Recover with an up and down

A poor approach shot, choosing the wrong club, or even misjudging the wind can leave you facing a tricky up and down to save par. Recovering quickly from a mistake and making par with a chip and putt more often than not can save many shots over the course of a round for the amateur golfer.

But it’s very easy to make that up and down much harder for yourself by allowing negative thoughts to ruin your chances of recovery from the mistake that put you in that position in the first place.

However you can banish negative thoughts using two simple steps: identifying them and then challenging them.

Negative thoughts follow common patterns, such as over generalising, when you exaggerate facts “I’m terrible at up and downs” or discounting the positive and failing to give yourself credit for positive results “I’ve got up and down before but it was just luck”. If you can spot yourself having similar negative thoughts, you have begun identifying them.

You can then begin challenging them by asking yourself how true, valid or rational they are. For example, when you identify the thought “I’m terrible at up and downs” challenge it by asking yourself what evidence you have for this thought, and begin countering it with positive thoughts such as “I’ve got up and down many times before” or “I’ve practiced my pitching, I know what to do”. Of course, if those thoughts are true, valid and rational then get out and practice that area of your game!

Start keeping a note of what negative thoughts you identify, how you challenged them, and the outcome. It will require practice, but by using this two step process you’ll soon have only positive thoughts as you relish the challenge of recovering, getting up and down and saving that par.