We've launched the new forums! Read more here

What ALWAYS and NEVER to do to break 80.

Last year I only did it once but had a stretch of 4-years where I broke 80 at least three times and one year I did it six times. Almost always about lots of pars, no double bogeys and usually no more than one three putt. One exception was a 78 with bunker-to-bunker-to bunker triple embedded in it.

Do agree with the the reliable, conservative driving approach. To often my big numbers start with a bad drive that results in a penalty shot or tree trouble. Shot an 83 Saturday with a triple and a double that could easily have been a bogey and a par. Both holes included an indifferent drive that rolled into a bad spot...
 
Otis32 said:
Last year I only did it once but had a stretch of 4-years where I broke 80 at least three times and one year I did it six times. Almost always about lots of pars, no double bogeys and usually no more than one three putt. One exception was a 78 with bunker-to-bunker-to bunker triple embedded in it.

Do agree with the the reliable, conservative driving approach. To often my big numbers start with a bad drive that results in a penalty shot or tree trouble. Shot an 83 Saturday with a triple and a double that could easily have been a bogey and a par. Both holes included an indifferent drive that rolled into a bad spot...
Click to expand...

83 is solid with a trip and dub. Sounds like you will be breaking 80 quite a few times this year 🙌
 
Tevenor said:
A couple of mantras i learned from my old man.

"No shot off the tee is bad if it ends up in the fairway"
"No shot into a green is bad if you have a putt for birdie."

And the one I actually follow: "Plan your next shot so that your miss still follows the first two mantras."
Click to expand...
Those are really good and have been more of a focus of my golf recently. It seems to be working, unsurprisingly.

Those quotes echo the theme of 'boring golf is good golf'
 
Scooby45 said:
Those are really good and have been more of a focus of my golf recently. It seems to be working, unsurprisingly.

Those quotes echo the theme of 'boring golf is good golf'
Click to expand...

Perfect, so 3 iron is a good way to kick off the Morgan Cup??
 
ALWAYS quit on hole #15.....that would keep your score under 80:cool:
 
“Go for the middle of every green, and you’ll leave yourself a lot of 25-30 footers. We [PGA Tour players] would be happy with that. It’ll be hard to make big numbers from there.”


Right, I'm calling BS there.


I don't even have to read this article, it's an easy question - always find the fairway or close, and never three putt.
 
I would say - as you are playing a really good round, and the thoughts of breaking 80 enter your mind... try to get away from those thoughts and focus on your consistent play. BUT... it is almost impossible to separate from thinking about it. SO, maybe the thing to do is what the pros talk about... learn to play with nerves. We all want to be in the position to achieve a personal best - yet, we can become our own worst enemies. We need to learn to embrace that sense of nervous anxiety... so that we can free up our true ability.
 
jpgolf said:
I would say - as you are playing a really good round, and the thoughts of breaking 80 enter your mind... try to get away from those thoughts and focus on your consistent play. BUT... it is almost impossible to separate from thinking about it. SO, maybe the thing to do is what the pros talk about... learn to play with nerves. We all want to be in the position to achieve a personal best - yet, we can become our own worst enemies. We need to learn to embrace that sense of nervous anxiety... so that we can free up our true ability.
Click to expand...

THIS. Being able to play with nerves and anxiety changes the swing immensely. We all can swing it, just need to conquer the mental aspect.
 
It’s all BS. The easiest way to break 80 is to only add the scores for 16 holes.

duh.
 
1. Learn to hit the ball straight to get the ball up to the greeen as quickly as possible.
2. Become very good at greenside chipping and approach putting to close the hole out quickly when you get to the green.
 
Since I’m still working on it I could only offer what has gotten me close to breaking 80 (83 & 85 both with late round triples) keeping a steady tempo and more importantly remaining confident. Where I lose it is when these 2 wave bye bye.
 
I aim for the pin with my wedges but not with the rest of the iron. Breaking 80 is just around the corner.
 
