Finally Broke 80!!!

[philipy]

My summer goal was to break the 80 shot barrier, and I was successful this afternoon with a 79. Unfortunately I went bogey, double bogey on 17 and 18. But hey - a low round is a low round and I can't worry about what might have been (76 ). My previous low round was 81 (3 times).

It's amazing what making a few putts does for your confidence and score.

This is a great game!!!!!

[mcecki]

Congratulations!

Now, if I can only get down into the low-mid 90's consistently...

[StrmStlkr]

Congrats, I'm working on breaking 90 now and can't imagine what it would be like to break 80...

[DDBowdoin]

good job man... always a great feeling. it really shows you how important putting is...

it can get stressful around here... I work at a very exclusive country club here in Boston (The Country Club) where the greens are quick and roll true. It can be tough transitioning back into public course mode where is 95% of my rounds come from. Our local munis have such a low budget that they can't risk cutting greens down because they dont have the adequate irrigation systems. I find myself not being able to get the ball to the hole, it really eliminates a lot of feel from my game.

With that in mine whenever I shoot 80,81 I don't really sweat it because I think back and realize how many putts were rolling on line then hit some irregularity on the green and broke offline. If we all played on tour quality greens we would be better putters, after some time getting used to the incredible speeds they putt on.

[lhshurdl3r]

good job man! i'm working towards that now. getting out of a slump now and dipping back into the 80's.

[Soup Fan]

Congrats! Im still trying to break into double digits, myself.

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

Congrats. That's an awesome feeling!

[Dent]

Congrats!! Great feeling isnt it, When i try to break 80 i felt under so much pressure and i felt i had to play unbeleivable, now it just comes naturally and i feel i dont play that well and I still do it, its nice when you dont feel the pressure of breaking 80 now.

[philipy]

good job man... always a great feeling. it really shows you how important putting is...

I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. Depending on which course I play, the greens will either be fuzzy or like glass. Very tough to adjust sometimes.

[philipy]

Congrats!! Great feeling isnt it, When i try to break 80 i felt under so much pressure and i felt i had to play unbeleivable, now it just comes naturally and i feel i dont play that well and I still do it, its nice when you dont feel the pressure of breaking 80 now.

Yeah - i was trying SO hard not to think about my score on #18, but I managed to screw it up. Ugliest drive of the day, but I managed to get near the green in regulation, but my short game fell apart. Maybe now that I've posted a number in the 70's, I won't get so jittery on the home stretch.

[DDBowdoin]

it can become very irritating... I'd have a much lower handicap if my putts would just find the hole!!!

some of the courses I play on have greens so think they are almost budding. It's unreal! Just something you have to deal with when you play Massachusetts golf... every course here is a crap muni or a very, very nice and expensive private or exclusive public track. it's either 18 bucks or 115, or a 75 thousand initiation fee

I was lucky, I went to a pretty wealthy exclusive New England college so I've had my share of invitations to some of new englands best clubs but in a way that makes it worse. many of these clubs are invitation only so even if i make the money I'll never belong, no blue blood here.

[iacas]

some of the courses I play on have greens so think they are almost budding. It's unreal!

I remember a tale I heard once about Gary Player. He was playing somewhere with really fast greens once and told a fellow competitor how much he loves fast greens. Next week, the Tour stopped at a course with incredibly slow greens, yet he told the same competitor how much he loved really slow greens.

The point being this: if you tell yourself you love the conditions, you'll play better. You can only play on what you've got, after all, so you may as well love it. If it's raining, you love playing in the rain. If it's windy, you love playing in the wind. I believe that thinking "I hate these greens" is the surest way to play poorly on them. Back to topic and to the OP: congrats on breaking 80. What's your next goal?

[philipy]

Back to topic and to the OP: congrats on breaking 80. What's your next goal?

I think it's going to be having a single digit handicap before I go to Scotland in June 2008.