PGA Master Professional

May/June 2025: Breaking 70

Ted Odorico July 7, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 70

Gapping Your Clubs for Overlapping Distances

There’ll be times during a round of golf when hitting a shot to a yardage with your stock club might be impossible, if not inappropriate. This could be due to environmental factors, the lie, or you’re just not feeling it today. But breaking 70 is still a possibility. Being able to understand how set up variations can alter trajectories, spin, and distance, can lead to yardages that overlap from club to club. Making these skills valuable when the possibility is there to 70.

Start with opening your stance first when it comes to varying your set up positions. Doing short naturally shortens your swing relative to your target. Which in turn should shorten any shot with any club.
Understand how far a ball travels when you shorten your swing by 25% or 50%. These shorter swings could come in handy when faced with a yardage that requires using a different club because of something between you and your intended target.
Learn what your “max” distance is for every club. You must feel like your swing remains in balance as you do so. Making it repeatable on the course when faced with adversity.

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional & Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

May/June 2025: Breaking 80

Ted Odorico June 30, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 80

Is Your Short Game Functional?

Breaking 80 consistently requires more than basic skills when it comes to your short game. You’re placing yourself in more awkward positions around the green due to your increased length. Awkard as in uneven lies, short siding yourself, and being faced with obstacles between you and the hole that you have not been able to conquer. This season, breaking 80 can be obtained more often when you:

Practice your basic setup routines for chipping and pitching the golf ball. And then vary just one set up position as you practice finding out how that one variable affects how your ball flies, spins, and releases, from various lies around the green.
Ensure you are practicing short game from various lies, not just good lies. Conquering uneven, deep rough, and hardpan lies around the green will build experience with how you alter set up and swing to accommodate these lies on the course.
Learn to hit your stock short game shots higher and lower than normal, using various clubs. This will assist you when faced with obstacles that you normally do not encounter.

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional & Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

May/June 2025: Breaking 90

Ted Odorico June 23, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 90

Difference Between Dumb and Stupid

I’ve been telling my son since he was 3 years old there’s a difference between dumb and stupid; stupid knows better. Think about the mistakes you make that prohibit you from breaking through the 90-scoring barrier. Are those mistakes because you did not know what to do? Or you knew what to do but decided to do something else? Let’s make sure you make great decisions going forward so you can’t pin the label of making a stupid mistake on yourself any longer.

When on a par 5 and there’s no way to hit the green in 2, LAY UP! Laying up may feel dumb but prevents you from labeling yourself stupid when you have no chance to make par from where your second shot ends up.
When the pin on any hole is tucked in a corner of the green that your average shot will curve away from and off the green, AIM FOR THE MIDDLE of the GREEN! Aiming at the middle is dumb but effective. Aiming at the pin is stupid if you can’t keep the ball on the green.
When faced with an in between yardage, TAKE MORE CLUB! You may feel like you look dumb to others doing so. But you prevent yourself from calling yourself stupid when the shot you hit with the lesser club comes up short.

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional & Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

May/June 2025: Breaking 100

Ted Odorico June 16, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 100

Play Different Tees

Chances are you’ll never break 100 because you’re playing the wrong set of tees, giving you no chance of hitting greens in regulation due to your lack of distance and accuracy. Both being sacrificed from the tee box with a not so consistent driver always keeping you in trouble. If this is you, consider:

How far your 7 iron carries in the air. If your 7 iron carries less than 140 yards on average, and most of the par 3 tees you play from are 155 or longer, you’re playing the wrong tee.
How far does your driver travel when you’re accurate? If you average 225 or less and you must use more than a 7 iron into a green on a par 4 hole, you’re playing the wrong tee.

Consider moving forward to a tee that allows your average length drive to provide an opportunity to hit 7 iron or less into a green and you’ll have a better than average chance of breaking 100 this season.

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional & Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

March/April 2025: Breaking 70

Ted Odorico June 9, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 70

B.I.P. – Birdies in Position

A statistical category often used by touring professionals to determine if they played the most efficiently in any round is a new statistical category you should consider using too. Why not in 2025, evaluate your round by measuring “birdie percentage conversion? Or what is called on tour, “Birdies in Position” (B.I.P.).

