I finally broke 80!

[Tigerpro2a]

On 4/20/2022 at 11:59 AM, ZacR88 said:

you noted that you seemed more focused and scrambled. 

 

This is something I see many many higher caps forget about. They are pumped to hit a tee shot, then put minimal effort into figure out the approach and if they miss the green they give up and make a chip and putt for par seem impossible. 

 

When you get to into single digits, even more so when you are scratch, its a lot of scrambling to salvage pars on the days you are not dialed in. Which is not as many as people think. 

 

Nice job OP, keep it going.

This times 100. I shot an 85 the last round I played Sunday and it was the best 85 I have ever shot due to the way it all played out. My playing partner and I just had to scramble the whole round. We weren't hitting bad shot really...just getting bad breaks. The type of breaks where you hit a beautiful drive right down the middle and a tiny stump redirects the ball 40 yards backwards lol. I hit the shot of my life though. I hit drive about 260 but it drew a little too much and the fairway loped to the left so my ball took a wicked bounce into the pines. I had a window through the trees for a punch shot to get out.  I had about 130 to the green...had to keep it under about 12 ft to get through the trees and it was a hard bend to the right...so I opened my 5i up and hit the best punch slice 5i I could hit. It stayed low...went through the trees slightly bending to the right....and then bounced and rolled to 2 ft for the tap in bird. I couldn't have drawn it up any better...but that is the type of round it was. Just scarmbling the whole day.

[hacker49]

Congrats! Depending on the stats you look at you are in the top 2-5% of golfers. I'm still looking to break 100.

[platgof]

Breaking 80 is great golf in my book. I have only done it twice, and that is a very fading memory. Great job and enjoy.

[adamwittman]

🎇 nice round!

[Grizz06]

Awesome!!!   Congrats!!  Such a great feeling!

 

I always thought making my first hole in one would be the best feeling but after it finally happened last year I was wrong.   Breaking 80 (many years ago) then par (also last year) were far more fulfilling to me.

[BigEx44]

Congrats.  Always exciting to break a new barrier!

[Bmurr7]

Very well done!

[bobfoster]

And parenthetically? I notice you did it the same way all good amateurs do it: No blowup holes. 

 

I think breaking 90 means someone has arrived at a fairly consistent swing. But breaking 80 means a consistent swing combined with intelligent course management. Means an ego under control. If I'm in the trees on a par four drive, I don't try for a miracle shot w/ a 25% chance of working for par (which can so often turn into a seven or eight), I take my medicine, punch out, and play for a bogey. I'll lay up instead of trying to fly a creek at the edge of my distance. Always get clear about the shot I want, but also get very clear about where I want my miss to be. 

 

IMO, have watched a lot of people at all different levels play for a lot of years, and the main difference between people that can break 80 and those that never will comes down to this: Don't make stupid choices. We are all better in our heads than we are IRL. Breaking 80 is never about taking risks that can turn into birdies if hit perfectly, it is about not taking the risks that can turn into triple or quad bogeys. 

 

You broke the 80 barrier not because of birdies or eagles (you had none), but because you shot for par, had a double and a handful of single bogeys. Even a single blowup hole would have tanked your round. The scorecard says you played really smart golf (and I hope you continue to).

 

This is a bit of a thing with me. I think course management is a vastly unappreciated aspect of good amateur golf. Really underemphasized. For every 500 YouTube videos on the golf swing, there's maybe one or two on course management. True, course management isn't really relevant to people shooting in the 90s or 100s. But I believe it is the biggest differentiator between those that hit in the 80s and those that can shoot in the 70s. 

 

I'm getting old, distance no longer what it was (and will never again be). Walked on a a single today. Three 30-somethings. Good grief they were long. Shockingly long. And none came within 10 strokes of my scorecard. One of them had astounding SS. Probably averaged drives 75 yards longer than me (pretty extreme, and actually really cool to watch). But he hits into the thick bentgrass rough common on NE courses on a par five. Settles down. I would have popped it out into the fairway and just played for a bogey. He tries a miracle shot. Grass catches club, 25' into even deeper rough. Keeps doing it. Got painful to watch. He ultimately shot an 11 on the hole (and was not that bad of a golfer - had several pars and even a birdie - almost drove a short par four that I was 100' out from). 

 

Point is, the average weekender shooting 100 (and the stats are that 45% of golfers will never legitimately break 100) mostly needs to work on their swing. Big improvement if they don't thin or chunk every iron. But if someone's swing is good enough to shoot consistent 80s and low 90s, the difference between that and the 70s is not trying things that are great, it is not doing things that are dumb. 

