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Breaking 80

Motivator

After many months of poor golf, I’ve broken 80 the last three competitions I’ve played. The first time I’ve ever done it 3 weeks on the trot. I was in the bar in the golf club Sunday night and someone mentioned that only something like 2% of amateur golfers break 80 in their lives. Does that sound right?

How many of you have broken 80 in a legitimate round? I.e no preferred lies, no given putts etc. ball in the hole for 18 holes. My first time breaking 80 I thought I’d never do it again and since that I’ve done it every 4th or 5th round but never 3 weeks in a row. Closest I’ve gotten to breaking par is +2 on my home course and that’s the next goal for me now. It won’t happen this year I don’t think but it’s my main aim for next year.

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Rikand

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058264267/breaking-80

Maybe worldwide it could be 2% but in Ireland it's significantly more than that. A good way to see is looking at your personal golfireland profile and where it shows your Index. Underneath that are some boxes that show your exact handicap relative to other golfers in "your club, your county and your country" by percentage

Going to safely say that if I am in the top5% for ireland, its probably minimum 10% or more that break 80 in their lives at least once. Probably significantly more than that

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119644536#Comment_119644536

Out of 192 players that played our competition last weekend, 9 broke 80.

Two weeks before that, 173 players played and 7 broke 80.

I would think it has to be higher than 2% as well. It just didn’t sound right. I know it isn’t Al that common, but I thought it would be more common than 2%.

Mantis Toboggan

Shot a 78 during winter comp few years back, best I've done in summer is 81. Shot an 83 round this year which probably equates to a below 80 round at my old course. Breaking 80 remains a goal, not imminent though and I'm fairly happy with breaking 90 at the moment. I don't need to make any more birdies it's just getting rid of the doubles of worse which kills me.

blue note

I don't know any the percentage that do it, but it's a great achievement whatever it is. I've never done it on a par 72 course. Shot 80 3 times, but breaking it has eluded me thus far.

Well done!

benny79

I broke 80 for the first time this year 2 weeks before qualifying Gross 78 (off 18) PB before that was 86. I really taught I hit a light bulb moment! but sadly I haven't broke 90 all summer! On the plus I had 48 points won the competition and got a general play cut for exceptional score of 2 shots which I was delighted with and have maintained the cut all summer.. Sadly because it wasn't qualifying it didn't go on my golf Ireland app.. But asked the handicap sec for my scorecard after the competition had closed. 😁

Motivator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119645093#Comment_119645093

It’s becoming an expensive achievement. I write the score and the date on the ball I play with every time I hit a milestone - every competition win and every time I break 80. Unfortunately I use PRO Vs so taking good balls out of circulation is becoming expensive!

newport2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119644536#Comment_119644536

That's a percentage of all golfers who are members of clubs though. If you include people who play golf occasionally and don't have a handicap, the percentage that break 80 would drop significantly I expect.

That said, I agree that 2% to ever do it sounds very low. I would have thought it would be close to 10%

spacecoyote

I'd imagine 10% is high as a proportion of all golfers.

That's saying 1 in 10 will break 80 over their golf career.

It's not an easy task and I think maybe we're not a realistic audience to look at. The type of people on a golf forum are likely to be mad into their golf and pretty dedicated so more likely to reach that target.

Most of the guys I'd play with in my club have never done it and are unlikely to ever do it. Maybe 5% would be a more reasonable approximation, 1 out of every 20 golfers. Still feels potentially high though

paulos53

If you only include male club golfers then I would say the number is above 40%.

The USGA handicap stats show that 39.67% of men have a handicap index lower than 12.0. Surely most of them will break 80 in their lifetime. That does not include a lot of older golfers who now have a much higher handicap but would have been single figures at their peak.

Only 6.14% of women in USA have a handicap index lower than 12.0. Combine that with casual golfers that will never have a handicap and that 40% number is probably halved.

OEP

I think the 2% number is based on the US? They have a lot more casual golfers, whereas in Ireland we tend to take golf a bit more seriously.

charlieIRL

For me, breaking 90 was my goal over the last few years and then I go and shoot an 84 in Tullamore after duffing 2 bunker shots and a few silly putts.

Few more rounds later and I shoot an 88 & 89 so now I’ve revised my goal to break 80. With winter and placing fast approaching, I don’t know if I will this year but it’s definitely a target for next year.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119646814#Comment_119646814

even in the states 2% makes no sense based on the handicap split there

bakerbhoy

Broke 80 a few times over the years.

Once this year twice last.

Most of my golf is 80's 90's

11 out of 20 in the 80's at the moment, looking back its a consistent average.

