Sunday, November 16, in the year 2008 of our lord, might just be the third best day of my life. I finally, after about 25 rounds of golf, broke 100 by the slightest of margin, scoring 99, on a beautiful, sunny day at Alameda's Chuck Corica Jack Clark golf course. Breaking 100 for a hack golfer is like, is like losing your virginity. You realize it's really not that big of a deal once you break it/lose it, but until you do, it really messes with your head, consuming much of your conscious thought. Sure, I didn't break 100 from the "tips" at Pebble Beach or even Half Moon Bay, but again, it's like losing your virginity, doesn't matter who you lose it you, you still lost it.
There are countless articles giving tips and advice on breaking 100. Below is my take. If you're a hack golfer like me and want to break 100, follow these steps and I guarantee you'll break 100.
- Relax. You have to play relaxed, physically and mentally. Nice, easy swings. Don't try bombing a 250 yard driver shot to prove an old lady wrong.
- Forward Looking. One shot at a time, one hole at a time. Can't let the last bad shot affect your next shot. Can't let a quintuple bogey derail your next hole. The greatest satisfaction in breaking 100 today was that I broke it even after starting the back nine with a five over par (9 on a par 4). Normally, after a plus 5 I'd mentally give up. Not today. Parred the next hole.
- Wedges. Buy a Bridgestone 56 degree loft/12 degree bounce wedge and make sure you can hit it consistently. You can recover from bad drives, but really need to get on the green with just one good wedge shot from within 100 yards.
- Line the Ball Up. On the green, line up your Bridgestone Treosoft/e6+/330RX ball and just hit it. Trust that the line is correct, make a smooth putt. Don't bother looking at the hole, just keep looking down and trust the ball line marker. The line is there for a reason.
- Mini Staff Bag. Buy a Bridgestone Mini Staff bag. It looks awesome and will easily save you a couple of strokes. Think of it as a business executive's power suit.
- GPS Unit. Won't improve your swing, but it lets you focus on your shot. 165 yards, take out that 5 iron and take a nice, easy swing. No second guessing, trying to over swing a 6 iron or under swing a 4 iron.
- Apples. Eat at least 4 Honeycrisp apples during your round. At $2.99/pound, they're not cheap. But they're a good source of sustained energy. Plus they taste awesome. Sweet, crispy, firm.
- Alameda. Play in Alameda, where you're always in the fairway, even if its on another hole. Basically, pick an easy course. No Gleneagles.
Incidentally, the best day of my life was when I got randomly upgraded to first-class on a Lufthansa San Francisco to Frankfurt flight (a $10,000 retail ticket, I kid you not). The second best day of my life is a tie between winning $10,000 in Las Vegas playing roulette and my college fraternity's date night with the lovely E.W. So I guess technically breaking 100 is the fourth best day of my life. Depending on how well E.W. has aged, I might just have to bump breaking 100 to 3rd outright.
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