What I learned breaking 80 for the first time

**SoundandFury** · June 5, 2015

After flirting with breaking 80 (at least 10-15 rounds of 80 or 81), and shooting in the 30's in plenty of 9 hole rounds (but never in a full round) finally did it yesterday (woohoo!). Thought I'd give some thoughts on my experience:

- It's pretty hard, and I can see why so few golfers (relatively speaking) do it. You really have to be "on", at least if you're in the 9-12 hdcp range. It was one of those days when I really had no swing thoughts; the only thing I was thinking on each shot was where to place myself to give me the best possible next shot;

- Keeping the ball in the fairway is important, but you don't need to be hitting every single fairway. I hit 5 of 15 fairways. However, when I count fairways and greens, I'm strict about it: if the ball is 2 inches of the fairway, it's a missed fairway. If i counted drives that were less than 10 feet off the fairway, I would have hit 11 of 15;

- Hitting greens in regulation is SUPER important. I hit 8, which I think for my level is pretty good. On most of the ones I missed I gave myself a very good chance of getting up and down;

- Short game man. My greenside game (except bunkers lately...F*CK bunkers) has been very good for the past month. I can miss a green, and as long as I'm not short sided, I reasonably expect to get up and down. Best change I ever made was moving the ball to the middle of my stance rather than playing it off my back heel; drastically improved distance control;

- Birdies are awesome and definitely make it easier, but you can do it without a ton of 'em. I only had 1 birdie and 1 eagle. Missed 2 short putts for birdie and 3 putted for par on a par 5.

- It takes some luck. I was +8 through 14 holes after a f'ing awful 3 hole stretch where I went double/bogie/double. On 15 (375 yard par 4), I hit a good drive that ended up about 3 feet into the rough on the right, 90 yards from the pin. Shot was sort of blind as I had a deep bunker I had to go over if I shot at the pin. Said screw it and took dead aim with my 56*. Heard it smack the pin pretty hard and instantly assumed I was going to have 30 feet for birdie after the ball finally stopped rolling. Then I heard my playing partner yell "holy shit". Apparently it hit more than halfway up the pin and dropped straight down (what Tiger would have given for that on 15 in the 2013 Masters...). Made par on the last three holes. Without that lucky drop I would have had another 80 (and been pissed off, again.)

- It's incredibly satisfying. For a day. Now I want to shoot even par.

Any other mid-cappers have something to add?

**isukgolf** · June 5, 2015

Congrats! Thanks for sharing your lessons learned!

**rkim291968** · June 5, 2015

Congrats! I agree with all your bullet points, word for word. I recently broke 80 for the 2nd time in my career and noticed the same things you did. I probably relied more on my short game than you did though. E.g, I only had 5 GIRs but 10 one-putts. As for luck, almost all the breaks went for me instead to the golf god.

**DaveP043** · June 5, 2015

Congratulations, that's a great achievement. The one thing you really should take away from this is that you didn't have to be perfect to get it done. Next time you have a couple of bad holes, you can remember back to this round and know for certain that you can still recover and salvage a good score.

**SoundandFury** · June 5, 2015

Congratulations, that's a great achievement. The one thing you really should take away from this is that you didn't have to be perfect to get it done. Next time you have a couple of bad holes, you can remember back to this round and know for certain that you can still recover and salvage a good score.

Thanks dude! Spot on too. I was pretty pissed after that three hole stretch, but for some reason this time managed to forget about it. I think the best thing you can do after a bad hole is make par. Don't get super aggressive to make birdie so you can "get one back". Nothing is more calming than a fairway, green, putt, kick in.

**jbishop15** · June 5, 2015

After flirting with breaking 80 (at least 10-15 rounds of 80 or 81), and shooting in the 30's in plenty of 9 hole rounds (but never in a full round) finally did it yesterday (woohoo!). Thought I'd give some thoughts on my experience:

- It's pretty hard, and I can see why so few golfers (relatively speaking) do it. You really have to be "on", at least if you're in the 9-12 hdcp range. It was one of those days when I really had no swing thoughts; the only thing I was thinking on each shot was where to place myself to give me the best possible next shot;

- Keeping the ball in the fairway is important, but you don't need to be hitting every single fairway. I hit 5 of 15 fairways. However, when I count fairways and greens, I'm strict about it: if the ball is 2 inches of the fairway, it's a missed fairway. If i counted drives that were less than 10 feet off the fairway, I would have hit 11 of 15;

- Hitting greens in regulation is SUPER important. I hit 8, which I think for my level is pretty good. On most of the ones I missed I gave myself a very good chance of getting up and down;

- Short game man. My greenside game (except bunkers lately...F*CK bunkers) has been very good for the past month. I can miss a green, and as long as I'm not short sided, I reasonably expect to get up and down. Best change I ever made was moving the ball to the middle of my stance rather than playing it off my back heel; drastically improved distance control;

- Birdies are awesome and definitely make it easier, but you can do it without a ton of 'em. I only had 1 birdie and 1 eagle. Missed 2 short putts for birdie and 3 putted for par on a par 5.

