No matter your age, sex, or experience level, breaking a score of 80 in golf makes you a good golfer. Breaking 80 usually means that you scored a little over par, which is the bar set by scratch golfers.
Considering that a scratch golfer is a really good golfer, breaking 80 is a feat you can be proud of. Most people dream of breaking 80 in golf, but never will.
Therefore, you may wonder: what percentage of golfers can break 80?
In this article, we will tell you exactly what percentage of golfers can break 80, backed up by statistics.
What Percentage Of Golfers Can Break 80?
According to statistics, around 5%-25% of golfers are capable of breaking a score of 80 in golf, making it an achievement most people will never achieve. Breaking 80 is one of the harder accomplishments a golfer can have in the game of golf.
Breaking a score of 80 in golf is an great achievement that makes you better than most players, but not quite as good as a scratch golfer. For reference, a scratch golfer typically has a golf score of about 72 strokes for 18 hole golf courses.
If you are barely breaking 80, it means you are shooting around 8 strokes more than a scratch golfer, depending on the par of the golf course played on.
Breaking 80 in golf means you are committing only a few mistakes out on the golf course, and are better than the majority of golfers out there.
Now that you understand just how impressive breaking 80 in golf is, let’s take a look at the statistics:
-According to a statistical study conducted by Sports Ruby, around 25.78% of golfers can break 80;
-According to the USGA, around 20-21% of golfers can break 80;
-According to the National Golf Foundation, around 5% of golfers can break 80;
-Other online polls show that 20% of golfers can break 80.
It is important to note that these statistics can be skewed in many ways, including higher performing players being more willing to share their scores, the size of the statistical sample, location of the sample members, and so many more.
The general consensus across most statistical studies is that around 5-25% of golfers can break 80 in golf. Less than a quarter of golfers across the world can break 80.
Tips To Break 80 In Golf Score
Trying to break 80 in golf score is a difficult challenge that you should not feel bad about not being able to achieve in your first year. It is pretty much impossible. In fact, it might very well take you over a decade to break 80. Most people never break 80.
Breaking 80 consistently is essentially the level below that of a scratch golfer, so you should expect it to take multiple years. Many people play golf for 10+ years and still cannot even break 80. This goes to show that breaking 80 without a plan, discipline, and hard work is probably not going to happen.
Down below are some of the elements, including the Keys To Success As A Golfer, that you can implement in your game to improve your golf score effectively.
Set A Dedicated Practice Schedule
Without a dedicated practice routine to get better at golf, you will not be breaking 80 in score any time soon. If you want to be able to boast about breaking 80, it is going to take a lot of work.
To break 80, you need to consistently be practicing, both on golf courses, and at the driving range. The driving range allows you to practice shots with small intervals in between each one, whereas the golf course is where you put what you learned to use with higher stakes.
You should practice as much as possible without overtraining or risking injury. A good starting point from which to start is the following:
-Driving range practice 2-3 times a week
-Play 2-3 rounds of golf per week
If you notice you are not recovering quickly enough, you can lower the number of practice sessions. If you feel you still have some golf in you and can safely do more, add another session at the driving range or the golf course.
Get Golf Lessons
If you are actually close to breaking 80, but cannot quite get there, it is time to get some private golf lessons. Find a good coach with the right pedigree, and they will be able to pick out what you can improve in your game.
It sometimes pays huge dividends to have someone more experienced than you look at your game from an outside perspective. It might only take a few small tweaks and an extra tip in golf course management to get you to finally break 80.
Rest Sufficiently
Rest is extremely important and comes in multiple forms, such as not performing excessive amounts of exercise, sleeping enough (at least 8 hours per night), and eating the right foods.
Without rest, you will feel sluggish, and your body will not have the best building blocks to produce the best results. Without rest, your body cannot heal and grow stronger from your training.
Rest sufficiently, and you will increase the value of the practice and hard work you put in.
Work Out And Develop Your Flexibility
Another important and excellent path to take to improve your golf scores into sub-80’s is to work out and develop your flexibility.
By working out, you can increase your muscle strength, which will give you more power with which to swing your club and hit the ball. This added power can easily add a few tens of yards to your carry distance over time, which can save you some strokes, especially off the tee.
You can check out our golf specific gym workout here: Golf Specific Gym Workout.
In addition, becoming more flexible will lessen your risks of injury, and give your joints more range of motion, leading to more comfortable and fluid shots.
Go For Aggressive Shots Off The Tee Sometimes
Beginners are often taught to go for safe shots in the middle of the fairway as part of their golf course management strategy. This is to give them the best chance of not going out of bounds with their limited skill set with shots that are often not very straight.
If you are a fairly advanced golfer, as you would be if you are close to breaking 80, you should not always play it safe. Instead, you should go for more aggressive shots off the tee that you know you can consistently hit.
An aggressive shot off the tee is a tee shot that will land the golf ball in the best set-up location possible for your next shot. These shots often some land the ball several yards closer to the green than a safe shot would.
However, performing aggressive shots requires considerable skill and excellent ball control, as your target is closer to the rough and other hazards. Tailor the amount of risk you take according to your skill level.
Get A Good Diet And Nutrition
Adopting a good nutrition and diet plan is important to be a great golfer. The right nutrition will allow you to feel more energized, to recover quicker, and to make muscular gains as you train.
Remember that exhausted sensation you feel after you eat a burger from a fast food chain. Not so great, huh? This is what you want to avoid.
Focus on eating a good and healthy diet that will provide the necessary building blocks (like protein) for your body to perform at optimal level.
Film Your Technique To Discover Potential Improvements
It can be quite hard to know whether you are performing golf technique very well if you are alone. One solution would be to get private golf lessons, in which the coach can point you in the right direction.
However, in the absence of a coach, there is another solution: simply film yourself and compare your technique to that of professional players. Using this method, you will be able to see exactly what you could be doing better, and fix the faulty elements.
Try experimenting by filming your swing technique from different camera angles.
Adopt An Athlete Mindset
Many golfers who are capable of breaking 80 are legitimate athletes in some way, shape, or form. Therefore, if you would like to break 80 in golf score, you would benefit in adopting an athlete’s mindset.
This implies living your life like an athlete would: sacrificing late night parties for sleep, junk food for nutritious food, certain hobbies for golf practice.
Athletes make more sacrifices to become good at their sport than many people realize, but if you wish to break 80 as fast as possible, this is a viable path. Talented players may not necessarily need to live this way to break 80. If you lack talent, then you will need to live lack an athlete.
Improve Your Golf Course Management Skills
If you have not already implemented effective golf course management notions inside your game of golf, then this may revolutionize your scores.
Effective golf course management is the set of all decisions you take on a golf course, from the club you choose to the direction you aim, and more.
Some decisions are objectively better than others, but which one is best highly depends on the golf course you play on and where you stand on it.
To learn the fundamental notions of great golf course management, read our guide: How To Master Golf Course Management?.
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Conclusion
There you go! After reading this article, you have discovered exactly what percentage of golfers are capable of breaking 80 in golf score. Furthermore, you learned different tips you can implement to eventually break 80, thanks to smart work and practice.
How close are you to breaking 80? Is your dream to break 80? Let us know in the comments down below!
