How to break 100 in golf: a plan that adds up

The sums behind a 99

On a par 72 course, 99 is 27 over par. A bogey on every hole is 90. Add nine doubles and you’re on 99. So you can break 100 without making a single par.

The sums also show where the damage comes from. Doubles are affordable. A triple, or a 9 on a par 4, uses up slack you were counting on elsewhere. The table shows a few ways 18 holes can add up:

Pars	Bogeys	Doubles	Triples	Over par	Score on a par 72
0	9	9	0	+27	99
2	5	11	0	+27	99
3	3	12	0	+27	99
0	12	5	1	+25	97
1	10	5	2	+26	98
0	12	3	3	+27	99
0	0	18	0	+36	108

A par and a double cost the same as two bogeys. A triple has to be paid for by turning one of your doubles into a bogey. A round of nothing but doubles is 108, so the job is to make bogey on half the holes.

On a par 70 the target is 29 over. The idea doesn’t change.

Set your own par

Give yourself a personal par on every hole: one more than the card says, plus one more on the nine hardest holes (stroke index 1 to 9). On a par 72 that adds up to exactly 99. On a par 70 it comes to 97, which leaves two shots spare. A 5 on a par 4 with stroke index 12 is now a par, and so is a 6 on a par 4 with stroke index 3. Once you stop chasing shots you don’t need, you stop taking the risks that lead to 8s.

Strategy on the course

Data on amateur rounds reported by MyGolfSpy shows that golfers who usually shoot over 100 hit about eight tee shots a round into serious trouble (water, lost balls, trees) and average about five three-putts. Most of that comes down to club choice and putting pace, not your swing.

Keep the ball in play off the tee

A ball out of bounds or lost costs stroke and distance under the Rules of Golf: you add a penalty stroke and play again from where you last hit, so your next tee shot is your third. On a par 4, bogey is now a good score.

On any tight hole, or any hole where you’ve lost a ball before, leave the driver in the bag. Hit the club you hit straightest, often a hybrid, a fairway wood or even a 7-iron. Being 180 yards out in the fairway beats being 140 yards out behind a tree. If you’re not sure how far each club goes, Golf Scout’s guide to club distances for beginners gives you a starting point.

Aim for the middle of the green

Flags tucked behind bunkers or next to water are set to test better players. Aim for the fat part of the green on every approach. A miss in the middle still leaves you a putt. A miss on the short side often leaves a bunker shot over a lip.

If a green is out of reach in two, don’t try to get as close as you can. Lay up to a distance you like, say 70 or 80 yards, and pitch on from there.

Take your medicine

In the trees, in deep rough or in a fairway bunker with a high lip, your only job is to get back to the fairway in one. Chip out sideways, or even backwards, with a club you know will get through the gap. The hero shot through a small opening turns a bogey into a triple far more often than it turns it into a par.

Greenside bunkers work the same way. Out first time, anywhere on the green, is a good result.

Two-putt everything

On long putts, think about pace before line. Try to leave the first putt within a putter’s length of the hole. A 40-foot putt that runs four feet past is a missed lag even if it was dead on line, because the one back is far from certain.

What to practise

Most of the shots you can save are from 100 yards in. In the same figures, the typical golfer over 100 has nearly six holes a round where a shot from inside 70 yards fails to find the green first time. Most of those holes cost at least an extra shot.

If you have an hour, split it like this:

Time	Area	Drill	Target
15 min	Lag putting	10 balls from 30 feet, then 10 from 40 feet, to different holes	7 of 10 finish within a putter’s length
10 min	Short putts	6 balls in a circle round a hole at 3 feet, then 6 at 4 feet	Hole all 12; start again if you miss
15 min	Chipping	20 chips from just off the green with one club (an 8-iron or pitching wedge)	Land on a towel a yard onto the green; 10 of 20 finish inside 6 feet
10 min	Pitching	10 balls each from 30, 50 and 70 yards	20 of 30 on the green
10 min	Bunker	15 balls from a flat lie	10 of 15 out and on the green first time

If the course or range is a drive away, one session like this a week is a good start. The short putts work on a carpet at home, and the putting practice at home guide has more drills for the evenings between rounds.

When you do go to the range, spend half the bucket on the club you’ll use off tight tees. Pick two markers about a fairway’s width apart, say 30 yards, and count how many of 20 balls finish between them.

Count the shots that cost you

After every round, write down four numbers:

• penalty strokes
• three-putts (or worse)
• holes of double bogey or worse
• chips and pitches from inside 70 yards that didn’t reach the green

Put them next to the score. After three or four rounds you’ll see the pattern. A 104 with six penalty strokes is a different problem from a 104 with no penalties and seven three-putts, and it needs different practice.

If you log rounds hole by hole in Golf Journal, you record strokes, putts, fairway and penalties on each hole, and the scorecard marks your doubles. You can set breaking 100 as a goal (then 90, then 80), and the Insights show how far off it you are and which holes are your hardest. The how to keep a golf journal guide covers what else is worth writing down.

Check progress with a handicap estimate

A score on its own doesn’t tell you how hard the course was. A score differential does. Golf Journal works out a handicap estimate with the World Handicap System formula, and the lower your handicap calculator shows the score you’d need next time to bring yours down. For handicap purposes each hole is capped at net double bogey, which Golf Scout explains in its guide to net double bogey. It’s the same thinking as your personal par: cap the damage on the bad holes.