Kobolt said:
I aim for the pin with my wedges but not with the rest of the iron. Breaking 80 is just around the corner.
Click to expand...

This is something I am going to focus on more moving forward, just aiming at the larger piece of real estate on the green.
 
Never pump nine out of play
 
I need to play more to the middle of greens. Maybe I’ll try playing without my rangefinder. Shooting the distance to the flag might make you want to fire at that flag, right or wrong. Just getting front-middle-back from the GPS watch could be more useful. Hmmmm.
 
another thread on 65 foot putts got me thinking. Center of the green makes great sense on smaller greens but on huge ones setup for tournament golf, it might leave you a testy 100ft putt across three levels for bird. a three putt from there might be a good effort. That said, aiming for a 10ft landing area from 150 yards does not make any sense for a high handi either.

as someone who on any given day could be -1 after 4 holes and end up with an 85 for the day, i will share what I need to do better to get under 80 more consistantly

1- Eliminate the 4-8 really bad shots. These are most commonly getting excited on an approach wedge and hitting fat and advancing the ball 50 yards on a 100 yard pitch. In short, I revert to the golfer I was 30 years ago.
2- Make all the 3 & 4 foot putts. I play on fast greens and struggle at times to start the ball online on very small swings
3- Leave the ball in better places when I miss. I know this specifically is frequently root cause of the 8 on a par 4. But this is hard to fix. My swing is far from perfect and being 25 foot right of pin on some holes puts me in near impossible spots
 
Shot an 85 yesterday (43/42) with a triple on 16 was +2 on back until that mess 🤦🏻‍♂️ The one thing that seem to affect me was rushing a couple shots, need to have the same routine prior to swing throughout the entire round. It seems to certainly play into rhythm which is huge for me and most IMO.
 
Gman79 said:
First point is good, which is why the front middle back is always beneficial vs honing in on pin distance. 2nd point pure Callaway advertising.
Click to expand...
Also knowing your distances so you know what club to hit to those front, middle, & back pin ;)
 
golfinnut said:
Also knowing your distances so you know what club to hit to those front, middle, & back pin ;)
Click to expand...
I struggled last time as I was either flushing irons or finding center... maybe amped up? nothing was going the distance and everything was long... kinda crazy
 
For me it's a few things:

1) Don't take (many) penalties off the tee. I can live with 1 or maybe 2, that happens, but more is not going to be sustainable. Has been my biggest problem lately with hooks off the tee.
2) Hit the short irons and wedges solid. Has been on and off lately, but when I'm in position A off the tee, the approach needs to at least be decent and give me a chance (even an outside chance) at bird.
3) Keep the 3 putts off the card, i.e. make the 3-5 footers. Tough to keep it under 80 when you're bleeding strokes close to the hole.
 
Tevenor said:
A couple of mantras i learned from my old man.

"No shot off the tee is bad if it ends up in the fairway"
"No shot into a green is bad if you have a putt for birdie."

And the one I actually follow: "Plan your next shot so that your miss still follows the first two mantras."
Click to expand...


Yes, I like this one, too.

Driver #2 at 44 inches is in play for a reason.

GIR is my mantra - getting there starts with being in the fairway or just off the green.

Then learn how to read a green and how to putt.:ROFLMAO:
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
For me it's a few things:

1) Don't take (many) penalties off the tee. I can live with 1 or maybe 2, that happens, but more is not going to be sustainable. Has been my biggest problem lately with hooks off the tee.
2) Hit the short irons and wedges solid. Has been on and off lately, but when I'm in position A off the tee, the approach needs to at least be decent and give me a chance (even an outside chance) at bird.
3) Keep the 3 putts off the card, i.e. make the 3-5 footers. Tough to keep it under 80 when you're bleeding strokes close to the hole.
Click to expand...
Absolutely this - make the 3-5 footers. Turn bogeys into pars, and pars into birdies. Even just a couple of those a round makes a huge difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top