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Looking to break 90 this golf season? It may be easier than you think – and your roadmap shouldn’t need to be changed.
To have your biggest success in 2025, all you have to do is learn a few basics to practice better and with the right tools, you will start increasing your consistency and dropping your scores quickly.
Dial in your workout sessions this season with these four simple keys.
Set process goals
If you want to make your practice sessions more effective, you should start by setting process goals. In a video with Titleist, Dr. Mo Pickens, a sports psychologist for Keegan Bradley and other elite athletes, explains that process goals help you focus on the method or process rather than the end goal or outcome.
“What steps need to be taken to give yourself a realistic chance of changing your stats from where they are to where you want them to be?” Dr. Pickens says.
By shifting your focus away from the outcome (such as scoring, breaking 90 or winning an upcoming interclub match), you allow yourself to better analyze your game and figure out what you need to do to make those “score goals” happen.
A good way to set realistic practice goals is to look back at the numbers of previous rounds—nothing crazy, fairways, greens, and putts for each round—to see where your game is and where you need the most improvement. .
Process goals are also an excellent tool for measuring progress. For example, your goal might be to do 30 squats in a row. If you can only get to 20, you have the foundation for your next practice session.
And remember, you don’t always have to meet your goal during practice sessions. If your goals are reasonably ambitious, you probably won’t reach them until you’ve put in a few hours of practice.
Stretch before you turn
A brisk walking warm-up is one of the best ways to strengthen your body and can help improve your swing over time.
And according to Dr. Troy Van Biezen, Scottie Scheffler fitness trainer, is what beginners need most in their fitness routine.
“While they [amateur players] they’re in the gym and they’re working out, they just don’t have the mobility and flexibility to move the way you need to in the golf gym… you have to be able to turn and move,” said Dr. Van Biezen in interview no. GOLF.
And it shouldn’t take long. This three-minute stretching routine will increase your range of motion and prepare your body to swing the club.
Focus on the basics: posture, grip, alignment
In a program titled “Warming Up,” five-time major champion Brooks Koepka revealed that there is one key he thinks about every time he drives.
“It’s really simple: PGA. Positioning, holding and alignment,” Koepka said.
Koepka was given the key at a young age, and it has stuck with him throughout his golf career. And it’s something you can steal to boost the quality of your practice sessions.
To get into your proper golf stance, stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, bend your knees and lean from your hips to create a slight forward bend.
Grip is very personal, but if you need a starter, here’s a quick guide to club grip from Sean Hogan, GOLF 100 Master Instructor.
And when working on your golf swing, Tina Tombs, GOLF Top 100 instructor, says there are three things to keep in mind:
1. Always aim your clubface at the target before setting your stance and aligning your body.
2. Your body should be aligned to the left of the target line (for righties) and aligned to the right of the target line (for lefties).
3. Ball position affects body alignment. Playing the ball too far forward opens your shoulders, while a ball placed too far back closes your shoulders.
You can read Tombs’ full explanation of purpose and alignment here.
Add pressure to your practice sessions
Performing under pressure is a skill you must practice, just like anything else in golf. One way to do that is to simulate the stress you experience on the course by incorporating limit-based exercises into your practice sessions.
Limit-based exercises place a constraint on the task at hand, often by requiring you to finish drilling or start over if you make a mistake. A great example of this is the Trillium Rose chip drill, a GOLF Top 100 teacher, shared in a video with Titleist.
To try it, tap five balls in the same place. Your ultimate goal is for all the balls to end up inside each other’s flag. If you hit one out of flagstick range, start over. You should feel your nerves build up as you gradually do the drill.
It may take you a few tries to complete it, but that’s okay. Remember, you’re not only practicing cutting, but you’re also improving your ability to work under pressure.
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