The if only round.........

Today I carded my best ever round 80 at my home club st augustines in kent.

But whilst analyzing my card and thinking back to each hole and how i played it, I noticed that i could of shaved another 5 shots off if only I had taken my time on all those 2ft putts......if only i had not taken 3 off the tee on the 17th......if only i had picked the 7 iron instead of an 8 on the 11th............

so like the title says the if only round is all i can think of and not the 3 birdies or the 4 pars which got me my best ever round

I'm with you Ian.  I shot a PB 82 today.  All I'm thinking is "If only I hadn't s###ked my wedge on the 16th and took a par when eagle was on", "If only I hadn't 3 putted 5 holes (including one from 4 feet)", "If only I hadn't lipped out on the 4th", "If only I had concentrated more when putting on the front 9".  There's a theme to mine......

I improved on the back 9 due to implementing some Dr Bob stuff and some effective NLP Santo.  You would've been proud

I knew about NLP before you did Santorini.  Been using it to influence management and naysayers for about 8 years.  Only occured to me it could be used on the golf course after you started waffling on about it though. 

Seriously though, it really does help and is not that difficult to implement once you know how.  I think those who struggle with a little inconsistency or the nagging negative thoughts are the ones who can benefit most from it

If only, I too have suffered this awful syndrome for many years. There is nothing to cure it, so one has to accept, that no matter how good the round, there will always be a few shots that were left out there.

I played in the final of the John Courage Trophy at Calcot Park Goilf Club and after a decent morning round of 72 I managed to play the par 3's in the afternoon in a massive six over par, yet still posted a 69 to win the torunament.

I would be scratch round that course, Ray, just the sort of length I could cope with.

You have to remember, Ray, that I was brought up on tiny greens where the premium was on accuracy, probably what aided me in becoming a decent player.

The emphasis then was in finding these small targets, now the emphasis has shifted to a game of putting ability.