BreakfastBall15 2024 Season Tread/Breaking 80 Journey

[BreakfastBall15]

Hello all,

As inspired by @GolfSpy_KFT, I’m going to start my 2024 season thread/ breaking 80 journey.

A little about me, I’m in my early 30s and began taking golf seriously in the last 2 or so years. Prior to that I played every now and then with friends or a work scramble tournament but maybe a dozen or so rounds a year. I started playing around middle school/high school with some garage sale Wilson blades. As I got older and started working, I saved up and bought my first new set, a box set of Ram’s from Sports Authority. Around that time, I was playing more, being in high school and college I had a ton of time and gradually upgraded my clubs to a hodgepodge of Cobras, Nikes, Cleveland’s, and Pings that stayed with me until recently. Once I joined the NY Air National Guard, I was working full time and spent less time playing golf and more time on other activities but still played about once a month. Eventually, I moved to Colorado, met my wife, and had our daughter so I played maybe 12 times over 2 years prior to moving to Oklahoma. Now that I am living in Oklahoma, have a more stable job, have the family situation somewhat figured out (do we ever? Asking for a friend.), can play year-round and got my father-in-law back into golf, I try to play or practice at least weekly.

My game prior to the last 2 years was like any high handicapper: bad drives, bad iron shots, bad wedges, and bad putting with those awesome shots that keep you coming back. With my father-in-law getting back into golf, he got a family lesson pack at GolfTec and let me use a bunch of them and I also got fit for clubs. My game has significantly improved and I’m sitting at an 11.5 (at least according to 18 birdies). I shot my first round under 100 and followed it up with my first round under 90 a few months later. I now typically play in the mid to high 80s with rounds in the 90s sneaking in.

As for my current golf game could be described as “I just wanna see the ball go far”. I do have a lot of speed, I guess its either being in the gym a lot or dad strength… My current strength in my game is hands down my irons. I feel fairly confident with an iron in my had regardless of the distance or lie, but from round to round my driver or wedges will also be a strength. Same could be said for my weaknesses as I’m not immune to being in the trees off the tee or butter knife my wedges, but traditionally it has been my putting. To improve on my 2023 season and break 80 would be a massive accomplishment for me. I recently got a set of ShotScope Connex to really start tracking my strengths and weakness as well as my distances. I’ve never been a numbers guy, always feel and I honestly have no clue how far any of my clubs go, I just guess based off what I hit off the tee box on par 3s. So I’m hoping that using the Connex will help me with that and translate to better course management.

I will try any upload a picture of my current WITB later tonight. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Looking forward to following along, @BreakfastBall15! @TSauer, we've got another one here to add to the #LEFTYGANG!!!

[Josh Parker]

Looking forward to following along the journey!

[TSauer]

12 minutes ago, GolfSpy_KFT said:

Looking forward to following along, @BreakfastBall15! @TSauer, we've got another one here to add to the #LEFTYGANG!!!

YES! Glad to have another one on board. We are slowly taking over.... very slowly

Looking forward to your inevitable breaking 80 post, @BreakfastBall15

 

[TJ Hall]

Lots of love for the lefties!

Will be rooting for you on this journey @BreakfastBall15!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

33 minutes ago, TSauer said:

YES! Glad to have another one on board. We are slowly taking over.... very slowly

Looking forward to your inevitable breaking 80 post, @BreakfastBall15

 

[BreakfastBall15]

2 minutes ago, GolfSpy_KFT said:

I know it's still early, but I'm enjoying the fact everyone that's commented on this is part of the #LEFTYGANG

[GolfSpy_APH]

3 hours ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

Hello all,

As inspired by @GolfSpy_KFT, I’m going to start my 2024 season thread/ breaking 80 journey.

A little about me, I’m in my early 30s and began taking golf seriously in the last 2 or so years. Prior to that I played every now and then with friends or a work scramble tournament but maybe a dozen or so rounds a year. I started playing around middle school/high school with some garage sale Wilson blades. As I got older and started working, I saved up and bought my first new set, a box set of Ram’s from Sports Authority. Around that time, I was playing more, being in high school and college I had a ton of time and gradually upgraded my clubs to a hodgepodge of Cobras, Nikes, Cleveland’s, and Pings that stayed with me until recently. Once I joined the NY Air National Guard, I was working full time and spent less time playing golf and more time on other activities but still played about once a month. Eventually, I moved to Colorado, met my wife, and had our daughter so I played maybe 12 times over 2 years prior to moving to Oklahoma. Now that I am living in Oklahoma, have a more stable job, have the family situation somewhat figured out (do we ever? Asking for a friend.), can play year-round and got my father-in-law back into golf, I try to play or practice at least weekly.

