Can I break 80 before the baby (6 months)

[ejgaudette 3,745]

1 hour ago, BMart519 said:

100% - you can't score if you can't get it on or near the green in reg. 

My two 18 hole rounds this year:
84 - 9 GIR, 29% FWY, 34 putts (4x 3 putts), 0 penalties
90 - 2 GIR, 67% FWY, 32 putts (0x 3 putts), 3 penalties

This is so true two rounds this year had the same pattern, first one was near the green most holes scored well with a 79. Then on the next round slightly more unlucky tee shots and longer pitches resulted in worse scoring 81 (but got lucky with some putting). That short game is such as big factor and can save your round.

[RollingGreens 2,201]

Yesterdays round was all over the place, didn't hit many fairways on the front 9 and hit all the fairways on the back 9. Need to really tighten up my strategy on a few holes. Haven't been able to capitalize on my 3 wood off the tee , but striped it from the turf which may need to be the play until I can correct that. 2 penalties on par 3s dunking it in the water because of hitting it thin is a killer. Plus in 3 rounds I've made the same mistake and gone in the river on 18 right next to the green. Strategy needs to improve with making the smarter play hitting in to greens but 20mph cross winds don't help either. Today should be beautiful . Getting out in an hour or so to hit the range before the round. Another day, another round, Lets go Low boys!!

[RollingGreens 2,201]

Well the baby won again yesterday, hit my previous low again today with an 88 43/45. The front I left a few easy strokes out there, the back caught up to my with 2 penalties, the first on 13 the par 5, I hit a great tee shot right down the fairway, I had been striping my 3 wood all day, figured I would hit it to leave myself with 120 to the pin, I pick my head up and duff it right into the river weeds 20 yards in front of me. Costly error as a still made bogey on the hole. I hit some great flop shots, unfortunately the course still hasn't filled in since being aerated, I'm playing MTB-x balls and not one had enough spin to hold the green without rolling out at least 10 feet. Really hit the driver well, my irons came around nicely, I had a little range session prior to the round where I worked on my swing, I went to a bit stronger grip with my left hand with more pronation, it closely mimics my driver setup. It really paid off, I striped my irons well yesterday, I had some solid shots into the green, I few shots I missed but very close green side. Working on the irons and short game should have my scores improving in the near future, 12/18 fairways hit, and 5 GIR, although it felt closer 8 with the green side shots

[BMart519 1,382]

3 hours ago, RollingGreens said:

Well the baby won again yesterday, hit my previous low again today with an 88 43/45. The front I left a few easy strokes out there, the back caught up to my with 2 penalties, the first on 13 the par 5, I hit a great tee shot right down the fairway, I had been striping my 3 wood all day, figured I would hit it to leave myself with 120 to the pin, I pick my head up and duff it right into the river weeds 20 yards in front of me. 

How long is this hole that Driver/3W leaves you 120 out?

[RollingGreens 2,201]

3 hours ago, BMart519 said:

How long is this hole that Driver/3W leaves you 120 out?

I believe it is has been playing at 590. I’ve been going 250 off the tee. No roll because of how wet it has been. I usually use my range finder which has been showing about 340. Worst part is if you go farther than 270 you are in a match so you have to fly it less than 270 or more than 305. It’s a mammoth of a hole

[RollingGreens 2,201]

1 minute ago, RollingGreens said:

I believe it is has been playing at 590. I’ve been going 250 off the tee. No roll because of how wet it has been. I usually use my range finder which has been showing about 340. Worst part is if you go farther than 270 you are in a match so you have to fly it less than 270 or more than 305. It’s a mammoth of a hole

I should mention 590 is the one up tees. To play from the tips is 610

[BMart519 1,382]

You've got an uphill battle when the par 5s default to bogey holes as opposed to birdie opportunities or safe pars. Scratch players average 3 strokes to get down from 90 yards out in the fairway. You need to be well inside that on par 4s and 5s to have a chance at pars. So any par 4's over 400 and par 5s over 540 become bogey holes which leaves little rooms for error to shoot 79. 

[RollingGreens 2,201]

So far the baby is winning, 89 Saturday, 100 today. Had a great chance yesterday but still challenged with my short game. Really need to focus on chipping and putting. I also think my course does me no favors, I enjoy walking and the front is very fair to walk, but the back 9 is a bear, its long and hilly and the tee boxed are a bit of a distance from the last hole location. Driver and irons are positives. Hitting more green in reg, need to lag putt from great than 20 feet better and increase my accuracy for 1 putting from inside 10 feet. Biggest area of chipping is distance control, too much roll out, I need more stopping power. 10 yards roughly of rollout is killer. It's good to know that certain areas are my strong points, working on my weakness should pay dividends soon

[higherplane 34]

Have had terrible rounds this year with snow limiting practice time, until today with a 78 from tips.  Read something that I will share on how to break 80.  Keys to focus are: Driver - put into play rather than focus on length;  Putter - remove 3 puts, practice 6 ft and less puts; Wedge - chip so you have up and down chances regularly. 

Good luck on the baby.            

