I think most of us learn from both. When I am lining up a shot I know where my strengths lie and have, recently, gotten into the habit of trying to picture how I want to play a particular hole, shot by shot. It can be very rewarding, and true positive reinforcement when it comes off.

The whole 'picture the shot' thing is really working for me right now. If you have hit a certain shot well in the recent past then, there is no reason why you can't do it again. 'Seeing' the shot beforehand, for me at least, is paying some dividends.

I try to learn from the bad, not while on the course though. I note really poor shots on my scorecard then next time I'm at the range I try to recreate that scenario best I can.

Example: Thursday I hit an awful 40 yd wedge shot that was very close to a sh@nk right into a greenside bunker. Today I hit about 30 balls from 40 yds until I felt confident again.

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Do you learn more from your mistakes or triumphs?
 

I was thinking about my most recent round of golf trying to break down opportunities I did not take advantage of. I find myself breaking down bad swings that didn't put me in the best scoring situation. Missed puts and the location of those putts when they finished. Arrant driver swings...my point is this. I'm not going over the good shots but the poor shots. I want to be sure I do not make the same mistakes next round or at least minimize them.

How about the rest of you? Do you think about your mistakes or do you think about those good shots you hit?

I'm learning to think about the good shots and dwell on the bad ones.

I tend to focus on both. I feel like I can always learn from the bad ones and I can build from the good ones.

Same here. You can always work with thinking about both.

I am not going to beat around the bush.. I don't learn plain and simple. I seem to do the same stupid http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/poop.png over and over again.

For me. When I make contact I know right away its a bad shot and I know exactly what I did such as rolling over too quickly making my shot go right.

I tend to never dwell on bad shots and look forward to the next but bad shot after bad shot really gets to me

i learn from the good ones
i tend to address the ball thinking "man ive hit that shot a few times i know i can do it"

Both, learn to avoid one and try to repeat the other.

Good question.

We should learn from the bad shots if they're infrequent and they're down to bad decisions. But thinking too much about the bad bits of a round really can get you into a dangerous spiral of focussing on the negative, and thinking about these when you next get to that shot.

We should take encouragement from the good shots/holes we play too. Confidence is a major part of this game, and if you've got a good feeling about a shot, there's every chance you'll play it well.

edit to actually answer the question! I think I learn more from the bad decisions, but only because I've started thinking of them in a different way. I try to picture the bad shot, then put it up against a sensible, non-risky, good shot I hit during my round, and try to remember how satisfying it felt to hit that sensible shot. If I can keep this feeling, I'll hopefully go for the sensible shot next time I get the chance.

Classic Lol

Don't we all...LOL. I tend to only think about the good shots. I normally know what went wrong on the bad ones as soon as they leave the club, so I don't dwell on them.

LOL I do the same thing. I have hit the same shot my entire golfing life. Out of the right woods I hit a low slicing stinger that hops and stops on the green. Well that is what I visualize anyway. What always happens is that I pull the ball straight left into the woods on the left. Woods to woods is my favorite

Do you learn from the poor shot? What not to do?


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I learn more from my bad shots. I do not think much about the good shots as they were the result I expected most of the time. Obviously, never expecting to hit a bad shot I tend to think about what happened and what I can improve on.

Do not intend for that to come across as "I never hit bad shots". I hit bad shots all the time, I just never take a swing planning/expecting it......well except for when there is water left and right then I know I am screwed. http://www.thehackersparadise.com/fo...es/biggrin.png

I try to take each shot as it comes, if I hit a bad one then I try to forget about it and concentrate on the next one. Prefer to not dwell on the bad shots but I do try to learn from them.

i think this is what makes me learn from my good shots cuz i have the confidence that ive done it before

I'm a positive reinforcement guy, so I tend to learn more from good shots than bad. I find it easier to figure out what I did right than what I did wrong.

That said, I think it depends on what type of 'bad' shot we are talking about. If I a ball I don't feel that I learned something as much as when I miss a green 10 feet to right because I was misaligned. The latter is a shot I can learn from a bit easier.

There are times when I have been able to learn from mistakes like: I learned to only use a flop shot when you have no other choice after skulling a ball into the pond, or on some holes I have learned it is better to miss in cerian places rather than others. These are strategic things that you can use. When it comes to techniqe however, it seems like you learn to repeat the things that work rather than the other way around.

Oh, I also learned it is better to take a drop than to swing at a ball near a hive of hornets. Definitely won't do that again.