Index range 9.0 to 12.3

dan_ep82

All depends on the course as well. I've shot 79 twice on the Old course ( bottling a potential 76) but closest i've got on the much tougher New is 80 with better golf.

billy3sheets

In my club about 15% have a HI under 10. Given that HI is an average over 8 best scores, you could assume that all of them would have broken 80 at least once.

I've never broken 80. My 2 best are 81 and 82, both for +9 and a Medal 🏅🏅

FixdePitchmark

Broke 80 ' 5 times in last 20.

Not too bad , but over a very long period and playing way worse this year versus any in last 5...

Find it very hard to break 80 - feel like I have to be playing out of my skin.

I just have too many doubles from all different areas of my game.

In general to break 80 , you've to actually practice and take it serious.

Lots of golfers say they world like to break 80, but I'm not convinced many are willing to actually put a few hours a week into their game...look at the practice area in most clubs - empty....

As sports go, I find golfers a bit lazy , versus guys doing any other sport I know.

And I mean guys in their 30s / 40s / 50s who are into likes of cycling , hill walking , Triathlons, swimming etc.

In general the vast majority of golfers are just there to see what happens at the weekend...

RoadRunner

I'm on a serious late summer run and have found some form from somewhere. In last 6 games I've broken 80 4 times. 74 (on a par 72 course) and then 75, 77 and 79 (on a par 73 course) delighted. Need to knuckle down now even more to ensure that breaking 80 becomes the norm /not the exception!

OEP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119649620#Comment_119649620

Similar to myself. I started the summer off 5.2, so have broken 80 regularly, but went almost 2 months (whilst playing regularly) without breaking 80. And not 4 of my last 6 have broken 80 - I don't want the season to end!

PARlance

Don't think I'll break 80 until I start putting in more effort, which I haven't been doing in recent years for various reasons. Have had quite a few in the 80-83 range, many on tough courses, so it's not too far away with a bit of work hopefully.

Probably should have broken the duck this month in a causal round with someone on here!

Standing level par on the 5th tee I announced that I "should have recorded the round"... Treble bogey.

6 over on the 15th tee and I "might be in with a chance of breaking 80"... Treble bogey.

Maybe keeping my mouth shut will be key to it!

spacecoyote

Its 100% there in your game Parlance

coillcam

My next golf milestone will be to break 80. I think it would a nice achievement as someone who recently took up the game as an adult, albeit I do have a sports background. I don't think of it as some mythical unicorn but something that can be worked towards. Breaking 75/Par is different gravy though. From what I've read and seen, the basic requirements to break 80 seem to be:

Aim to eradicate penalties/doubles.
Reduce 3-putts to an absolute minimum (1-2/round)
Get up and down for pars regularly.
Make 8+ GIRs (this is a known stat for 6-9HC range golfers).
Distance becomes more important now vs breaking 90. Regularly hitting approach shots from shorter distances or hitting short irons over the same distance someone else hits a longer club.

Only been playing since the summer of 2020 so this is my first proper full year. I'm mid-30s and my sports background is that of an average club hurler. My best round is 84 and I play off 12.2 now. I'd have plenty of rounds in the 80s at this stage. I think my normal score now should be somewhere between the mid-80s to low 90s. I've had a couple of decent chances to post an 80/81 this year but it's always come down to a lack of consistency overall, usually 3 putts, poor striking or compounded errors on 1-2 holes. Feeling good about my chances for next year though.

In my case, I have the distance/CHS from my age and sports background. What I really need to work on is my ball striking, short game, putting and crucially the mental game. That's appropriate shot selection, patience and handling frustration/adversity. The technical and practice parts of the game are fine, I get lessons and do the drills over time. It is trickier to develop the mental side of the game IMO and a lot of this is lived experience on the course. I've often played a cold, soft day with the same approach as 25C and wonder why my distances or putting are miles off. In my head, I'm an absolutely class golfer - the same delusion we all share 😂. Going off topic a bit but just writing this post again reminds me how much I've enjoyed picking up the game. There's always something new to learn or work on. Really looking forward to the final major qualifier at the weekend.

GandhiwasfromBallyfermot

Been knocking on the door of a sub-80 for the last while. 3 of my last 5 rounds were 82, 83, & 81. Feel like if the summer went on a little longer I would get there, but with the nicer weather at an end and having not played for the last two weeks I think its a goal for next year now. My own iron play and ball striking is pretty good so for me I think the key to breaking 80 is to cut out a duck hook which I occasionally suffer from off the tee, and minimise the 3 putts to one in the round. Funny thing is the duck hook only rears its ugly head if I'm on a tricky tee and nervous of losing the ball right so I panic and shut the face at impact. More of a mental thing to get over than anything.

coillcam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119651435#Comment_119651435

There are 2-3 holes that just religiously blight my cards and some of it is the mental side, sometimes it is tiredness or technique. My drives are typically of a draw shape. However, for those particular nemesis holes, I can set up away from the OB/trouble and it's a slice. I can setup at the OB for my draw (+ a little more shape for good measure) and I block it into the next property where people are walking.

