Do you remember your good shots or your bad shots after a round?

[ZappyAd]

I was thinking about my last round recently and I realised that I was focusing more on the bad shots (driver into the trees on 3, scuffed chip on 4, 4ft putt miss on 8 for birdie) rather than the good shots I made and the pars I scored.  I think this might be a bad thing as I read somewhere recently that positive reinforcement in learning generally works far more effectively and increases the rate at which you can acquire skills.

When I started out I am pretty sure I remembered more about the good shots I hit and any par I scored.  It got me wondering if this is a factor in improving your golf game?  When you start out you tend to put more emphasis on the good things you do simply because there are fewer of them!  If you make one par a round then you are more likely to remember that par ('I scored a par today') than the guy that makes 15 pars and 3 bad holes ('I shot 3 bogeys').  The better you get the more you think about the mistakes that cost you rather than the good consistent golf you played, even though the good shots way outnumber the bad ones.  If positive reinforcement is a real factor then I'm wondering if that starts to slow your progress and affect your rate of learning.  Or maybe it starts to ingrain a specific issue that gets harder and harder to rectify.

Does anyone have a specific method when reviewing their round that emphasizes good over bad (or vice versa)?

[Patch]

I tend to forget about most of my shots,  good or bad shortly after I hit the ball. The shot is done and over with. My next shot gets most of my attention. Since I don't dwell on those past shots during a round, I really don't remember them afterwards. 

As for reviewing my round afterwards, other than recording my score, I dont do that theses days. Now days I either break 80, or I dont. 80 is my point of reference for all my rounds. It's my own 50/30 rule of thumb. 

Years ago I made up my own score sheet that showed the distance of the shot, the club I used, and the out come of each shot. I basically recorded a history of every shot/putt I had in the round. I used this score sheet for about 6 months to get an idea of what I could do better in my own game. After that 6 month period, I used it maybe 3 or 4 times a year. It's been well over15 years since I used that score sheet. 

Now there are some specific good shots/putts I have pulled off over the years that I remember. I can even recall some real "stinkers" I have hit. 

[Dave325]

Great  subject... It's kinda like a cup half full or half empty. I usually remember both the good and the bad.... What I do is ask myself the question of my swing thought for the day. How did my swing thought help or affect the quality of my shot? Did I think or swing correctly? Or, did I think too much or have too many thoughts? 

My issue is... When I get an exceptionally good shot.... Last round, I hit a hybrid on #6 within 4 feet of the hole (really good for me) and then missed the birdie put (arg). After the good shot, I'll review and try to analyze what I did SO right to make such a perfect shot! Yet I can't answer that (the frustrating part). Putting is another story in itself.

[9wood]

I remember the good shots I made and focus on what I did right so I can repeat it

I also remember the bad shots I made and focus on what not to do again

 

[mcanadiens]

When you of my level of ability, there are way more shots to a round that can be remembered. Only the exceptionally good or bad stick with me more than a day. For instance, I can only really remember the massive slice on the 10th tee from yesterday's round. It was so vicious that it went right of the water hazard and then hit a tree trunk square and came back 30 yards. U-G-L-Y.

None the less, it will be forgotten by tomorrow.

[HB_KeithC]

After a round I can talk you through every single shot.  My wife laughs because sometimes I remember that better than more important things.  

[vangator]

I tend to remember the really bad shots.  Many rounds I don't have any really bad shots (ones that cost strokes).  I have only hit a few shots that I would call really good the past few years.

[Lihu]

I remember every shot right after a round, but after a couple more rounds remember only the bad shots from the original rounds.

If I play subsequent rounds on the same course, those bad shots will remind me what not to do.

When I was a high handicap, I tended to remember all the good shots, and did not remember all shots in a round.

I think as you get better, you tend to change your mind set. When I was in the 13 range, I also switched to mainly remembering bad shots.

[saevel25]

I typically can remember every shot from the previous round I play. I think I remember the bad shots more because I don't realize how good my good shots are. If you hit a 4 iron to 15 feet that is a very good shot. That doesn't seem as dramatic as topping a 4 iron 50 yards down the fairway. 

 

[ZappyAd]

9 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

 I think I remember the bad shots more because I don't realize how good my good shots are. 

