From 90 to 80 - How Many Months?

[Nave]

Hi all

I wonder how long after breaking 90 you broke 80?
Is it exponentially faster (than breaking 100) because you are you more motivated and practiced more often after breaking 90?

I broke 90 last month and I have a clear strategy on what to improve to break 80 (putting mainly).
My goal is to break 80 within 12 months from today.

Here is the effort I am currently making in in terms of numbers:
- Field: Playing three times a month with scratch golfers
- Range: Once a week
- Backyard practice: three times a week (swing net, putting green, chipping/pitching targets)
- Occasional sessions with a coach

Thank you,
Nave

[Darkfrog]

51 minutes ago, Nave said:

I wonder how long after breaking 90 you broke 80?
Is it exponentially faster (than breaking 100) because you are you more motivated and practiced more often after breaking 90?

I would guess it took me a year to start consistently breaking 90. I haven't broken 80 yet, but I was close a bunch of times last year, and I feel like I am on the correct trajectory. Right now, the 80 milestone feels more difficult than the 90 milestone.

I take one lesson a month, and practice daily. Most of my scoring improvement has been due to full swing work. I have also improved my putting and short game over this time, but right now I don't think I am losing strokes relative to my handicap in these areas, so they are secondary in my improvement plan.

I am hoping to break 80 this year, but I'm not sure how long it will take to consistently break 80, rather than one-off type of rounds.

[StuM]

Curious why you are choosing to work on Putting?  I am also focusing on that because my green reading is so bad and I have a lot of 3-Putts.  However, many will argue that Putting has a lower Separation Value an possibly spending time on other skills may bear more fruit.

[klineka]

1 hour ago, Nave said:

Is it exponentially faster (than breaking 100) because you are you more motivated and practiced more often after breaking 90?

For most people, no. The better you get the harder it is to drop strokes. It's significantly harder to go from 80 to 70 than it is from 90 to 80.

1 hour ago, Nave said:

I broke 90 last month and I have a clear strategy on what to improve to break 80 (putting mainly).

What is your strategy based on? Do you track your stats? Because for the majority of golfers trying to go from 90 to 80, 65% of those strokes are going to come from the full swing (off the tee and approach shots) so unless you have the stats that indicate that putting is a glaring weakness, I'd recommend spending the majority of your practice time improving your full swing.

 

[saevel25]

7 minutes ago, klineka said:

For most people, no. The better you get the harder it is to drop strokes. It's significantly harder to go from 80 to 70 than it is from 90 to 80.

Each stroke is significantly more difficult than the rest. 

Keeping the ball in play can save a person 4+ strokes a round. Not three putting can save a golfer 4+ strokes a round. Once you stop doing those things, progress really matters on improving all aspects of the golf game, especially ball striking. 

1 hour ago, Nave said:

I wonder how long after breaking 90 you broke 80?
Is it exponentially faster (than breaking 100) because you are you more motivated and practiced more often after breaking 90?

Few months of practice over a summer in HS. 

 

[David in FL]

I probably broke 90 at age 12 or so.  It was at least 10 years later that I finally broke 80.  After playing for over 50 years now, my low is still only a handful of even par 72’s.

Those strokes get progressively harder to shave off the lower you go.

Best of luck on your journey!  

 

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Nave said:

(putting mainly)

[Rippy_72]

It depends on your age and ability.

I went from breaking 90 to 80 as a young lad.  It was easy.  Less than 2 years.

Breaking 70 on any regular basis is 2 orders of magnitude harder.  Maybe 3

[dennyjones]

1 hour ago, StuM said:

I am also focusing on that because my green reading is so bad and I have a lot of 3-Putts

Green reading has a separation value of 3.      Is your quantity of 3 putts because of speed/distance?   From what distance?   LSW answers any and all question about putting from 1' to longer putts and green reading which is different than putting.  

[Shorty]

79 on shorter courses with few penalty areas, slow greens and no OB in play is not as good as 89 on some courses.

