Your breaking 80 experience (no mulligan, no cheating)

[hendog]

Mine was really weird. I was a 16-17 handicapper at the time. Usually played about 13-14 holes of good golf and then had 4-5 doubles, triples or worse each round. Then one day I was playing the same old course and every shot seemed to go on target. I was completely in the zone. I finished with a 77. That was about 8 years ago. I went right back to my normal game after that and it was not until a few months ago that i bested that score by shooting a 76. I am much better now and maybe 1 in 10 rounds is sub-80 but that first one was so strange.

[RayG]

Broke 80 regularly when I stopped adding up my score after every hole figuring on whether I was "1 over", or "2 over" so far and "ALL I NEED IS..." to break 80. Play each hole one at a time so I 'm playing 18 1 hole courses instead of 1 18 hole course. You can feel what kind of day you're having by the 5 or 6th hole and you can loosen up and relax. I let my friends keep the scorecard when we play as a group with a separate card in my cart that I can make sure the check against their's. I mark it and put it back (don't keep it on the wheel) without totaling anything at any time. Few years ago, playing a little course in The Poconos, I was playing decent all around- most drives in fairway, getting on or close with irons and no 3 putts. After we finish 16, my friend calls out/yells over to me: "Hey, Ray, you're En Fuego! you're 2 over with 2 to go!" My heart sank.... that was the kiss of death. He didn't know it, and wasn't being malicious. He was genuinely happy for me.. And then I walked over and said: "you ever do that again, I will kill you with my 2 iron- and it will be the best shot it ever had". He blanched and had a blank expression on his face until I busted out laughing and told him he just cursed me and to please don't do that to any of us in the future. That little bit of tension relief did something because I wound up birdieing the 17th (par 3) and parring 18(par 5), and a tricky par 5 at that. So I actually finished up with a one over 73. Best I've done in a long time.

[Joe Jordan]

Through the front nine I felt like I was playing above average golf. I had two birdies, only one bogey, and had parred the rest. So that front nine was the best front nine of my life. The back nine was a different story. I played how I usually play through the back nine stretched. I bogied 10 and 11, recorded my first hole in one on 12, and then bogied the rest. Par was a 72. I shot a 78. I've yet to have a better round and I expect that I probably won't for a really long time. I'll more than likely never get an ace again. It was a fun day. I just wished it would have happened at a more scenic course.

I remember when it happened that I decided to try and not play my driver as much and focus on my irons. For the record I hit my 3 Iron about as far as I can drive with my driver. That decision came into play when a week earlier I ended up have one of the worst rounds of my life after I consistently was having driver issues off the tee. Everything - and I mean everything- hooked that day. The thing that was weird about the whole thing was that on shorter holes I decided to play my long irons. On the longer par fives, I used my five wood. So I played the round without the driver (it hasn't entered my bag since). That front nine: it really felt weird. It was like every shot was going right where I wanted it. And my game plan for the day worked out: I planned basically to try and play par. I wasn't concerned about GIR's or what the outcome of the hole ended up being. I played my shot. Hit the follow up shot straight and where I wanted it. Then I'd go for a par if it was a par 3 or try and play a small lob to place the ball close to the stick. After that it was a matter of putting and I putted rather good that day. It was a really wonderful experience.