Breaking 100

Not long after I first started golfing, I was told by more than one golfer not to feel too bad about shooting in the 100s, that many recreational golfers never or very rarely break 100. Well that did it, I was not going to stand by and let myself be the “average” golfer; I was determined to break 100 and more.

To give you an idea of how dedicated I was to improving my golf game, I played more than 100 rounds of golf between May and December of 2006. But still by the start of September I had not broken 100, and I was starting to get discouraged. Looking back now, I'm sure my swing was ugly and my focus was on the little white ball and not my target, and it's a wonder that I was even able to shoot below 110.

But I kept trying. The turning point came when I radically changed my grip from a barely overlapping grip to a neutral interlocking one which was recommended to me by one of the better golfers I have played with. That combined with reading Ben Hogan's 5 Lessons book, led me to change the whole mechanics of my golf swing. Making such radical changes to my grip and swing totally destroyed any ball striking ability I had, at least initially. After about 2 weeks of playing and practicing though, it finally started to feel more natural and I did not have to think about it as much.

About three weeks after the switch I finally broke 100. And you know what? from that point till the end of the year I only recorded two rounds that were over 100 and dozens in the 90s. Breaking 100 was an important milestone for me; it proved to me that I could improve. It also gave me the courage to keep playing, and to keep working toward that next elusive goal of breaking 90.

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