Game Improvement Information

[The Recreational Golfer]

Here's a checklist I use after a round to evaluate each shot I hit (well, not six-inch tap-ins). I know what my bad shots look like and where I miss. I'm equally interested in knowing where I waste shots because of playing, rather than shotmaking, mistakes.

Each shot goes through this three-part evaluation

1. Given my skills,
a. I got everything I could out of this shot
b. My head was there, but my body didn’t perform
c. My head didn't give my body a chance

2. If I hit every [whatever shot I'm evaluating] like this one, I would:
a. shoot par
b. shoot 80
c. shoot 90
d. shoot 100
e. take up tennis

3. For 2c, 2d, and 2e shots, was I:
a. trying too hard
b. upset about something
c. intimidated by the situation
d. losing my focus temporarily
e. trying something I had never practiced
f. in a brand-new situation with no clue
g. trying to get too much out of the situation
h. playing a shot I don’t know how to hit
i. not assessing the situation fully, or
j. it was just a bad stroke -- a technical matter I need to fix

[O.B. Right]

Each shot I play goes through a 2 part evaluation:

1. I finds it or
2. I dont finds

Yours is good, too, tho.

[Chev]

c. intimidated by the situation

I don't generally think about this possibility, but more often than not I hit good shots when I feel confident, and bad ones when I am intimidated.

I have a mental report similar to that one, though I don't generally worry about score so much. I tend to ask myself if I am happy with that hit. I have plenty of opportunities to ask myself that question.

[wubskis]

I will sit and stare at my scorecard from my most recent round like a psychic reading tarot cards, it's a habit that tends to scare those around me. What I'm looking for (heh) is the shots that went well, and the shots I'd rather forget.

My classification criteria aren't particularly strict, i.e. if I was a short/mid iron out and I missed the green by a couple of feet, that's fine, I'll take it. If the shot ended up 20 yards in front of me, or 20 yards left/right of my target, I make a mental note of the shot and add it to "the list". I then go through all of the shots on "the list" and think about what went wrong, and pick up on any trends, eg 7 out of 15 of my bad shots went left, determining the most prevalent swing fault - once I've got that, I add it to the list of things to work on. I then repeat that with the different types of shot (drives / mid to long irons / mid to short irons / short game), and I'm left with a neat little list of things to work on, eg a hook with my drives, thinning my irons, catching my chips a little fat.

One thing I absolutely make sure to do after making up my "to-do list" is to recall my good shots, and ensure they're on the forefront of my mind when working through the depressing realisation that my game still has a long, long way to go =P

[JML22]

I think the most important thing to scoring better is how to up and down when you're like 30-50 and in
especially on chips

[Stuart StAndrews]

This is a good list and very useful but sometimes i find myself over analysing information which tends to make me over think the shots. When I first started playing I was almost as good as i am now because I played by feeling, sometimes i think its good to go back to that and forget about the 'why' and the 'how'. Just my opinion.

[Arthur]

I just try to keep track of my stats in general:

Fairways
GIR
Chips/Pitch
Putts
Up Downs

This tells me where I need to work on my game. Right now it's ball striking in all areas. Though on a good day I do well with the last three.

[saevel25]

Not much of a stat person, but my standards are,

2.0 putts per hole max
one chip shot only
no penalties, no lost golf balls

If i do that, then my score will depend soley on GIR's..

[JohnQVegas]

I like to use the golf ball stat. If I finish the round with the same number of balls that I started with, it was a success ; )

[chspeed]

Being hyper-analytical, I love the list, and if it was me I'd probably add a few to 3 like
(k) f*&! S&i;%
(l) I hate myself, and want to die

But, being analytical, I can't help feeling that this check list will do nothing but expose your personality that day. For instance, if you're positive that day, you may give more a's for question 1 than on a negative day. It just seems way too self-subjective to be useful. If you want to test it out, try having your friends fill in the same sheet about your game one day, and see if your analysis is similar to theirs at the end of the round. My guess is that they'll be harsher (and more realistic) about your ability, and therefore give more a's on question 1.

I think objective stats, ideally reported by someone else (you keep track of your buddy's, they keep track of yours), are a better way to analyze your game. Anyway, fun post. Good luck!