Breaking 100-90-80

By Jeff Ritter with Ron Kaspriske November 2008

Breaking 100

DRAW IT LIKE A KICKER

It's football season, so when you're not teeing it up you're likely to be on the couch watching your favorite team. Use that time wisely, and you can learn a few things about golf to help you reach your scoring goals. For instance, pay close attention to a kicker when he attempts a field goal. To draw the football through the uprights, he approaches the ball from the inside and kicks it with his foot turning over. Golfers should do the same: Strike the inside part of the ball with a closing clubface.

GOAL LINE: BREAK THE PLANE WITH YOUR DIVOT

When an offense is an inch away from a touchdown, all it has to do is move the tip of the football across the plane of the goal line to score. For crisp iron shots, pretend your golf ball is on the brink of the goal line. To punch through and score a touchdown, all you have to do is create a divot on the goal line—in other words, the divot should be in front of the ball. This thought will get you to swing down on an aggressive angle, make ball-first contact and then create a divot.

PERSONAL FOUL: DON'T TAKE UNNECESSARY RISKS

With his offense deep in its own territory, the coach tends to call plays conservatively. He doesn't call trick plays or risky passes—anything that can compound an already bad situation. When you get into trouble on the course, you're the coach. Throw a penalty flag on yourself if you consider playing aggressively with little chance of success. Your play should be to find the easiest way to get back in the fairway and try to make a bogey or better.

GAME PLAN: CALL TIMEOUT

How many times have you been standing over a shot, gotten distracted by something and still swung the club? You should never swing until you have your full attention on the shot at hand. Don't be afraid to call timeout on yourself, even in mid-swing, if something puts doubt in your mind or distracts you. Surely you've seen Tiger Woods back off the ball when something wasn't right. Anything that breaks your concentration can turn a good shot into a bad one.