I know that’s a pretty appealing headline, and if you’re struggling to achieve that there’s probably a healthy amount of skepticism flowing through your veins as you read this. The fact of the matter (emphasis on fact) is that people who struggle to break 100 a lot of similar issues and the majority of them fall into these three groups:   Unrealistic expectations Penalties (especially off the tee) Poor short game   UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS When it comes to golf, this might be one of the biggest issues that most people either don’t talk about or may not even know about.  When you look at your scorecard the first number that usually jumps out at you is what par is for the hole, right? Okay fine, it might be the distance or what the handicap is of the hole, but if par isn’t the first thing you look at, I guarantee you it’s second.   So let’s talk about it.  What is par? Go ahead, say it out loud or in your head.  Let me guess, you said something along the lines of “It’s what you should shoot on each hole”.  If you said that, you’ve got it half right. Par is what you should shoot on each hole… IF YOUR HANDICAP IS ZERO!   Now I’m not here to make you feel bad, but if you’re reading an article about breaking 100 on the golf course and you actually expect yourself to make par on each hole, you’re setting yourself up for a world of disappointment.  Here’s a fun fact to help illustrate my point: players on the PGA tour only hit about 12.5 greens in regulation out of 18. How many greens do you expect yourself to hit in regulation? Be honest now, is that a realistic expectation?  For someone who normally shoots 100 (a 28 handicap) they average between zero and 1 greens hit in regulation. Don’t put all this unnecessary pressure on yourself to do something that is a statistical anomaly. Think of it this way, would you ever take $18,000 out of your bank account and bet that you’d hit every green in regulation?  OF COURSE NOT! Your financial guy would slap you across the face, your wife would divorce you, and you’d be left with a much lighter wallet.  So if you wouldn’t hold yourself fiscally accountable like that, why does the thought process change just because there’s not any money on the line?   Instead of thinking that you must get on the green in regulation, let’s move the finish line to something a little more achievable.  Let’s get MOST of the way to the green “in regulation”. So if you’re playing a par 5, your version of “on in regulation” should be to get within 100 yards of the green in three shots.  If it’s a par 4 you want to be inside 75 in 2 shots. If it’s a par 3 you want to be within 50 in 1 shot. This now removes SOOOOO much pressure from your game! Instead of feeling like you have to hit your driver off of every tee box, now you can achieve your new goal with a few easier to control shots that you’re much more confident hitting!  Do you think you  could hit two safe shots in a row that average about 135 each?  That would get you within 75 yards on a 350 yard par 4. You’ve got a lot better chance of doing that then just doing the standard spray and pray with your driver off of every tee box.  This will lead to much lower scores and a lot more confidence and consistency in your game.   PENALTIES Any time I think of this topic I’m reminded of my interview with Craig Jones, the founder of Face First Golf, he said from the tee box “you should hit the shot you’re comfortable with”.  Sure, it’s not the shot that Golf Digest and the Golf Channel want to give you three quick tips on, but it will lead to a lot better scores because you won’t be spraying it two fairways over with your super unreliable driver.   Before every shot  I want you to determine a safe zone and a danger zone (cue Kenny Loggins).  The danger zone is pretty self explanatory. It’s going to be anything that would involve a potential lost ball or penalty stroke.  Is there water or out of bounds on the right? Then that’s the one place you can’t go, that’s the d