Want to break 90 in 2025? Avoid costly explosions. Here’s how

Hoping to up your game for 2025 and *finally* break 90? We are here to help. Over the course of five days, we’ll dish out five helpful tips to get you there.

Part 1: 4 Keys to Crushing Your Practice Sessions
Part 2: Pro-approved wavering opinions in 4 key areas

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At the end of GOLF Top 100 Teachers Summit IN Cabot Citrus Farmshad the opportunity to ask some of the game’s best guiding minds about what it takes for a 90’s shooter to finally post a score in the 80’s. There was one common shortcoming that teachers agreed these players shared: A tendency to ruin their potentially good rounds with holes in the wind.

Breaking 100, 90, and even 80 often comes down to minimizing your mistakes: avoiding a four-putt, limiting an unfair OB shot to one instead of two, bailing out of a bad situation instead of to try to hit the hero shot, etc. in.

These situations tend to be mentally challenging—and developing the kind of maturity to rise above the difficulties you face on the course is a key ingredient to breaking 90. So what’s the best way to develop that skill?

According to Top 100 Teacher Krista Dunton, there are a few things you can do to prevent a hole or a round from slipping. The first is to use a great shot – one that you can easily use to make forward progress on a consistent basis.

“Just take a little swing, or throw a little half-punch,” Dunton suggested. “You want to continue to make good and lasting contacts. You’re often just one swing away from getting it back.”

Another option is to give yourself space for a mental and physical reset.

“Get away from the ball, swing it consistently three or four times,” Dunton said. “Get your pace, get your pace, take away the tension, because it’s the tension that kills people, right? And thinking a lot. You want to get over the ball, quiet your brain and go.”

According to Dunton, players in a funk tend to start thinking about every possible affliction and start trying to force a fix. Instead of panicking, Dunton suggested focusing on positive things, like the weather, being outside, or good things happening in your family. Writing these things down can also be helpful, so you can refer to them when you feel a slip coming on.

“Think: When you’re playing well, what’s it like for you?” Dunton said. “Are you singing a song? Are you working on a swing switch, like taking a good turn, or ending up on your left side? If you don’t recognize it when it’s going well, you can’t pull from it.”

The same logic works both ways. Knowing your negative cues is also important – it makes it easier to change things when necessary.

“You can say, when I go south, I find that my grip pressure goes up too much, or my backswing gets too short, or I get too long, whatever it is,” Dunton said. “If you understand your swing enough and you’re swinging the ball too much from right to left, then try to swing it from left to right. Just try to do the opposite.

“If your stance gets too tight, widen it,” she continued. “Are you moving the ball too much? Stay more focused. Not shifting weight well? Shift your weight more. Are you too tight? Relax a lot. Too cut? Try to connect it. It’s such a game of extremes and I think sometimes amateurs are afraid. They try to be so controlling and you have to get out of your comfort zone.”

If you’re looking to break a scoring barrier this upcoming golf season, try Dunton’s advice and say goodbye to those shots for good.