Golf is already a frustrating game, but any of these 12 things can really push golfers to their emotional limit.

Chipping on bermuda, or grainy grass

Hitting chip and pitch shots requires touch and a sound technique, but playing on courses with grainy grass can make even the short games of the world’s best players crumble.

Fix It: Most golfers come into the ball too shallow when chipping on grainy grass, and let the grass control the club head. Tom Stickney, a Golf Magazine Top-100 teacher and GolfWRX Featured Writer, says golfers should steepen their angle of attack on these shots and make sure they stay aggressive through the ball to ensure better contact.

Shadows in your backswing

No matter how technically sound your swing is, your backswing always seems to look strange in certain shadows. You can try yelling at your shadow, or politely tell it to move, but you’ll probably just freak out your playing partners.

Fix It: When your own shadow becomes a distraction, sharpen your focus on the golf ball, Stickney says. Picking out a specific dimple, rather than looking in a general area, can also help fend off distractions during a shot.

Internal out of bounds

“So you’re telling me my ball is right there, sitting on grass, within the confines of the golf course, but I can’t hit it? But IT’S RIGHT THERE!”

Internal out of bounds keeps golfers from taking short cuts that compromise the integrity of the course design, among other things, but that doesn’t make it any less devastating when your ball is just a few feet from being (legally) playable.

Fix It: PGA Master Professional Dennis Clark says internal O.B. is used strictly for safety and practical club purposes, not to drive golfers crazy as they may think. Treat these white stakes just like any other white stake, because they all mean stroke and distance.

Ball in a divot

Hitting a perfect drive down the center of the fairway is one of golf’s great feelings. It’s equally as frustrating, however, when that drive ends up in a divot. It makes you wonder… what’s the point of even hitting the fairway?

When the playing area is littered with divots, Clark says it’s the responsibility of the club committee to mark the area as Ground Under Repair, or decide to play “lift, clean and cheat... I mean “play.”

Fix It: To play a shot from a divot, Clark says golfers should move the ball back in their stance, move their hands ahead by delofting the club, and make a “picking-and-chopping” motion, much like they would from a buried lie in a greenside bunker.

Mud balls

“Mud balls” happen when the golf ball collects mud on one side of the ball. After contact, a mud ball often flies unpredictably.

Lee Trevino’s take on mud balls:

[quote_box_center]All this theory about, oh, if the mud’s on the right it will go left and if the mud’s on the left it will go left and believe me, that’s a bunch of baloney. You don’t know where the hell it’s going to go when that mud is on there.[/quote_box_center]

This is what can happen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7mFUDyGdGk

Mud balls aren’t fair. They’re just not even close to fair.

Fix It: To eliminate some of the guesswork, Instructor Tom Stickney says to hit a punch shot or knockdown, keeping the ball from getting up in the air and spinning too much.

Sandbaggers

The USGA handicap system allows golfers of all different playing abilities to compete with each other. It’s a fair way to equal out the playing field.

The problem is when you run into the 18-handicap that shoots 75, and calls it a “career day” as he runs off with your money.

Fix It: Clark says sandbaggers are children dressed in adult clothes with funny colors, and they should be tarred, feathered and hung to dry in the men’s locker room.

Ridiculously unlucky bounces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw_7xsZOzEU

Bad bounces happen — they’re inevitable. But sometimes you get a bounce so bad, so unlucky, that all you can do is laugh.

Sometimes you hit a good shot that barely clips a twig on an overhanging branch, and it ricochets backwards into the trees or hazard, seemingly defying the laws of physics.

Fix it: President of New Edge Performance John Haime says you must acknowledge that most things in golf are beyond your control — besides preparation, attitude and equipment. Golfers do not have control over unlucky bounces or poor shots, but do have control over their response to them.

This situation

Usually, the two ways this shot can end are with an injury, a broken golf club, or both.

Fix it: Unless you’re playing the Masters or a high-priced Nassau, Stickney says golfers should just take the unplayable. It’s not worth trying a low-percentage, high-risk shot and breaking a wrist, knuckle or golf club.

The Lone Tree

You miss the fairway by a little. So what?

“It’s okay, there’s only one tree over there,” you say.

And where’s your ball? Stuck DIRECTLY BEHIND IT. Truly heartbreaking.

Fix It: Clark says this situation is simply the rub of the green, and advises golfers to play the smartest shot for the situation. Remember, Bobby Jones famously said, “Golf is not a fair game, but it is an equitable one.”

Getting angry, but not doing it right

Sometimes as a golfer, you just need to outwardly express your anger. When you can’t even get that right, maybe it’s best to just pack it in and go home.

Fix it: Haime says the emotional brain is a powerful engine — and if in charge — a player can be pushed to anger. Everyone gets a bit angry at times, but the trick is not allowing it to spiral. Have a few exercises or cues prepared to help bring yourself back to neutral when you feel your emotions taking over.

Losing a ball in the rough

I know it was right here. I saw it land RIGHT HERE.

Losing a ball in what appears to be plain sight is infuriating, especially if it’s a brand new one (isn’t it always?).

Fix it: You could get yourself a Ball Scout Finder, as highlighted in our Adam Slutsky’s The Good, the Fad and the Funky. Or, you could play on the PGA Tour, where there’s so many fans surrounding each hole that it’s nearly impossible to lose a ball on the property.

Getting hit into

The quickest way to send a golfer over the edge of sanity is to hit up on them while they’re waiting for the green to clear.

Fix it: While there’s no perfect way to react, there is a wrong way. Although you may want to, do not turn around and fire the golf ball back in their direction, like Paul Giamatti (as Miles) did in the movie Sideways.