Two rounds at a recent tournament. After the first round, I felt it went pretty poorly. I was pretty disappointed in my overall performance. Although I could definately point to stokes gave away, I felt the afternoon round went much better evn though there was only a three shot difference.
I just looked at the round ratings. My first round, which I thought was horrible, was within one stroke of actual PDGA rating.
My second round, which I thought was OK (mostly in comparison to the first round), is my fourth highest rated round ever.
I find it pretty funny that there is only a three stroke difference between a crappy round (in my mind) and a near personal best.
1. Great rounds often feel just OK, when you're making smart decisions and executing succesfully and your round just goes smoothly, you may not realize how good the rating is, as compared to a round where you are making incredible saves, huge drives and putts.
2. There may be a mistake in the scoring. I've heard the reports are complicated, and when you get into moving pins between rounds, different divisions playing different holes, odd numbers of holes, it can get even more tricky to upload properly.
3. Initial round ratings are estimated, and will usually change when official adjustments are entered by PDGA.
4. Playing well while others chunder results in higher rated rounds!