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Curious ... how long did it take you to break 80 ?

inthehole

inthehole

Holly Sonders Caddie
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
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Location
Pocono's PA
Handicap
GHIN 11.5
For the lower hcp guys ... would like to know approx. how many years of playing or roughly how many rounds you had under your belt when you first broke 80.

I'm finishing up my 4th full season (I'd guess around 450 rounds so far ... most of these are 9 hole rounds after work) ... I've broke 40 on one side or the other a bunch of times, but my lowest score is 82 ... just can't hold it together for an entire round to break the 80 glass barrier. Thx
 
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I don't remember exactly how many years it was but it was quite a few. I Remember struggling a lot to learn the game the first couple and I took a series of lessons from a guy in Maryland, once I learned good fundamentals and how to practice, it came rather quickly, probably within a year or two.
 
I'm not lower HCP. I'm actually higher than your sig indicates. I've been lower, though, and it took me...

Probably 20 calendar years, which was perhaps 10 years of golf in 4/2/4 year swathes. You're improving faster than that (I'm not sure I played 250 rounds in that 10 years), but really, you're there now.
My index is just over 14 now, and I break 80 3 or 4 times a year now. Once you've done it once it does get easier.
 
1 season of serious play and I broke 80. Golfed for 10 years with never really practicing till a year ago when I decided to get serious. After bout 20 rounds with real short game practice in between I was able to break 80.

Driving, putting, chipping, and wedges is what I worked most on.

In March I plan to break 70.
 
12.8 handicap here, which isn't really a lower handicap guy...I had been playing off and on casually for almost 30 years before I did it. But it took about 2.5 years from the point where I actually took the game seriously and really committed myself to getting better (I doubt I could break 100 at that point). I haven't been able to do it again yet in the year since then, although I've come really close.
 
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inthehole said:
For the lower hcp guys ... would like to know approx. how many years of playing or roughly how many rounds you had under your belt when you first broke 80.

I'm finishing up my 4th full season (I'd guess around 450 rounds so far ... most of these are 9 hole rounds after work) ... I've broke 40 on one side or the other a bunch of times, but my lowest score is 82 ... just can't hold it together for an entire round to break the 80 glass barrier. Thx
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Not a low handicapper, but it took me about 30 years. However, for most of my life I was a casual golfer, playing maybe 6-10 times a year in a busy year and some years, not at all. It would never have happened had I not decided to take the game seriously and start playing more like 50-60 times a year.
 
I started in 1978 and broke 80 in 2012. So 34 years. First broke 90 in 2008.

I spent many years just playing a couple times a month during the summer, and maybe 10 or 15 times a whole season. Finally got serious when Jacqui wanted to learn how to play six years ago.
 
The first year I decided to take golf seriously and practice at it I shot 79.
 
Started playing golf my sophomore year in high school, broke 80 when I was a junior. But I lived at the golf course. On a school day I would get off the bus about a mile from the course and practice/play till dark. On weekends and during the summer I would be there nearly all day long - practicing and play 18 or 36 or vice versa ...
 
I was always swinging around working on a driving range in my younger days so I grooved a bit of a swing but never played on a course really. Once I got hooked and started playing 2 times a week with 2 days of range practice a week I pulled it off. All in all 2 years of consistent golf with 5 lessons towards the end seemed to do the trick.
 
About 12 years. Breaking 80 is a pretty big milestone IMO. Less of a fluke round. Now breaking 80 and staying under 80... I'm not back there yet.
 
It took me a little less than a year. I played about 2-3 times a week and took quite a few lessons.

I was a better golfer then than I am now 3 years later.
 
At a THP event, 2 years.

To start, it took me about 3 years to break 80. I eased into golf playing two man scrambles mostly, and while it had its advantages, it was impossible to keep my own score most of the time. When I did start I was in the mid-high 80s and have just worked to get down from there.
 
I didn't break 80 until I went to college. Once I got a summer job at a CC, I played a lot more and my scores went down dramatically. I started to learn and play golf when I was 9 or 10, but I didn't hardly ever play. We weren't members anywhere. I played a tournament when I was 13, but no practice leading-up to it or after it. I played HS golf my Sr. year, but no golf until that summer... I had been in the game for 10-15 years, but when I was really playing, it was within 3-4 years.
 
I broke 80 for the 1st time back in 6th grade. It was a landmark thing to accomplish growing up.
 
Honestly, I do not remember. My best guess would be about 5-6 years. Started golfing in 6th grade and I broke 80 for the first time as a junior in HS.
 
I started golfing when I was pretty young, but only played off and on. I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure I broke 80 at some point in high school, probably in between rounds of 98. But I never did it regularly until I started playing a lot in college.
 
There were lots of rounds of 81,80,82 before I finally broke it. I think it's a mental thing no matter what the number you're looking to break is. I have a friend who is trying to break 100 and hasn't in 3 years. LOTS of frustrating 101s with a big number on the last hole. Keep working and you'll get there! Once you break it, you'll break it a lot. That's been my experience at least.
 
I started playing golf when I was 16 and that was 41 years ago. (good gawd, am I that old?)
I broke 80 for the first time about 5 years later. I didn't get real serious about golf until I was about 30 and then the sub 80 rounds were frequent.
 
I shot a 78 this past season for the first time, this is my 3rd season with about 200+ rounds in total. The scores dramatically improved when I straightened out my drives and improved on my putting. It's those par saves that really keep the round low.
Also I've adopted not to calculate my score at all till the end of the round, this keeps me focused on each hole and not remembering what I've just shot in the last hole or last 9. Just playing each hole as it comes and focused on the strategy.


PS. just drove right through Poconos on 611 this past weekend to avoid traffic on 80. Neat little town, I'm sure golf would be great there!
 
Plin said:
PS. just drove right through Poconos on 611 this past weekend to avoid traffic on 80. Neat little town, I'm sure golf would be great there!
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You're not alone - avoiding Rt. 80 on weekends is standard operating procedure when you live here ! Pocono's are the home of plentiful cheap golf - plenty of tough mountain courses ... can be frustrating, but forces one to get good with less than driver off the tee
 
I started in 73 (I think) at 12 and didn't break 80 until I was in high school, four or five years later.
 
It took me two years. First time I broke it was at a THP event!
 
lambro2 said:
It took me two years. First time I broke it was at a THP event!
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Oh man, just had a flashback to that. We thought you shot 80 on the number and missed it, then you added it up.
 
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