- It takes some luck. I was +8 through 14 holes after a f'ing awful 3 hole stretch where I went double/bogie/double. On 15 (375 yard par 4), I hit a good drive that ended up about 3 feet into the rough on the right, 90 yards from the pin. Shot was sort of blind as I had a deep bunker I had to go over if I shot at the pin. Said screw it and took dead aim with my 56*. Heard it smack the pin pretty hard and instantly assumed I was going to have 30 feet for birdie after the ball finally stopped rolling. Then I heard my playing partner yell "holy shit". Apparently it hit more than halfway up the pin and dropped straight down (what Tiger would have given for that on 15 in the 2013 Masters...). Made par on the last three holes. Without that lucky drop I would have had another 80 (and been pissed off, again.)

- It's incredibly satisfying. For a day. Now I want to shoot even par.

Any other mid-cappers have something to add?

Congrats! Breaking 80 is hard as hell to do, and is a really wonderful accomplishment.

One of my friends from high school told me once that the day he shot his first even-par round, he wanted to go back out and try to shoot under par. The work never ends!

**oregongolfguy** · June 5, 2015

Congrats....nice score for sure....

Most of the rounds that I have gone under 80 have been efficient, "boring" rounds. Often times no birdies, a lot of fairways, a lot of GIR and a lot of 2 putt pars. Most of the holes that I didn't GIR I just missed leaving good opportunities to get up and down.

**DaveP043** · June 5, 2015

I think the best thing you can do after a bad hole is make par.

I know what you're saying, but I think of an even closer goal. The best thing to do after a bad hole is hit the next fairway. You can only hit one shot, you can't make par from the tee. After 45 years of playing, I'm just now starting to be able to concentrate only on the shot I'm facing. Most of the time. Well...some of the time. At least occasionally.

**HawkNballs** · June 5, 2015

To me... GIR is the most important stat for MY game. Of course, hitting fairways helps hit greens...yada yada yada.

I usually break 80. My thinking is always for any double bogie, I need to get a birdie. I like to get a few birdies "in the bank" to allow for a double or a few more bogies.

Congrats! A lot of people play their entire lives and don't break 80. Good job!

**SoundandFury** · June 5, 2015

To me... GIR is the most important stat for MY game. Of course, hitting fairways helps hit greens...yada yada yada.

I usually break 80. My thinking is always for any double bogie, I need to get a birdie. I like to get a few birdies "in the bank" to allow for a double or a few more bogies.

Congrats! A lot of people play their entire lives and don't break 80. Good job!

Agreed regarding GIR. Fairways definitely make it easier to hit greens, but you can split the fairway and if you miss the green where you're not supposed to, you're gonna struggle to make par. Number of GIR's per round on the other hand is indicative of both good approach shots AND good tee shots. You're going to have a hard time hitting the green if you miss big off the tee, so a high number of GIR's shows that even if you don't hit the short grass every time, you're drives are getting the job done.

Another takeaway from yesterday's round I thought of: anyone who says length doesn't matter is nuts in my opinion. I'm a mediocre mid and and long iron player. Because I have good length off the tee (275-285ish), I rarely have to hit long or mid irons except on long par 3's (or if I'm playing a 7,000 yard course. There's no way having a SW in your hand doesn't make it easier to break 80 than having a 6 iron. My guess would be that guys who aren't super long off the tee are highly skilled players who've been playing a very long time. I've played those dudes before; they're as accurate with their fairway woods and longs irons as I am with an 8 or 9 iron.

**GolfLug** · June 5, 2015

To me... GIR is the most important stat for MY game. Of course, hitting fairways helps hit greens...yada yada yada.

I usually break 80. My thinking is always for any double bogie, I need to get a birdie. I like to get a few birdies "in the bank" to allow for a double or a few more bogies.

Congrats! A lot of people play their entire lives and don't break 80. Good job!

+1. I think extremely important to get a at least 2-3 birdies to offset doubles.

