long irons

A driver that finds the fairway and short game, short game, short game.

This, drives in play, ideally long and good chipping/pitching and putting. That will get most player to 80ish at least., almost anyone can get around the green in regulation from a in play drive. Hot half the greens, save par on half of missed greens and 80 seems easy. Then when it comes together on the day you will shoot in the 70s. You want of course to work on approach too, but it’s no good to you if drives aren’t in play.

I shoot somewhat the same Hcp at my homecourse. Somehow made it to a 74 this season. New personal record…

what happened in the last few rounds was that my putting was absolutely dialed in and whats even more important in my opinion is you never give up until the hole is finished. Played absolute rubbish shots at some holes but still made a par in the end.

Short game, putting and never give up is what helps best for me ️‍♂️

My opinion is, if your game is pretty solid all around, than it becomes a mental thing. During the two rounds I've had in the 70s I was very focused on my target in my pre-shot routine, and had one very simple swing trigger. If you're playing with multiple swing thoughts or working on something, you are practicing and will most likely not score well. Be strategic, play smart on get your mind on where you want each and every shot to go.

I have a friend that is a PGA pro. He always says accuracy is important. And that a great second shot sets up birdies. If you hit a bad drive, a good second shot can make the difference between a par and a birdie. But I think accuracy from 175 in helps me. I’m 75 play from the blues and a 8.2. Hope this helps.

Playing from the correct tees, (2) hitting fairways, (4) mid irons (3) short irons, and (1) "putting". On most courses, par is 72. If you 2 putt every green, that is 36 putts, 50% of even par. Look at those four elements of your game figure out where you need to be focusing your practice.

You need to be hitting from the correct tees to set you day up for a fun and enjoyable game.

Focus on getting razor sharp with shots from 100 yds and in (particularly half-wedges, bunkers shots of all kinds --- like downhill, sidehill, partially buried, wet sand, dry sand), and of course putting. Worth noting: The pros almost all put a lot of effort into practicing putts from 4-10 feet --- why do you suppose that is? Because there is no recovery from a missed putt that you should make. A miss is a miss is a miss, and a missed 4 ft putt has as much weight on your score as a 300 yd drive does.

The ability to get up and down from anywhere and make the putts that you need to make to save par, etc. is an absolute must in getting the most out of your game. It will allow you to go low when the rest of your game is hot, and save your score when it's not.

It different for everyone. Track your putts, up and downs, penalties, GIR’s, and do a post analysis of your rounds to see trends. Then focus on improving where you lose your most strokes.

Agree with Dale. At the end of the day, I lose the most strokes in my rounds in the bunkers. They hate me. Triple bogey blues. Four of those a round are a killer. My smart a** nephew who use to work at the golf course where his dad is a member use to tell me not to hit them in the bunker. Answer to my problem.

Deliberate practice. If you go to a driving range don’t just bash balls, make sure you have a target in mind and be deliberate on every single swing.

By deliberate I mean pick, target, flight, shape before you hit and focus solely on delivering that for that shot. Then do the same again. Do this for all categories, chipping, approaches, long irons and drives. I usually pick two categories per session, maybe driving irons and approach play.

I also have a technical session where I focus solely on what my coach tells me to focus on. Use video to feed back and worry less about the result, I never use this session without having a scoring session in between that and playing a round. I usually do technical work on a Monday or Tuesday and then scoring practice Wednesday or Thursday.

If there’s time I drop 9 holes on after a session to practice on course.

I dropped from 14.3 to 7.0 by doing this. Shooting regular low 80s and high 70s every now and then

Well after this past weekend, I can say "hit more greens in regulation". Couldn't hit an approach shot straight on 2/3rd of the holes. Of course the wind was only gusting 20 to 40 mph all day.

Have to agree with Barry, hit more greens. After that, it comes down to your putting and trying to make your chips.

Truthfully, I think the correct answer is to avoid the blow-ups. If you are out of position, don't try the hero shot. Play to a spot where you have an opportunity to make par, or at worst, bogey. The many comments above are all good ones and show the areas to improve overall. But to me, the biggest thing I needed to eliminate, or limit, is the blow-up holes. Take the doubles and triples out of the game, and your score can only improve.

I agree with everyone else but will add that you need to eliminate double and triple bogey's. Play smart, get the ball back in play and don't try the hero shots you see Tiger or Rory do. This is my issue at times. Bogey is not a bad score. Especially on the hard holes.
Just because there is a little gap in the trees or just because you hit a high 5 iron draw 215 yards one time, when your average 5 iron only goes 190, doesn't mean you can always pull it off. Get it back in play to a yardage you can get it on the green with the next shot and 2 putt for bogey.

What's the saying "there is 1,000 ways to skin a cat." Similar to breaking 80. My thoughts on this is that this is more a mental exercise than shots exercise. Yes you need to avoid big scores, 3 putts, OB's, and other things of that nature. However, to break 80 you have to think beyond 80 as the closer you get to that score your body will naturally start to get nervous and you will begin protecting a score rather than going to get a score. Be aggressive to your spots, keep your targets as small as you can.

Standing on the tee box with a 70 yard wide fairway is great but pick something really small to hit to.

As my friend Chuck Z said, playing the right tees helps as you can work backwards. If the hole is 400 yard and you want 100 in, make sure you can hit 300, if not move to a tee that allows you that. Playing from the tips of named courses is not good if you are going driver 3 metal into every par 4, woods off par 3's and never having a chance to reach par 5's.

Tiger talked a lot about being aggressive to conservative targets. Pin might be tucked over a bunker but the conservative target might be 15 feet left.

Lastly, stay in the now, the shot you are hitting. What happened 2 holes ago is done, you think about it, it will affect your future score.

As a former D1 golfer, the hole key to scoring low is getting the ball in the hole. My practice sessions are 80% short game and 20% long game. Practice with a purpose and challenge yourself. If you are chipping, practice with 1 ball- like you are playing a hole, then go make the putt. Then repeat over and over again, but never from the same spot—- you never get to hit the same shot on the course—- don’t practice that way. Practice how you play with the same pre shot routine. Your short game will improve immediately and you will be full of confidence when you miss a green—- I HAVE THIS SHOT_—— play well—- I hope this helps you