Age at which you initially broke par and/or 80?

[tdiii]

At what age did you first break par and/or break 80? 

I've never done either, although I've come close to the latter several times. 

I expect we'll see pretty young ages for both as players who are decent enough to accomplish this probably started early and had some modicum of skills. 

Edited January 20, 2018 by tdiii

[dennyjones]

Still praying for the day...  close to 80 but so far from par.  

[Patch]

I broke 80 the first time in my low 20s. A very long time ago. 

I have never shot below par. 

I shot par (72) in my mid+ 20s. I think I was 28. Almost 40 years ago. 

My lowest score was a 70, shot on a par 70 course,  when I was 29

I shot par, maybe a couple of dozen times, all before I was in my mid 30s.  That's when my family became more of a priority. 

[Lihu]

5 hours ago, tdiii said:

At what age did you first break par and/or break 80? 

I've never done either, although I've come close to the latter several times. 

I expect we'll see pretty young ages for both as players who are decent enough to accomplish this probably started early and had some modicum of skills. 

Poll required both to be picked, should add an option that you’ve never broken par... 

Broke 80 a few times and getting closer to doing it more now. Last round, I made a bet I could use only my putter after the second shot. I did from 30 yards just past the pin to the left and shot bogey on a short par 5, lost the bet and ended up shooting 80.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Lihu

[hamishmacduff]

I was tempted to click 40 plus, since I'm 69 and I haven't broken 80 yet, but I'm not conceding that I never will. Maybe if I played from the REALLY short tees...

[Piz]

I was 56 the first time I broke 80: one double, three bogeys, and all the rest pars.  I somehow managed to get thru 18 without any penalty strokes.  That doesn't happen very often.

[David in FL]

There’s an enormous difference between the 2.  I first broke 80 somewhere in my 20’s.  At 59, I’ve shot even par (full size par-72 course) but have never broken par....

[Fourputt]

On #1 I accidentally clicked and can't undo it, so there is an extra 40+ vote.  I have broken par for 9 holes a couple of times, so I'll let that go for that.  For #2, broke 80 for the first time at age 42, then fairly regularly over the next 20 years. 

[tdiii]

16 hours ago, Lihu said:

Poll required both to be picked, should add an option that you’ve never broken par... 

Broke 80 a few times and getting closer to doing it more now. Last round, I made a bet I could use only my putter after the second shot. I did from 30 yards just past the pin to the left and shot bogey on a short par 5, lost the bet and ended up shooting 80.

Problem with option for never having broken par, is that it also would collect those who never broke 80.  I was actually mostly curious about relatively accomplished players -- understanding there is a chasm between breaking 80 and breaking par. 

 

12 hours ago, David in FL said:

There’s an enormous difference between the 2. 

Yes, of course there is.  They are common markers however. 

[iacas]

I started playing when I was 15, so, 16 and then 17 for 80 and par.

8 hours ago, Fourputt said:

On #1 I accidentally clicked and can't undo it, so there is an extra 40+ vote.

Yes you can. You just click "show vote options" and then change your vote.

[colin007]

22 minutes ago, iacas said:

I started playing when I was 15, so, 16 and then 17 for 80 and par.

I hope you get scurvy on your uvula.

Edited January 22, 2018 by colin007
Forgot something

[jamo]

I broke 80 my first time around when I was 15/16. I broke par for 9 holes when I was 17/18ish. For 18 holes probably not until I was around 20/21. All estimates. 

[GolfLug]

Have not broken par.

Broke 80 at age 37 for the 1st time after 8 years of picking up a club.

 

[Fourputt]

15 hours ago, iacas said:

Yes you can. You just click "show vote options" and then change your vote.

I can change it, but it requires that something be selected, and since I've never broken par for 18 holes, I either skip the poll or enter an invalid choice.

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, Fourputt said:

I can change it, but it requires that something be selected, and since I've never broken par for 18 holes, I either skip the poll or enter an invalid choice.

Okay, yep. He should have added an "I haven't" option.

[Yukari]

More appropriate question would be how long after taking up the game did you ...

Some people started very young while others like myself didn't start until well after being in the job market.  Those that started young obviously would have a better chance of breaking 80's or shooting under par while still relative young.

Others who start when older have other commitments and obligations that will prevent practicing regularly, and hence will have a difficult time breaking 80's let alone shooting under par.

[tdiii]

13 minutes ago, Yukari said:

More appropriate question would be how long after taking up the game did you ...

Some people started very young while others like myself didn't start until well after being in the job market.  Those that started young obviously would have a better chance of breaking 80's or shooting under par while still relative young.

Others who start when older have other commitments and obligations that will prevent practicing regularly, and hence will have a difficult time breaking 80's let alone shooting under par.

Maybe.  Maybe not.  There is a psychological theory that there are critical learning periods for various skills.  I suspect there is almost no one who takes up the sport after, say, 25 who breaks par -- whatever the time commitments (it being the internet, I'm sure someone will point to an exception). 

This critical learning period concept seems to exist in many skills/sports.  Tennis and throwing are two examples that are obvious to me.  Those who pick these skills/sports up after their teens never seem to develop the same skills as those who picked them up early in life.  I've never seen someone who picked up tennis after age 18 or so with strong, natural ground strokes.  Similarly, I've never seen someone who didn't learn to throw as a child who doesn't look awkward when throwing as an adult. 

You do make a good point about lack of time.  I suspect both are at play -- lack of time and critical learning period.

Edited January 22, 2018 by tdiii

[klineka]

2 hours ago, tdiii said:

Maybe.  Maybe not.  There is a psychological theory that there are critical learning periods for various skills.  I suspect there is almost no one who takes up the sport after, say, 25 who breaks par -- whatever the time commitments (it being the internet, I'm sure someone will point to an exception). 

Larry Nelson, K.J. Choi, Calvin Peete, YE Yang, Robert Landers, those were all guys that picked up the game in their lives that then competed professionally and shot under par. 

I strongly disagree that there is almost no one who takes up the sport after 25 breaks par. I gave you five examples right there of guys who took the game up in their 20s and made it to the PGA tour. Which means they regularly shoot around or under par. Are they the exception of guys who take up the game late and make it to the PGA tour? Yes.

But I'm sure theres a decent number of amateur golfers who pick it up after the age of 25 and can break par on courses < 7,000 yards and easier course/slope ratings than PGA courses. If you picked up the game at 25 and played for 15 years, you'd be 40. Thats more than enough time to break par assuming you practice the right way, work with an instructor, etc etc.

I would agree with you if you had said something like "Most people who take up the sport after 25 dont break par" but to claim that there is "almost no one" is incorrect in my opinion, especially since I was able to find (with little effort) 5 golfers who not only broke par, but played professional golf as well

Plus "almost no one" is very ambiguous. To me, almost no one means less than 1%. To someone else, almost no one might mean less than 5%.