I was recently watching an episode of the Big Break Prince Edward Island. Eugene, Gerina, and Derek were in the elimination round. Eugene hit a bad shot and began berating himself:

“That was terrible!”

“I can’t believe I did that.”

“I’m so stupid!”

“This is just ridiculous!”

I’ve forgotten all that he said but you get the idea. His comments did nothing to help the situation. He just hit one bad shot after another. Some of his shots weren’t as horrible as he was making them out to be.

His fellow competitors didn’t even care to stand near him although I believe they are forced to stand together for certain camera shots. I’m sure they were tempted to ask him to keep his comments to himself except for fear that he may explode.

Just when Eugene thought he was completely out of the competition, his fellow competitor, Gerina, fluffs one out of the sand and leaves the ball way short of the hole. Eugene wasn’t ready to capitalize on the situation because he had convinced himself that he was finished.

As I watched the episode of The Big Break, it became clear that Eugene’s poor shots had snowballed on him as a result of his negative attitude. I could relate to his situation because I’ve done the same thing. I’ve hit a poor shot and said similar judgmental things about myself and my abilities on the golf course. I often pepper my comments with obscenities as there are no tv cameras present. I can’t really recall a time when such commentary helped my game. It often resulted in successive poor shots.

On the other hand, I’ve played my best golf when I was not judgmental about my playing. Often my best rounds are accompanied by some song that’s been caught in my mind that I can’t shake. I’ll hear that song in my head throughout the entire round. Apparently, that’s all that is necessary to fill up my mind and keep negative thoughts out.

It’s only natural to get a little down on ourselves on the golf course; however, have your moment and then move on. Or better yet, accept the fact that not every shot is going to come off as intended. They say that football cornerbacks have to have a poor memory. If they dwell on the fact that they got burned on the last play, they are only going to get burned again. If your last shot didn’t turn out as intended, don’t dwell on it. When you address the ball for your next shot, it should already be out of your mind.

79 Tips to Break 80 in Golf by Andrew J. Ruzicho II List Price: $10.95 Your Price: $7.90 Availability: Immediate receipt upon payment via email download link A download link will be sent to your payment email address.

79 Tips to Break 80 in Golf by Andrew J. Ruzicho II List Price: $10.95 Your Price: $7.90 Availability: Immediate receipt upon payment via email download link A download link will be sent to your payment email address.

We always hear how important it is to keep your head still when swinging the golf club. Well how do we do that short of having someone hold on to a clump of our hair while we swing? And why is it so important to keep our head still during the golf swing?

Let’s start with the latter question first. If we assume that our set up position at address is ideal then we obviously want to return to that position or very close to that position at impact. If your head remains relatively still during the back-swing and is still to the point of impact then the rest of your body hasn’t done much to get off track. If your body is in good position up to the point of impact, then you probably haven’t done much to screw up the path of the club. In short, if you can keep your head relatively still then your body will stay in good position and so will the club head.

With my own swing, I noticed that my head moved back several inches during the backswing. This meant that my whole body was swaying back as well. At this point, I have to move my whole body forward the same amount on the down swing to hit the ball well. If I didn’t do so, I would probably end up hitting a slice. If I overcompensated then I would probably hit a pull hook.

How did I notice what was happening with my head? On a tee shot with the sun behind me, I noticed my shadow. During my swing, I watched my shadow out of the corner of my eye and saw my head move back several inches during the backswing. To combat this at first, I tried to just keep my head still. That tactic worked a little bit so I got the idea to post my right foot by setting my weight on the inside of it as I took my backswing. I figured that if I was swaying back away from the target, I should post my right leg against this. It seems to have worked splendidly and I’ve gained accuracy as well as power.

Use this newfound accuracy and power on your way to break 80 in golf.

79 Tips to Break 80 in Golf by Andrew J. Ruzicho II List Price: $10.95 Your Price: $7.90 Availability: Immediate receipt upon payment via email download link A download link will be sent to your payment email address.

We rarely have a level lie on the golf course. So why is it that everyone grips their club as if they were on a level lie?

When I began my pre-shot routine, I always measure my lie. What do I mean by measuring my lie? I set the club on the ground behind the ball and then grip the club where my hands fall next to the grip. If the ball is above my feet, I will end up gripping lower or more towards the clubhead. If the ball is below my feet, I will end up gripping the club more towards the end of the grip.

Take this measurement when the club is directly behind the ball. Don’t make the mistake of taking the measurement when you are taking your practice swing. For example, if the ball is above your feet and you measure from where you take your practice swing, you will likely hit the ball fat because you didn’t grip down on the club enough.

You can take the same measurement with any shot including those with the putter. Believe it or not, you can still hit putts both fat and thin.

Use this tip and save yourself several strokes on your way to breaking 80 on the golf course.

79 Tips to Break 80 in Golf by Andrew J. Ruzicho II List Price: $10.95 Your Price: $7.90 Availability: Immediate receipt upon payment via email download link A download link will be sent to your payment email address.

