The best advice for breaking 90 from a low handicap player

Golf is full of milestones, but for the recreational golfer, one of the biggest is breaking 90 points.

Those who have broken through this barrier may remember the joy of achieving this goal. It might not be the same as putting on a green jacket, but it’s still something worth celebrating.

For those who have yet to fully summit the mountain, the dream of breaking 90 remains. At GOLF.com, we want to help you achieve this feat. Below, you’ll find the best advice on breaking 90 from several of our single-digit handicappers.

Strengthen your foundation and play mind games

Breaking 90 for the first time is a huge milestone in any golfer’s career. If you haven’t crossed this threshold yet, don’t get too frustrated. Your time is coming. That being said, there are some things you can do to grease the wheels. First, you need to practice your settings. You’d be surprised how easy it is to forget the basics when tensions are high. With a reliable setup, there’s one less thing to worry about and less chance of making avoidable mistakes.

The second tip is to shoot an adjusted par. Many golfers’ egos and expectations end up ruining their game. Instead of putting pressure on yourself to shoot par on a long par 4, approach it like you would a par 5. This adjustment gives you a little extra breathing room and increases your chances of making bogey or better. And, on a par-72 course, you only have to shoot par or better on one hole to break 90, which seems more doable to me. My final bit of wisdom is to distract yourself by playing short games and see if you can get three over par on those particular holes. —Maddi MacClurg (6 handicaps)

Let drivers continue to do their job

I know what you are thinking. What does this arrogant guy who has a plus handicap of over 90 know? But these days, the people I play golf with the most are content with staying in double digits, ecstatic Dive below 90. I implore you to find a way to stop losing tee shots. Golf is hard enough starting on the fairway; when you’re hitting the ball in a tree, falling out of the water, or hitting the 3 ball off the tee, you just can’t make it.

Now look, I’m not one of those old-school “hit the tee with a 3-iron” advice. Drivers are the biggest club and fly the farthest. Find a way to hit the ball in the game. Lessons learned. (Seriously, take a class. Maybe a few.) Hit the range. Then get on the track and learn your tendencies and learn where the driver goes when you’re nervous, nervous, tired, stressed, into the wind, etc. Be kind to yourself. This is a tough game. Might as well start in the right direction. —Dylan Detier (+2.6 Handicap)

Make your nerves feel comfortable

When I first attempted to break 90 as a teenager, the biggest challenge I faced was breaking through the mental barriers to this feat. I knew I had the ability to beat that magic number, but my mind kept getting in the way. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve crossed the finish line on the back nine with a chance to shoot 80-plus, only to make a huge mistake and screw up my game.

when i finally did When I broke 90, I remember feeling very comfortable with the situation. I’ve been there many times so I wasn’t nervous at all. When approaching any major milestone in golf, you’ll find yourself getting nervous. The only way to combat these tensions is to adapt to them.

If you are trying to break 90 for the first time, the best advice I can give is to put yourself in that position as much as possible. You may not achieve your goals the first (or second or third) time – but that’s okay! Every time you get to that point, you learn to handle your nerves better. Keep knocking and eventually you will break through. Then, it’s time to focus on breaking 80. —Zephyr Melton (4.6 handicap)

avoid explosion

I’ve been playing a lot of golf with my mom this year and she’s in this scoring area. Her average rounds are in the 90s, but I know she definitely has the potential to hit the 80s! Whenever she had a good round, or even a good nine-hole score, we would discuss the factors that made the difference. For her, it’s the same thing every time: avoid an outburst. She hits the ball straight and keeps it in play consistently, so the most common derailments tend to occur around the greens, such as bunker issues or wayward chip shots, which are exacerbated by three or four putts. It’s really, really hard to break 90 if you have a few eights on the card, so avoiding those things that hinder momentum is key.

Distance is also an important factor, so I recommend making sure you hit the right tee. Even from the front tee box, my mom couldn’t always hit every par four. So the goal is to make these holes par 5s. Some par 5s become par 6s. Staying realistic about your distance abilities can help with the mental challenge of breaking 90. It also helps to think of every hole in a round as a par 5. There were bogeys on the hole and the par-5 hole. Doesn’t this look totally doable? Getting “two under par” after shooting par on a par 3 hole can also be a great mental boost. —Jessica Marksbury (9.8 Handicap)