Also bad shots happen to everyone. Rahm cold shanked one last Thursday. Just happens to us hacks a lot more often
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Have to move on, don’t press. As one of @jon’s articles recently said (or maybe it was a post) - the golf ball doesn’t care about the prior shot. You are where you are and you need to do the best with the shot in front of you. Don’t press because you topped it and now have a harder time making bogey. If you do that you’re going to compound the mistake most of the time and make triple instead of double.
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They are 100% inevitable unfortunately. We all have them unless you are a tour pro. But Youtube has plenty of pro bad shots too. Adam Long topped a 3 wood this past weekend playing with Phil and Tiger lol. The difference with that though is he hit the next shot on the green and made an 11 foot putt for birdie.
It’s hard to give advice other than don’t let it get you down. Especially being new to the sport if you are breaking 100 then I salute you. Going lower and lower it gets harder and harder to improve. The more you practice the less errors you will make. The more control you will have with your shots and decision making.
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That one made me feel good. I top my 3-wood about 5-7 times a year. Can’t remember the last time I’ve done it with any other club in my bag.
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This is actually a really huge thing about breaking 90 and eventually 80.
And I’m going to say something and I’m not tweeting my own horn. I shoot under par pretty regularly. I hold a +1.6 hdcp. I play and win tournaments.
I hit a s**t ton of bad shots. I hit bad shots all the time. I’m not immune to tops and chunks.
The single biggest thing that took my game to another level was the mental switch from, “I hit a bad shot, so I’m screwed and my round is finished” to “I hit a bad shot, so now what can I do to save par?”
You gotta forget the bad shot and look at what’s in front of you. You can top a drive 20 feet on a 425 yard par 4 and make par. Plot out your best recovery shot. Advance the ball. Find what you need to get the ball as close to the hole as possible on your third. Drain a putt.
Never let a bad shot defeat you.
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You have to forget about the previous shots and hole and concentrate on the shot at hand. Yesterday shanks led to a 9 on the par 4 tenth Then another shank on the 11th tee. Got back on track and parred 16 with a long putt after being in a bunker and 18 with sw out of a fairway trap and 7i from 150m then up and down from the back fringe. Shot 95 Check the miracle shots post. Most miracle shots are recoveries after hitting bad shots. https://forum.practical-golf.com/t/share-your-most-memorable-miracle-shots/
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Ugh I did it yesterday, off the tee too. So embarrassing, it went into a brush area, had to hack it out. Hit it solid for my third shot, chip and two putt for a double. 288 yard par 4. Easy birdie hole to double just like that, it happens 
I agree with @Bigdadenergy though. Mindset after these shots will separate you from higher handicap golfers. I did par the next hole so that was a plus!
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Way to go! And thanks for the positivity!
I’ve got to respectfully disagree with @Bigdadenergy (a little bit) 
For a plus handicap, you can reasonably find a way to make par after topping a drive 20 feet on a 425 yard par 4. I am a 3 handicap, and I’ll tell you what my reaction is if I hit that shot: I’m now playing a 418 yard par 4 (if my ball is still on short grass) or a 418 yard par 4.5/5 (if my ball is in the rough or in a bad lie).
Once you’ve gotten yourself in trouble or otherwise given up a stroke, I think the worst thing you can do is force yourself to play for a score on a hole based on conceptions regarding par. “Par” changes all the time on a hole!
@ScottFawcettDECADE will tell you that for a PGA tour pro, when you hit into the trees on a par 4, it takes 3.8 shots to get into the hole from there. 3.8!!! So what are you doing trying to pull off a miracle shot to try and make “par”? Take the punch out, advance the ball, maybe you get up and down for par, probably you’re walking away with bogey.
I think the easiest path to shooting lower scores - certainly to break 90 - is to eliminate your “leaky” shots. That second stroke to get out of the trees. That second stroke to get onto the green when you tried that flop shot you’ve never practiced to a short-sided pin. That topped driver-off-the-deck when you were still thinking about that 20 foot drive you just hit.
I will very much agree with @Bigdadenergy that I hit a s**t ton of bad shots, and you should never let a bad shot defeat you. This past weekend, according to @ScottFawcettDECADE’s Decade app, I hit 10 shots that cost me more than 0.5 strokes-gained. I’m pretty proud of the fact that on 8 of the 10 subsequent shots, I had positive strokes-gained, mostly by just punching out or otherwise not being stupid, which ultimately led to a 74 (which is a darned good score for me).
