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Breaking 80 | Golf Monthly Tips
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Apr 1, 2025
For many golfers, the task of breaking 80 for the first time can seem impossibly out of reach. But perhaps if you knew what was required, it wouldn't be such a daunting and seemingly unachievable goal? In this video, Dan Parker goes through some crucial shot data courtesy of Arccos which explains the areas that are most important when it comes to shooting something in the 70s, so you can adjust your strategy and expectations and learn how to break 80 in golf.
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0:00
Breaking 80 is a goal for a lot of you golfers out there, but it can feel like a long way away
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Well, I've got all the data and all the stats to tell you how it's done
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So if you shoot below 80, you're probably somewhere between 7 and 10 over par, depending on the par of the course
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So in this video, we're going to take a look at an 8-index handicapper. I'm going to see how they compile their round and try and learn some lessons from what they do
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according to the data. So before we head out onto our virtual golf course with our 8 index golfer to
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learn a few lessons about breaking 80, let's take a look at what they need to score in order to break
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that target. So on average an 8 index golfer makes just 0.9 birdies per round, 7.7 pars, 7.2 bogeys
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and 2.3 double bogeys or worse. So what is this showing us then? Well first and foremost it's not
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of birdie fest by any means to go and break 80 and this eight indexer on average isn't birdieing
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even once around it's just a little bit below that but what it is showing us is that we probably
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need to keep those doubles triples and worse off the card as much as possible i think this is a
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scoring area where a lot of people fall down in that goal of trying to break 80 so if you break
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that down a step further we can see that an eight index golfer averages 3.6 on par three holes
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4.5 on par 4s and 5.4 on par 5s which to me suggests that playing the slightly longer holes
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better is the key to breaking 80 so sneaking the odd birdie on a par 5 or you know playing well on
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shortish par 4 are the keys to breaking 80 that par 3 scoring isn't great but maybe you're going
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to attack those par 5s a bit more right then let's get out onto our virtual course then with
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our eight index golfer no better place to start than the tee box with some driving statistics now
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our stats show us that on average this eight index handicapper is averaging 237 yards off the tee
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finding 47 of fairways now that 237 might feel like a long way away off the tee it might not
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seem like that much and i average about 245 off the tee so i in that area to go and break 80 more often than not according to the data here So don worry about it too much but to me more than anything these numbers on driving statistics
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suggest that accuracy and driving are probably actually the least important factor to breaking
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80 on the golf course. These two stats suggest there's more emphasis on good course management
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better quality iron shots, a solid short game. These are the real keys to breaking 80
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whereas driving doesn't need to be the strongest part of your game to beat that score
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So I just mentioned quality iron striking there and I think this is an area we really need to look at to actually break 80
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So let's look at approach game and iron shots. The average 8 index golfer is hitting a green in regulation 40% of the time
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So that equates to 7.2 greens per round. And when we're looking at how far they are away from the green
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a green in regulation will find them about 30 foot away from the hole whereas a missed green
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will find them about 60 foot away from the hole so we can see quite a big difference there
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but also that the greens in regulation are still quite a way away they're not stiffing it every
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time right they're still 30 foot away when they hit that green so something to bear in mind
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but if we break this green in regulation thing down to nine holes that's 3.6 greens per nine
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right so all you're going to do to beat the eight indexer statistically is hit four greens per nine
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right if you do that you're on track to shoot somewhere in the 70s which i think is actually
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when you break it down quite an achievable score right so if your current green regulation
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percentage is around that 40 mark you're already in a great area if it's a little bit below it
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you know what's stopping you here is it you're driving putting you in bad positions let's work
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on that is that your iron shots missing greens more often than not let's work on the iron shots
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whichever one it is you know which one to work on but i think focusing on that 40 percent green
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regulation index percentage and not being that close to the pin every time is something to work
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on in order to break 80 let move our way up the hole now we hit our drive we hit our approach shot and let say we missed that green regulation by 60 foot as the 8 indexer might do every other time pretty much A little bit more in fact
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Chipping and your short game. This is the area to strengthen if you want to break 80 right now
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and you can go and work on that. It's pretty easy. But let's look at what an 8 index golfer is doing right now and how you compare to them, right
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So an 8 index golfer gets up and down 40% of the time when they're within 25 yards of the pin
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So sort of, you know, aprons or, you know, pin high right, pin high left, whatever it is
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And this is actually quite a good conversion rate. I think where eight index golfers become eight index golfers, right
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This is how they maintain that index and shoot low rounds. Because it isn't that far for scratch golfer
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So a scratch golfer gets up and down from zero to 25 yards 57% of the time
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There's a decent comparison there, I think, for the eight indexes and something to think about
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Let's pop our eight index golfer in a bunker near the green, just a little green side bunker
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from inside 25 yards. Now, here, their up and down ratio drops a little bit
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It's only 24% of the time, which I think shows how tough bunkers are, I guess
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We can all agree on that. But also that even eight indexes
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aren't getting up and down that often. The most important stat from bunkers that I found
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is that they find the green from this green side bunker 81% of the time
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And this is showing us then that they very rarely leave it in the bunker
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you know, duff it in there, thin it into the face, whatever it is and waste valuable shots around the green. So compare yourself to those stats there
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how often are you leaving yourself in a bunker, how often are you getting up and down from 25 yards
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and in and if you can improve on that you'll be well on your way to shooting something in the 70s
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Now we're on the green and here is where a round can turn from a career best something in the mid
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to high 70s, even the low 70s, to a run of the mill something in the 80s. It's the putting green
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Now, let's have a look at what our eight index handicapper friend is doing over here. They're
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on the green, and how are they putting? So, if we break it down, they are one putting 3.9 times per
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round two putting 11 times per round and three putting just 2 times per round on average And I say just because that to me does feel pretty low You could consider it high I don know it depends how you look at this thing depends how you put at the minute but when I put the three putt stats next to a scratch golfer so a scratch golfer three putting
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1.7 times around they're not that far off again it's like that up and down percentage I don't
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think these things are far off and it's just proving to me that a tight short game is what
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you need to break 18 I'm not going to say you're playing off scratch here but just a tighter short
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game brings you to that level of these really really good golfers breaking that number a lot
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of the time so if you put that all together it's 1.8 putts per hole and 33.4 putts per round which
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might feel like an achievable number i hope it does because it's something you need to do to break 80
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but it's there or thereabouts you don't have to be too far off two putts per hole to break 80
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and up and down here or a really stiff approach shot there is a one putt and it brings that
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average down a little bit. It's all you're having to do here. You're not having to, you know, rake in 100 foot putts all the time. And I think it should be treated like the double bogey situation
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They're going to happen, three putts, but don't worry about them. Keep them to as minimal as
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possible and it really chips down on your average and your scoring then. And I think putting, as I
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said with short game, is the way to break 80. Really focus on this and the stats are showing us
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so there you have it the stats and the data that should help you break 80 next time you're on the
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golf course now i can't help your swing or your ability that's not my job my job just give you
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the data give you some thoughts to go away with whether it's course management or more importantly
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where to focus your next practice session so all the data we're referencing in this video comes
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courtesy of our cost golf now they've got a vast bank of over 750 million golf shots from real
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golfers on real golf courses all across the world so this is a really fascinating bit of information
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that we can use to go and learn for ourselves and play better golf ourselves now if you want to try
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these smart sensors out for yourself i've put some handy links down in the description where you can
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find the best price in your location and i think from this data we can see the driving isn't
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particularly important greens regulation are but maybe the approach game can be worked on but
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it's all about that short game eight index golfers have a really tight short game and i think
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their achievable stats
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