I'm probably guilty as charged. It's too hard to completely separate my success or failure on the course from how I feel about my game and the course.
That said, I have worked hard to be able to look at a course without letting my score be too important in my opinion.
Sometimes thats virtually impossible.
A recent example -- Last Thursday, I played Deer Island CC in Fla., which has one of my "favorite" features, water on all 18 holes. Despite having a 9 handicap, I am a short, crooked driver, and a course like that just eats my golf balls, and causes me to pile up penalty strokes.
By the time we had reached the turn, I was forced put myself on timeout for my inability to act like an adult. I was playing with my wife and Aunt, so I told them to go ahead and play without me, and I would follow them until such time as I felt able to act like a grownup.
Fortunately, we were on a sub-three-hour pace and had lots of room behind us. I finally rejoined them on the 16th green.
Now, I have to say that I am no fan of that course, but not just because I played like a fool. The fact is that I don't think I could ever give a good rating to a course with as many truly penal water hazards as Deer Island has.
I know it's a reflection of my crappy driving, but I have played enough courses that can challenge good players without beating guys like me to death that I don't feel obligated to like courses that do the opposite.
K