A Round That Looked Worse on the
Scorecard Than It Felt on the Course.

Golf has a habit of reducing four hours of decisions, execution, emotion and variance into a single number. Sometimes that number tells the story accurately. Sometimes it does not. My latest round at Pleasington was one of those occasions where the scorecard looked disappointing, but the golf itself contained far more positives than the final result suggested.

There were three blobs, two double bogeys and several moments where good shots produced poor outcomes. Against a scratch baseline, my estimated strokes-gained result was around –10 strokes, although that figure has to be treated as an approximation because the three blobbed holes were not completed.

On paper, that sounds like a poor performance. On the course, it felt very different. The most encouraging part of the day was not a single drive, birdie or par save. It was that I followed my pre-shot routine properly on every shot, all the way around. That was the real achievement.

Taking the New Process onto the Course

Earlier in the week, I had spent time with experienced tour caddie Dom Bott at Pleasington. One of the main lessons from that session was the importance of making a clear decision before every shot.

It sounds simple, but many golfers do not really do it. We stand over the ball with several thoughts competing for attention — unsure about the club, unsure about the target, worried about the trouble. Then we make a tentative swing and judge ourselves entirely by the outcome.

A Solid Start in Difficult Conditions

The wind played a major role throughout the round. Several holes — the first, third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eleventh — were playing directly into it. Others were strongly downwind, particularly the second, sixth, ninth, thirteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth.

After three holes, I felt as though I was playing well. I had already negotiated two demanding holes into the wind and was striking the ball with confidence. Then came two of the most frustrating holes I have played for a while.

Good Shots, Lost Balls

Golfers often talk about controlling the controllables, and this was a good example of why that matters. I could control my routine, decision and commitment. I could not control whether a ball sitting in thick rough would be visible when we reached the area.

However, there were still lessons to learn. On the fourth, the combination of trees, wind and long rough meant the risk attached to the approach may have been greater than it first appeared — laying up to a preferred wedge distance may produce a better average score. On the fifth, the target needed to account not only for my expected fade, but also for the shot that stays straight. A sensible target must accommodate the full dispersion pattern, not simply the ideal ball flight. Those are course-management refinements rather than swing changes.

The Perfect Response on the Sixth

That sequence showed me the mental process was working.

A Missed Opportunity on the Seventh

It was disappointing, but useful, because it identified an obvious area for practice. The simplest chips must become almost automatic. The first objective from a straightforward greenside lie is not to hit the ball close. It is to guarantee that the ball reaches the green and gives me a putt.

Saving Par on the Eighth

On the seventh, good long-game work was undone by a poor chip. On the eighth, a poor tee shot was repaired by good recovery play and short-game execution. Across the two holes, those performances almost balanced each other.

Another Lost Ball on the Ninth

This was perhaps the clearest example of a relatively ordinary miss producing a severe scoring consequence. A lost ball is not simply a one-shot penalty — it also forces the next shot to be played again from the original position. That is why penalty shots and lost balls have such a large impact on strokes gained.

Making Better Decisions from the Tee

One of the strongest parts of the round was my club selection. On the thirteenth, I knew the hole was playing strongly downwind and that driver would be too much. I chose three wood instead — exactly the correct type of decision. The objective was not to hit the longest possible shot. It was to place the ball in the best position for the next one.

The same thinking applied on the eighteenth. With the wind helping heavily, I selected five iron from the tee. The ball travelled 233 yards, which demonstrated just how strong the wind was. It was an excellent tee shot and the correct strategic choice. Unfortunately, I then failed to capitalise.

Learning from the Fifteenth

The four wood appears to give me a better blend of strike quality, launch, control and sufficient distance. If a club gives me a higher probability of finding the fairway while still leaving a manageable second shot, it is the better scoring option. The planned strategy for the fifteenth should therefore change. Four wood becomes the default.

A Good Par Save on the Sixteenth

A Disappointing Finish

When a good strategic decision creates a wedge opportunity, the scoring expectation must be par, with bogey as the acceptable worst outcome. Turning that position into double bogey was one of the clearest scoring-club failures of the round. It has therefore influenced the next practice plan — random wedge work from around 60 to 110 yards needs to remain a priority.

What the Strokes-Gained Estimate Showed

These numbers are estimates rather than an exact calculation, because three holes were blobbed and there was not complete shot-location data for every stroke. Even so, the pattern is useful. The round was not lost through consistently poor putting or a total collapse of the swing. Most of the damage came from a small number of expensive outcomes: lost approach balls on four and five, a lost tee ball on nine, a poor three wood and double bogey on fifteen, a wedge error and double bogey on eighteen, and a duffed chip on seven.

That concentration matters. It suggests that the next stage of improvement is not about rebuilding everything. It is about reducing the severity of the worst result — turning a lost ball into a playable miss, a double bogey into a bogey, a duffed chip into a routine putt for par, and a good tee shot and wedge opportunity into a controlled finish.

The Positives I Am Taking from the Round

Putting was close to neutral against the scratch baseline — no reported three-putts or repeated short misses, and two important par putts converted. That's encouraging given how much work has gone into it recently.

The Practice Plan That Follows