Really Breaking 80

[tji]

When is breaking 80, "really breaking 80"?

 

I normally play from the blue tees on most courses, and find myself in the low 80's when I'm paying well -- very rarely breaking 80.

But, occasionally when playing with inexperienced golfers, we go from the whites to speed things up. From there, I have had some very good rounds, well into the 70's (73 - 75). But, they just seem tainted.

 

So, what's the general consensus on what is a real round below 80?

 

I suppose it's less to do with the tees (there is a lot of variability there, and some blues are only slightly harder than whites), and more with the course and slope ratings. At my level of golf, I think that to be a real accomplishment, the course must have a slope rating of at least 125.. preferably 130, but you get into some punishing courses around that level.

 

Or, using the USGA handicapping rules, you can calculate your Index for that round, based on score, course rating and slope. A "Round Index" of less than 8 should be a pretty fair measure of "really breaking 80".

 

A "Round Index" would be: Your Score - Course Rating * ( 113 / Course Slope Rating)

 

 

Is that reasonable?

[Diesel]

breaking 80 is breaking 80...

 

not all courses are created equal... the difference will be the index you get due to the course rating...

 

but in the end, 80 is 80...

[Joe Schmoe]

breaking 80 is 79 or less. regardless of course.

 

whats this 125+ slope stuff, it's hard to play affordable golf on courses with that rating around here.

[tji]

> breaking 80 is 79 or less. regardless of course

 

Yes, but I'm sure you guys see my point.. I could play form the red tees and improve my chances of breaking 80, but not many of us (male golfers) would do that.

 

As I've improved my game, and learned a bit about USGA handicapping, I have found their slope ratings to be a really good indicator of the difficulty of a course -- and my performance. Handicapping gives us a way to equalize golfers, or in this case courses, and compare performance on one course with another.

 

 

This is not to disparage anyone's accomplishments.. I was sure glad to break 80 for my first time, and that's my goal most times I step onto a course. But, I feel a lot better about my 79 on a tough course than I do about my 74 on a very easy course.

 

> whats this 125+ slope stuff, it's hard to play affordable golf on courses with that rating around here.

 

Yeah, I guess that differs by region. When I was in California, cheap golf was hard to come by. But, there were several Muni courses I played that had slopes of 125+. In West Michigan, there are a LOT of inexpensive courses, and it just means driving a bit farther to get to one that has a higher rating - but it's still inexpensive.

 

Or, it could just mean moving back a tee box on your current course. A course I play has a 118 slope form the white, and a 128 slope from the blue tees.. That makes a huge difference in difficulty.

[woof]

if 74 on an easy course feels tainted shoot a 70 !!!

[JOSEPHLB]

What exactly does Slope mean? What is factored in determining the "Slope" of a course?

[tji]

What exactly does Slope mean? What is factored in determining the "Slope" of a course?

 

Slope is essentially a measure of the course's difficulty, telling us how much more difficult a course is for a high handicapper vs a scratch golfer.

It factors in many things about the course's difficulty, things like course distance, hazards, forced carries, forced layups, green size and contours, bunker placement, etc..

 

A rating team from the USGA comes out and analyzes the course, measures it, and plays it to determine the course and slope ratings.

 

Here is a good article about slope ratings: http://www.usga.org/playing/handicaps/surv...bout_slope.html

[DaveyH]

i believe breaking 80 is when you shoot single figures over par which applies to the majority of courses!

[jspang]

It is all about achieving a goal. If your goal is breaking 80 on your home course..then break it. My current goal is breaking my best of 68. just go out and do it!

[tji]

Okay, I'm new to the forum and the moderation here..

 

Can someone tell me why this thread was moved from "General Golf Talk" into "Swing/Fitness/Beginners"? This thread has nothing to do with the golf Swing or Fitness.. Is "Breaking 80" a Beginners topic?

[beachgrovejunior]

Breaking 80 is breaking 80, this week in a tournament i shot 81 on a tough course, but still went into my handicap as a 6.9 which would have meant i shot 79 if i look at it that way but i shot 81 so to break 80 is to shoot 79 or less

[MTM]

I think you HAVE to consider the course rating and slope.

If you played an executive course with a par of 65 and you shot 79 is that really breaking 80 in the spirit of the original post?

I don't think so. If it is where do you draw the line? If you shoot 39-40 on a par 3 course is that breaking 80?

I do agree that breaking 80 means shooting 79 or less but you have to take into consideration the course rating and slope a little bit at least. At least look at what a particular score's differential comes out to.

[Ezgolfer]

Breaking 80 is to be able to break 80 on any given course, honestly .

At least that 's how i wanna do it .

[Diesel]

I think you HAVE to consider the course rating and slope.

