The Secret To Breaking 100, 90, and 80

 

There isn’t a golfer alive that doesn’t want to shoot better scores. That obsessive drive to always get better is just one thing that makes us a special breed of people. The only problem is that golf is a game that will never be perfected, and taking your game to the next level can be a really difficult challenge. Whether you’re trying to cut some strokes off your score, lower your handicap, or just play more consistently, let me give you a few secrets to getting from one “score tier” to the next. 

100: Stop chunking/skulling chips

90% of bad scores come from around the greens (that’s a stat I made up but it holds up, trust me). You hit a couple of good shots to get it just off the putting surface, walk up pretty confident you’re gonna make a good score only to hit a poor chip and leave yourself in a sticky situation scrambling to make par or bogey. Couple that with shaky putting and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. An easy, easy way to help your scores fall off a cliff is to master your chipping. If you’re struggling to break 100 I recommend just going to the chipping green with a couple of wedges and chipping until you can’t see straight. Then, once you feel comfortable, keep chipping until it literally becomes automatic that you chip it to within 5 feet at least 7 out of 10 times. Do that, and I guarantee you’ll start breaking 100.

90: Stop 3-putting

If 90% of scoring issues are because of poor chipping, I think it’s safe to say the other 10% is from poor putting. Nothing will kill a round and raise your score faster than a few 3-putts, so making sure you don’t card any should be one of your top priorities if you’re trying to break 90 for the first time. Here’s the key to eliminating 3-putts from your game: practice lag putting. Spend some time on the putting green and only hit putts from outside 20 feet. The trick is to not try and make the putt; that’s where you often get yourself in trouble. You try to make the putt and run it 10 feet past the hole, leaving yourself in a bad situation trying to make par. So when you’re practicing your 20+ footers, make your goal to lag it within a 3-foot circle around the hole. That will leave you a tap in for more pars or bogeys, which will help those scores begin to drop. 

80: Hit more greens in regulation

At this point in your game, most things should be pretty dialed in, but there’s always something to improve upon. For golfers trying to break 80, that means hitting more greens in regulation and giving yourself more looks at birdie. The key to making this happen is dialing in your distance control. Knowing your yardage with each club is vital to hitting more greens, so spend as much time as you can on the range taking notes on each club so that when you get on the course you can have confidence in the club you pick. 

Here’s the harsh reality of the game of golf. You’re probably always going to suck a little bit. Becoming a scratch golfer is incredibly hard. I’ve been playing golf for almost 30 years and my handicap still floats around the double-digit mark most times. The good news, though, is that there is always something you can work on to get better. So buckle down, focus on these three secrets, and you can start lowering your scores.