My game prior to the last 2 years was like any high handicapper: bad drives, bad iron shots, bad wedges, and bad putting with those awesome shots that keep you coming back. With my father-in-law getting back into golf, he got a family lesson pack at GolfTec and let me use a bunch of them and I also got fit for clubs. My game has significantly improved and I’m sitting at an 11.5 (at least according to 18 birdies). I shot my first round under 100 and followed it up with my first round under 90 a few months later. I now typically play in the mid to high 80s with rounds in the 90s sneaking in.

As for my current golf game could be described as “I just wanna see the ball go far”. I do have a lot of speed, I guess its either being in the gym a lot or dad strength… My current strength in my game is hands down my irons. I feel fairly confident with an iron in my had regardless of the distance or lie, but from round to round my driver or wedges will also be a strength. Same could be said for my weaknesses as I’m not immune to being in the trees off the tee or butter knife my wedges, but traditionally it has been my putting. To improve on my 2023 season and break 80 would be a massive accomplishment for me. I recently got a set of ShotScope Connex to really start tracking my strengths and weakness as well as my distances. I’ve never been a numbers guy, always feel and I honestly have no clue how far any of my clubs go, I just guess based off what I hit off the tee box on par 3s. So I’m hoping that using the Connex will help me with that and translate to better course management.

I will try any upload a picture of my current WITB later tonight. 

Looking forward to following along!

[unccross]

Cool thread. Look forward to following your journey!

[William P]

3 hours ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

Hello all,

As inspired by @GolfSpy_KFT, I’m going to start my 2024 season thread/ breaking 80 journey.

A little about me, I’m in my early 30s and began taking golf seriously in the last 2 or so years. Prior to that I played every now and then with friends or a work scramble tournament but maybe a dozen or so rounds a year. I started playing around middle school/high school with some garage sale Wilson blades. As I got older and started working, I saved up and bought my first new set, a box set of Ram’s from Sports Authority. Around that time, I was playing more, being in high school and college I had a ton of time and gradually upgraded my clubs to a hodgepodge of Cobras, Nikes, Cleveland’s, and Pings that stayed with me until recently. Once I joined the NY Air National Guard, I was working full time and spent less time playing golf and more time on other activities but still played about once a month. Eventually, I moved to Colorado, met my wife, and had our daughter so I played maybe 12 times over 2 years prior to moving to Oklahoma. Now that I am living in Oklahoma, have a more stable job, have the family situation somewhat figured out (do we ever? Asking for a friend.), can play year-round and got my father-in-law back into golf, I try to play or practice at least weekly.

My game prior to the last 2 years was like any high handicapper: bad drives, bad iron shots, bad wedges, and bad putting with those awesome shots that keep you coming back. With my father-in-law getting back into golf, he got a family lesson pack at GolfTec and let me use a bunch of them and I also got fit for clubs. My game has significantly improved and I’m sitting at an 11.5 (at least according to 18 birdies). I shot my first round under 100 and followed it up with my first round under 90 a few months later. I now typically play in the mid to high 80s with rounds in the 90s sneaking in.

As for my current golf game could be described as “I just wanna see the ball go far”. I do have a lot of speed, I guess its either being in the gym a lot or dad strength… My current strength in my game is hands down my irons. I feel fairly confident with an iron in my had regardless of the distance or lie, but from round to round my driver or wedges will also be a strength. Same could be said for my weaknesses as I’m not immune to being in the trees off the tee or butter knife my wedges, but traditionally it has been my putting. To improve on my 2023 season and break 80 would be a massive accomplishment for me. I recently got a set of ShotScope Connex to really start tracking my strengths and weakness as well as my distances. I’ve never been a numbers guy, always feel and I honestly have no clue how far any of my clubs go, I just guess based off what I hit off the tee box on par 3s. So I’m hoping that using the Connex will help me with that and translate to better course management.

I will try any upload a picture of my current WITB later tonight. 

Looking forward to following along on your journey.

[Michael.Sandoval33]

Excited for you @BreakfastBall15 these are my favorite threads to follow and you will have the journey to look back on in the end. Too bad you're a lefty

[Rob Person]

Excellent post! I shall follow along on your journey here!  May success be found in the bottom of the cup!

(BTW, Does just being a lefty get me initiated into the lefty club? , I do putt lefty occasionally)

[chadmariage]

Just started here myself man. Great community so far. Looking forward to discovering with you in parallel. Happy 2024 season.