After flirting with breaking 80 (at least 10-15 rounds of 80 or 81), and shooting in the 30's in plenty of 9 hole rounds (but never in a full round) finally did it yesterday (woohoo!). Thought I'd give some thoughts on my experience:

- It's pretty hard, and I can see why so few golfers (relatively speaking) do it. You really have to be "on", at least if you're in the 9-12 hdcp range. It was one of those days when I really had no swing thoughts; the only thing I was thinking on each shot was where to place myself to give me the best possible next shot;

- Keeping the ball in the fairway is important, but you don't need to be hitting every single fairway. I hit 5 of 15 fairways. However, when I count fairways and greens, I'm strict about it: if the ball is 2 inches of the fairway, it's a missed fairway. If i counted drives that were less than 10 feet off the fairway, I would have hit 11 of 15;

- Hitting greens in regulation is SUPER important. I hit 8, which I think for my level is pretty good. On most of the ones I missed I gave myself a very good chance of getting up and down;

- Short game man. My greenside game (except bunkers lately...F*CK bunkers) has been very good for the past month. I can miss a green, and as long as I'm not short sided, I reasonably expect to get up and down. Best change I ever made was moving the ball to the middle of my stance rather than playing it off my back heel; drastically improved distance control;

- Birdies are awesome and definitely make it easier, but you can do it without a ton of 'em. I only had 1 birdie and 1 eagle. Missed 2 short putts for birdie and 3 putted for par on a par 5.

- It takes some luck. I was +8 through 14 holes after a f'ing awful 3 hole stretch where I went double/bogie/double. On 15 (375 yard par 4), I hit a good drive that ended up about 3 feet into the rough on the right, 90 yards from the pin. Shot was sort of blind as I had a deep bunker I had to go over if I shot at the pin. Said screw it and took dead aim with my 56*. Heard it smack the pin pretty hard and instantly assumed I was going to have 30 feet for birdie after the ball finally stopped rolling. Then I heard my playing partner yell "holy shit". Apparently it hit more than halfway up the pin and dropped straight down (what Tiger would have given for that on 15 in the 2013 Masters...). Made par on the last three holes. Without that lucky drop I would have had another 80 (and been pissed off, again.)

- It's incredibly satisfying. For a day. Now I want to shoot even par.

Any other mid-cappers have something to add?

Congrats!! Great to hear!

Agree with all of it except bold part. You have to at least have the mindset to get 2-3 birdies if you want to sniff 70s as a 9-12. Not saying be super aggressive all day but when you smell blood, don't hold back. Happy hunting!

**chris3putt** · June 5, 2015

Quote:

It was one of those days when I really had no swing thoughts; the only thing I was thinking on each shot was where to place myself to give me the best possible next shot;

I haven't broken 80 yet, but like you, I have had a reasonable number of scores in the low 80's recently. Your post is encouraging, simply because the above quote is exactly what I was doing to achieve those low 80's scores. Congrats! And I hope/ aim to be joining you in the near future!

**Lihu** · June 5, 2015

Congratulations, that's a great achievement. The one thing you really should take away from this is that you didn't have to be perfect to get it done. Next time you have a couple of bad holes, you can remember back to this round and know for certain that you can still recover and salvage a good score.

Good advice. Mind set is very important to a decent recovery.

**Shindig** · June 5, 2015

Congrats on breaking 80. I've had two 84s in my last three rounds, and I hope the <80 is coming soon. Gotta let it happen though. I've observed similar to you with swing thoughts, and of course the importance of GIRs. I also echo your feeling on bunkers, [i]especially in L.A.[/i]. I played a course yesterday in Indio with nice bunkers, and I almost wasn't sure what to do. It's like, "oh, that's what a sand-not-dirt trap is." Mind if I ask which course?

**onkey** · June 5, 2015

For me the key to breaking 80 the first time was to be totally oblivious to my score. So many times before I had known how close I was only to "save" it. The first time came when I was too preoccupied with a playing partner breaking 80 for the first time to realize I had done it as well. For all the successive times, it comes down to staying loose and relaxed. As soon as you are trying to force the issue with any shot, you are going down the wrong path.

**HawkNballs** · June 5, 2015

I agree with onkey. A few years ago, I was trying to shoot par for the first time. I knew I was playing well, then my buddy told me I was even after 16. I got nervous and finished double bogie, bogie. Choke!

**Shindig** · June 5, 2015

I agree with onkey. A few years ago, I was trying to shoot par for the first time. I knew I was playing well, then my buddy told me I was even after 16. I got nervous and finished double bogie, bogie. Choke!

You might want to post this comment also on the thread about things to not say to a playing partner. http://thesandtrap.com/t/82391/things-not-to-say-to-a-playing-partner for anyone following along.

**SoundandFury** · June 6, 2015

You might want to post this comment also on the thread about things to not say to a playing partner.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/82391/things-not-to-say-to-a-playing-partner for anyone following along.

Lol. Yup. And look at my comment on that thread...

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