I was all set to play golf this week on Monday or Tuesday, but it’s not going to happen. The hurricane in Puerto Rico has me in Tampa filling in for a colleague who couldn’t leave. He is reporting a lot of wind and a lot of rain. In San Juan, the power was out at his home from 7 am this morning until about 7:30 tonight.

I was thinking about my abrupt change in plans and how it affects the golf game on the course. I’ve had consecutive rounds where I’ve hit 13 greens in regulation and then 3 GIRs. The amazing thing is that my score was only a few strokes different. One day putting will be working great. Another day driving will be fantastic. And yet another day, by iron play will be great. Every once in a while all will be on at the same time and I’ll score really low.

For the most part though, I will grind through some part of my game during every round. It’s not just me. Every player will go through. I see the pros lose some part of their game for a round or a few holes, but continue to score low.

One thing to keep in mind is solid course management and leveraging what working during your round. Before I got older and smarter, I would compound one bad shot with another by trying to get that stroke back. More often than not, it only made matters worse. Now, I choose the shot that will limit the damage. One bad shot on a hole will generally get me a bogey. Sometimes, I can save par. To score low, I’ve must keep double-bogeys off my card. Course management and staying within myself are key to that.

I wrote and article on my putting tips blog about the mental aspects of putting. Check it out for more.

I’ll be home on Friday and hoping for some nice weather to play in the afternoon.