This statistical category starts with you placing a scoring club in your hands, say 8 iron through your wedges.
And your second shot will be hit from a relatively normal condition. This condition does not have to be in the fairway. It could be in the rough, an uneven lie, or other condition. But you have a clear shot to hit the green.
The other “stats within a stat” you can now concentrate on is:
- Green in Regulation (GIR)
- Proximity to the Hole (distance of your first putt to the hole)
If you have 10 of these opportunities in a round, how many birdies did you convert? The goal is to convert at least 50% of these opportunities to increase your chances of recording a sub-par round

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor.

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

March/April 2025: Breaking 80

Ted Odorico June 2, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 80

Beyond Par on 3’s and 5’s

To break 90 more often, we’ve discussed walking away from par 3’s and 5’s with no worse than par. Now it’s time to strategically find ways to birdie these holes to break 80 more often in 2025.

For this to work in your favor, you’ll need to be conservative with your decision making so you can play aggressively to the greens,
Starting with Par 3’s, you can make more birdies on these holes by:
- Picking the best target locations on the greens that best matches your predominant ball flight
- Matching Par 3 yardages to golf clubs you consistently hit and control the best. These are the yardages/holes you can be more aggressive with
When playing Par 5’s, insure you are:
- Laying up when the circumstances are staying you in the face to do so.
- When playing your second shot to the green, aiming away from trouble so if you miss the green in 2, you have a better than average chance to use your short game to set up an easy birdie putt

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor.

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

March/April 2025: Breaking 90

Ted Odorico May 26, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 90

Channel Your Passion

You can’t get better at anything without true passion. But sometimes passion can get the best of you. As you make plans to break 90 more often in 2025, let’s find ways to channel your passion in productive ways.

When practicing, practice with a purpose. Aimlessly hitting balls for the sake of hitting balls is not productive. Always set up a practice station. And always have a plan you’ll follow before you leave for the practice facility.
No round of golf is more important than another. If you’re playing in a tournament, use the extra energy and excitement to prepare the same for the tournament, as you would a casual round with your golfing buddies.
Sometimes your passion can put you into a “mono-focused” state. Meaning, just being passionate about one aspect of your game. Remember it takes an average amount of competence with all skills to break 90 more often

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor.

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

March/April 2025: Breaking 100

Ted Odorico May 19, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 100

Proper Balance

You’ll need to understand the role balance plays in your golf swing if you’ll have any chance of breaking any scoring milestone. Why not start in 2025, while trying to break 100 more often? Remember, you’ll only swing as fast as your body can balance the speed you can produce.

Can you stand on 1 leg at a time? Try this with one leg out in front of you. Doing so, you lose the ability to use the other leg acting as a counterbalance mechanism.
When you set up to the golf ball, close your eyes/ If you’re too far out on your toes, you’re probably too far away from the golf ball.
Close your eyes again, this time asking yourself are you well-balanced left to right from your waist down

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor.

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

January/February 2025: Breaking 70

Ted Odorico May 12, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 70

Breaking 70 Requires at Least One Statistic in the 70’s

When you examine sub-par rounds, there typically is at least one major statistical category that topped the 70% threshold. In turn creating more opportunities to reduce the total number of strokes it will take you to break 70 in 2025. Based upon last year’s stats, is there a category you can get closer to 70%?

Become more accurate off the tee? And doing so without sacrificing more than 5% of your total distance average.
Increasing your greens in regulation percentage?
Increasing your GIR Proximity to have at least 70% of your shots land within 20 feet of the target?
Learn to “flight” your approach shots to gain control over the spin of the shot. Not being able to control the spin of an approach shot can increase the distance your first putt is from the hole.

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional & Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com

January/February 2025: Breaking 80

Ted Odorico May 5, 2025

Golf Milestones

Breaking 80

Enhance Your Impact Position

To break 80 consistently in 2025, it’s not enough to understand impact. You must start studying how you can flatten the face of any club, while having your hands in the correct position to create maximum leverage.

Ball position is critical to enhance your chances of improved impact. Is the ball position for irons slightly behind the low point of your swing?
Are you teeing the ball too high or too low with your driver, causing your angle of attack to not be effective?
Is the club being released properly? Or are you manipulating the release, causing the club to close or open just prior to impact?

Tip provided by: John Hughes, PGA Master Professional & Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor

Contact: john@johnhughesgolf.com