I've decided to play with the mindset of overcoming this problem by mostly taking on the drive and accepting I will still make some of those misses over time even as I improve. I took this approach from my mate who's a pro: work on the driver, trust the driver, and leave yourself with more scoring clubs for the approach. Though sometimes if I'm going well or playing stroke/match I'll just hit a 7-wood instead and hit another 7w/hybrid/iron.

charlieIRL

I think a lot of people underestimate how important it is to get a good drive away and how much it contributes to your overall score. You can have the best short game in the world but that’s no good if you are chipping out sideways for your second shot all the time!!

Mushy

I managed to break 80 twice. Both times in 2020, within 6 days of each other. First time was a casual round, was certainly cursing my luck anyway. Chipping in for birdie on 1st hole sent me on my way. Knew was having a decent score but only realised on 17/18 that it'd be possible, just be +1 for those 2 holes.

Thought it'd never happen again, especially as don't play much. At least the next round was in competition so made it nice. Was like 41 points off 12 so couldn't be happier. Playing partner actually said a few weeks later congrats on winning the comp....wasnt in the prizes. Was really just a consistent round, probably only 1 birdie. Keeping ball in play was the biggest contributing factor I'd say.

Biggest downside is my HI is at 9, its a struggle playing to whatever the course handicap is. And that's not a good enough excuse for the missus to allow me out more

Rikand

@coillcam Accuracy more important than distance imo in breaking 80. Much easier to hit the green from the fairway than the rough. You can basically choose any club you want. I hit 3 Wood into a lot of par 4s still and I have 3 rounds in the 70s counting from my top 8

coillcam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119653616#Comment_119653616

100% there are plenty of guys that can break 80 with no club hitting longer than 200yds (unless it's a long difficult course - forced carries etc). The help from having a good distance is the increased stopping power from descent angle/spin. You can also take some bunkers, water etc out of play.

Accuracy is massive for sure but I don't think it's purely a binary measure of accuracy vs distance. I'm taking that for granted when I say improving my ball striking and making those GIRs is down to improved accuracy due to practice/playing time plus lessons. Would I rather have a PW from 120 in rough or 8i from 150 in the middle of the fairway? I fancy the 8i here . What about 150 from rough vs 200 from the fairway? I think that many times I prefer to hit my 7/8/9 in rough rather than 7w. Of course, that's contextual to the hole, lie and shot unique variables of that moment.

It's just such an amazing game with so many variables that there isn't always a universal answer - player's ability, course setup etc. For myself a least I don't need more distance but I'd take it if it magically appeared. I drastically need much better consistency, particularly in iron accuracy and shot selection/course management. I played new forest recently and you can't rip the driver on every par 4 or par 5. A recipe for disaster. Whereas in Mullingar (home club), there are probably only 2x par 4s where I should leave it in the bag. One of those holes is my most birdied (#6) because I've had wedges from 60-90yds after hitting the driver.

Breaking 90 can be done with a half-set bag for bogey golf - just keep poking it along 150 yards. Ultimately my original point about distance becoming more important for breaking 80 is that it's easier to get those GIRs if you're closer to the hole or hitting scoring clubs more often. More GIRs -> more pars and a few birdies. Relying on pure distance without any course management or accuracy is a waste of time.

moycullen14

My index is 8.6. 3 of my counting 8 are below 80 (par 70). For me it's almost completely predictable: If the number of birdies is greater than or equal to the number of double bogies then I break 80, otherwise I don't. The number of pars/bogies remains fairly consistent, about 7 of each. It's the remaining four holes that determine the score. I'm short of the tee (~220 yd drives) but quite accurate. I am completely undone on very long courses though.

billy3sheets

Fair old difference between 80 on a par 70 and a par 73! 10 over vs 7 over. Should really be a separate Break 77 thread for you @moycullen14 🙂

Mantis Toboggan

For me breaking 80 is all about keeping the doubles or worse off the card. Usually as a result of a wayward drive off the tee. After that avoid 3 putts, and nail everything inside 4 feet.

Easier said than done, but I should be well capable of it, my biggest problem is when I get out of position I fall to pieces.

Just looking at my best round in my last 20, 1 birdie, 10 pars, 4 bogies, 1 double and 2 triple bogies!

Just need to somehow limit the doubles and triples as they're far to common.