re: Biggest adjustment between low 80s to mid 70s?

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Be realistic about how far you actually hit your irons. Don’t base your yardages on career best hits. In truth, most amateurs miss greens short. Very rarely do you see an approach shot over the green. In short … drop the ego and take one more club and swing easy.

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This is huge, especially if you are playing traditional lofted clubs vs game improvement irons. The lofts can be several degrees different.

I hit driver long enough but always seem to be 1-2 clubs short of people that hit similar length drives.

We are talking about guys in the low 80s trying to get to the mid 70s. I play with these guys all the time.

Too many guys fall in love with the two putt. I see lots of guys who dont spend enough time reading the birdie look. They are happy to get out with a par.

The key to getting that low is putting. If a guy is shooting low 80s he's already mostly avoiding bogeys and playing it reasonably smart. But i dont know anybody who is a low 80s player that can just go out there and play it safe and shoot mid 70s. You gotta go after it

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But the other jump i had was anytime i hit a bad tee shot or approach, i ask myself "what is the easiest way to make bogey". This mentality change really helped me to get in and stay in 70's.

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This helped me. You can take double out of the equation with almost any bad tee shot if you lose your ego. It’s easier said than done.

Other thing was mental for me to get below 80s. Remaining confident no matter my score. Assuming good runs (birdies or a string of pars) are to be expected and bad runs are not the norm and wiping my mind clean of a bad hole. That was the most difficult thing.

If you can shoot 80-83 then you are good enough to shoot in the high 70s by simply losing ego and gaining a positive mindset. You definitely have physical tools to do it.

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Put extra emphasis on reading your birdie putts and get them to the hole.

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I don’t like this advice. I want my mindset on birdie putts to be the same as it is on bogey putts which is “it doesn’t fricking matter if I miss this putt.”

Now I don’t just go up there and wack at it. I go through my routine the same for all putts.. But that’s where I want my mindset. And that in itself takes practice.

I’m pretty much a mid 70s player. Obviously can shoot in the 80s any time I play also. What I notice the most in the rounds I shoot in the 80s is lack of getting up and down. Maybe it’s not hitting chips close enough or missing the 6 footer for par. I don’t necessarily know that’s the reason. But I know it’s what stands out to me looking back at a round

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I’m pretty much a mid 70s player. Obviously can shoot in the 80s any time I play also. What I notice the most in the rounds I shoot in the 80s is lack of getting up and down. Maybe it’s not hitting chips close enough or missing the 6 footer for par. I don’t necessarily know that’s the reason. But I know it’s what stands out to me looking back at a round

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I agree. I've broken 80 twice in the past couple of months and both I had 15%+ more up and downs for par. I average 23% in my last 20 rounds and I was 40%ish both times I broke 80. Doesn't seem like a huge difference, but when you are consistently shooting low-mid 80s, those couple extra pars make it happen. If I can get my average to around 50% I should be breaking 80 regularly.

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Too many guys fall in love with the two putt. I see lots of guys who dont spend enough time reading the birdie look. They are happy to get out with a par.

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Never up never in

100% of putts left short will not go in. Get the ball to the hole on every putt.

I think mindset can help. Instead of being 4 over through 9 and thinking to yourself if you play the back 9 in better than 4 over you'll break 80, tell yourself you have 9 chances for birdie to get to 6 under.

You won't get to 6 under but you aren't trying to hold a round together at that point, you are golfing. There is a big difference at that point imo

Think of it this way.
Par 72 which means 80 is +8
If you’re shooting low 80s, there’s a good chance you make at least 1 birdie per round.
Now, go make 9 pars.

When you bogie, shake it off, you have 8 to give.

Just don’t compound your problem with a double or worse. Take your medicine on a bad shot, pitch out or advance it and try to make a putt.

Doubles kill rounds

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I don’t like this advice. I want my mindset on birdie putts to be the same as it is on bogey putts which is “it doesn’t fricking matter if I miss this putt.”

Now I don’t just go up there and wack at it. I go through my routine the same for all putts.. But that’s where I want my mindset. And that in itself takes practice.

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In the same boat here not able to crack 80. My average is dropping, but the low score just isn't quite coming down yet.

I've been trying to work on my mindset during a round lately.

I repeat in my head before I take a shot that "every shot matters". And I think that's what has been highlighted in this thread. That dumb saying, makes me focus on the minor things mostly when lining up for a shot. Get your feet set right, square the face with the target, know the distance, know the miss, then start thinking about the swing motion.

Second, I've started noting where I've missed opportunities and focus on that when warming up before a round.

Yesterday's round I 3 putted 3 times, missed the fairway 5 times, missed the green within 100yds 4 times, and missed 5 realistic birdie opportunities. Not going to hit 100% of those ever, but that's at least 12 strokes that these shots alone cost me. Shot an 85. Eliminate half of my misses, and viola.