Miles Bennett
Breaking 90 in golf is a challenging but rewarding endeavour. To achieve this, golfers must adopt a strategic approach that focuses on consistency and safety. While swing changes are not necessary, it is crucial to have a core group of reliable shots that can be executed effectively. This involves selecting the most comfortable and consistent clubs for different scenarios, such as fairway woods, hybrids, or irons, to ensure stress-free gameplay. Additionally, it is important to control the dispersion of misses, avoid penalties, and stay out of bunkers. By combining a practical club selection strategy with a disciplined approach to shot execution, golfers can consistently break 90 and improve their overall performance.
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What You'll Learn
- Play it safe: avoid bunkers, don't take penalties, and control mishits
- Know your clubs: select the right club for each hole and practice with a variety of clubs
- Warm up: prepare your body for the round to improve performance
- Course strategy: understand the course and plan your shots to avoid high-risk areas
- Practice chipping and putting: focus on consistent, accurate shots to save strokes
Play it safe: avoid bunkers, don't take penalties, and control mishits
To break 90 in golf, one of the most important things you can do is play it safe. This means avoiding bunkers, not taking penalties, and controlling mishits.
First and foremost, avoid bunkers at all costs. Bunkers are areas of sand that can be difficult to play from and can quickly add strokes to your score. They are usually found near greens and are designed to challenge golfers. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to escape a bunker, so it is best to avoid them altogether. When playing a shot where a bunker is in range, consider using a different club or taking a less aggressive swing to ensure you don't end up in the sand.
Another key aspect of playing it safe is minimizing penalties. In golf, penalties can be incurred for various reasons, such as causing your ball to move after addressing it, removing loose impediments and causing the ball to move more than a club's length, or anchoring your club against your body during a stroke. To avoid penalties, familiarize yourself with the rules of golf and be mindful of your actions during play. Always be cautious when your ball is in a position where a penalty could be incurred, and take the necessary steps to avoid adding extra strokes to your score.
Finally, focus on controlling your mishits. Even the best golfers don't hit the ball perfectly every time. The key is to minimize the impact of mishits on your score. This can be achieved by taking a more conservative approach and using clubs that you can consistently hit well, even if it means sacrificing some distance. Instead of always swinging with full power, consider taking an extra club and swinging at 50-75% to gain more control over your shots. By controlling your mishits, you can keep the ball in play and avoid the big numbers that can ruin a round.
Remember, when trying to break 90, it's important to focus on consistency and minimizing mistakes. Play it safe, avoid bunkers and penalties, and work on controlling your mishits to see your scores drop below that 90-stroke barrier.
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Know your clubs: select the right club for each hole and practice with a variety of clubs
Knowing your golf clubs and how to use them is essential to breaking 90. It's not just about having the ability to hit the ball far; it's also about using the right club for each hole and practising with a variety of clubs to improve your game.
Firstly, select a club that you feel most comfortable with to hit 160 yards or more. This could be your fairway wood, hybrid, driver, or 5 iron. The key is consistency and straightness. Your goal is to hit fairways off the tee and set yourself up for a stress-free second shot. This club will be your go-to for every hole, except for par 3s, where you might need to switch it up.
For par 3s, you need to think about how to place your ball so that you can hit your favourite iron into the green. For example, if you love hitting your pitching wedge from 120 yards, and you're 240 yards from the green, break the distance into two shots of 120 yards each. This will give you a better chance of success than a 3-wood into the rough, followed by a challenging 50-yard pitch shot.
It's important to remember that your scoring clubs (9, PW, wedges) will rarely be used for a full swing. So, when in doubt, club up and work on controlling 50-75% swings. Practise with a variety of clubs to improve your chipping and putting, and don't be afraid to take an extra club on less confidence-boosting shots.
Lastly, don't rush your driving range time. Take your time between shots, do your full shot routine, and consciously programme the feelings you get from each shot. This will help you build confidence and improve your performance on the course.
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Warm up: prepare your body for the round to improve performance
Warming up before a round of golf is essential to playing your best game, preventing injury, and improving performance. A good warm-up routine will elevate your heart rate and promote blood flow, while also simulating the movements you'll make on the golf course.
Cardio
Begin with some light cardiovascular exercise to get your blood flowing and increase your body temperature. This could include a brisk walk, a light jog, or some jumping jacks.
Shoulder Warm-up
Use resistance bands to activate and warm up your shoulder muscles. Attach the bands to a golf cart or another stable object and perform single-arm band exercises, both slow for muscle engagement and fast for explosiveness.
