Golf Drills & Practice Tips to Break 100

When I think back to when I first started playing golf for the first time at age 16, I think about how I would practice differently and what I could do to help the old me, improve quicker.

I take this same approach today as I want to help you learn what to do to break 100 in golf quickly.

Maybe you’ve been scoring in the 120-150’s for 18 holes or maybe you’re someone knocking on the door of breaking 1oo in golf for quite some time but can’t seem to break it.

The follow golf practice routine will help you break 100 for 18 holes so you can start seeing scores in the 90’s and this will motivate you to keep pushing and get those scores down into the 80’s, which is a huge milestone in golf.

55% of golfers can break 100 but only 29% of golfers actually average scores in the 90’s consistently.

Our goal is to help you break 100 in golf but also stay below 100, averaging scores in the 90’s and then 80’s. Are you ready?

To make the most of today’s golf practice routine, you should also check out all of our additional resources mentioned throughout. Here’s some quick links to our best resources that help golfers trying to break 100 in golf.

Check out these helpful resources next:

How to Break 100: Scoring Explained

Before getting into the golf practice drills to help you break 100, let’s explain the scoring that has to happen on the golf course to achieve a golf score below 100.

Par at most golf courses is 72. This means if you make the par score on the scorecard for every hole then you’ll achieve the par total score of 72.

To break 100, you can score up to 27 strokes higher than par. (72+27=99)

Taking 27 extra strokes over 18 holes is an average of 1.5 extra strokes per hole.

Since you can’t score a 0.5 stroke on a hole, you’ll have to balance and average things out.

For example, on a par 3 you could make a 5 which would be 2 extra strokes above par (3 strokes). But then on the next par 3 hole, you might make a 4 (1 extra stroke) so it balances out and you’re still on pace to break 100.

During your 18 hole round you can break 100 if you achieve the following:

9 bogies
9 double bogies

For every extra double bogey made or worse, you’ll need to balance it back out by making a par or more bogies than required.

For example, a quadruple bogey (+4) on a hole would be like making 2 double bogies on two holes. So now you’ll only be allowed 7 more double bogies, and you’ll need to make a par to counter the quad bogey.

It’s confusing, but it’s a plus minus game. You’re allowed to make worse than par scores. In fact, you don’t have to make any pars at all. You can make 9 bogies, and 9 double bogies and still break 100.

But every par you can make will give you extra breathing room so you can afford to have a bad hole or two where you make worse than a double bogey and still be on track.

Resource: Golf Practice System with Step by Step Practice Plans + Video Lessons

Practice Routine to Break 100 in Golf

Every practice routine should include all 3 components of the golf game:

The Golf Swing
Chipping Practice
Putting Practice

Chipping practice can be inclusive of pitching and bunkers in addition to normal chipping from the fringe and rough.

Let’s cover some basic vocabulary terms first:

Golf Swing – swinging golf clubs (drivers, irons, wedges) to hit the golf ball from point A to point B.
Chipping – short distance golf shots (1-10 yards) with the goal of getting the ball onto the green
Pitching – longer distance wedge shots (10 yards to 50 yards) trying to get the ball on the green
Bunker Shots – hitting out of sand bunkers
Putting – using the putter to roll the ball across the green into the hole

Driving Range Practice Routine to Break 100

Start off at the driving range. Spend 50% of practice time here and the other 50% on short game (putting and chipping).

