If you’re in that group, you already know the frustration. You’ve watched YouTube videos, hit buckets at the range, maybe even taken a lesson. You keep landing somewhere between 102 and 110, and the strokes you’re losing are invisible to you.
This guide lays out a four-week practice plan built around golf simulator sessions at X-Golf Rockwall. Each week targets a specific part of your game with drills that produce real, measurable data. By session eight, you’ll have a clear picture of where your strokes go and a tested game plan for keeping them under control.
What a Score of 99 Actually Looks Like
On a par 72 course, 99 is 27 over par. That averages out to 5.5 strokes per hole.
In real scorecard terms: nine bogeys and nine double bogeys. Zero pars. Zero birdies. You don’t need a single great hole to break 100.
Most golfers stuck above 100 aren’t losing strokes because they can’t hit the ball. They’re losing strokes on two or three blowup holes per round. A triple bogey here, a lost ball there, a couple of three-putts scattered across the back nine. Those add up fast. Take away two blow-up holes from a typical 107 and you’re already looking at 99 or 100.
The problem is that range sessions don’t show you where those strokes come from. You need shot-level data to figure that out.
What a Simulator Tells You That the Range Can’t
A driving range gives you one piece of feedback: did the ball go more or less where you aimed? You don’t get carry distances, spin numbers, or club path data. You can’t practice course management while hitting into a field with a 150-yard marker you’re not sure is accurate.
A simulator bay at X-Golf Rockwall tracks ball speed, launch angle, carry distance, club path, club head speed, side spin, and back spin on every swing. You see what your club face did at impact. You see whether your path came from inside, outside, or over the top. And you see all of it within two seconds of hitting the ball.
That matters for one specific reason: you can connect what you felt in your swing to what the ball actually did. When you push a 7-iron 15 yards right, the screen shows the open face and the path that caused it. On the range, that same shot just disappears into the grass and you hit another one.
The other difference is structure. Most golfers at the range hit driver until they’re bored, switch to irons for a few minutes, then leave. There’s no plan. In a simulator, you can switch between range mode, targeted distance practice at specific yardages, and full course play within the same hour. Every shot stays in the system.
Four Stats Worth Tracking
If you’re working toward breaking 100, you can ignore club head speed and smash factor for now. Those numbers become useful later when you’re trying to break 80. Right now, four stats tell you where your strokes are going.
Fairways hit gives you a tee shot accuracy baseline. Golfers who break 100 typically find about 40% of fairways, according to data from golf tracking platforms. That number is reachable with a hybrid or even a long iron off the tee. You don’t need 250-yard drives. You need the ball in play.
Approach proximity tells you how close you’re getting to the green on your second or third shot. You don’t need to hit greens in regulation to break 100. But you need to be somewhere close. If you’re consistently within 30 yards of the pin after your approach, you can chip on and two-putt for bogey most of the time.
Putts per round is the fastest number to improve. Golfers shooting in the 100s tend to average 38 to 40 putts. Dropping to 33 or 34 usually comes from eliminating three-putts, not from holing more 20-footers. Lag putting (getting your first putt within three feet) is where this number changes.
Penalty strokes per round add up faster than anything else. Every OB, water ball, or unplayable lie costs at least two strokes. If you’re taking six penalty strokes per round and you can get that down to two, that’s four strokes gone without touching your swing.
The simulator tracks fairways, proximity, and dispersion patterns automatically. After two or three full rounds, you’ll have enough data to see your patterns clearly.
The 4-Week Practice Plan
This plan assumes two one-hour sessions per week at X-Golf Rockwall. If you can fit a third, great. Two is enough to see real progress.
Week 1: Baseline and Distance Mapping
Session 1 — Play a full 18-hole round on the simulator. Pick a par 72 course and play it straight through. Don’t try to impress anyone. The goal is an honest scorecard.
After the round, write down four numbers: total score, penalty strokes, three-putts, and balls lost off the tee. These are your baseline. You’ll compare everything against them in Week 4.
Session 2 — Switch to range mode and map your actual carry distances. Hit 10 shots with each club from pitching wedge up through your bag. Throw out the two best and two worst for each club. Average the remaining six. Write the carry number down.
Most golfers think they hit their 7-iron 160 yards. They actually carry it 145. That 15-yard gap shows up on the course as short approach shots, chunks from trying to “help” the ball get there, and extra chips that weren’t in the plan. Your yardage card is the foundation everything else builds on.
Week 2: Tee Shots and Scoring Zone
Session 3 — Spend 30 minutes hitting tee shots with your driver, 3-wood, hybrid, and a long iron. Hit eight to ten shots with each and watch the dispersion data.
