Many golfer dream of breaking the magic 80 barrier. This holy grail can seem difficult to achieve but recent data from Game Golf may help lift your spirits.
Many golfers who struggle to break 80 believe that to do so they need to hit fantastic shots from tee-to-green and become a wizard around the greens with the touch of a surgeon on them. I'm here to tell you, it's not true and Game Golf will help to back me up.
Game Golf is a stat tracker used by hundreds of thousands of amateur golfers around the world. I use this great system with clients because it gives an honest view of their game and helps provide the quickest route to lower scores (see blog on Game Golf).
Occasionally Game Golf release data, from the many rounds it captures throughout the world, and the most recent release highlights how golfers are scoring from 75-80.
This graph highlights several key scoring factors from golfers who are shooting between 75 and 80.
You don't have to hit perfect shots
As you can see these golfers who are breaking 80 are only hitting around 50% of fairways and greens with a driving distance of 229 yards. This suggests to me that many golfers may be using 3 woods to find the fairways but however you interpret this data it certainly shows that there is no need to be hitting perfect shots to break 80.
Up & down for par
If you're taking the time to read this blog you obviously care about your game and scores, so I presume you've read before that the short game is crucial for lower scores. The data here shows that golfers who break 80 are making up & downs for par 30% of the time. What's your percentage?
You don't need to drain every putt
An average of 1.79 putts per hole suggests that these golfers aren't draining 25-30ft putts consistently but instead it shows that they don't 3 putt a lot. How many times do you 3 putt in a round?
Don't get down on yourself
I hope that after reading this, you won't get too down on yourself if you miss a green or hit a poor shot. Because, as you can see, the golfers who break 80 do!
What to do now
I suggest you compare yourself to these stats and highlight the areas you need to improve upon. The winter months are great for improving your game and being ready for the season ahead.
If your stats are letting you down off of the tee, my Fairway Finder programme may be the perfect winter project for you. Click here to find out more.