So close to breaking 80

Played yesterday and was playing quite well although nothing particularly spectacular (although I did hole a bunker shot on the 1st for birdie which I've never done before).

I was quite happy with my game and knew that I hadn't had any blow ups or played too many silly shots. Then I took a 7 at the the par 4 18th. It's quite a tricky hole which I usually treat as a par 5 anyway. I don't get mad when I play a crap shot or screw up a hole but I was a little disappointed when I added up my card at the end and I had shot 81. Even a 5 at the 18th would have given me my first sub 80 round.

What a dick.

Don't feel too bad. That 79 will come and when it does it will be much easier to do again. Just like the once elusive 4 minute mile when the barrier is broken more will follow.

cubdog

I feel you brotha...been in the same boat a few times the last couple of months. It's always one or two blow up holes that I look at in frustration. Fairways/distance and greens/ball-striking...that's what is holding me back. What are you working on?

Mainly my driving. I hit it long but maybe 25% of the time I hit a push out to the right. Had a lesson a couple of weeks ago where the instructor made a change (in the 'my swing' section if you're interested). Still pushing it though.

@cubdog I think you're right. I'm sure I can do it pretty consistently, if I could only do it once !! Will take inspiration from Roger Bannister.

I feel your pain. Last two times I played I shot 82. My putting is killing me, too many three putts and too many 3-4 ft putts missed.

For me breaking 80 usually comes down to playing the 5's and 3's even. If I do that I have a good chance.

If you're like me, you might have to go so low through 17 holes that you almost can't blow it on 18 to accomplish it the first time.

I shot a ton of 80s and 81s before my first sub-80 round in 1998. When it finally came it was a 76 with a bogey on 18. Quite a few rounds in the 70s followed over the next 3 years or so, and then I took a full decade off from golf.

When I came back in the summer of 2012, I had to almost completely start over because nothing I did before seemed to work. Nowadays my grip, stance, takeaway, position at the top, etc. are all dramatically different than they were in the '90s. In this second stint, I broke 80 for the first time just last weekend, and again it was a 76 with a final-hole bogey.

It definitely does get easier to do again after the first one – at least it did for me the first time around!

LOL at your last statement!  For me it's, "YOU IDIOT!!!"  Thursday night league:  Drove ball through fairway on #2 dogleg left, hits cartpath and bounds 30 yards into the woods.  Hit provisional because I knew it was not coming back.  Played provisional (lying 3) and made a double.  Also made a double on #3 for back-to-back doubles.  Should have been a 37 or 38.  Carded a 40.

Guess that's the way we roll anymore!

You'll get there.  Me?  Less chance!

dave.

Hey Topgrape. What Cubdog said is and has been true for me. It seems you weren't aware of the possibility of breaking 80 for the first time until you added up the score. When it comes to breaking 80 for the first time, just play the best strategy you can on every hole, one hole at a time. Use the high percentage shots that you have practiced or are very good at. The score will take care of itself. When you see how easy it is, you will ponder why it doesn't happen more often. It's just another mystery for us amateurs. We let our brains get in the way. I SAY AGAIN. "When it comes to breaking 80 for the first time, just play the best strategy you can on every hole, one hole at a time. Use the high percentage shots that you have practiced or are very good at. The score will take care of itself."

I feel your pain.

I know I'm capable of breaking 80, but never have. I've been close so many times it's ridiculous.

Last week I was 7 over after finishing a nice par on 16. What did I do? I doubled the par 3 17th on a really bad break (buried lie in bunker, then hit the rake and rolled back, then two putted) followed by a TRIPLE bogey the par 5 eighteenth. I literally was playing the 18th like someone who just picked up the game that afternoon.

The problem is somewhere in my head, I've convinced myself that only really good golfers shoot in the seventies and I just don't belong there- nor should I be as presumptuous to think I do.

Last 18 driving GOOD putting BAD, 82. Today driving AWFUL putting GOOD, 84 :(   got in three sand traps on one hole.

Last three holes, bogey, bogey, double bogey.