If you played an executive course with a par of 65 and you shot 79 is that really breaking 80 in the spirit of the original post?

I don't think so. If it is where do you draw the line? If you shoot 39-40 on a par 3 course is that breaking 80?

I do agree that breaking 80 means shooting 79 or less but you have to take into consideration the course rating and slope a little bit at least. At least look at what a particular score's differential comes out to.

 

sure, but i don't think we're talking about anything less than a par 70, where most places are par 71,72...

[MTM]

I think you HAVE to consider the course rating and slope.

If you played an executive course with a par of 65 and you shot 79 is that really breaking 80 in the spirit of the original post?

I don't think so. If it is where do you draw the line? If you shoot 39-40 on a par 3 course is that breaking 80?

I do agree that breaking 80 means shooting 79 or less but you have to take into consideration the course rating and slope a little bit at least. At least look at what a particular score's differential comes out to.

 

sure, but i don't think we're talking about anything less than a par 70, where most places are par 71,72...

 

 

 

In that case I agree that breaking 80 is <79.

For me personally it wouldn't feel "legitimate" if I did it from tees that rated 65 and sloped at 105.

It would have to be at least close to a rating of 71-72 and a slope of at least 113 for me. But that's just me at the point I'm at with my game. The first time I broke 80 I was pumped (I still have the ball)

I shot 78 Thursday but the course was 67.3/116. I was disappointed.

[ezra76]

I've broken it 4 times but at a Par 71, 118 slope. I still haven't broken it at the other courses I play often. I've got a pair of 88's as my best scores at the 129/72 and the 135/72. Both make that 118 look like a cakewalk. Biggest differences are yardage, 600 longer at the 129 and 700 longer at the 136 and the greens. The 129 is Donald Ross course, small, well bunkered greens, I lose strokes around those often. The 135 has severe undulations and fast as heck. 2 putt is very good from the wrong part of the green.

[MTM]

I've broken it 4 times but at a Par 71, 118 slope. I still haven't broken it at the other courses I play often. I've got a pair of 88's as my best scores at the 129/72 and the 135/72. Both make that 118 look like a cakewalk. Biggest differences are yardage, 600 longer at the 129 and 700 longer at the 136 and the greens. The 129 is Donald Ross course, small, well bunkered greens, I lose strokes around those often. The 135 has severe undulations and fast as heck. 2 putt is very good from the wrong part of the green.

 

72/129 and 72/135?!?!

I'd be thrilled to break 80 on those.

My home course is 71/125 from the blues.

[oregongolf]

I understand the legitimacy argument about playing a cakewalk course. But if you can go out and do it every time at an easy course, it just seems to click on a tougher one.

 

It's the same as the advice for guys who shoot low scores, but end up blowing it after they know they're really low. They tell those guys to go play from the forward tees at an easy course and get used to shooting such low scores.

 

After doing something like that, you tend to just step up to the plate naturally.

 

It's either that, or start playing two more rounds a week.

[tji]

Agreed.. When you get slopes around 130+, those can be pretty punishing courses. It shows up in the handicap for that round (although, courses with low course ratings have a bigger effect than slope ratings). 79's on those courses would be (note, I'm taking the par as the course rating, so these may be skewed a bit.. but at those slope ratings, I would expect the course ratings to be close to par):

 

72/129: 6.13

72/135: 5.86

71/125: 7.23

 

The original question I posed dealt more with easy courses, and when is it "too easy". Such as these real ratings for courses I have played before, 79's on these would be:

 

(Par 72 Course) 68.0/116: 10.72

(Par 71 Course) 64.9/112): 14.23

 

 

So, essentially what these say is that to break 80 on these courses, you're playing to a 5.86 to 14.23 handicap. That's quite a range. Which is why I think a fair measure, for me, is to say a round handicap of below 8 qualifies as really breaking 80.

[Diesel]

i think you're getting too technical about it...

 

some people don't even have access to a course with a rating / slope in the mid 70's / 130's... and they have to make due on the course they play...

 

honestly, if you hit the ball straight, you should be able to shoot a similiar score on any course... it's when you start spraying balls and are taking OB penalties that is going to hurt your score at a tougher course...

 

i play a variety of courses, and can shoot a mid 80 at a tough course if i'm on that day, and then i could also shoot a 100 if i'm spraying my driver...

 

the real question is, the people that break 80, did they really break it, or did they fail to take those OB strokes on that one tee shot, did they not mention they double hit that one chip shot from the deep rough, did they not count that 2 footer they missed for par...?

[TexasAg]

Breaking 80 is breaking 80. You can do it from the tips or from the senior tees, it doesn't really matter to me. Personally, though I put more stock in handicap index. For example, a 79 from the back tees at my course is a 3.3 handicap differential. A 79 from the gold tees is a 9.8.