Breaking 100 is seen as probably the first milestone in a golfer’s journey, on average 86% of all golfers at some point of their life will achieve this result but only 55% of all golfers will consistently keep under 100.
Below is our guide to hitting that magical number and hopefully your first steps to staying below it.
Get a Golf Yardage Tracker
Knowing your yardage is essential in making the right club choice. You can get wearable devices, a carry in the bag scope, or even using a basic phone app will help you to accurately measure distances, and give you more focused data for your next shot.
Read our article on the best 2 golf bag game changers for greater detail
Two putt & green reading
You’ve all heard the saying ‘Driving for show, putting for dough’. A solid putt strategy is essential in breaking 100. Focus on two putting, the first shot is the close layup and the second shot is the finish. Too many times golfers will go for the Hollywood shot and over shoot the hole by a good few and end up 3 putting. Arrive early and get straight onto the practice putting green, if the course is well managed this will give you a decent reading for the quality for the course and how well the ground staff maintain the course.
Read our article on how to read a golf putting green
Know your club distances
This goes hand in hand with the golf yardage tip, you need to know exactly how far you can comfortably and consistently reach with each club. Get to the driving and mark out soft, mid, and full swing distances across all your irons and 3 to 5 woods.
The reason we suggest doing 3 different swing power settings is that you can control a club and have more gain accuracy from a soft or even medium swing than thrashing at a club on full power. Knowing that your 100 yards out from the green, gives you the probable choice of up to 3 clubs pending on your lie, angle and location.
Read our article on average club distances to see where you fit
Take your medicine
There will definitely be several times during your round when something goes horribly wrong and you will find yourself deep in the rough or in a really tricky situation.
It’s at these moments where the mind races and your expectation of your skills goes from being an amateur into a tour pro. Don’t be stupid and go for the hero shots, play it safe, play it simple and take the extra shot to help you out of the rough. You know exactly what you need to do, but again Hollywood thinking will for the majority to times get you in worse situations and rack up those extra shots.
Read our article on focusing on to think like a Pro
Get the right golf ball
Balls make a huge difference on the course and will vary from brand to brand so taking care of the balls you choose to buy or find will make or break your round.
Because your trying to break 100 then you are a high handicapper so you need all the help that you can. The key to ball choice is broken down to two types of balls.
– Soft balls go a shorter distance but will also be very forgiving.
– Hard or distance balls (as the name says) will travel further.
What you need to decide very early on is the type of shot you will play, if you don’t hit the ball far but you are accurate then it’s a hard ball, or like most high handicappers your game is so inconsistent that you need a good all round ball where the soft ball is always the best choice.
Read our article on the best ball to buy for a mid to high handicapper
Plan out your training at the range
Practice, practice, practice.
Golf is about consistency, building your muscle and swing memory is vital in reducing the number of poor swings and ball connections.
The range should never be about just hitting balls as far as you can, you need to plan out a training regime to improve the areas of your golf game.
1. Start with a basic warm with stretches and basic swings.
2. Focus on your alignment and ensure you are taking time to properly position your body and feel correctly.
3. Start your drills with a mid iron (usually the 7 iron) working from soft swings to mid to full to get fully focused.
4. There are a number of drills that will now depend on your area of focus, these range from short, mid or distance based around accuracy.
Remember to record and analyse your swings and efforts to manage and review success. It’s great to watch back over the months to see just how far you have come on.
Master your Mental Game
The game of golf is won and lost in the mind, you don’t need to be a quality golfer to see progression and break that magical 100 milestone.
You need to be your own caddie, a coach and even your own cheerleader across 18 holes. You need to be able to manage your own expectations around the course, give yourself pep talks when the round does start to go wrong and keep yourself grounded when the great shots pull in.
Don’t get dragged into situations with others, or go chasing another golfers score, be calm and be consistent.
Read our guide to becoming totally Zen with Golf
There you have it, it’s not rocket science or some magic secret, it’s all about you and managing yourself correctly. The gains and focus you put in off the course are the key essentials for breaking 100 on the course.
