Breaking 80

[Lexicographer]

[quote name='bradz1810' timestamp='1411533674' post='10173335']
[quote name='shortstop20' timestamp='1411533290' post='10173309']
Need to know your stats.

Fir %
Gir %
Putts per round
Driving distance
penalties per round

Where do you think you are losing most of your strokes?
[/quote]

FIR 10/18
GIR 8/18
Don't know putts per round (but I do know that i've struggled with the putter and still managed to be in the 80s)
Driving Distance 260-280
3 or 4 penalties per round.

I think I'm losing strokes from putting and penalties.
[/quote]

Are those your actual measured FIRs and GIRs or are you guessing?

The reason I ask is that I track all my stats and your stated FIRs and GIRs are as good or better than mine. I'm now at a 4.0 index and break 80 consistently (with a low of even par 73 this year). My average score over the last 50 rounds is 8.2 over. A 4.0 index makes me a 5 at the 135 slope course I play. You should average a score 3 strokes worse than your handicap. I'm right there. 77-79 when I play well, low 80s when I play meh, mid to high 80s if I struggle.

Over the last 50 rounds of play I have hit 49.4 percent of fairways, and 49.7 percent of greens. I average less than one penalty stroke a round. I can hit it 260-280 off the tee, but I do not in any way AVERAGE that far. I can hit some clunkers. Your listed long game stats (other than the penalties) are as good or better than mine and seem plenty good enough to break 80. My suggestion would to be to focus on short game heavily and eliminating the penalty strokes.

I would also strongly recommend having a playing lesson with a pro. You get some pointers in actual golf situations. Really helped with my confidence and course management. I think playing lessons are more valuable than your typical range lesson if you are fairly happy with your swing and/or don't intend to change it.

[hackinasia]

A lot of good suggestions already and much I would agree on.

I have started to break 80 constantly this year only. For me it had to do with just a few things (apart from having time to practice of course...):

(i) It had a lot to do with managing my own expectations. This was and still is a challenge. Across the internet, people nail 200 yard shots all the time. Yet PGA professionals only hit around 50% GIRs in 2014 from 175 to 200 yards. By expecting to hit good shots all the time I put unnessary pressure on myself. I am hitting the green 1 out 3 times from this yardage. Pretty miserable if you expect every shot to be amazing, but not too bad if you put it into perspective; particulary if you aim for the safe miss that avoids the double/triple bogey...

(ii) Along the same line of thoughts: some internet statistics ([url="http://probablegolfinstruction.com/golf-scoring-statistics.htm"]http://probablegolfinstruction.com/golf-scoring-statistics.htm[/url]) taught me that to the average golfer who scores 79: has 8 GIRs, hits 61% of fairways, has 1.8 birdies per round and 8.8 pars. I started to play to my strenghts to try get close to this. For me it was mostly working on hitting more GIRs. Avoiding blowup holes, for me, came quite naturally as I lowered my expectations and I was not trying to play catch up by taking unnessary risks. To give you an idea: i hit less birdies on average (as I mostly aim fat the fat part or middle of the green and I am happy to 2 putt), but hit more GIRs and make more pars. Bottomline is: this is just to give you some targets which are probably pretty achievable for anyone hitting low to mid 80s.

(iii) It would probably not be on GolfWRX (as a lurker) if I would not have an interest in equipment. I matched the equipment I currently play to my mindset. I am a fairways and GIR guy that likes to feel like everything is under control. I don’t mind to be outdriven. I don’t mind to take the same iron into the green as my 60 year golfing buddy (and I am 20+ years junior to him). However, once I get out of position (alot), my mind messes my game up. I look for consistency and I get upset by mishits; it throws me off. I changed to forgiving equipment: G-series, K-series driver, etc... Mind you, I struggled when I received it, even though I was fit for it. But I stuck with it and have seen great results. This should not suggest people should play forgiving equipment to break 80; just make sure you play equipment that suits your own mindset.

(iv) I went 1 tee box forward. At my home course that is going from a 73.8/139 to a 70.2/132. About 4 strokes; but more importantly it helped me to enjoy the game more at a time when I struggled to take the next step and hit more GIRs. I have played the back tees again at my homecourse and at weekend outings; it doesn't make much of a difference to me now in terms of gross adjusted score and my best gross scores actually came from the back tees. In fact, if I would have the motiviation to push my HCP lower, I would probably have to tee off from the back tees now (and I am planning to do this next year, after taking lessons). This might be exactly the opposite for you, but just play around and find out from where you enjoy your round of golf most; which tee box puts you in comfortable positions.

Please let us know as soon as you have broken 80. It will happen. And I am sure, once it happens, it will continue to happen.

Best of luck