The Ben Hogan challenge - Breaking 80 in six months

Golfino

This one is probably going to raise a few eyebrows but here it goes.

In his classic book "Modern fundamentals" Ben Hogan states that an average golfer should be coming close to breaking, or actually break, 80 within 6 months if he applies himself intelligently.

Well Mr. Hogan....challenge accepted!!!

Background

Here's the real kicker....I am not an average golfer, I am an absolute duffer. I've been hitting balls on and off since I was a teenager (par 3, driving range, maybe three or four proper rounds of golf over a five year period) but I have just recently decided to give it a proper go. I've joined a club and got some lessons and I've played a good few rounds over the last few weeks.

So far I have never broke 100. I shot 50 last week for nine holes (par 70 course) but that is the closest I have ever come. Was out last night and shot the wrong side of 110.....ha, this is going to be fun.

The Plan
The plan is quite simple, play consistently and practice and get as close as possible to breaking 80 by the start of next summer (OK not quite 6 months but we are going into winter so chances to play will be limited).

I've done a number of sports in the past and it strikes me that with golf there is no set routine to improve or generally accepted way to apply yourself to get better....Ben Hogan talks a lot about "applying yourself intelligently" but he does not say what that is aside from a few offhand quotes like practising the waggle 10 minutes a day for a week.

It seems every golfer has different advice on the best way to practice / improve so what I've pretty much plotted my own route (and I am more than open to suggestions / advice). the general routine will be as follows:

1. Until September play (on average) at least two times a week plus a day at the driving range (alternatively play three times a week)

2. After that play at least once a week with one day at the range (alternatively play two times a week) and one evening of short game practice

3. From January on begin playing in competitions at the club

My general plan for breaking the milestones is as follows:

100

Key focus is on never hitting more than an 8 on any one hole. If I focus I am capable of doing this and if I can consistently go out and never hit higher than an 8 on any hole I will break 100. Up to now I always have a few blow up holes that destroy my scorecard. I think if I can focus on every shot, play conservatively and focus on a sound strategy I should not be shooting higher than 8.

I shot 50 (Par 70) last week so feel I am close to this one

90

Once I break 100 the focus turns to putting, putting, putting. Far too many three putts (ahem even a few...whisper it...four putts) on the card. I feel if I can consistently two putt coupled with general improvement from just playing more, I can definitely knock another 10 strokes and break 90.

80

The way I see it I will never develop a swing like Tiger in six months....the focus for breaking 80 will all be on the mid to short irons and shots within 150 yards. If I am proficient on shots within 150 yards and two putting ( I believe both these things are achievable through practice) and I can keep the ball in play off the tee I feel breaking 80 is achievable.

Caveat

Now I know I'm making it seem nice and easy laying out my plan above but I assure you I am not naive enough to believe for a second that this challenge is not a bit bonkers. I'm doing it for three reasons 1) a bit of light-headed fun..everybody loves a challenge, the madder the better 2) It will act as a useful diary for me and provide motivation to actually stick with it 3) From lurking on here I have gleamed far more than my fair share of useful information. There are people on here who know infinitely more about the game than I do and it would be a massive benefit having their input.
Do I think it's possible to break 80 in six months? Absolutely, with enough time. This is going to be the biggest limiting factor for me and I think the winter months are going to be particularly difficult. I think this is going to be a very very hard challenge giving the amount of time I can play but as a wise man once said:

"Aim for the stars and you'll at least hit the sky"

Whyner

Golfino wrote: »

I shot 50 last week (par 70 course) but that is the closest I have ever come

-20 is a great start.....:D

Do you mean +50 as in you shot 120?

Golfino

Whyner wrote: »

-20 is a great start.....:D

Do you mean +50 as in you shot 120?

ha...apologies, 50 for nine holes.

Another caveat I forgot to mention. I play on a nine hole course.


I would be equally happy with shooting 39 for 9 holes within 6 months.

I know its not the same thing but you have to cut a duffer some slack:p

Whyner

Golfino wrote: »

I would be equally happy with shooting 39 for 9 holes within 6 months.

I know its not the same thing but you have to cut a duffer some slack:p

You just made your challenge a hell of a lot easier. Tones was a freak of nature that only comes along once in a lifetime. He may have provided you with some false hope

I'm not sure I could deal with another of these threads

PARlance

You might be interested in having a look at TheDanPlan.com

Some lad over in the states has taken a few years off work, is trying to get to scratch (or get on some national tour, not exactly sure) by doing 10,000 hours of practice.

He's somewhere around the 3,000 hour mark and handicap is around 6.

He's doing it full time, and I think he's well into Year 2.

6 months might be a bit aggressive (plus I've been playing 2 years and haven't flirted with 80 yet so it better not be possible )

Golfino

Whyner wrote: »

You just made your challenge a hell of a lot easier. Tones was a freak of nature that only comes along once in a lifetime. He may have provided you with some false hope

I'm not sure I could deal with another of these threads

If I'm not mistaking Tones was off 18 at the beginning (or was there an earlier thread I am missing?).