 

Okay, sorry, babbling. Wish course management was talked about a lot more. The pros obsess on it. Good amateurs should too.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by bobfoster

[OnTheBag]

9 minutes ago, bobfoster said:

Always get clear about the shot I want, but also get very clear about where I want my miss to be. 

 

 

This is the anchor of my pulpit.  Be it a tour professional or a guy struggling to break 100, my advice to them is the same...

 

"What is your normal miss?  Play so your miss doesn't kill you if you don't pull off the shot you envision."

[Nels55]

28 minutes ago, OnTheBag said:

This is the anchor of my pulpit.  Be it a tour professional or a guy struggling to break 100, my advice to them is the same...

 

"What is your normal miss?  Play so your miss doesn't kill you if you don't pull off the shot you envision."

I usually play my worst golf when I am missing it both ways.  Makes for some anxiety on a shot to a narrow target...

[OnTheBag]

Just now, Nels55 said:

I usually play my worst golf when I am missing it both ways.  Makes for some anxiety on a shot to a narrow target...

The dreaded two-way miss kills more scores than anything.  A miss on either side can be planned for and mitigated.  A two-way miss is a crap shoot. 

[North Butte]

18 hours ago, OnTheBag said:

The dreaded two-way miss kills more scores than anything.  A miss on either side can be planned for and mitigated.  A two-way miss is a crap shoot. 

Yep.

 

If I knew to start a round that every tee shot was going to end up right of where I'm aiming, I could probably hit every fairway. My course is pretty open off most tees and I'd just start the ball down the rough line on the left and let it "miss" back to the right. Easy peasy. 

 

But it takes a hell of a better golfer than I am to know which way their ball is going every time. In any given round, I almost always miss one or more shots 30+ yards left of where I'm aiming and one or more shots 30+ yards right. So I'd have to somehow guess which direction was coming up next and aim down the opposite tree line.

 

Same for middle iron shots. I get the club behind me, keep too much weight hanging on the back foot and try to save the shot with my arms and hands. So about 2/3 of my misses are blocks or pushes but the other 1/3 are vicious high hooks in the opposite direction. Which one am I supposed to "course manage"? Play so that a 20-yard push stays on the fringe? Or play so that a 30-yard hook stays in the same zip code as the green. I can't do both on the same shot.

Edited May 22, 2022 by North Butte

[OnTheBag]

10 minutes ago, North Butte said:

Yep.

 

If I knew to start a round that every tee shot was going to end up right of where I'm aiming, I could probably hit every fairway. My course is pretty open off most tees and I'd just start the ball down the rough line on the left and let it "miss" back to the right. Easy peasy. 

 

But it takes a hell of a better golfer than I am to know which way their ball is going every time. In any given round, I almost always miss one or more shots 30+ yards left of where I'm aiming and one or more shots 30+ yards right. So I'd have to somehow guess which direction was coming up next and aim down the opposite tree line.

 

Same for middle iron shots. I get the club behind me, keep too much weight hanging on the back foot and try to save the shot with my arms and hands. So about 2/3 of my misses are blocks or pushes but the other 1/3 are vicious high hooks in the opposite direction. Which one am I supposed to "course manage"? Play so that a 20-yard push stays on the fringe? Or play so that a 30-yard hook stays in the same zip code as the green. I can't do both on the same shot.

That is the ire of golfers since the beginning of the game.  I've been playing with a younger fellow recently early on Thursday mornings where i work.  He is fighting all sorts of things in his game.  This past week, I told him to just swing freely and not think so much.  After the first few holes, his natural slice showed up.  It isn't a bad slice, just a 20-30 yard leak to the right.  We adjusted as we went and he played the back nine much better than the front.

 

I feel for you in your struggles.  I don't have too many tips, other than maybe what I told him.  Don't fight your swing, let it come to you.  Focus only on hitting the same spot on the clubface as often as possible.

 

As amateurs the game is meant to be enjoyed.  Make sure you aren't fighting so hard for perfection that it is causing more issues. 

 

Good luck my friend.