If someone says they broke 80, you want to know where, and in what conditions.

What I am getting at is that if your friend broke 80 somewhere, he might have played worse than you did on a day you shot 85.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Shorty

[StuM]

49 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Green reading has a separation value of 3.      Is your quantity of 3 putts because of speed/distance?   From what distance?   LSW answers any and all question about putting from 1' to longer putts and green reading which is different than putting.  

My putting is a comedy of errors.  I will read a putt as left to right when it is right to left.  I leave them shot a lot.  I am getting a putter fitting this weekend and will take aimpoint in March.  I also started reading LSW last night,  I will work it out.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, Shorty said:

79 on shorter courses with few penalty areas, slow greens and no OB in play is not as good as 89 on some courses.

That would have to be a helluva difference in courses.

A 79 is almost always better than an 89, except in the most extreme of comparisons.

(I'm not talking about a 79 on an executive par-three course or something.)

[ChetlovesMer]

I broke 90 for the first time somewhere between 1993 (when I started playing golf) and 1996. I'm not sure exactly when. Probably 1995ish. 

I remember the date I broke 80 for the first time it was July 2, 2008. I know because I also hit my first hole in one that day. I shot a 78.

So, what is that 150 to 160 months or so???

Math is not my strong suit. (Insert catch-phrase here.)

Edited February 24, 2021 by ChetlovesMer

[Shorty]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

That would have to be a helluva difference in courses.

A 79 is almost always better than an 89, except in the most extreme of comparisons.

(I'm not talking about a 79 on an executive par-three course or something.)

That's true, but I read posts where guys seem play on courses with several drivable par 4s and expect to be going for every par 5 in 2.

There are courses I have played where I would have to play out of my skin to break 80 and others where 82 would imply worse than average play.

I've seen guys should 80 on easy courses and seen them unable to come close to breaking 90 on difficult courses from the back tees (which they have no choice but to play in competition)

I know I'm using extreme examples, but to say you have broken 80 on a wide open par 69 course mightn't be as much of an achievement as breaking 90 regularly on a challenging track.

And ----- I believe that most decent players will tell you that their best scores aren't even when they're playing that great, just driving it straight and keeping out of trouble.

Breaking 80 is shooting a score of less than 80 on a particular course in particular conditions, not proof of much else - except that it represents good golf. Oh....and something that most golfers rarely if EVER do in a life of golf.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Shorty

[iacas]

Well, Australia has the CR and Slope stuff now, so you can pretty directly compare your 89s and 79s… if you actually care about how "good" someone else's score is. Which I don't.

[ShawnSum]

8 hours ago, Nave said:

Hi all

I wonder how long after breaking 90 you broke 80?
Is it exponentially faster (than breaking 100) because you are you more motivated and practiced more often after breaking 90?

I broke 90 last month and I have a clear strategy on what to improve to break 80 (putting mainly).
My goal is to break 80 within 12 months from today.

Don't really remember how long it took as I caught on to things pretty quickly and picked up the game when I was around 12 (33 now). But no, it does not get faster, it gets much harder to shave strokes off as you go lower and lower.

[Shorty]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

… if you actually care about how "good" someone else's score is. Which I don't.

Nor do I, but I think there are other measures to track improvement/achievement. And I'm almost certain that you do to. The fact that you did the virtual eye-roll in response to the putting focus should be more informative and useful to the OP than someone else telling  him that he can expect to do it after two months of practice in the summer holidays.

I would bet money that when you are talking to new students you don't assume that someone who once shot 79 is better than someone who shoots 85 or less 80% of the time.

And........yes.......as  usual....I know that this is getting off topic.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Shorty

[iacas]

30 minutes ago, Shorty said:

I would bet money that when you are talking to new students you don't assume that someone who once shot 79 is better than someone who shoots 85 or less 80% of the time.

Neither here nor there.

Back to the topic.