What Breaking 80 Actually Looks Like

I've said before that the reality of single-digit handicap golf is that it's not that good and today I'll expound on that because breaking 80 doesn't necessitate tour level distance or accuracy O A Generous kick too what's far more important is that you keep the ball in play and make smart decisions over every sha if you can manage that you'll find that you can make plenty of mistakes all right not going to hurt all right4 balls a bit above my feet still think it's a gap wedge a quite a bit right cuz of the LIE breaking 80 can even entail total misses like this one oh there's a shank too it's all right it's inbounds and the final piece of scoring is limiting big mistakes around the greens that could have been worse because breaking 80 doesn't necessitate fistfuls of birdies nearly as much as it involves avoiding double Bogies or worse my first put of the day does bring a double into play but I'll take my time to reset over the next one Bingo and we got one and I do walk away from the first hole with just a Bogi our setting today is the stunning Firecliff course at Desert Willow in Palm Desert it's my Top Choice here in the Coachella Valley and they were gracious enough to host Matt and me today and he said his game wasn't in shape good ball it's pretty cold this morning and this second Drive of the day only gets out there about 210 Y and now it's time for pragmatic decision making over the approach shot so again interesting with this Rangefinder the number is 150 but it says in the conditions it's playing 155 so I'm not going to back off at the 7even iron cuz it's a 155 Club come on landed a hair short and got on oh I didn't hit it I'm still figuring out the pace of these greens but a two P par on two is just fine another good strike here on three and now some behind the scenes perspective about filming golf for YouTube I ensure that I don't hold that play on the course especially with two of us filming oh I didn't hit it again and here I decide to clean up this par Putt and get my gear out of the way I'll get rid of it if that's okay and it leads to a silly mistake oops they've sure got these T markers close together I guess there's a lot of room up the right I might have been a little frazzled about the three put over this drive uhoh and fortunately the golf Gods let me get away with it oh so bad it's good I was like oh there's all this room up the right and proceed to hit a pull hook up the left speaking of stray drives okay driver turn left no your other left not not that far left let's actually just go back to the training center turn left when possible make a uturn okay so we have 169 but a serious case of ball not going far I'm hitting a five iron another important piece to lowering scores is to take ego out of your Club selection to better ensure that your misses are pin high or close to the extra Club was wise here and I will have a putt for birdie landed a little short trundled on okay and good scores entail a whole lot of this another uphill a little short unspectacular TT pars and that's the secret to single digigit handicap golf boring golf oh that's a big block where misses are still in play and we grind over the next shot without regard to how the ball got there so I've got 157 but my Rangefinder saying it's playing like 164 so I'm going to hit a light six iron not even light I'm just going to hit a smooth six iron and once again it's about choosing the club that most likely will get us green high not competing with our playing Partners to determine who can hit their irons the farthest yeah that got really close another look at birdie and another one a bit short but it's another boring part thanks these greens are not surrendering much okay the course knowledge here was hit one no more than 225 at the bunker that this poor sucker is still sitting in and despite our best laid plans our execution will still fail us from time to time oo big Miss big Miss it's about how we recover 125 I think I got it let's not be intimidated bailed out a bit I actually had the right Club just yanked it a bit okay this is going to be a very difficult flag to get anywhere near big down slope here I mentioned earlier that we can't afford big mistakes around the greens sometimes we just have to accept that getting the ball on the green is a good result this isn't the time to get cute with a low percentage shot okay let's not get greedy here where we could leave ourselves with the same chip and unnecessarily bring double into play I'm happy to just bump this one up there and have a look at par that's not terrible with that out of the way I'm in a positive mindset over the par putt it's time to make a pet right and at long last we get this one to go thanks after big down there yeah that was that was a hardw workking par all right the pro tip here was left Center onto another par five where my drive isn't long but it's in play nice and now on to planning the approach shot so we have about 300 and it's about 280 to the green side bunker so I'm just aiming just short right of the green it's another instance of poor execution on this one oops I chunked it carry that trap oh right in the end of the Trap 110 and I actually have a pretty clean line in this bunker and I'm lucky to pick it cleanly out of this bunker and once again it's not exactly online okay pin High just left French but because it's bang on the number I'll have a pretty straightforward putt from The Fringe it's a bit low but after a rocky start I've stacked together a good stretch of pars and I'll hope to keep it going okay so we have 149 and the advice was Short's better than long equally as important is making sure that I keep my Miss right I won't even think about the pin and just aim away from the trouble okay I'm pin high with a bit of a tough putt here and ultimately I leave it a bit above the hole H okay and the downhiller is dead straight and a good test of whether I can get the ball rolling end overend and I get it to go another drive right on my target line on nine and onto a long approach okay 2011 bit into still think three hybrid cuz back flag can aim a little right and hope it draws just like the last hole I'll play away from the trouble on the left it's stroke hole three so missing the green here is okay and I'm happy that my Miss is pin High uh just kind of caught up in the right French another tough angle on this chip and though I miss it low the distance control is on and I Leave myself a makeable par putt it's another straight one