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Unless your driver and 3 wood are incredibly wild and you’re bringing penalties into play, hit those clubs off the tee as often as you can. Golf is always easier with shorter 2nd shots. I’d bit driver as much as you can. The bigger head will make it easier to guarantee you get it airborne.
So on a 366 yard hole, hit driver ~200 yards. Then you probably have a hybrid or mid iron to cover the rest of the distance and get around the green. Even if you top it or chunk it at that point, you’re still looking at a shorter 3rd than you would be had you played conservatively.
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Nice discussion and interesting viewpoint.
5-7 times a year! As opposed to a month, Aiming to reach your level eventually, LOL! I’m reading “The Secret of Golf” and Tom Watson said to look at the LIE of the shot just made, before planning the next shot, taking that to heart also.
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I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I wasn’t talking about attempting hero shots. Rather simply recovering and advancing the ball. If you’re hitting a poor tee shot and already thinking bogey or worse, you’re losing. I’ve seen and made pars from the worst of situations. Not by trying something stupid and getting lucky, but by picking and executing the best available recovery and putting myself in position to have a shot at the green on my third and a putt for par, regardless of how long or unlikely the putt is. Will you make par? Probably not, but you had a chance and you minimized the damage by not viewing that hole as a total loss.
I don’t care how bad a position you’re in off the tee. Double or worse should never happen. If they do, it was either because of poor decision making or additional poor swings.
And I think it goes without saying that if you’re making repeated poor swings then improving should be your focus. That’s universal.
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I’ll echo a thought I’ve shared before, Tiger’s best scoring year wasn’t because he made more birdies, it’s because he made less bogeys. I think as new golfers we get tunnel vision and think about the wrong things. The fact is, we just need to treat each shot as it’s own shot and make smart decisions off of the shot that is in front of us and not try and chase a score. I’ve done this all too often and it just leads to more mistakes, frustration, and heartbreak. Keep at it though, you’ll get there.
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I agree with the mentality of playing the hole as an added shot hole. Over swinging costs me lotsa strokes per month. But the “gotta get there” attitude flares up a few times a round. 
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Your initial strategy is right. Breaking 90 (par 72) is 17 bogies and a par. Stick with that. However stick with it on an individual hole basis. Meaning if you double the first hole the second hole strategy doesn’t change. Chasing a bad shot or trying to do something out of your normal will only lead you to higher scores over the long run.
I played between a 2 and 5 for 20 years. I made a lot of birdies and a lot of bogies. Could never get down to scratch until I understood that avoiding bogies is the fastest way to lower my scores not chasing birdies or bad shots. The same will hold true for you with bogies and doubles.
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Consider Fight/Flight and Dopamine.
- You just topped that 5i from 160. Fight or Flight? Now you’re 130, maybe even rough. Aim for the pin over danger (fight) or center of the green (flight)? Flight.
- Dopamine falls because of the difference b/w expectation (solid 5i) and result (topped). Motivation, concentration falls.
Dopamine is all about expected result. If you’re shooting ~95, forgive yourself in advance for about 1 mess-up per hole. That’s the math. Knowing that may actually reduce the amount that your dopamine falls after a bad shot.
Steph Curry misses a 3-pointer and doesn’t mind, but miss a free throw and feels more annoyed.
I try to approach every shot as if the past didn’t actually happen. If I hit a good tee shot at the first hole of my home course, the hole is now a 120-yard par-3. If I top the same tee shot, the hole becomes a 300-yard par 4 from that spot. If you hit a great drive, put it in the past, and play for the lowest score, on average, from wherever you end up. If you hit an awful shot, do exactly the same.
I always try to get as close to the hole as I can, without taking on too much risk. Only you can estimate how much risk you take on with a driver, instead of a 5-iron, but I’d generally recommend that you hit driver whenever it makes reasonable sense to do it. As long as it remains in play, you’re better off with a mis-hit driver than you are with a mis-hit 5-iron.
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I’m in the same boat as you - consistently shooting low 90’s and trying to break that elusive barrier. What I’ve found has given me success is just consistently focusing on the next shot, and not keeping track of my score. Also, forget about calling holes bogey, double, triple etc. and start calling them 1, 2, 3 instead. It’s a small thing but I found it promotes a more positive mindset.
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