Break 100

1. A pitching wedge chip will fly half the distance and roll the other half. So if you fly it 10 yards, it will roll another 10 yards.
2. A sand wedge will fly 2/3’s the distance and roll 1/3 more. So if you fly it 10 yards, it will roll 5 yards.
3. A 7/8 iron will fly 1/3 the distance and roll 2/3 more. So if you fly it 10 yards, it will roll 20 yards.
Adjust accordingly for uphill or downhill chips.

How do you use this information? Take the club that will fly it to the green and roll from there to the hole. If you have 15 yards total to the hole and 5 of those yards are off the green. Take the club that will fly the ball 5 yards and roll it 10 yards. In this case, that would be a 7 or 8 iron.

The idea behind these formulas is that when you are near to the green, take the club that will hit the ball onto the front of the green and let the ball roll the rest of the way to the hole. These formulas eliminate a lot of the guesswork as it should be fairly straightforward to determine how hard to hit a club to fly the ball around 5-10 yards to the green.

Well, what if you are well beyond 10 yards to the green but are still chipping or using less than a full swing? Consider using the following technique in such situations:

• 1 – Swing the club so that you have a minimal or even zero break of the wrists. It’s as if you are swing with stiff arms. The idea is to take the wrist out of the swing.

2 – Go to the range or the practice green and perform five specific swings:

– ankle to ankle – this means backswing stops ankle high and follow through stops ankle high
– knee to knee as above
– waist to waist as above
– shoulder to shoulder as above
– shoulder to full release as above

Use a mirror if necessary to see as well as feel each of these swings.

3 – Start out with a pitching wedge and hit five balls for each swing.

4 – Determine your average distance for that club and that swing and write it down. Pay attention to how far the ball flies only. Use that to determine your average flight for each club.

5 – Do the same for the other swings with the same club so that you have an average distance for each swing height.

6 – repeat the procedure for as many clubs as you care to and write down your results in a handy chart format.

7 – As you are not breaking your wrists except for the shoulder to full release swing, your ball flight for the longer shots will be a bit left to right (which is fine).

8 – Now you have an accurate guide for the exact swing necessary to hit the ball an exact distance.

Taking the wrists out of the swing makes for an easier swing with less chance of a flubbed shot. I used to use this all the time and it worked great. I need to get back to it. My favorites were a shoulder to shoulder sand wedge for a 50 yarder, and I also used to do a shoulder to shoulder 7 iron for a specific distance that would work great (probably about 100 yards). It gives a great feeling of confidence knowing to hit a shot that will fly 7 yards I need to just do an ankle to ankle pitching wedge. And this tip will save you a lot of practice time as once you get your distances down as well as the swing necessary, you won’t have to invest a lot of practice on this at the range.

Putting is a great place to take off a lot of strokes: eliminate the three putt

I golf with a buddy of mine and we usually play 9 holes. He is interested in breaking 50 for nine and has on a couple occasions. Watching him golf, I’m able to formulate ways in which to break 100 for 18 holes or 50 for 9 holes. The most obvious thing to me is to focus on putting.

What’s really interesting is that my buddy is amazing from 10-15 feet out. I’ve only seen a few people that could consistently drain 10-15 footers with the regularity that he does. What’s even more interesting is that his accuracy from that range may also be his achilles heel on shorter putts. His approach is to pretty much play the putt as a straight putt and hit it hard. For me, this would take a lot of guts to do. I would rather have the ball die at the hole. He makes a lot of putts this way but he misses a lot of short putts because he hits them too hard. Also when he misses the longer putts, he leaves himself with a 6-8 footer instead of a 2-3 footer. I think he also experiences a bit more pressure on even the 2-3 footers.

He, like others of his level, have difficulty with touch and with reading greens. I’ve seen him and others line up putt after putt with little regard for the break. Everything must seem like a straight putt to the 100+ shooter. I’ve also seen the 100+ shooter blast short putts farther from the hole then where they initially started.

As you can surmise, 3 putts and the like are common for the 100+ shooter. If you can develop a sense of touch and learn to read the greens, you could easily cut half a dozen strokes from your 18 hole round and probably more. There’s no secret to doing this. Get on the putting green and practice. Work on having your putts die at the hole. I would start by working on 3-4 specific distances (6 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet, and perhaps 30 feet). Practice several putts from each distance and try to get your putts to die or end at or near the hole. Notice I didn’t say try to make the putts. Focus on having the ball die near the hole. Don’t worry about making them. Get the feel for what it takes to hit a 6 footer, 10 footer, 20 footer and 30 footer.

Pay attention to the length of your stroke for each distance. How far back do you take it and how far through the ball do you take the putter? Avoid stabbing at the ball where your follow through ends soon after impact. While you are practicing pay attention to the break of the putt. With a little practice, you can develop some touch and green reading skills that will save you several strokes on the course.

Understand your game and choose the proper club

Most, if not all, 100+ shooters hit the ball with a fade/slice. Their standard shot is probably closer to a slice than a fade. When they are hitting the ball well, it’s still a fade. Understand that this is your standard shot and adjust your aim accordingly on the course.

We have a finishing par 3 at our course. It’s about a 160-170 yard shot to an elevated green. If you lose the ball to the right and miss the green, you are left with a pitch shot of about 15 feet back up to the level of the green. As you can see, you don’t want to lose the shot to the right. Making par from there is almost impossible. Mature trees line the right side of the entire hole. My buddy never adjusts for his fade on this hole. He usually hits it right into the trees or misses the green to the right. If I were him, I would aim left of the entire hole, club up to adjust for the distance that you lose with a fade, and hit. Even though it’s only 170 yards, I’ve suggested that he take a driver if necessary. It plays about 10 yards longer because of the elevated green and there’s a backstop to the left and behind the green. Better to be long than short on this hole.

The point is to use the club that is right for you even if it is a driver from 170 yards. Do what it takes to get the ball there and adjust for your shot tendency. Don’t hit a club based upon somebody else’s game. 100+ shooters must learn to be honest with themselves before they can improve.

Future topics

• How to hit the ball the proper distance on approach shots

Improve your short game to break 100

How to turn your slice into a manageable fade

How to hit a draw

Course management 101

How to stop blaming your clubs and face the facts

There are no natural golfers – take some lessons