1 Don’t try miraculous recovery shots to make up for your bad shot – this will more than likely snowball and lead to a bigger number and more frustration.
2 Don’t start analyzing your swing – focusing on what went wrong with the last swing takes away from focus from the shot you want to hit and and will lead to more problems.
3 Be your best friend or “Inner Caddy” – pick yourself up by thinking about what your best friend would say to you in those situations. This would be something like “You can’t do anything about that shot/hole, just stick to your routine, play conservatively and you’ll start playing well again.”
4 Separate your scores from your ego – think of the world’s top players who have had disastrous holes (12). They did not let those scores define them and quickly moved on.
5 Have an escape from the game – there are many ways to do this but come up with a place you can go in your head when you feel like you’re getting overwhelmed. Examples are: Looking up into the sky, thinking about family, trying to name different types of tree you can see or birds you can hear – whatever it is, it will help calm you down.
6 Learn how to breathe – try deep belly breathing to get rid of negative energy and calm you down.
7 Keep sticking to your process and Shot Routine to get you back in the comfort zone. You do have a pre-shot routine don’t you?
8 Think of golf as a mental challenge that will be extremely rewarding to overcome. When you’ve just made a double bogey, think about the positive you can take from just hitting the fairway on the next hole (play conservatively and get yourself back in the game).
9 Accept that we all hit bad shots and it’s our reaction to them that will determine how well we play. Respond well and move on quickly.
10 Reframe your attitude – try to recall good shots you’ve hit on that hole or any quality shots you’ve hit recently.
11 Stay in the present – understand that your best golf is played when you are solely focused on the shot at hand. Not the last shot or thinking about what your score will look like if you birdie the upcoming hole.
12 Reflect on your round afterwards and see if there were any course strategy errors that led to your high score. E.g. Did you not think that missing right would lead to being short-sided and leave a really though up and down for par?