Breaking 80 (@people who have done it)

[IanMcC]

I have 127 rounds on my WHS record, and 9 of them are below 80.

 

[HeftyHacker]

I first broke 80 after about 15 months of playing properly, I then broke it 2 more times that same week. Game was in a good place generally but I think the main thing for me was my driving was incredibly consistent - Straight down the middle and decent length every time. I had doubles each round but was picking up a couple of birdies on the short par 4s and 5s.

I'd say my wedge play, short game and putting has I proved since then but I'm much more wayward off the tee at the moment and its costing me. As a result I'm struggling to break it this season.

Tempted to ask for lessons off my coach and see if I can squeeze a couple of decent rounds before the seasons over.

 

[Albo]

There's a big difference between doing it on a Par 72 to a Par 68.

I’m not 100% sure I agree with this, perhaps between a par 72 and 68 but a lot depends on the difficulty of the course and length etc.
I have broken 80 on both a 72 and a 70, for me the 72 was a lot easier to break 80 on as it was wide open with few trees or general trouble. The 70 quite the opposite.
I also play 2 courses regularly one is a 69 which is longer in yards than the 70. There’s a lot more to it than just a number

 

[Canary Kid]

I need to break 90 first ?

 

[CountLippe]

I’m not 100% sure I agree with this, perhaps between a par 72 and 68 but a lot depends on the difficulty of the course and length etc.
I have broken 80 on both a 72 and a 70, for me the 72 was a lot easier to break 80 on as it was wide open with few trees or general trouble. The 70 quite the opposite.
I also play 2 courses regularly one is a 69 which is longer in yards than the 70. There’s a lot more to it than just a number

I was working on the theory that break 80 on a Par 72 a player needs to shoot 7 over. Now unless they're rapidly improving and naturally talented, they're unlikely to have a handicap much higher than 12 for their lifetime knock. In contrast on the par 68, they need to shoot 11 over and could have a handicap of 16 or 17 to do this. Obviously there are tough par 69/70's out there but there are alot of easy ones too.

 

[JonnyGutteridge]

The big one for me when targeting any kind of score is to avoid playing defensive golf and continuing to be aggressive. It’s something I have struggled with when flirting with level par - you stop trying to make birdies and start trying to avoid bogeys - and shots start to leak away.

If you happen to be playing your best golf and find yourself in a situation where you’re on for a good score, keep the aggression up!

I personally start taking safer clubs off tees (to avoid the big blow up!) and end up giving all my shots back slowly instead.

 

[peld]

i think i have had 4 rounds in the 70s - a 74, 76 & 78 on a short par 68 (albeit the 78 was in a medal) and a 79 on a proper length par 70. The latter round i was 7 over 3 holes, but then shot level par on the back 9.

Its hard to determine what defines a low round. Usually if you cant drive well you arent going to have a good day. If you approach play is solid, then i'd say the key things are getting up and down a few times and avoiding three putting. I think you need a couple of birdies as a mid handicap will inevitably make a few bogeys

 

[sunshine]

Depends on the course. My old place had bunkers to the left and right of most greens with not much trouble short. 1 day I hit everything 10-20 yards short of the green on purpose and got a par or bogey every hole.
My mates weren't impressed but I'd broken 80 for the first time and won the comp as well.

Good strategic golf ?

But the big point here is that you didn’t find trouble with any of your tee shots which allowed you to execute your strategy.

 

[Backsticks]

Practice the short game. Then practice the short game. Then practice the short game some more. From 30 yards in.

Forget the range, forget lessons, forget equipment. I think high hcs trying to improve put far to much effort into trying to hit all the fairways, and hit more greens with irons. You dont need to. And the long game to a great extent has an either-you-have-it-or-you-dont component. Playing a while and a decent drive is 200 yrds ? Then you are never going to hit it 300. Hitting only 50% of fairways ? Well thats as good as it gets. Even for the scratch players. But you dont need strength or extraordinary natural talent to hit a 20 yard chip close. But you must practice it. Low chips, lobs, sand shots. Uphills, downhills. tight lies. semirough. You can learn those. And convert a reasonable long game, without it changing, into delivering 5-8 more shots a round. Short game practice time invested will yield far greater returns than any efforts to 'rebuild' your swing, or 'gain consistency'.

Oh, and practice the short game.

 

[BiMGuy]

Why would you not practice the part of the game that is causing high scores?

If you can’t get on or somewhere very close to hitting greens in regulation, you’d need a short game like prime Tiger.

Yes the short game is important, and may get you under 80 occasionally. But, if you want to shoot under 80 consistently your long game needs to be good. The short game is a backup.

 

[Backsticks]

Why would you not practice the part of the game that is causing high scores?

Because you are interested in improving. So you practice the part of the game that is most likely to give you the biggest improvement on your score, for whatever time you are prepared to invest in driving improvement.

Most high hcs are far too obsessed with the long game. If you are hitting half the fairways from the tee, you are fine. They have an unrealistic expectation for hitting greens in regulation. If you can hit 50% you are a 5hc or better. If you can hit 60% you are on tour. 35% is more than good enough to play to 9 over par or better. I think some people aiming for single figures, actually have their focus on par, and playing almost flawless 18 holes of golf. But you dont need that. If you can chip to single putt 7 or 8 times a round, the chances are that you are breaking 80. Thats a much more realistic target for the recreational golfer than teaching himself to get on par 5s in two, or rifle long irons in for birdie chances, or carry fairway bunkers, etc. The golf wont look as obviously spectacular to the playing partners - but the card will.

