much you practice, you can never get good enough to never hit a bad shot even the tour pro's hit bad shots, the key is to not compound one bad shot with another by trying to hit a recovery shot like Seve, take your medicine and try not to make a double or worse, stay in the moment one shot at a time, Like JP said always have a target, if you can keep hitting your target then you will shoot a good score.