 

I have the same thing and really I think it would do me a lot more good to savour those good shots, rather than just thinking 'oh that was what I meant to do'.  It seems to me that if you do the thing that you meant to do in golf then generally that is a pretty amazing thing!

 

14 minutes ago, Lihu said:

If I play subsequent rounds on the same course, those bad shots will remind me what not to do.

 

I have noticed that if I am thinking 100% about what I want the ball to do I generally get a much better result than even having a small percentage of thoughts saying '...and I don't want it to do that'.  This is what brought this whole topic to mind as now when I stand on the third tee of my local course I can clearly remember the two bad shots I've hit into the trees (right down to the detail of which leaves on which branches the ball hit first!) and only have a blurry recollection of the two I've hit 250+ right down the middle.  I feel like changing my mindset might make a difference to this.

[Lihu]

12 minutes ago, ZappyAd said:

I have noticed that if I am thinking 100% about what I want the ball to do I generally get a much better result than even having a small percentage of thoughts saying '...and I don't want it to do that'.  This is what brought this whole topic to mind as now when I stand on the third tee of my local course I can clearly remember the two bad shots I've hit into the trees (right down to the detail of which leaves on which branches the ball hit first!) and only have a blurry recollection of the two I've hit 250+ right down the middle.  I feel like changing my mindset might make a difference to this.

Sure, a positive outlook is better in this case. It was an execution error, and many bad shots I remember are more game management related. The shots you want to remember are the ones where you ask yourself "Why did I do that?" immediately after the shot.

Execution errors happen, and those errors go with me to the range and not the course.

[DaveP043]

Right after the round, I'd say I remember just about all of them.  I often review the round in my mind, and kind of categorize each shot as good, acceptable, poor, and awful.  Usually awful shots I kind of discard, but I look for a trend in poor shots, and base my practice during the week on improving my results from similar positions.  By the time I play again, however, I try to let the bad ones drop away, and remember only the good shots I've hit.  Picking a specific target, and visualization of a good shot trajectory and shape are mental keys leading to actually hitting good shots.  Visualization of poor shots can only introduce doubt, and doubt is NOT a good thing.

[isukgolf]

I usually remember a few shots ... but the only bad ones I tend remember, are those that hit a roof ... those really bug me.  

[Tat14]

I play a lot of nine-hole rounds, so this is easy for me. I review every shot in my head afterwards and critique it a little bit. For some odd reason, I enjoy that process over a nice whiskey.

Come to think of it, I should reflect more on putting...

[dave s]

Golf is a game where short memory and thick skin are positive attributes of a guy carrying a hdcp.  Like mine.

Short memory: Flub a chip shot?  Forget about it.  Nothing you can do except concentrate on sticking the next one close

Thick skin: Slightly offline drive leaves you stymied behind a 3' bush.  Rub of the green.  Chip out; hit the best shot you can WITHOUT costing you another shot; move on.

Remember two things:  The golf gods giveth and the golf gods taketh away.

dave

[efdeel74]

I tend to remember a good shot, usually driver.

I can visualize when I can hold my hip on backswing, shorten my backswing and I can feel the club behind me when I rotate my body on early down swing, then i hot it straight.

[Piz]

I remember them all.  There is no such thing, for me, as a "new" round.  Every shot proceeds every other.  I oscillate between "I got this" and "Oh f***".  Likely a mental defect...but I'm really good at trivia...so there is that.

[1badbadger]

This is actually a really interesting question. 

I always analyze my round by tallying up how many fairways I hit, how many greens I hit, looking at where I missed the greens I missed, up/downs, number of putts, etc.  But for me, this is more analytical and about the numbers, not really reliving the round.  There is no emotion involved.

When that's done though, then I start thinking about the shots I left on the course.  I think way more about the missed opportunities, bad shots, or bad breaks than I do about my good shots.  I have a tendency to not think of good shots as "good shots".  What I mean is, if I hit a nice drive in the part of the fairway I had intended, I don't think "wow...I hit a great drive on this hole!", my reaction is more like "I hit that shot the way I planned it, so I did my job".  So unless I hit a shot better than I planned, the strokes I throw away stand out more in my mind.