Spine and Back
Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart and reach overhead, extending your spine through your mid-back. Imagine trying to get your shoulder blades to clear your heels. Then, hinge at your hips and try to touch your toes, keeping your back straight and hips stable.
Leg Stretches
Leg strength and flexibility are crucial in golf. Perform some leg swings, calf raises, and mini squats to activate your leg muscles and improve balance and stability.
Core Activation
Hold your arms out and do circles to engage your core and improve stability. You can also incorporate lunges to improve your lower-body stability and maintain a strong stance during your swing.
Remember to move at your own pace and focus on making clean and consistent contact with the ball during your warm-up.
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Course strategy: understand the course and plan your shots to avoid high-risk areas
Golf is a mental game, and a large part of breaking 90 is going to come from your decision-making on the course. When approaching a shot in golf, you become a risk manager. The outcome of your risk management strategy will determine the score on your scorecard.
A great way to improve your course strategy is by keeping a golf journal to see what strategies work and what don't. Watching golf on TV is also a great way to learn more about course strategy and visualize yourself hitting great shots. Watch the pros, like Tiger Woods, and see how they approach their strategy. Tiger always has a target score in mind before the round. He looks at the course conditions, weather conditions, and where he is on the leaderboard to determine his target score. If he has a 4-shot lead going into Sunday, his target score would usually be 71 or 72, and his strategy would be more conservative.
When you are on the course, you need to check your ego at the door and make a commitment to the score, not how your round looks. This means you don’t have to show your playing partners huge drives, pin-seeking approach shots, and magical saves. Breaking 90 is not about birdies and pars. It’s about limiting double bogeys, and that is hard for most golfers to understand.
If you are in thick rough, don't hit anything less than a 7-iron, especially if the rough is wet. If there are more than two trees between you and your target, you probably shouldn't aim anywhere near your target. If you find yourself in the trees, just get the ball out to a place you can play the next shot easily.
You also need to avoid getting into trouble, and that means using the clubs that you know you can hit straight, even if you can't hit them as far. Figure out the club you can consistently hit the best and use that as often as you can. For a 400-yard hole, it's far better to go 180+150+70 and two-putt for a bogey than to try for 220+180 and potentially put one OB off the tee, or in the water or into the sand on your approach, and now you are fighting for a double or triple.
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Practice chipping and putting: focus on consistent, accurate shots to save strokes
To break 90 in golf, it's important to focus on consistent and accurate chipping and putting. This is because chipping and putting motions are related in that they require shorter stroke motions and improving your chipping is one of the simplest ways to lower your score and build your confidence.
To chip effectively, it's important to understand the chip shot itself. It is a short-game stroke where the ball carries into the air and then rolls an equal or slightly longer distance than it carries. To set up for a chip shot, bend forward from the hips and let your arms hang directly below your shoulders. This creates a space for your arms and club to swing through. It's also important to keep your upper body tilted toward the target, as it'll help you make a descending blow.
When it comes to the stroke, keep the club below hip level and relatively equal back and through. Avoid long chipping strokes as they can hurt the quality of your contact. Instead, focus on a free-flowing motion with soft and relaxed wrists that can move around subtly. This will help the club gently fall into the ground at impact.
To calibrate your distances, learn a basic stroke size that you're comfortable with and change the club. This will alter the distance due to changing flight-to-roll ratios. For example, a knee-height-to-knee-height chipping stroke with a gap wedge may travel 10 yards, while a 7-iron may go 50 yards.
In addition to chipping, putting is also crucial. Keep in mind that the putting stroke requires a descending blow, similar to the chipping stroke. However, in putting, you want to avoid acceleration, unlike chipping.
By focusing on consistent and accurate chipping and putting, you'll be able to save strokes and improve your overall golf game.
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Frequently asked questions
You need a core group of shots that you can rely on when you play golf. You must be able to execute a small number of strokes and lean on your strengths. You must select your most reliable long club, which could be a fairway wood, hybrid, driver or 5 iron. Your goal is to hit fairways off the tee and allow for a stress-free second shot.
Warm up before the round and play it safe. Don't take penalties, don't short-side yourself, stay out of bunkers, and avoid trying to make very long putts. Take an extra club on approach shots, choke up and control the shot instead of hitting with 100% power.
Figure out the club you can consistently hit the best and use that as often as you can. You should be happy with bogeys and try to get on the green in one or two shots. Shorter par 4s are your target to try and hit the green in two shots.