I would not say I am shooting to 26 at the moment so would not compare myself with Tomes. Just a bit of a fun challenge.

Also I am not trying to get my handicap down to single figures...just trying to break 80 for a round.

PS. It is not my intention with this thread to take away from the golf forum. Just a personal log for myself where anybody is welcome to contribute. I notice a lot of the other forums (fitness / athletics etc) have personal log subforums. Potentially a suggestion for the golf forum.

PARlance

Not sure of the exact question or response but I think it was Christy O Connor that said this in response to an someone asking him "What do I need to do to Break 80?"

Response "Don't play the par 5's"

Not sure where I heard that but it's a cracking response.

mike12

Not sure if its possiable to do it with the amount of work u intend to do. You need to start getting lessons now and i would suggest 2 times in the range a week at least but only if you are going for lessons. Depending on how your chipping is i would suggest u spend at least half a hour on it every time you play get a lesson on it if its bad. Breaking 100 should be easy enough it's after that it will get hard.
To break 100 take what every club will keep you in play off the tee then iron and chip on and 2 putts for a 5, the big scores will come from bad tee shots and lost balls.
I started on 18 and broke 80 within 3 months but i suppose i was starting off more that 10 shots better than u but it can be done.
Mike

charlieIRL

Fixdepitchmark has a thread here about breaking 80, you should have a read of it.

BillyBoy

I would suggest trying to put the steps for breaking 90 and 80 into your breaking 100 plan as well. If you can work on your short irons and putting you will start tumbling down straight away. If you think of it, even if you take 4 or 5 shots to get to the green and you can get up and down because you have practiced it so much, you are achieving your first goal to keep 8's off the card.

I would also suggest to try to put a structure to your practicing rather than just going to practice. Here is a link that has been brought up here before. Now it is probably a bit much for most people, but what I take out of it is that it focuses you on practicing something in particular rather than just going to the range/course and hitting balls for a while.

Hope this helps, just my two cents. Best of luck with whatever you try. I think if you are willing to put the effort in it can happen.

FixdePitchmark

Best of Luck.

Tip 1 – don’t listen to someone who has not done it.

As you said , there is many ways to try do it. You will find your own way.

But from my near 8mths at it, I found out I was swinging the club all wrong after about 6 months. I could have made it with a wrong swing , but it makes it much harder to get the 8s and 9s off the cards. 8s and 9s are the end of sub80.

So again, go your own way.

But go to a pro day one is what I was told and If I could go back in time , I wouldtell myself that.

The other main issue for me is time, I underestimated other demands on me from life, job etc.

So – just for info , how much time a week do you think you have ?

Best of luck – it is just a bit of fun in the end. From where you are now , you have set yourself a massive task.

Tones69

Consistency is the name of this game, no point shooting 78 once then shooting 90 every other wknd, id rather be shooting 80 consistently. Find a consistent swing and work like a madman on chipping and putting and then itl come eventually

irish bloke

Good plan, good structure, well though out. Unfortunately the hard part is going to be implementing it.

I think to knock 20+ strokes off your best ever round in the time specified is a mammoth task.

Good luck though, and enjoy trying.

The_Kew_Tour

2 things that new players and decent handicappers really should work more on are.

Short Game and Course Management.

People will say to you how to put more effort into your short game from time to time, but one i never hear is Course Management.

Since I have started taking Course Management seriously my game has improved quite considerably.

There is a lot to cover on Course Management, but its aspect og my game where I have cut out a lot of stupid shots I used to give away.

I take one example from my home course. Par 4 5th, in my course, sometimes has pin tucked in right corner. There is bunker to right of that again. If I was to miss my shot right I would be left with a very tricky if not impossible flop shot over bunker to tight pin making Par little chance. Now instead I aim for Middle/left part of Green. If my ball goes Left I still have easy enough chip, if my ball goes right then there chance it might get close to pin, and if it goes where want it to go then I have nice 2 putt for Par.

Right there I have saved 1 shot. Now it does not always go to plan as if it did we be all Pros, but by cutting out silly mistakes by pure judgement you can save yourself lot strokes. Believe me.

Golfino

Lots of good advice here guys:

Partcularly like this http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/93/golf/ultimate-practice-routine-992787/ and Im going to use that as the basis of my short game practice...seemed impossible when I looked at it first but I gave the three footers a go for 10 mins or so before I played last night and they were more doable than I thought.

Shot 54 for nine holes last night...included an 11 and a 9 :mad: Disapointed in those two holes and felt I played particularly bad so actually surprised it only took 54 shots.

Million miles to go but just have to focus on playing conservatively and keeping the ball in play for now. Putting also pretty poor last night...lots of 3 putts.

Keano

What happeened with the 11 and 9?