[BreakfastBall15]

Here is what’s currently in my bag:

PXG Black Ops Driver with Venus Blue 6X shaft 

PXG Gen 5 XF 3 and 5 woods both with Project X Evenflow Riptide CB 60g 6.0 shaft

PXG Gen 5 22 degree (4) hybrid with Project X Riptide 80g 6.0 shaft 

PXG Gen 5 0311P 5-PW with True Temper Elevate 95S shafts

PXG Sugar Daddy 2 Wedges 50, 56(55), and 60 degrees with same shafts as irons

TaylorMade Spider GT single bend putter. 

Everything minus putter has Star Grip sidewinder 360 midsize grips. All clubs also have Shot Scope Connex sensors. 

Bag is a cheap Facebook find that fits in my MGI zip navigator but also have the PXG aloha stand bag I’ll take if I’m truly walking or just going to the range  

I’d say everything in my bag is “safe”. I put that in quotes because I’m always in the lookout for club deals. The only thing I’m going to be for sure changing is shafts in the irons and potentially getting new wedges. I wasn’t going to reshaft them but the upcoming weight difference scares me so I might grab some wedges with S200 or S400 shafts in them but open to suggestions from equipment gurus!
 

[Josh Parker]

6 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

Here is what’s currently in my bag:

PXG Black Ops Driver with Venus Blue 6X shaft 

PXG Gen 5 XF 3 and 5 woods both with Project X Evenflow Riptide CB 60g 6.0 shaft

PXG Gen 5 22 degree (4) hybrid with Project X Riptide 80g 6.0 shaft 

PXG Gen 5 0311P 5-PW with True Temper Elevate 95S shafts

PXG Sugar Daddy 2 Wedges 50, 56(55), and 60 degrees with same shafts as irons

TaylorMade Spider GT single bend putter. 

Everything minus putter has Star Grip sidewinder 360 midsize grips. All clubs also have Shot Scope Connex sensors. 

Bag is a cheap Facebook find that fits in my MGI zip navigator but also have the PXG aloha stand bag I’ll take if I’m truly walking or just going to the range  

I’d say everything in my bag is “safe”. I put that in quotes because I’m always in the lookout for club deals. The only thing I’m going to be for sure changing is shafts in the irons and potentially getting new wedges. I wasn’t going to reshaft them but the upcoming weight difference scares me so I might grab some wedges with S200 or S400 shafts in them but open to suggestions from equipment gurus!
 

Nice set up!

You are with a ton of lefties on this thread!

First thing I would say is get to the range and know your distances with each club. It's a must for on the course and being able to get to your goal.  

What do you feel is the strongest/weakest parts of your game?

[BreakfastBall15]

9 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Nice set up!

You are with a ton of lefties on this thread!

First thing I would say is get to the range and know your distances with each club. It's a must for on the course and being able to get to your goal.  

What do you feel is the strongest/weakest parts of your game?

Thanks!

Not knowing my stock numbers is definitely killing me. I have a general idea with playing the course I play so much of what I need to hit in certain spots. 

I would say my current strength is irons. On days the driver fails me I have no problem pulling 5 iron off the tee. Every now and then my Driver will be the best part and recently my wedges have been very accurate.

My Achilles heel is by far my putting. I was playing with my normal group minus 1 so we had a single join f and he was doing aim point. On the 10 or 11 hole I asked him about it and he spent the rest of the round giving me a brief run down and it helped a lot and I found I was actually “reading” the green quicker. I just need to read up on it more. 

[Josh Parker]

Breaking 80 consistently means no more than 7 bogies in a round with par 72.

3 putts kill scores, so putting should always be practiced for sure. If you are interested in the aim point I would def read up on it and put the time in to get it down. 

For me personally, chipping and putting are a heavy focus always. I know I'm not always going to hit a green and having the confidence to get up and down helps minimize those scores from creeping up. 

[Preeway]

I think your biggest area of focus to break 80 consistently will be your short game. If you want to hit that 76-79 mark more often, then you have to have several holes where you save par. If you hit 8/18 greens, assuming you par 7 out of 8, then you need to save par four or 5 times on the remaining 10. This gets even easier if you can make 1 birdie every round. Short game sharpness is the key IMO to breaking 80. 
 

Edited March 27 by Preeway

[BreakfastBall15]

@Preeway @Josh Parker my wedge game is something I’ve put a ton of work in over the last few months and I’ve noticed a difference for sure. Putting is something I really need to work on I just get so bored with it. 