[RollingGreens 2,201]

Well here is an update on my progress, My irons are much better and my driver has been solid until my round today. Putting has been up and down, I am having hard time adjusting to green speed. When I putt I seem to fall into the habit of one speed and only one speed. Making changes to slow down my speed has been challenging. I played a Stableford format today at my local club with a partner. Only one ball was scored and with my handicap of 13 I should have had more points on the board , bogeys are 1, pars are 2 and so on. I had a paltry 6 points on the front. I had high hopes today, I don't know if it was nerves but I couldn't get going the whole day. It got better on the back 9 I hit more fairways and greens and a few putts. It feels like all the hardware I had coming in to today was lost. Not much consistency, I chalk it up to a bad day hopefully. Tomorrow we play 2 ball scored in the same format. I feel like I should be able to really play well using today almost as a practice round to get everything that could go wrong out of the way

[RollingGreens 2,201]

Update!! Best round of the year at 82. Looking back breaking 80 was really attainable today. Could have made a few more putts. One double and the rest of the card was pars and bogeys. Really pleased with my score. It was a day where I really didn’t even pay much attention. I didn’t press. I knows what my front 9 was and knew I had a chance but just kind of let everything play out. I didn’t do anything great today. I was decent off the tee and with my irons today. I hit some really good wedge shots and my short game was phenomenal. Just need to continue to get better with the putter 

[Golf2Much 119]

I can't comment or add much from the swing recommendations, etc.   It seems like from a skill perspective, you are trending in the right direction.  The only piece of advice I can add is going to sound corny, but you have to believe you can do it.  I can't tell you how many times I was approaching the last few holes with the opportunity to break 80.  The number of 82, 81 and 80's were significant.  After a while, you start to think that a sub 80 round is an insurmountable task.  

Then one mild late November/early December day in my former home town of Rochester, NY.  To be playing that time of the year up there was extraordinary, but a few course were open.  I was playing well and the friend I was playing with made the made the fatal mistake of saying that "all I needed to do is boggy the last two holes to break 80!"  Thanks Joe!  I proceeded to par the final to holes and shot 78.  I was elated that I finally achieved my goal and remember it seemed that this mental block was finally lifted.  Two days later it was warm enough to play again and shot 79.  Some 20 plus years later, I break 80 2-3 times a year because I still believe I can.  

The moral for me is that an important muscle we need to train to break certain barriers is the one between our ears.  So as you get close, first don't listen to your playing partners (that will only be the kiss of death).  Second, believe you can and eventually you will.  And once you prove it to yourself, the flood gate to sub 80 rounds will open for you.

[RollingGreens 2,201]

@Golf2Muchthsbksngor the advice it’s becoming more and more a realistic goal as I’m playing a fair bit of boring golf 2 putting for pars but i love where my game is going. I just got a new driver and think that is going to get me another club less into greens which should buy me a little more accuracy closer to the pin for a few one putts

[RollingGreens 2,201]

Well guys I came up a bit short today and shot 80, 39/41. Played in a 4th of July outing at my club. it was a 3 best ball out of 4. I went in with the mindset of playing for par, I had a goal of hitting every par 3 and I essentially did. I had 35 putts 5 x3 putts, 1x4 putt, and 6x1putts. I was hitting fairways and greens today fairly consistently, but didn't really get in much of a rhythm with any close pin shots. I came close to taking home 2 closest to the pin shots today but was bested on the last one. Landed a net skin on #17 which is a par 3, I birdied and took a net eagle. All in all it seems as though my game has turned for the best through summer

 

[RollingGreens 2,201]

I was also the total winner in player purse today! 

[TBS 573]

@RollingGreens - How have I missed this thread! I'm in the same situation. Baby coming in 8-9 weeks and I have a goal of breaking 80. Recently shot 86, 80, 83. I'm cautiously optimistic. Switched to left hand low for putting and my confidence is back with my putter. 

We can do this!

[RollingGreens 2,201]

Unfortunately I have some good and bad lucky lately! The good is that 2 weeks ago I shot 82 from the gold tees at my club which are the blues at every other putting me 8 strokes over par! The bad. I have a wrist injury from a few weeks ago that won’t go away. At the time I did think I had a small fracture, it happened at the range and was completely my own fault. I wasn’t paying attention to the rope marking off the hitting area, of course I cubked a wedge badly catching the club on the ground and on the rope. Snapping my wrist violently. It’s been nagging me on and off but seems to get better. Big problem I have with it is swinging my driver. I’ve been quite hit or miss with it. Using it anything more than 6-8x a round kills me. I’ve tinkered a bit recently but am going to get the tip switched in the nippon shaft to go back to something that gave me a lot of good results. I don’t know if it’s the counterbalanced shaft with the rogue white but something is really throwing me off. 

[TBS 573]

@RollingGreens - Keep grinding, you got this! 

I met my goal this morning as I enter the 3 week countdown to the due date; 79. There were many times where I thought it just wasn't going to happen but keep showing up and staying positive. 

How's the wrist?

[RollingGreens 2,201]

On 8/14/2021 at 5:03 PM, TBS said:

@RollingGreens - Keep grinding, you got this! 

I met my goal this morning as I enter the 3 week countdown to the due date; 79. There were many times where I thought it just wasn't going to happen but keep showing up and staying positive. 

How's the wrist?

It is getting better. I have played a couple times but nothing serious. The weather here has been terrible. We have so much rain that every tee shot is basically plugging. I typically play one up from the tips and it’s awesome when everything is rolling out but for the next few rounds until things dry out I need to put my pride aside and move up a tee box. I’ve also been trying to get back in the groove with a new driver so I’ve had a few other objectives outside of scoring better. Game is still in a good place just wish I could have gotten to it when everything was clicking ! Glad to hear you met your goal!! 

[RollingGreens 2,201]

Looks like the countdown is on 4 weeks likely left. I’ve come close and I know if I were to play an easier course it would happen but I’m hot budging yet. Breaking 80 with a slope of 140 here I come!