[Captain Hook11]

Congrats, breaking 80 sounds awesome. I’m on the breaking 90 train but still in the 90-93 range generally. My biggest challenge is the unknown off the tee. I’ve sorta fixed my slice (which might be worse because it comes and goes hole to hole, making aiming off the tee an adventure)

 

my 2 biggest improvements, by far though, have been eliminating chunks and course management. Yesterday on a par 5 I had 210 to the green with water on 2 sides. Last year I would’ve gone for it. Instead I laid up, wedged on and 2-putted for 6. Once I realized “going for it” isn’t as fun as lower scores, it changed my game for sure. 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Captain Hook11

[Walk-it-in]

Congrats @jamesgott it’s a milestone for many of us and will certainly have you coming back for more. I remember when I first broke 80 3 years ago, it involved a double like yours, a chip in birdie and a par 3 birdie with a near tap in, but it was a legit 78 and one of my best driving days too. Good luck on the quest to get to par now! 

[khalespace]

I am so jealous. I shot 81 and 80 but still no 7X.

[karstens_ghost]

On 5/22/2022 at 2:33 PM, bobfoster said:

I'm getting old, distance no longer what it was (and will never again be). Walked on a a single today. Three 30-somethings. Good grief they were long. Shockingly long. And none came within 10 strokes of my scorecard. One of them had astounding SS. Probably averaged drives 75 yards longer than me (pretty extreme, and actually really cool to watch). But he hits into the thick bentgrass rough common on NE courses on a par five. Settles down. I would have popped it out into the fairway and just played for a bogey. He tries a miracle shot. Grass catches club, 25' into even deeper rough. Keeps doing it. Got painful to watch. He ultimately shot an 11 on the hole (and was not that bad of a golfer - had several pars and even a birdie - almost drove a short par four that I was 100' out from).

 

This is what's wrong with American golf. 11? Take 6 shots, and if it's a triple, it's a triple. It's not a tournament.

 

The rest of the world plays stableford to avoid this stupidity. Slow golf sucks. 

[Kid Frisco]

Congratulations OP!  I’ve only done it a handful of times…each time it was such a sense of accomplishment and reward for all the time, money and sweat put into this game.

 

A word of warning, don’t let breaking 80 be the barometer of whether you’ve had a good or bad round.  I did for a long time and it sapped the fun out of so many rounds chasing it.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Kid Frisco

[platgof]

Did you say you broke 80 in a best ball tournament??? LOL!! I broke it again at Western Hills in Ky, a tough course. Shot 78, then 86 and 82. Fixing my swing, forward shaft angle at impact, and the Maverik irons, really helped. 

[platgof]

23 hours ago, platgof said:

Did you say you broke 80 in a best ball tournament??? LOL!! I broke it again at Western Hills in Ky, a tough course. Shot 78, then 86 and 82. Fixing my swing, forward shaft angle at impact, and the Maverik irons, really helped. 

Sorry, different poster, congrats.

[ND2005]

A friend of mine texted me that he broke 80 for the first time. I said congrats. 

 

Found out shortly thereafter from one of his playing partners that this was with 6 mulligans off the tee...

 

I didn't bother saying anything but I'm like...dude that's a third of the holes...whatever you want to tell yourself...

[jamesgott]

I did it again today! Second time in a season. This one felt a lot better, honestly. Three birdies this time. An even better though was that I haven't swung a club in 3 weeks because of a pinched nerve. I got out today with zero expectations and after a 42 on the front I thought I'd just coast in and enjoy being able to be out of the house and swinging the club. The pinched nerve made it so I couldn't even get out of bed it was so bad. The back nine was better! Three birdies on the day and I won the saturday game with +11 points and a 79. I feel great! Playing again monday, so we'll see if this was a fluke or not 😬

[jackmfarrow]

Congrats 

[19Putter]

On 4/20/2022 at 10:33 AM, jamesgott said:

I play a weekend dogfight every saturday at the same course. I struggle sometimes with just being deliberate, in the moment, and being focused. On Saturday we were supposed to have a monthly tournament but it was cancelled due to weather. 15 or so guys still showed up anyway and we carried on with our normal weekend format. 

 

I walked, like I usually do, with my pushcart. Something just felt different. I felt focused, much more than normal. I also opened with 4 pars which is pretty out of the ordinary for me - but they weren't standard pars. I was fighting - completely scrambling from odd places just to get up and down for a look at it and putts were dropping. 

 

I doubled 9 but ended up with a 39 on the front which I've never done. No birdies. 

 

I had a bunch of pars on the back but bogeyed 16, 17, and 18. I had no idea that I was close to a sub-80 round. My playing partners were very aware though. I sank the putt on 18 for a 79 and it was a great feeling because my friend yelled and congratulated me. What a great feeling. 39 - 40. No birdies. I know which strokes I left out there and I hope I can go lower next time!

 

 

Twelve pars and one double. That's how you do it. Congratulations. Remember my first time breaking 80. It's a magical feeling.