re: Golfers who have broken 80: Was it easier to do after you broke the barrier?

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fishing

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Now you're takin'

You ready to play a practice round this weekend?

Keep it under 20 net carbs and you're good.

was easier for me. Took a lot of rounds and buckets at the range to get my swing and ball striking consistent.

That's really the difference with anybody, just consistently hitting the ball well shaves about 10-20 strokes off the game.

and not 3 putting.

As everyone says, if your short game sucks it's hard to break 80. But, another big thing is having a "go to" shot. If you're a fader, play that sucker, save trying to hit the draw for the range. Having no idea if you're going to miss left or right blows.

Not at all. If anything it got in my head and I got worse right after.

I read an interesting book that basically said that as golfers we should try to make every shot, and try to shoot as low as possible every round. That part of scoring much better is taking off the chains and the idea that you normally shoot around a certain number. The premise was if you say you normally shoot 80-82, you will find a way to shoot that score because it is where you are comfortable. He referenced how many times people will have a great or terrible front 9 and rebound to find their normal score on the back. I started mixing this in and honestly improved by a few strokes on my handicap.

As to other advise.. I was playing at -2 a few years ago, and I did three things. 1. Practice chipping and putting as much as possible.
2. Eliminated a side of the course. I am lefty and decided to stop hitting it straight and went with draws. Now I know I won't miss left and can prep for it
3. Stop putting 80 as a barrier in your mind and go after a 70, or something lower, and see where you end up

That was kind of his point was that most golfers aren't really shot to shot because they are tied into a barrier score in their minds, and most golfers are trying to get a chip close lets day instead of trying to make. His thought was that trying to make ended up yielding better shots with misses, whereas trying to hit say a 3 foot circle means your miss area gets larger. As far as the score his point was just to try to go insanely low, as low as you can, and you will naturally miss that with a lower number, whereas if you go to the course with the mindset that you shoot x, you will naturally find yourself getting at or near thst x.

Yes, that part I completely agree with. Your target should be as small as possible. Instead of aiming for, say, the right side of the fairway, aim for that little brown patch of grass on the right side of the fairway. I don't necessarily agree that you should try to make every shot but whatever your target is should be as small as you can envision.

Another thing that's just starting to get some serious attention is visualization (see: Day, Jason). Visualizing the shot you *want* to hit is the best way to program your mind and body to hit that shot. And the more detail you can include in your visualization, the better it works.

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Putting is the only difference between 10 and 7 handicaps, same number of birdie chances just higher odds of making the putt.

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AND, what used to be bogeys become pars. When I practice putting, 90+ percent is within 6 feet. Longer putts are only to get a feel for speed of the greens. Also, practice hard putts - sidehills, slick downhills, breaking toward, breaking away, etc.

When my putting is solid, breaking 80 is much easier.

What kills my game is not enough time to practice/play.