Hey Fellow Golfer - 

Thank you for reading this week’s More Pars Than Bogeys Newsletter. If you find it valuable, could you forward this email to a fellow golfer?

Thank you.

You can click here to read the online version of this week’s newsletter. 

And be sure to catch up on this week’s podcast episode:

• #67: Understanding Hypnosis: The What, How, and Why Behind Using Hypnosis to Achieve Your Potential

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about how mindset coaching and hypnotherapy can help you get unstuck from the proverbial bunker of poor performance on (and off) the course, click here to schedule a coaching discovery call with me. 

Every round of golf is packed with lessons - some obvious, others hidden beneath frustration or fleeting moments of success. 

But too many golfers finish their round, toss the scorecard aside, and move on without taking the time to extract those lessons. 

Can you relate?

The result of this? 

The same mistakes show up round after round; confidence fluctuates wildly, and improvement stalls.

The best players don’t just play golf - they study it, and, more importantly, study themselves. They take a few intentional minutes after each round to reflect, learn, and apply their insights to the next time they tee it up. 

This isn’t about beating yourself up. It’s about reinforcing what worked, adjusting what didn’t, and creating a clearer path forward.

In this article, I’ll introduce you to a powerful post-round exercise inspired by the military’s After Action Review (AAR). 

You’ll learn why this simple habit can transform your game, its benefits, the hidden costs of skipping it, and how to make it an easy, non-negotiable part of your routine. 

Keep reading if you’re serious about playing better golf with less frustration.

Let’s tee off!

The Military’s Secret to Continuous Improvement

In the military, every mission concludes with an After Action Review (AAR). 

This structured debrief allows soldiers to assess what happened, why it happened, and how to improve for the future. 

By objectively evaluating their performance, they extract lessons that strengthen their effectiveness in the field. 

The benefits? 

Faster learning, improved decision-making, and the ability to refine strategies for future success.

By implementing a structured After-Round Reflection (ARR), you can gain the same advantages. Too often, many are guilty of finishing a round and immediately moving on without taking time to assess their performance meaningfully.

But by pausing for just 5-10 minutes post-round, you can accelerate your growth, build confidence, and refine your focus for future rounds.

Click here to download a guided hypnosis specifically crafted to help you overcome the aspect of your game most consistently holding you back from playing to your potential.

The Benefits of Conducting an After-Round Reflection

When you take the time to review your round with intention, you:

• Turn experience into improvement: Every round provides data that, when reviewed, helps you refine your decision-making, mental approach, and technical execution.

• Build confidence: Recognizing what you did well reinforces self-trust and strengthens your ability to replicate those moments in future rounds. Spending time re-experiencing these moments adds them to your mental bank account, thus making them easier to access during future rounds.

• Identify key areas for growth: Instead of feeling lost on what to practice, your reflection will guide you to the most impactful areas to focus on.

• Increase emotional resiliency: By reviewing both successes and struggles objectively, you reduce frustration, detach from negative emotions, and improve your ability to handle adversity on the course.

• Create a strategic plan for improvement: Rather than just hitting balls aimlessly on the range, you’ll practice with purpose, targeting the exact areas that will have the greatest impact on your game.

The Consequences of Skipping This Process

Failing to conduct an after-round reflection leads to missed opportunities and reinforces negative patterns:

• Lessons go unlearned: You keep making the same mistakes without recognizing what needs to change.

• Emotional baggage builds: Without reflection, frustration lingers and subtly erodes your confidence while also diminishing new learning from taking place.

• Practice lacks direction: You spend hours grinding without truly addressing the root cause of your struggles.

• Momentum stalls: Instead of continuously evolving, you stagnate, stuck in the same cycles of inconsistency.

Common Excuses for Skipping an After-Round Report (And How to Overcome Them)

It's easy to convince yourself that skipping a post-round reflection isn't a big deal. 

Maybe you're eager to leave the course, frustrated by a bad round, or just don't think it will make a difference. But these are the same justifications that keep you stuck in cycles of inconsistency and slow progress.

The truth is, if you're serious about improving, self-reflection isn't optional - it's a necessity. 

And the best part? It doesn’t take long, and the benefits far outweigh the minimal effort required. 

Here are the most common excuses golfers use to skip this process - and how to overcome them:

• “I don’t have time.” - This process takes 5-10 minutes. If you have time to check your phone after a round, you have time to do this.

• “I just want to forget about it.” - Avoidance doesn’t lead to growth. Even a bad round has valuable takeaways that will help you improve.

• “I don’t know what to write.” - Use the structured prompts below to guide you.

• “It won’t make a difference.” - The best players in the world review their rounds. This small habit separates those who improve from those who stay stuck.

The After-Round Reflection: Your Personal Post-Round Debrief

There are numerous frameworks and prompts you can use to create your unique after-round report. 

Each of my clients has their own unique set of prompts, yet, there’s a similarity in the framework and some key questions for each.

Below, you’ll find some of the common questions I include in my own and my client’s after-round reports that will help you construct a productive set of prompts to learn more from each round so you can shoot lower scores faster.

1. List three things that went well or that you’re proud of from this round.

2. Describe your pre-round and warm-up routine. Did it set you up for success?

3. Round score:

4. Shooting a ___ made me feel ___ because ___.

5. What happened? Be honest and specific about what contributed to your score. Start broad and narrow down to key moments - assess with both self-compassion and objectivity.

6. Number of unfocused/distracted/anyway/rushed shots:

7. At what moment did you slip out of a focused or flow state? In hindsight, what may have triggered this?

8. What’s one moment you’d like to have back?

9. What are 1-3 lessons you learned from this round?

10. What’s the one action you need to start, continue, or stop doing to improve?

This process isn’t about self-criticism - it’s about learning and improving. 

The best golfers treat every round as a stepping stone toward their long-term goals. 

Making an after-round report a habit will deepen your self-awareness, reinforce confidence, and create a roadmap for continuous improvement.

Take five minutes after your next round and complete this report - your future self will thank you.

If you’re serious about taking your game to the next level - on and off the course - click here to schedule a Mindset Coaching Discovery Call to learn how I can help you make playing to your potential a habit. 

Your Next Step

Every newsletter will conclude with a suggested action step and further resources on the topic we discussed.

After reading today’s newsletter, it’s time to create your own after-round report. Unsure of where to start? Start with these three simple prompts:

1. List three things that went well.

2. List one thing you could’ve done better.

3. List one key learning lesson you gleaned.

If you have any questions, feel free to DM me on Instagram (@thegolfhypnotherapist) or send me an email directly: [email protected]

After reading today’s newsletter, I want you to take the time to complete each step in my goal-setting process. Then, share it with me via email or on social media.

Thank you for reading today’s newsletter.

If you found it valuable, share it with a fellow golfer ready to take their game to the next level.

Until next time,

Paul

P.S. What did you think of today’s newsletter? Reply back / drop a comment below to let me know.

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