You’re looking for one thing: which club keeps the ball in play most often? If your hybrid goes 180 and finds the fairway 7 out of 10 times, that beats a driver that goes 230 and finds trouble on half its swings. The simulator’s dispersion chart makes this obvious. Pick your most reliable tee club and make it your default for the next two weeks.
Session 4 — Use the touchscreen to set specific yardages. Start at 100 yards and work down to 40 in 10-yard steps. Hit five balls from each distance.
This 40-to-100-yard range is where high-handicap golfers lose the most strokes. The chunked pitch from 60 yards. The approach from 80 that sails over the green. X-Golf’s overhead sensors track high-trajectory pitch shots without the ball needing to hit the screen, so you get feedback on even the softest wedge shots.
As you go, note any distance gaps. If you can hit 50 yards and 70 yards but nothing reliable in between, that’s the specific gap to close in Week 3.
Week 3: Course Management and Scenario Practice
Session 5 — Play another full 18-hole round with one rule: plan every hole for bogey. On a par 4, that means your target is near the green in two, on in three, and down in two putts. On par 5s, take four shots to reach the green and two-putt.
Before each hole, look at the layout on screen and work backward from the green. Where do you want to be for your chip or pitch? Where do you need your tee shot to land to set that up? This backward planning kills the impulse to grab driver and swing hard on every hole.
No hero shots this round. If the pin is behind water, aim for the middle of the green. If a hole is tight, tee off with your reliable club from Session 3. Count your bogeys at the end. You might be surprised how close to 99 you land just by avoiding disasters.
Session 6 — Pull up the three holes that gave you the most trouble in your Week 1 round. Replay each one three times. Try different strategies: lay up on one attempt, hit a different club off the tee on the next, play to the fat side of the green on the third.
X-Golf’s course play mode lets you drop into any hole on any of its 52 courses. Use that to practice specific situations over and over. The goal is building a go-to play for the types of holes that blow up your scorecard.
Week 4: Full Rounds and Adjustment
Session 7 — Play 18 holes using everything from the past three weeks. Your reliable tee shot, your mapped distances, your bogey-first strategy. This is the round where it comes together.
Compare your score, penalty strokes, and three-putt count against your Week 1 baseline. The difference will tell you exactly what’s working and what still needs attention.
Session 8 — Split the hour. Spend 30 minutes drilling whatever cost you the most strokes in Session 7. Then play 9 holes to close the session and reinforce the habits you’ve been building.
How to Structure Any Practice Session
For a typical one-hour session focused on breaking 100, a 10/20/30 split works well.
Ten minutes of warm-up with wedges and mid-irons. You’re finding your tempo, not trying to stripe the ball.
Twenty minutes of targeted work on one specific skill. Pick it based on your data. Maybe it’s approach shots from 80 to 120 yards. Maybe it’s lag putting. Maybe it’s tee shots with your go-to club. One thing, with focus.
Thirty minutes of course play. This is where range skills meet scoring pressure. Playing actual holes forces you to make club selections, manage risk, and putt with a score on the line. It also feeds fresh data back into your profile for planning the next session.
Set Up Your Player Profile
X-Golf offers a free player profile. No membership. You just need a name, email, and phone number. Scan the QR code in the facility to set it up.
Your profile stores tee height preferences, round history, and playing stats. Over multiple sessions, it builds a detailed record of your game. You can see which clubs you hit most consistently, where your misses tend to go, and how your scoring trends session to session.
The profile works at any X-Golf location through the X-Golf app, so your data follows you.
When to Add a Lesson
There’s a point where data shows you the problem but can’t tell you the fix. That’s when a lesson pays off.
X-Golf Rockwall offers golf lessons with professional instruction. The facility’s X-View cameras capture your swing at 300 frames per second and sync the footage with your ball tracking data. A 45-minute swing analysis session using V1 software gives an instructor everything they need to connect your miss patterns to specific mechanical causes.
If you’re following this practice plan and your scores plateau after two or three weeks, a lesson is usually the thing that unsticks progress.
Keep It Fun
Practice routines die when they feel like homework.
Bring a friend and play a competitive round. Join a league and put your new game plan under pressure with something on the line. Or come solo, order something from the food and drink menu, and spend an hour working through your bag in a climate-controlled bay with no one behind you waiting to hit.
The weather in Rockwall won’t matter. Summer heat, January cold, afternoon thunderstorms. Your practice schedule stays consistent because you’re indoors. And consistent practice, even just two hours a week, is what actually moves scores.
Get Started
Book a tee time at X-Golf Rockwall and bring this plan with you. Session one is your baseline round. By session eight, you’ll know your real distances, you’ll have a tee shot you trust, and you’ll have a bogey-first strategy that keeps blowup holes off your card.
That’s how you break 100.
X-Golf Rockwall is located at 2455 Ridge Rd #115, Rockwall, TX 75087. Call (469) 314-1808 to reserve your bay or book online.
