Finally broke 80...by a lot

[bgyhgy]

Hi all, first time poster but I've been reading the board for years. I had an experience that I just can't talk enough about, and my wife is tired of hearing about it. 

 

I'm a 14 handicap, at least I was. Clearly not as good as most on here, but I picked the game up fairly late in life and with four young kids I'm lucky to get out for 18 more than a handful of times per year. I've had rounds in the low 80's but never touched a 79. The best round of my life was an 81 on a 75.1 and 122 rated course. 

 

Annual buddies golf trip last weekend, first round on Friday I lipped out a par putt on 18 to finish with an 80. I was very disappointed. My second round on Friday was an 85 as was my first round of the day on Saturday.

 

Then, it happened. Second round of the day on Saturday, just enough booze to have a nice buzz, ready to cut loose with my buddies and tee it up for another round. Par 71 course, slope 69.8, rating of 126. Start the round with a birdie, missed a couple other makeable birdie putts, kick in a few bogies and I'm pretty thrilled making the turn +2. Take my 3rd shot of fireball of the day, pick up a few more beers, and we're off to the back 9. Another birdie on 10, well dang, I'm sitting +1 after 10 holes, feels good! And then it happens. Block the tee shot right into a fairway bunker, end up with a double. Handicap #1 next, another bogey. Back to normal for me, looking like bogey golf on the back 9. But this time something different happened. With five holes left I went birdie, par, par, par, par to finish +3 with a 74. So 9 beers, 3 shots of fireball, and the best round of my life by 6-7 strokes (par 71). I can't stop thinking about it, all I want to do is tee it up again. I need more of that drug. 

 

So my question for the group is, have you ever had a round where you not only got through a barrier of yours that you've long been targeting but absolutely crushed it? I've been dreaming about a 79 for years, and now I'm looking at a 74 on my card. 

 

 

[ShortGolfer]

Congratulations on breaking 80!

[ChaosTheory]

My experience with something like this was that for several weeks afterward, shooting normal scores made me kind of unhappy.  It took a while for me to realize that I was still a guy who had to have everything come together to break 80, and my 72 was just lightning in a bottle.

[Volnut]

Congrats!

 

I broke 80 for the first time last November (79). Flirted with it again most of this year, lots of 80-82 rounds. Went through a couple week spell in the 90s, then shot 77 the day after my worst round of the year. What a strange game we play. 

[vbb]

Great playing! You sound like a buddy of mine that needs just the right BAC to play his best. 

 

I was a 14hcp when I broke 80 for the first time as well, after having shot 80 on the nose a bunch of times. I didn't take it as deep as you did wirh the 74, but it really is fantastic to break through that barrier. That fact that you did it on a buddies golf trip in front of your friends is even better. I broke 80 playing with a total stranger.

 

Congratulations! Now go do it again!

[Jtgavigan]

Congrats! Tgat is a great round!

 

First time I broke 80, I shot 78 in a tournament as a teenager. First time I broke par, I shot 71. Yesterday,  I broke 70 for the first time with 69. So, to beat a goal by that much is huge. Now, it will be about managing expectations. Keep up the good work!

 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Congratulations, that's an impressive score. Even more impressive is that after nine beers and 3 fireballs you can even remember it!🍻

 

What do you think made the difference? Putting? Driving? Anything that was noticeably different from your normal rounds? When I score well I try to pinpoint what made the difference, and mostly it seems to be just making a couple of putts in the 6ft-10ft zone to keep the momentum going.

[Hawkeye77]

Nice!  First time I broke 80 I shot 75 - was pretty excited.

 

Then . . .  didn't break 80 again for a long, long time, lol.  But, eventually got to the point where I'm disappointed if I don't and my goal is still someday to break 70 - I'll be happy if it's one stroke! 

 

 

[Ferguson]

78 was my first round under 80.   It's a wonderful feeling. 

[Kmagnuss]

Awesome!  Nice work.

[2bGood]

Good for you bud! That is a great score and a round to remember. 

 

To your questions all my own firsts were like 88, 79, 69.

 

I do have a friend that broke 70 for the first time with something like ?63? and shot the course record on a short par 70 course. It was kind of crazy as it kind of  flipped a switch in him and he kept shooting really great rounds and never slipped back to his old golf habits.

[caeye0710]

Awesome stuff! I love rounds like this. 

 

My scoring average this year was 78.1 (primarily playing courses rated in the 72-73 range - not sure on slope). 

 

About once every couple of years, my 2010 form will reveal itself and I'll break 70. Makes golf so fun.

 

Now that you've broken the barrier, you'll have an even mix of doing it more consistently and being frustrated that you didn't. Enjoy the process!

[LBB]

Congratulations on a great round.

 

I recently tied my career low of 74...which was previously shot 15 years ago.  Had not shot under 77 since then I believe as I took a long break from golf.  Like you, it could have been lower.  Granted, it was a fairly easy course, but everything seemed to line up where my misses were putting me in comfortable situations.  I believe I made 2 birdies and 13 pars when only hitting 7 greens and 5 fairways.  10 one putts always helps.

