I headed out to the driving range today in search of new ideas for how to break 80 and whenever I go to the driving range I try to work on a specific skill. You don’t want to head out to the driving range and just start pounding balls with no purpose. There was a flag 56 yards away from me so I decided that I would find a swing that would hit the ball 56 yards on the fly. What better skill to work on at the driving range than to hit a ball an exact distance consistently! | ![]() |
I went back to my stiff wristed shot as described in one of my tips for breaking 100. If you need a refresher on what that is then check it out now. I came up with a swing with a 56 degree sand wedge that went back to 10 o’clock and ended at about 1 o’clock. If you’re not following – my feet are at 6 o’clock and my head is at 12 o’clock. If my backswing takes the club back to parallel with the ground then the club is at 9 o’clock. If my follow through takes the club to parallel with the ground then the club is now at 3 o’clock. This swing resulted in about a 56-58 yard shot.
I then went about finding a club that would produce a 100 yard shot. I settled on a 9 iron with the same range (10:00 – 3:00) as the previous shot.
The stiff wristed swing puts a slight fade on these shots but that’s just as well as it will stop the ball on the green a bit quicker.
If you want to break 80 then find a repeatable swing (such as this stiff wristed one) that carries the ball an exact distance. The next step is to determine the distances for each of your clubs with the same swing. If you can hit a shot an exact distance then this will do loads for your confidence and hopefully teach you to play to these pet distances. Breaking 80 will become child’s play when you can cozy the ball right up against the flag from various distances.
Looking for more tips on how to break 80 – see my publication, 79 tips to break 80 in golf.