Broke 90 for the 1st time tonight!

[medwayjon]

Hi all,

Played a round at my club tonight and it was one of those days where it all falls into place.

Not a single birdie on the card alas but not only did I break 90 I smashed it with a score of 85.

It has given me heaps of confidence and I am convinced that I can go on to break 80 this season without a doubt.

Chuffed to bits I am!!!

 

[madandra]

Well done Jonny boy ............ you are a shoo in for a sub 80 round this year.

 

[backwoodsman]

Well done MWJ. As you say, you must be chuffed. And without a birdie on the card means it was durned steady golf. Now here's to aiming at 80.

 

[theeaglehunter]

Congratulations 85 when you have never broken 90 before is a great score. When I broke it for the first time I had added my score up on the tee waiting for others to play and I realised I had to make par to shoot an 88 or bogey for an 89. I managed the par and was so relieved it was untrue. I thought I was going to throw it away stood on the tee. Getting the consistency of breaking 90 is the next step and what I am currently working on and I am finding it tough but my pro thinks that I have it in me to be off single figures by the end of the summer (yea right, the trouble is he only sees me on the range where I hit the ball brilliantly by my own admission but on the course I fall to pieces) so I am working on a similar thing. Best of luck with the breaking 80 though, I can't see that happening for me yet but I have been told by others that once you have done 90 80 is never too far away if you practice, so best wishes with that.

 

[Tommo21]

Well done, that’s a big hurdle and it’s even harder to do it regularly. That’s why we keep coming back for more. I still have a job breaking 80 sometimes and other times it’s a breeze. I don’t mind saying it, I had a 90 in a medal round this year in contrast to a 73 just a few weeks before. 2 over par to 19 over, what a comedown.

Keep your feet on the ground because this game bites you on the bum as soon as you think you’ve got something going.

 

[backwoodsman]

Keep your feet on the ground because this game bites you on the bum as soon as you think you've got something going.

I broke 90 for the first time with 83. Got 87 two days later. And have not been near since. Hope your luck/skill holds out better for you MWJ

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Top man.

Now for the hard part and doing it on a regular basis. I find that it helps to view the course as all par 5's. Five on every hole will give you 90. By doing this it means you are less tempted to go for longer par 4's in two and risk the 7 and 8's and if you manage to par or bogey a par 3 you have gained a shot back (feels like a birdie).

Once you get a feel for it, it becomes easy to keep a mental tally of where you are score wise and can help on the closing holes to decide whether to attack or defend. Try it out and see what you think

Anyway well done mate - good shooting and here is to an 85

 

[mrobbie]

Well done Jon - great feeling the 1st time you achieve it, and you didn't even scrape it!

HomerJSimpson - good comment re the par 5 thoughts - I have never thought of it that way before. Playing off 15, I need to be finishing around 87 (assuming par 72) for handicap... Putting the thought of par 5 into it, that would give me approx 33 stableford points which is h'cap buffer zone. If I made 2 x par 4s and 2 x par 3s, and make a par 5 a bogey 6 = 38 points (approx 6 x pars in the round) = handicap down 0.6. Good tip, thanks!

 

[The23rdman]

Great stuff, bro!

 

[TonyN]

Nice one MJW, When I broke it i did so with an 85, and then I kept hitting the same scores. Now you know you can do it, it should come alot easier.

I keep hitting 83's at the moment and seem to have a 3 off the tee and a lost ball. you will find your self in this situation soon enough and you just wanna play all day.

Keep it up big man!

 

[Atticus_Finch]

Good man Jon. Well done.
Your scores are only going to go in one direction from hereon in.
We know that this is your fisrt year at Gillingham, so you must be gaining a bit of course knowledge every time you play as well. This will help you lower your scores no end so it will just be a matter of time before the 80 barrier is broken.

Keep up the good work.

 

[medwayjon]

Best thing was that I got the longest drive of our 4-ball at 292 yards on the 2nd, and also won the stableford off my society handicap of 23 with 44 points.

Still flying high today, cannot wait to get out again on thursday with the 11-hole swindle.

 

[USER1999]

Don't expect too many great things. I always find the round after 'the hot one' is a bit disappointing, even if you still play well, it is just a bit flat. good luck though.

 

[theeaglehunter]

Woah 292 that's a nice drive. I was happy with my 286 that I measured with a skycaddie yesterday. Keep hitting them like that on the fairway and that handicap will be 2.3 not 23. I should think you'll get a nice cut anyway. It seems to get better- I would be straight back up the course tonight if I played like that.

 

[Nico]

That is a super effort and worth celebrating!!

Keep it up mate from what I am reading this is the start of regularly breaking the 90 barrier.

 

[TWM]

Well done Jon.
I remember the first time I broke 90. It was also 85. This was in 1968. I had a gap of 25 years without playing golf, starting again two years ago and now I am happy if I can break 100.

 

[medwayjon]

Thanks for all the nice comments, I am itching to get out and even man-flu can't dampen my spirits about golf at the moment.

Interestingly I have stopped using the range altogether now and only practice my short game and putting now and find that it really helps.

I think too much range time (I was addicted badly) was damaging my game through over analysis and constant tinkering with my swing, posture, grip etc and now that I am playing naturally and in a relaxed way it has bought me on leaps and bounds.

The advantage I have is that I live 5 mins from the club, have a suitable amount of free time and plenty of enthusisam so I can get up and even if it is just for 11 holes get atleast 3/4 knocks a week in if I like.

God I love this game at the moment.

 

[billyg]

Congratulations MWJ

Like the '5' idea HJS.

 

[Farneyman]

Good shooting there.

Waiting for my first sub 90 round. Did shoot a 90 in 1 of my handicap card rounds followed by a score in the 100's. Havent broke 100 sinve getting my handicap (16, nowhere near a 16 but hope to someday soon) Slowley creeping up 16.3 now.

 

[AliB]

Good for you, and great to hear your enthusiasm. I also broke 90 a few times last year and once this. I've struggled to maintain the standard, (but don't let that put you off!) Under 90 feels like real golf to me and I'm a lot more committed to improving.
I've also tried Homer's par 5 trick - good for taking the pressure off. (Assuming you can do the par 3s!)

All the best

AliB