I was out on the course today and was playing a par 5. At about 210 yards to the hole is a hill connecting the upper and lower fairways. I had hit my drive out to the right and was blocked by trees in front of me. My first thought was to somehow hit to the left of the trees and squeeze it around the corner to get to the bottom level. Luckily, I remembered my last effort at trying that same little trick. I had not made it around the corner and ended up in the trees!

I had said to myself after that failed attempt that there was no need to try and hit it on to the bottom level. I could have just hit the ball 40-50 yards back to the upper fairway and left myself with 215-220 to the hole. With the downhill drop and the wind behind me, it plays like 185-190.

On this occasion, I ended up just chipping back on to the fairway. I left my third shot just left of the green and got up and down from there for par. After sinking my putt for par, I thought, “Now that was smart golf.”

The lesson here is that we often try to overcompensate when get into trouble. My first thought was to get as much back as I could after hitting my drive off to the right. Trying to bite off too much brought too much risk into the equation. If I pulled it off, I’d have 140 to the hole. If I didn’t, I was looking at bogey or worse on an easy par 5. Instead, I played conservatively after getting into trouble and did not worsen my situation. I chipped back on to the fairway and relied upon my long iron play and short game to rescue me.

If I had tried to pull off the impossible shot, I’m basically telling myself that I have no confidence in the other aspects of my game.

If you shoot scores close to 80 then you must have a pretty decent all-around game. Don’t be afraid to rely upon different aspects of your game when you get into trouble.

I recently received this question and found it very intriguing. How far do I have to hit my driver to break 80? The question reflects a misconception about breaking 80 in golf. That misconception being - you have to hit the ball far in order to break 80. I’ve broken 80 never using more than a 5 wood off the tee. Granted, hitting the ball far and accurately can make breaking 80 a lot easier but it is not necessary. When I used the 5 wood to break 80 - I was more concerned with hitting the ball accurately than far.
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If you can make adjustments during your round of golf, you will have a much better chance of saving a round that is going poorly. A lot of us get our confidence off the tee. If we are not hitting the ball well off the tee, the rest of our game suffers. If, during your round, you find yourself losing the ball to the right (i.e., fade/slice), consider this tip in your quest to break 80.

Move your grip slightly towards the shaft of the club. In baseball, this would be called choking up, but, in golf, choking down would be the more correct term. Anthony Kim does this on the PGA tour. Choking down on the club gives you a lot more control over the club, your swing, and the ball flight. I did this with my driver and was surprised to find myself hitting the ball more solidly and farther than if I gripped at the very butt of the club.

Experiment with this and you may find that you can use this tip for breaking 80 in other ways as well. If you want to hit a fade, grip at or towards the end of your driver. If you want to draw the ball, grip closer towards the shaft.

Moving your grip is an easy in-round adjustment that can help you in your quest to break 80.

I’ve got 79 more tips on breaking 80 in my ebook on improving your golf game. Check it out.

The flag is behind a bunker and you’ve got a little 10 yard pitch to play. You don’t have much green to work with but you can’t help trying to throw it way up in the air and have the ball land soft near the hole. Wouldn’t that be great, you can save par and scoot on down to the next hole.

You take the club back, start your downswing, pop the ball up but don’t hit it hard enough. The ball ends up in the bunker where the sand is still wet from last night’s rain. You try to get cute in the bunker and fluff one near the hole because you still haven’t learned. All of a sudden, what should have been, at worst, a bogey becomes a triple. What a nightmare!

What should you have done?
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You can’t perform your best if your equipment is not at its best. Here’s a checklist to keep your equipment from holding you back.

1 - If your grips are worn - re-grip. Re-gripping your clubs is an easy fix that will definitely give you a big bang for your buck.

2 - If your grips are still in good shape, keep them clean with soap and water and a little elbow grease.

3 - Next, look at your glove. It is worn or does it have holes in it? Get a new glove and keep an extra in your bag just in case. Hogan called the grip the engine house of the swing. You can easily see why I’ve focused on your golf grips and golf glove first.
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Here we are slightly on the upslope just off the edge of the green. In fact, I have about 6 inches of the second cut to get through and then about three feet of fringe to plow through as well. This shot was just over 20 feet. I was hesitant to take a putter here because I knew that I had to hit it a bit harder to get it through four feet of fringe and second cut. My other concern was being on the upslope and popping the ball up into the air with the putter.
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Want to get a psychological edge on the golf course, then practice from the set of tees just behind your normal set of tees. If you normally play from the white, try the blue tees for a few rounds. When you come back to the white tees, you’ll have gained that little psychological edge over the golf course which may carry you to a 79.

Also try playing from the front tees even if it means playing from the red tees. The idea here is to get you used to going low with your score.

Looking for more tips on how to break 80 - see my publication, 79 tips to break 80 in golf.