 

[Imurg]

You need all parts of the game to be reasonable...no good being the best putter in the world if you're only ever putting for bogeys or doubles
Equally, it's no good being the best driver if you take 4 putts when you get there
And if your short game is cack then you'd better hope you're hitting greens..
Breaking 80 is about keeping the ball in play, not compounding errors when they happen,

 

[HPIMG]

Breaking 80 is pretty easy if you just play safe and steady. Don’t lose any balls don’t 3 putt and no double bogeys. Easier said than done I know. I break 80 probably once a week but you need to be consistent for pretty much the full round especially playing a par 72. I shot -1 on the back 9 on Friday but still only shot 80 overall because I lost two balls on the front 9.

 

[LincolnShep]

I've broken 80 once (in 454 rounds).
It was about five years after I started playing and was on a par 70 course that I had played a lot. Just kept it in play and took yardages to the back of the green most of the time.

Since my glorious 79 (in 2016) I have only broken 85 about half a dozen times so please ignore all of my advice!

 

[theoneandonly]

Why would you not practice the part of the game that is causing high scores?

If you can’t get on or somewhere very close to hitting greens in regulation, you’d need a short game like prime Tiger.

Yes the short game is important, and may get you under 80 occasionally. But, if you want to shoot under 80 consistently your long game needs to be good. The short game is a backup.

Most high handicappers generally have a reasonable short game. I see most shots being wasted off the tee and general approach play. I'd agree work on that long game. No need to be a short game Wiz, just have a couple of basic shots and stop reaching for that 60 degree wedge for everything around the green.

 

[CountLippe]

We're not really talking about high handicappers though.

Breaking 80 is about moving from an already good standard to single figures.

You need to be competent at everything and keep big scores off your card (max 1 double a round).

Keeping big scores of your card is achievable if tee shots are in play.

 

[RobertB]

Variant on old level 4s ... play level 5s ... so 90 ... shoot eleven under for a 79

Assume 4 par 3s - potentially 8 under but assume 2 pars/2 bogies ... 6 under. So you need 4s on five of other fourteen holes (bogie a par five then another 4 (par) to compensate) ... play sensibly and all usual advice above no penalties, minimise 3 putts & duffed chips.

Or do level 4s but then you can't go more than +7 .... whatever suits your thinking .... its all raw numbers at end of day and if you have doubles then you need real birdies!

 

[Albo]

Had a classic near miss this weekend, playing a new course and my driver was working a dream, front 9 I had 2 3 putts and was 1 over at the turn having hit 7 greens and missed the other two by a combined total of about 3ft.
Get to 10 pull me tee ball slightly into a tree area, play out chip on from 50y or so and don’t know there’s a bunker at the back of the green (chipping up a massive slope so can’t see), end up in bunker, no sand in bunker first one I’ve been in all day, bunker shot back over green down slope, close to a pond, air shot, hack up and 2 putt for an 8. Carded an 82 in the end, had I been bothered to walk up and look at the green I’d possibly had been less aggressive(I didn’t want to be short due to the severity of the slope I was pitching up) knowing there was a bunker back there or even take a different line. Them’s the breaks

 

[Albo]

Because you are interested in improving. So you practice the part of the game that is most likely to give you the biggest improvement on your score, for whatever time you are prepared to invest in driving improvement.

Most high hcs are far too obsessed with the long game. If you are hitting half the fairways from the tee, you are fine. They have an unrealistic expectation for hitting greens in regulation. If you can hit 50% you are a 5hc or better. If you can hit 60% you are on tour. 35% is more than good enough to play to 9 over par or better. I think some people aiming for single figures, actually have their focus on par, and playing almost flawless 18 holes of golf. But you dont need that. If you can chip to single putt 7 or 8 times a round, the chances are that you are breaking 80. Thats a much more realistic target for the recreational golfer than teaching himself to get on par 5s in two, or rifle long irons in for birdie chances, or carry fairway bunkers, etc. The golf wont look as obviously spectacular to the playing partners - but the card will.

You are on the whole right, if you can hit a 200y drive and hit half the fairways chances are short game will be needed to score, however, for a lot of higher handicaps (and for me who is off 9 so not low but not high either) the long game can kill your card, I’ve recently and to a degree still am, flighting a straight pull /pull hook, on the days where my driver or 3w or 5i are going left I can’t score no matter how good my short game is if I have 2 3 off the tees (not unusual) or get in the thick stuff and have to hack out or take a drop 3 or 4 times a round, by the time I’m getting to the green I’m trying to save bogey or even double. That could easily be 8 to 10 shots gone off the tee my short game could get me maybe 3 or 4 of those back if I was brilliant but as a 9 handicap I’m still dropping more than enough shots elsewhere to not break 80.
So yes practice the short game but until you have any degree of consistency off the tee you’d be foolish to ignore the long game.
Edit to say - considering tour putting stats put the 50% make rate at 8ft, I’m pretty sure that not many will get up and down 7 or 8 times in a round unless you’re on the fringe and pretty close to the pin or can consistency play to not be short sides, which I’d argue most high handicaps can’t

 

[CountLippe]

You are on the whole right, if you can hit a 200y drive and hit half the fairways chances are short game will be needed to score, however, for a lot of higher handicaps (and for me who is off 9 so not low but not high either) the long game can kill your card, I’ve recently and to a degree still am, flighting a straight pull /pull hook, on the days where my driver or 3w or 5i are going left I can’t score no matter how good my short game is if I have 2 3 off the tees (not unusual) or get in the thick stuff and have to hack out or take a drop 3 or 4 times a round, by the time I’m getting to the green I’m trying to save bogey or even double. That could easily be 8 to 10 shots gone off the tee my short game could get me maybe 3 or 4 of those back if I was brilliant but as a 9 handicap I’m still dropping more than enough shots elsewhere to not break 80.
So yes practice the short game but until you have any degree of consistency off the tee you’d be foolish to ignore the long game

Annoying isn't it. When a bad shot means unzipping your bag for another ball.