Everybody has their favorite memory of a golf pro completely losing it at some point in their career. For me, it has to be Sergio Garcia on his rookie season as a pro, when he disposed of his shoe by throwing it into the crowd after a wayward tee shot.

Most golfers who throw a club can carry on and play with whatever is left in their bag but as Sergio found out, he needed his shoe and had to head over to the crowd to reclaim it, while hanging his head in shame. He then continued to kick the shoe back across the tee, after it was thrown back to him in rather a disgruntled manner by an understandably annoyed spectator, who was obviously on the receiving end of the thrown shoe.

As a 19 handicapper, and who some would call a very laid back person in general, I myself can be prone to a few moments of rage while on the course. For me, as I know I cannot get a new club from the tour bus after my round, it is the ground that usually gets the brunt of my unhappiness. Henrik Stenson, John Daly, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia, among others, have been known to throw clubs in hazards or snap them over their knee, but amateurs simply don’t have that luxury. I will sometimes throw a ball into the bushes and have even been known to kick my bag over a few times.

But, you know what? Not once have I ever unleashed rage on myself or my equipment and have had it work in my benefit. Actually, most times it’s been to my detriment. For me, as rage builds my heart beats faster, I become enveloped in rage, and I completely lose focus on the goal — to shoot the lowest score possible. And after I unleash that anger by kicking my bag or throwing a golf ball, I feel embarrassed. It’s not a proud moment to completely lose control of your emotions. It’s very childish of us golfers to behave that way.

What I’ve learned is that when I feel I’m reaching a breaking point — say I miss a two-foot putt that hit a spike mark, or my ball ends up in a footprint in the bunker and I end up skulling it over the green and out of bounds — I need to take multiple deep breathes and realize what’s actually going on around me. Remember, we’re on a golf course. Not in an office getting yelled at by our boss. Or stuck in rush hour traffic. I realize golf is frustrating and we get angry because we care, but at the end of the day, it’s golf! And the more we let our emotions get the best of us, the worse we will play.

So when you feel yourself getting angry, take a second to realize where you are and what you’re doing, and that by letting yourself get uncontrollably angry, you’re hurting your own score.

When things start going badly for your game, go back to some fundamentals, take a few easy swings and contact the center of the face, and most of all, just enjoy the opportunity to play golf!