I was just looking through my last dozen scores and I noticed a bad pattern. I am slow out of the gate. I am usually 3-4 over after the 1st 4 holes. Need some advice for how to get my head in the game sooner. I play the first 4 holes like a 20 handicap and the rest like a 10.
Advice Needed
Start on hole #5. Problem solved. 
I'm the same way. I consider the first 3 to 4 holes as my warmup. Even though I play better when I hit a few balls on the range, I never do it. Being old, retired and not really caring what I shoot makes golf more fun, but I'm sure if I took it more serious, I'd play better.
I'd suggest hitting 15 balls or so before you tee off. See if it helps.
Before I leave home, I do 15-20 minutes of stretching to loosen up the old bones. To me, that is the key. We play early in the morning (8:00-8:30 tee times in the summer), so I feel like I have to do this to wake myself up from the previous night's sleep. I usually arrive at the course 30 minutes before my tee time, pay my greens fee, then putt, then chip until it's our turn to tee off. One of our guys brings his Orange Whip weighted club in his bag, so those of us who care to swing it a few times as well. Good luck!
It’s all mental at this point. Practice mindfulness and acceptance everyday and even if your golf doesn’t improve to the level you want (it should improve though 
), other areas of life will benefit. My personal opinion (and experience 
).
If you're getting to the course early enough to stretch and hit a few balls, it's probably in your head.
The truth of the matter is that most of the time I stood on that first tee, I had no idea what to expect. And that's not a bad thing. I remember a round many years ago when I birdied the first three holes. Standing on that fourth tee, I was thinking, "Let's not throw all of this away." Suddenly tension crept in. I gripped the club a little tighter. The OB stakes on the left suddenly stood out in my mind. "Do not hit it there!"
I successfully avoided hitting the ball OB. But I hit the ball so far right that there was no way in hell I would ever find it. We call those AMF swings. Adios, Muther Fucker.
So I stood on the 5th tee at level par for the round. As soon as it came, it left. And suddenly I stopped giving a shit and made a bunch of pars and a few bogeys and shot my average.
The mind... that 6 inch space between our ears.
A friend always joked, "There are two longest walks a man will ever make: one is to the execution chamber, and the other is to the first tee."
Get rid of your expectations, amigo.
Adios!
I read an article in Golf magazine many years ago that suggested thinking of the round as three 6-hole rounds.
For the first six ho es, they suggested playing more cautiously, maximizing course strategy over shot making. For example, maybe take less than driver off a tee, aim away from trouble, aim for the center of the green or to the 'fat part' lf there are traps, figuring out where the best miss is on every shot, etc.
For the middle six, they say try to beat your 'front six' score by 2-3 shots. This might entail taking a few calculated risks, maybe using a 'red light, yellow light, green light' thought process on approach shots, etc.
For the 'back six' they suggest maximizing focus over each shot. Focus and energy flag on the last holes, so relax and distract yourself between shots, but then really get into a concentration zone over each shot on the last few holes.
I don't know whether this will help, but it is one of the few things i have ever remembered from reading advice and swing tips in a golf magazine.
If you want to know just how important it is to not think about score:
Let's say you're a 12 handicap.
Put 12 pennies in your pants pocket. Every time you make a bogey, take a penny out of your pocket and throw it away. If you make a double, take out two pennies. A triple, three pennies. You get the idea.
Then, see how many pennies you have left in your pocket by the end of the round.
- Edited
You could try to mentally assume you've already played the first 4 holes. And your 4 or 5 over. It would be similar to when someone hits a bad drive and retees. The next drive is usually good.
We have a saying that the number 2 guy is pretty good. Because we learn from our mistakes. In your case assume you've already got the first few bad holes out of the way. It's a longshot. lol
If that doesn't work then you obviously need the first few holes to warm up.
My best round is a 77 and I was 5 over after 5.
Mattyv Pretty sure it is a mental thing.
Nawww, it's golf. Can't be that.
I stretch for about a minute before teeing up the 1st ball. Then I'm only thinking about my second shot, because I already know the tee ball is going left (80%), and hitting the GIR. 1 of the few I might have out of 18 holes. After that, I'm good to go with a score already in mind before hitting that 1st ball......break 80. Even if it's a course I've not played before, or in several years. If I have a bad hole or 2 or even 3, it does not mean I cannot hit my goal.
Well, maybe it is a mental thing after all.
I'm positive its a mental thing. My best round, I walked up to the 1st tee cold. No range time, warm up swing, no practice putts, and put one in the fairway. Heck I didn't even have any coffee beforehand. I'm thinking about trying the cold bore thing again on Sunday.