and another good Putt and despite hitting fewer than half the greens on the front I missed in the right places and managed to scramble a few times down the stretch I'll hope to keep the momentum going on the back nine but spoiler alert there were a few more mishaps ahead so let's see how I fared the driver's still cooperating today and it will leave me with the midiron in oh I pulled it this one's a bit yany catch a piece over there but it's on the putting surface for a long long look at birdie and if I haven't emphasized this enough today these long lags are such an important part of the game whether you're trying to break 100 or trying to break 80 getting these to makeable range is the key to Smashing through scoring barriers and I'm thrilled with the twoot here do you want to hit a cut here or does it not matter definely want to hit a cut I don't want to take it too tight though on the right okay arm with some good Knowledge from my playing partner I'm able to put this one into a good spot I'll be it a long way from the hole oh no sit but the approach shot is off and for the first time in a while hope that's alive over there though the up and down is less than straightforward short-sided downhill lie this won't be super fun and this one releases to about 12 feet okay but it's funny how confidence begets confidence with the flat stick this is probably the most confident rooll I've put on a putt today but I don't quite get it to go thanks thought I had that one and I'll settle for Bogi and the driver's still working you're going to love that absolutely perfect let's hope it was actually a little bit of a Miss okay hard to see on camera but we're on a pretty big slope here I have 136 and I'm just between hitting a hard nine or a really soft eight I think we'll go soft eight and as always this decision isn't ego driven I don't want to rip hard into a club on this uneven line and the smooth swing with less Club turns out to be the right decision it's a 15t slider here that I cozy up close come on and I'll tap it in for par another Drive-In play and now the goal is to muscle one up there with the three-wood oh God Adam but this is a brutal mishad well I'll get away with that that was woo but par fives give you an extra shot to play with and I won't give up on this hole just yet so this is saying 169 playing 179 I'm just worried about my ability to get this clean with an iron going to take this four hybrid after assessing the lie here I offer the extra club and it does get to the green let's see I think it's going a little left oh you know what at the whole mine is going right I'm actually going to play it yeah like left Edge or something yeah or just inside the left okay and as a practical matter I'll take the extra second to walk and read these putts rather than taking an extra practice swing on the T it's a coincidence when these go in but it's no coincidence when the read is good and allows me to get them close and despite the mishit on the second shot oh we'll escape this hole with a par he trying to pick between a 155 and 165 Club you know what nothing's been going far today I haven't hit a single one that I thought oh wow that went long oh I hit that so poorly I don't think so okay little slope in front of the pin and after a Miss off the te I'm right back to work over this bunker shot but I mention that execution won't always be there oh not quite and this one will leave me some work so a double breaker here definitely goes right at the end and for the first time in a while today I hit a poor putt here oh I just didn't hit it kind of had the idea but but I am able to tidy up for bogey you're to love that should be decent as long as it doesn't catch bunker really short wow a lot of my drives today not really been moving so we had a funny discussion on the te about whether we liked these shots this is 66 my line is that I've played so much pitch and Putt that this is my shot but let's see if I can put that into action not this time but it's not time to panic or throw golf clubs it's right back to work yeah yeah throw that all out the window try this again I'll op for a low one with the wedge here and now I'll get some help from Matt little bit past so the read is higher and firmer it's great but thanks and it's a hard fought par okay Miss left he says uhoh I think it's going to go right in it I do manage to avoid the bunker here but some questionable decision making over the next one let's get a look at what it is to the flag I actually have a really good lie here interesting 65 I'm going to do the rare one where I try to hit something hard going to just try to hit a solid solid six iron not a good strike here oh I missed it and we'll find a bunker go oh not even close Okay this has to go high and I'll just have to roll with the punches on this one it was a tough bunker lie and now a long look at par it's a bit past the hole ooh slow down okay but I clean it up for bogy so we have 180 and the pin's tucked on the left but I'm just going to look at the middle of the green with a 190 Club again execution won't always be there this is a stinker oh that was my worst swing of the back nine and this one gets a bit unlucky that get stuck just short but the key here is to limit the damage to no worse than a bogey because the scorecard doesn't have pictures although I suppose this one has video evidence but my point is that a bad shot doesn't need to blow up a score and on a long par three turn back now damage limited there's nothing wrong with the Bogi water all the way on the far left okay and some waste area on the left and then you got one big catcher mid of oh yeah I can see it peeking out yeah just hit it long and straight easy in the golf gods are going to give me one more test after this one nope is that off golf course I think it might be that might catch that bunker okay I ultimately had to pull it back from this bush for a penalty stroke but as always it's just about getting this one back in play and limiting the damage this one's fine that should be fine and it's just a wedge in from here and I hit it great and I'd love to get this putt to go for par but it's not quite meant to be turn em will closed with a bogey but all in all a day to be proud of six greens six up and downs and a sub 80 score despite a number of poor golf shots

Channel: Not A Scratch Golfer

Views: 168,886

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Id: 39qFPXnq6X0

Length: 13min 29sec (809 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 18 2024