[Josh Parker]

6 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

@Preeway @Josh Parker my wedge game is something I’ve put a ton of work in over the last few months and I’ve noticed a difference for sure. Putting is something I really need to work on I just get so bored with it. 

The old saying hit for show, putt for dough.

Make games with it. Put tees down every 2/3 feet up to 12/15ft and you have to make them all or start over from the closest first. 

Put 4 sets of those around the cup and see how many you can get thru. 

[Preeway]

16 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

@Preeway @Josh Parker my wedge game is something I’ve put a ton of work in over the last few months and I’ve noticed a difference for sure. Putting is something I really need to work on I just get so bored with it. 

I’ve never really found a “fun” way to work on putting. But the fun that ensues after all the hard work is definitely worth it. 

[BreakfastBall15]

@Josh Parker @Preeway I just came across this for putting drills: https://www.thestacksystem.com/pages/stackputting and looking up reviews it seems pretty legit. It comes with a 30 day free trial so I may just give it a go!

[Josh Parker]

2 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

@Josh Parker @Preeway I just came across this for putting drills: https://www.thestacksystem.com/pages/stackputting and looking up reviews it seems pretty legit. It comes with a 30 day free trial so I may just give it a go!

There is a thread on The Stack System that is pretty good. 

[Karls0991]

We sound like we could almost be the same person! I had a plan to post all my rounds and give post round thoughts on a twitter thread inspired by Fit for Golf, but thinking I may follow your lead and do it here. Could be a fun journey and hopefully we can both break through that dang 80 barrier this year. 

Edited March 27 by Karls0991

[BreakfastBall15]

Just got a solid workout in of cardio and mobility, 2 areas I've severely neglected. Those weights were staring at me the entire time but I stayed disciplined and stuck to my plan. I found previously that when I focused more on mobility in the gym, it translated to better golf so I'm going to force myself to do some sort of mobility work after every workout regardless if it's weights or cardio. 

[BreakfastBall15]

So I was able to get out and play today. When I woke up I just felt miserable and didn’t get to the course until 10 minutes before my tee time. With no time to hit the range, chipping area, or putting green I knew it was gonna take a few holes to get loose. I met up with the guys I normally play with and they wanted to do a scramble. With me feeling like crap and not playing in 2 weeks I decided to join them. They all normally play the forward tees and I either play the one ups or the whites but figured this would be a good way to work on yardages I don’t normally play. 

I don’t have a breakdown of whose shots we took, but I ended up having solo birdies on the par 4 2nd and the par 4 9th and ended up using a lot of my shots. The yardage difference off the tees was obviously big but the weird yardages on 2nd shots was a welcome challenge.

I would not have even sniffed 80 on my own ball but it was good to work on areas of my game that I normally don’t do so well on. Surprisingly my putter was the best part of my game (helps when I see 2 other people take a line but hey that’s what a scramble is right) 

[BreakfastBall15]

Its's been a few weeks since I've been able to get out for more than a few range sessions. Been able to hit a few balls into the pond in my back yard as well but need to get some better work in. Between work, family life, and school it's been a chaotic 2 weeks. Didn't have much on my afternoon schedule so I tried to go out on my lunch break and hit the range. Have 2 courses/ranges pretty close to my office but one of the ranges has been closed for a while. Got out to the other course and that range was closed too. I've been itching to get out so might try and go to the lighted range by my house after the kids go to bed for the night. 

 

Anyone have any good drills to do without actually hitting any balls?

Edited April 9 by BreakfastBall15

[Samuel09152]

24 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

Anyone have any good drills to do without actually hitting any balls?

Henry Penick's "Little Red Book" mentions the super slomo swing. I do this and it seems to help get everything aligned and allows me to realize where my swing is wrong. The next swing I will try to fix it and do the the fixed way atleast 20-30 times. I dont ever hit a ball with this drill. He mentions if you feel like you are going slow, you are going to fast. That is usually my problem. 

[BreakfastBall15]

26 minutes ago, Samuel09152 said:

Henry Penick's "Little Red Book" mentions the super slomo swing. I do this and it seems to help get everything aligned and allows me to realize where my swing is wrong. The next swing I will try to fix it and do the the fixed way atleast 20-30 times. I dont ever hit a ball with this drill. He mentions if you feel like you are going slow, you are going to fast. That is usually my problem. 

Just watched a video on the super slomo and for sure something I need to do. I'll have to pick up the book too!

[Samuel09152]

21 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

Just watched a video on the super slomo and for sure something I need to do. I'll have to pick up the book too!

The book is old but is good. Henry was apparently a world class teacher.