 

Golf is a very fickle game where you don't actually need to hit awesome shots on any given hole to make a par.  And sometimes even perfectly executed shots (at least how you thought it in your mind) can be punished with bad bounces, funky lies, or you just misread the wind, break on a putt, or how hard/soft the ground is to anticipate the check or release of an approach shot. 

 

Every once in a while, the stars just align and you get way more breaks that go your favor than don't.  I'm sure we have all had the opposite experience where you just feel like you're striping the ball, and hitting great putts...but you're just not scoring.

[bobfoster]

First, major congratulations! 👏

 

Second - The serious achievement was not shooting a 74, it was shooting a 74 with some significant beverage consumption. I'm probably just a wuss with low tolerance, but after nine beers and three fireballs I'd probably be curled up taking a little nap in a sand trap. And if I even was still awake, I'd barely be able to stand up, let alone swing a golf club. 

Edited October 7, 2021 by bobfoster

[elwhippy]

Well done Sir. You have shown your true potential. Onwards and upwards. BTW how was the head the next day?

 

[ndlutz]

Congrats man!

[phizzy30]

Congrats for sure.  Lesson here is that you should play golf hammered.  🤣  Jokes aside, I don't know how some of you guys do it.  One of the assistant pros at the cc I'm a member at shot 59 and he was drunk.  I told him he needs to go back out and play on tour(Asian) with his buddy James Hahn, wasted all the time, haha. 

[bgyhgy]

Thanks everyone. It truly was an incredible feeling. 
 

To answer a few questions...
 

Everything was working, but the difference maker was my iron play for sure. I consistently hit fairways every time I play but generally am a below average iron player but that weekend I had one swing thought and just started flushing my irons which never happens. 
 

The beers and fireball were spread out over two rounds, so about 8 hours. If it was all in one round it would've been a different story, but I do probably drink a little too much so the tolerance is also up there. I really think it helped me get out of my way with jitters and over analyzing everything. I was loose and enjoying a good round shooting the breeze with my buddies. I even remember bringing up my score mid-round and putting the conversation on the table to break the ice since my buddies didn't want to. If I were completely sober I likely would've been talking about my total choke job. 
 

I enjoyed reading all your stories. Sadly work and kids have kept me busy since then and I haven't had a chance to play, but it looks like next weekend I'll get back out there. 

[khalespace]

Congrats on breaking 80. It is a nice accomplishment.

 

I am very close to break 80 but couldn't pull it off the last few times and ended up with 84, 81 and 84.  The time I shot 81, I was 4 over after 14 and then shot bogey, bogey, bogey and double for the last 4 holes.

[bgyhgy]

18 hours ago, khalespace said:

Congrats on breaking 80. It is a nice accomplishment.

 

I am very close to break 80 but couldn't pull it off the last few times and ended up with 84, 81 and 84.  The time I shot 81, I was 4 over after 14 and then shot bogey, bogey, bogey and double for the last 4 holes.

Sounds like you needed some booze to calm the nerves!

[nitram]

👍

[LegendJeff]

Well done man! I started breaking 80 only this year and realized that scoring is more mentality than shot-making. When I'm playing well I always tell myself to forget the score card and ONLY focus on each shot at a time. I never think about birdie until I make the putt and can jot in down. I think this mentality correlates with others who say to manage expectations. 

[mdmack]

Congrats!!! nothing like conquering a goal. I promise that high wont wear off for a while, and like others have said your expectations can get a little out of whack. You know your potential though so just keep the hammer down. 

[BabaBooey17]

Big 74 dude, nice job.  Guess you'll be drinking on the course more often than not now lol.  Little birdie juice paid off.

For the 2 seasons prior to this one I played very little golf, maybe 30 times total through those 2 seasons and fell like I lost a bit of my game.  This year I got out around 45 times and probably 10 range sessions....was getting better but was not able to break 80.  I'm playing a much harder golf course than I had been and the slight break I took over the past few years were taking its toll...
However, a few weeks back I decided to drive out and play a course that I grew up playing a few times a year that's a little easier than what I'm playing now and I shot a 73, 7-8 shots better than I've scored this year...what a way to end the season (NS Golf).  I was lights out with my scramble game, made a birdie on each 9 and my driver was just flying.  Random guys I was playing with at the end of the round asked what I shot and I told them 73 and it was my first round of the year breaking 80...they were floored which obviously helped the ego for the hour drive home haha.

[OnTheBag]

I'm more impressed that you could still swing after that much booze than I am the score.  Congrats on the card by the way.  It is certainly addictive.

 

Funny story from the past.....  I looped for this sorry excuse for a golfer one summer.  He'd carded an 82 on Thursday and frankly embarrassed us both.  Friday morning we had an early time.  He's a no show at the range.  Go to his hotel room and find him passed out in yesterday's clothes.  Got him to the check-in shed with less than 5 minutes to spare before the cutoff.  We get to the box and he can barely hold his eyes open.  Dumbass goes out and shoots 63 to miss the cut by 1.

 

It's a funny game we play. 

[nikeblades00]

I'm surprised no one is bringing up shooting a career round so deep on a buddies trip with 2 a days! Honestly very impressed. First off it's hard to play well on a golf trip just merely cuz the anticipation and excitement. Then factor in playing 36 a day, partying, not sleeping in your own bed etc... Dude that's amazing, major congrats!