Take 5 practice swings with your driver (no golf ball) to warm up and get the muscles loose
Stretch out the legs and shoulders and back
Tee up 10 golf balls (one after the other) and aim at a target fairway on the driving range. Try to count how many balls get inside the boundary and count as a Hit Fairway vs Missed Fairways that land outside the target boundary.
Hit 10 golf shots with 7 iron, aiming at the 140-160 yard target depending on how far you hit your 7 iron. Count how many balls land within 10 yards of the target
Hit 10 shots with your wedge to a 50-100 yard target. Focus on how straight you hit each shot. Track how many out of 10 successfully stay straight at the target and don’t fly more than a yard or two left / right.
Hit 10 shots with your 9 iron focusing on distance control. How close to the intended distance did the ball fly? Are you coming up short? Hitting long? Practice changing targets and adjust your swing power with your 9 iron to hit the correct distance to the target.
Hit 10 shots with your wedge focusing on distance control. Switch targets on the range and adjust power. Track how many you hit the correct distance out of 10.
Remaining golf balls use up by hitting more drivers, focusing on contact in the center of the face. Take note of tendency. Do you hit drives left, right, or center more often. Play to this out on the golf course. Aim left if you know you hit right usually to account for the ball moving right.

Chipping Practice Routine to Break 100

Work on contact drills so you can build confidence that when you need to chip the ball onto the green you can get good contact on the ball with your wedge consistently.

Start by setting 10 balls on the fringe of the practice green.

Pick a nearby hole to chip to. Make practice chips, focusing on the clubs bottom edge making crisp contact with the ground (fringe short grass).

Once you feel confident on making contact with the ground, add in golf balls and begin making short distance chips to a nearby hole.

Focus on contact still. How well can you keep the ball straight on line to the hole.

Focus on where the golf ball is landing and imagine a line between you and the hole. Is the ball landing on the line? Or is it landing left or right of that imaginary line?

Keep practicing short chips with not much power needed until you master control over the wedge and get these chips landing straight on the line, not flying left or right.

Next work on distance control. Find a spot on the green to land the ball on and hit chips, focusing on keeping it straight but also landing on the target spot on the green.

This will take skill and time to build control over the wedge and how much power to hit chips with, but the reward will pay off.

Once you practice these beginner drills for a few weeks and feel confident, move

Putting – Practice Tips & Routine

Putting accounts for almost 50% of your score and should be an area of focus you spend a lot of time on during your golf practice sessions.

For a solid putting routine, you should mix in both close range putting drills (3ft to 10ft from the hole) and longer putting distance control drills to work on putts from 20-50 feet away from the hole.

Short range putting drills will build your skills to make putts more frequently inside 10 feet or less. These are crucial par-saving putts you need to make to score lower in golf!

Long range putting drills will help you stop 3-putting. You’ll get better at hitting the first putt with good distance control so that it finishes close to the hole, leaving you a short, makeable next putt to complete a successful two-putt.

The goal on every green is to finish with just one or two putts. No three putts please!

Here’s a simple golf putting routine to try at practice:

Warm-up by making 20 putts from 2 feet. Try to hit putts so they hit the center of the cup.
Next move back 1 club length to 5 foot putts and sink 20 more
Next, find a right to left break putt and make 20 from 7 feet
Repeat from the opposite side with left to right break from 7 feet. 20 makes.
Next, set up 5 tees in a line. One tee marking 3ft, 5ft, 7ft, 9ft, and 12ft. Set down 5 balls, one at each tee marker and try to make all 5 putts in a row.
Move on to long distance putting. Measure out a 30 foot putt. Practice hitting to inside of 3 feet from this distance for 10 minutes
Then move back to 45 feet and practice for 10 more minutes trying to two-putt successfully over and over
Finish practice with 25 made putts from 3 feet.

Overall, these practice tips and drills in today’s guide will help you break 100 golf scores. The more focused, quality practice sessions you implement into your golf practice schedule, the quicker you’ll get better and see your score dropping.

Check out this golf practice system that will speed up how fast you get better at golf.

Golf Practice System for Lower Scores

Learn the exact golf practice routines thousands of students at Foy Golf Academy are using to lower their golf scores.

Follow these step by step practice plans and watch video lessons to learn how to improve your golf swing, chipping, and putting fundamentals.

Get access to hundreds of golf drills to practice as well as content on the mental side of golf, fitness plans, worksheets, and many more resources. This is a complete golf practice system.

Start Following These Practices —> Nick Foy Golf Practice System

Work hard,

Nick Foy, Instructor