Is being mentally drained by a round of golf BAD?

[Doug Siebert]

I read two threads where two individuals indicated they believed being mentally exhausted or drained after a round of golf was a negative on either the course (Carnoustie being that example) or the conditions (the dryness of Hoylake being that example)

Personally I think that being mentally drained after a round of golf is about the best compliment you can pay to a course or the conditions.  I'm talking about a course that makes you think because there's always something that can go wrong if you aren't smart and planning ahead.  I'm NOT talking about something like a narrow course with OB or lost balls on both sides of the fairway where there's no margin for error at all on any shot so it just beats you over the head for your inability to emulate Moe Norman.  Likewise extremely F&F conditions can exhaust one's mind as well because you always have to be thinking about where to place the ball, rather than just slapping it out in any direction and figuring it is fine so long as it stays out of the woods and the water, as is true on most courses.

What say you guys?  Do you think being put through the mental ringer is a good thing in a round of golf, and the mark of a good golfing experience?  Or am I just a masochist and you think that you should walk off the 18th tee feeling like you just spent the afternoon laying on the beach with a drink in one hand and a woman in the other?

[Craig Sweet]

I'd rather feel like playing 18 more...right then and there.  

[Bill_McBride]

Craig, based once again on last week - that's pretty much the way you always feel at Bandon Dunes Resort!  

[Lloyd_Cole]

I think it depends on whether you're playing a friendly match or something that is an important tourney, be it your monthly medal or the Open. Look at Tiger, and he played near flawless golf. He looked pretty drained to me. I was pretty worn out today after a quick nine holes discovering that my new Nike driver doesn't go any further (with my swing) than my 4 year old Titleist..

[Doug Siebert]

Tiger was probably way more drained emotionally playing on Sunday winning his first major without his father around than he was by the course.  He didn't ever put himself into any stressful situations and pretty much played the course the same way on Sunday he did the other three days.  Certainly he wasn't stressed by his opponents, the idiots with their cell phones caused him 10x more grief than the rest of the field!

Craig, I guess I'm not thinking in terms of playing again on the same day (I rarely play more than 18 in a day) but I don't think being mentally exhausted precludes that.  If you body is physically exhausted you may not be able to play another 18, but there's no amount of mental exhaustion that can prevent it.  You may stop thinking well and making mental mistakes, but that would just indicate a mind that needs to toughen up.  Just as you couldn't expect to walk 36 holes in a day if the biggest sweat you worked up all year was walking to your mailbox at the curb on a hot day, you can't play well for 36 holes of mentally taxing golf if you have been playing Generous Acres GC all summer and then show up at Muirfield.

[Craig Sweet]

Bill McBride...if I could have Sasha on my bag I wouldn't leave the course even when darkness fell...

I have no desire to be "mentally" drained by a round of golf....but here is what I do...after I play around on a course for the first time, I think about what just happened...I wonder if there's a better way to play the course...I do my mental strategizing later away from the course...and apply it the next time I play...for example...I'm playing a  member/guest next month at a course I've played maybe a dozen times...I know the course pretty well, I have a good idea what works and what doesn't...so I have thought thru how I plan to play it in this tournament based on past experience and where my game is today...

[Craig Sweet]

Tiger says it takes him a good week to recover from the mental and physical fatigue of a Major.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Generally, no, I don't think its a good thing for most golfers or golf courses.

[cary lichtenstein]

I like to walk off saying what a good time I had, not drained

[Tommy_Naccarato]

All's I can say is that beating Ran at Stone Eagle may have been one of the most exhausting, mentally draining rounds I have ever played in my life. I also almost killed David Kelly while doing it....

It was also one of my GREATEST V-I-C-T-O-R-I-E-S, if not the sweetest.

All 19 holes of it!

[Brian Phillips]

Doug,

I agree that being mentally drained is a compliment to a golf course for testing you.  However,  when I travel to play a golf course I do not want to be mentally drained on every course on a trip.

It was therefore that I would not recommend Carnoustie to anyone on their first trip to Scotland....it is just a miserable, mentally draining course and not one I like playing on a trip with my buddies.

Brian

[ForkaB]

Doug

I replied on the other thread, but just to reinforce what I said there--being mentally drained after a round of golf is "GREAT" in small doses, but "BAD" if a daily diet (which was the topic of the other thread).

The greatness comes from OCCASIONALLY testing your entire game (mental and physical) playing a course which is stretched to its limits.  Doing so is a high similar to the completion of any sort of activity you love at the highest possible standard.

It is a helluva lot different standing by the Hogan marker on the 18th at Merion in a friendly game and whacking a 1-iron onto the green than doing it after 71 holes of intense golf with the National Championship at stake.

There is fun golf and there is competitive golf and they are all a part of Tom Paul's big world of golf, but they are not the same.

Oh yeah, and Brian--I assume you won't be wanting a copy of "Experience Carnoustie?"  And it's not really that tough, BTW--just ask Doug!

[wsmorrison]

Why do some courses have a reputation for "taking a lot out of you" so that you'd only play it once in a while, while others have a reputation for pleasure and desire for everyday play?  In my mind the subject takes on a life of its own and is usually misapplied.

Why do folks talk with reverence about the joys of playing NGLA everyday while they speak of Shinnecock Hills with some sort of mixture of high challenge and dread to playing all but occasionally?  Is Shinnecock Hills more demanding mentally than NGLA?  I don't think so.  So put into words why many feel this way.  I don't think there is much truth to it at all but someone influencial says it and people latch on to the concept.  If you do feel this way, please explain.  I just don't understand.

Golf should be a mental and physical test.  If it only has one (like USGA Open setups) than it really is testing the physical and that is what is draining.  If it has more (like most R&A Open setups) than it tests both.  I think it is a more enjoyable experience.  When you aren't limited to one form of testing, it is bound to be more interesting.

By the way, I'm bound for Oakmont where some say it is too severe a test to be enjoyable.  I'll see where I stand later today.  What I like about Flynn is his enjoyable difficulty.  It is a great concept if you can pull it off.  He often did.  Now I'll see about the Fownes family  

[TEPaul]

It's good, probably very good. It shows you've been completely engaged by the golf course. A course like that I sometimes say has a high intensity level.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I am "drained" in two different ways.  Sometimes I am drained becaue I was able to focus so well on the course--as opposed to just beating it around with a couple of buddies with nothing on the line.

 Sometimes I feel beat up by a course.  I grow weary of water on every hole or marsh that doen's allow for recovery shots.  That kind of stress is not only unnecessary it take the fun out of the round.

[Doug Siebert]

Like I said, I didn't mean courses that beat you over the head by expecting perfection on every shot by taking away options so you are left with only "down the middle" or "hit it there, idiot" situations all the time.  That's just stressful and annoying and no fun for anyone.  But I'm quite drained after a round on a course that makes me think because I have so many different ways to play the hole I can choose, so many shots to choose from, etc.

I get it from a round where I'm grinding out a lot of pars by getting up and down from places I shouldn't, but that's not necessarily something I can credit the course with, it is usually because my long game stunk but my short game had a brief flash of brilliance

[Jason Topp]

In competition, I am pretty much always drained.

In casual rounds, if I am drained it usually means it was a beat you over the head because you are not good enough type of course (or I just stunk that day).  If it is an interesting course that requires a lot of decisions and mystery, I tend to be energized rather than drained.

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