The human brain is notoriously poor at recording averages. We tend to notice the emotional highs and lows of the great and the awful. This compromises our ability to see patterns, which is a key part of self correction.
A way to improve your pattern recognition is tagging. It is simply the discipline of noting a particular quality about the shot you just hit. This can be done in your head, or written on your scorecard.
Area of interest
As we discuss in the feedback sections of Learning toolkit, if the scope of your interest is too broad, the sheer amount of feedback is overwhelming or unstructured and nothing is learnt. Here are three areas that yield helpful patterns to keep track of:
1) What did the club do wrong?
If the ball didn't quite match your intended shot, pick out the main thing the clubhead did wrong to cause it. In the picture above, it was a toe strike.
2) Where was my attention on that shot?
What your focus of attention was during a shot, could well have explained why the outcome was good or bad. If you have a clear strategy about where your focus was meant to be, this will be easier to answer.
3) Did I move as intended?
On the course, I would strongly advise you had no more than 1 or 2 cues for your swing. However you could ask the above question in relation to one of them after each shot, and tag the result.
Summary
Post-round learning
By asking one of the above questions in the moment, immediately after the shot, there is a much higher chance of accurately noting what happened. After the round, your recall will be more accurate and allow meaningful patterns to be identified. This can be fed back to your coach and inform your next practice session.
Mid-round corrections
Many clients I give this to, report that the act of tagging often has a self-correcting effect in the round itself. Noting a poor shot was say a thin strike, might prevent over analysis and nudge conscious or sub-conscious tweaks for the following shots.