How To Break 100 In Golf
There is no waving a magic wand when it comes to breaking 100 on the golf course. Searching online will offer simplistic advice like “avoid the bunkers” or “aim for the fairway”, and while that is sound advice, you are probably doing this already.
The best way to start shaving shots off your scorecard is to bark on the technical side of your game. Golf is about consistency and control. So, understanding your swing and learning how to maximise it is essential. Once that is done, you can start to look at the fine margins that make all the difference to your game.
Here are 8 tips that we believe will help you break 100 sooner rather than later.
Putting – The Quickest Way To Break 100
- Lag putting
It is by no means the most glamorous part of the game but lag putting can make the difference to your scorecard by reducing the number of three-putts you need. The goal here is simple, get the ball as close to the hole as possible, ideally leaving you a tap-in for your second putt.
When you embrace lag putting, you start to see more opportunities to putt. And when putting is an option, take it!
- Pendulum putting
Pendulum putting is all about letting your backstroke control your power. Instead of using your stroke to drive the ball, pendulum putting starts to rely on your natural instinct to judge distance. Using this and lag putting will without a doubt shave strokes from your game.
Tees And Fairways – Setting Up For Success
Breaking 100 is all about the details and if you want to get better you’ll need to work on the technical aspects of your game. But it is also about the choices you make on the course. This includes picking the right tools and knowing how to control your swing.
- Club Selection
There is no substitute for practice here, knowing how you strike the ball with each club and understanding that your warm-weather and cold-weather yardage will be different are key.
However, it’s just as important to carry the right clubs. We recommend carrying a 5-wood rather than a 3-wood and having hybrids instead of longer irons.
- Allow for bend
You obviously want to work in major hooks and slices out of your game, but we all have a natural bend to our shots.
Being aware of this and allowing for it in your shot alignment will see you get more GIRs more regularly.
- Low chip
We mentioned earlier that you should putt whenever you can, and that includes putting off the green. But when you must play a chip shot, always try to keep them as low to the ground as possible. The trick is to land the ball as gently as possible on the green.
- Fairway Finder
This should be in every golfer’s arsenal. We all have those holes on the course that seems to get the better of us. Beating these holes is about playing a smarter game.
The key to success is picking a club you’re comfortable with and a swing thought you know works for you. Practice your swing with your chosen club so that you become more confident and improve your shot’s accuracy.
Managing The Mind
Mastering your swing and laser-like putting is nothing if you can’t keep your head in the game. Here are two tips to help keep you from overthinking on the course.
- Ignore par
Breaking 100 on a par-72 means you need to shoot nine bogeys and nine double bogeys. By scratching out the par on your scorecard and adding 2 shots to the 9 toughest holes, and 1 to the 9 easiest, you can start to track your progress easier. You’ll also feel better as you start to hit the new pars!
- Break your round up
Another little trick is to break the round into smaller sections. Breaking it up into six, three-hole sections for example, and setting scoring targets for those sections is a way to track progress in a more manageable way.
Conclusion
These are all techniques that have been around for years. They have had results for 100’s of golfers trying to break that 100 mark and they’re sure to help you as well.
