Zephyr Melton
If you’re hoping to break 90 for the first time in the year ahead, try these four swing thoughts from the pros.
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Hoping to revamp your game for 2025 and *finally* break 90? We’re here to help. Over the course of five days, we’ll roll out five handy tips to get you there.
Part 1: 4 keys for crushing your practice sessions
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The new year is almost here, and it’s time to settle on your resolutions. If you’re reading this website, it’s fair to assume your resolutions will have something to do with golf.
Yesterday, we covered four keys for improving your practice sessions. Today, we’re turning to the experts — professionals! — for some swing thoughts that you can use to improve your own game. Check ’em out below.
4 pro-approved swing thoughts
When it comes to thinking about your swing, simpler is typically better. But that doesn’t mean you should be thinking nothing when standing over the ball. Having a thought to emphasize during the swing is an excellent way to make sure your move is repeatable and consistent.
Below, we’ve put together a thought you can use in four key areas — driving, approach, short game, putting — that will help you on the quest to break 90 in 2025.
1. Driving: Get wide
One of the biggest indicators of success on the course is distance off the tee. If you can hit the ball far, it makes the game easier. If you’re looking to shave strokes off your handicap, adding a little speed is a great place to start. And if you’re looking to add some speed, you can start by employing a key swing thought from Tony Finau.
“The bigger you can make your arc, the farther the golf ball is gonna go,” Finau said. “If amateurs can just picture a nice wide takeaway and really just try to make the club move as far away from the golf ball as possible and then from there, you’re gonna be able to generate the maximum amount of speed that your body can generate.”
2. Approach: Small ball, then big ball
Once you’re off the tee, you’ve got to be able to hit the green to take advantage of your drive. This typically means hitting a solid shot with your irons. One of the easiest ways to improve your iron play is by remembering some advice from Bryson DeChambeau.
“It’s going to be ball and then making a divot after,” DeChambeau said. “It’s a strike-down-on-it sort of motion.”
DeChambeau said he likes to think of hitting the small ball (golf ball) then the big ball (the earth).
“I’m not trying to strike it down into the ground, I’m trying to strike it in front of the ball,” DeChambeau said. “I’m trying to actually push it down the [target] line. You’re always pushing it down the line.”
3. Short game: Speed in the right spot
No matter how good your ball striking is, you’re going to miss some greens. And when you do, you’re going to need a tidy short game to save par.
Being able to spin the ball is a huge asset when you’re hitting pitch shots around the greens. To do this, you’ve got to make clean contact and generate speed at the bottom of your arc.
Doing this is easier than you might think. Just take some advice from the Short Game Chef. When you’re pitching the ball around the green, focus on using your torso to drive the shot — not your arms. This will help you generate speed in the right place and make spinning the ball much easier.
4. Putting: Keep it above the hole
Keeping the ball above the hole might seem like counterintuitive advice, but when you’re putting — especially from distance — it can help improve your putting immensely.
When you’ve got a breaking putt, try to err on the high side of the hole. When you do this, the ball will always be working its way closer to the hole.
“If I [start the putt] higher, the ball will tend to settle closer to the hole,” Padraig Harrington says in the video above. “If I made the mistake of [under-reading the putt], it gets away.”
When the ball gets below the hole, it will always be working away from the cup. So always try to keep the ball above the hole for a better chance at getting the ball to settle close.
Zephyr Melton
Golf.com Editor
Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and women’s golf. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.
