How to Shoot an 80 in Golf

Breaking 80 in golf isn't about suddenly hitting tour-pro shots or draining 40-foot putts. It's about a fundamental shift in strategy, focusing less on perfection and more on smartly managing your misses. This guide will walk you through the practical, on-course adjustments and mental framework required to stop making big numbers and start posting scores in the 70s consistently.

A New Scoring Mindset: Make Friends with Bogey

First, let’s do some simple math that will hopefully take a huge weight off your shoulders. To shoot a 79 on a par-72 course, you need to be +7. This doesn't mean you need a flurry of birdies. In fact, you don't need a single one. A score of 79 can be achieved with 11 pars and 7 bogeys. Think about that. You have permission to make seven mistakes and still accomplish your goal.

Most golfers trying to break 80 get derailed because they think they need to play flawlessly. They hit one bad shot, maybe card an early bogey, and immediately feel like the round is slipping away. The pressure mounts, they try a heroic shot to "get that stroke back," and it backfires, turning a simple bogey into a dreaded double or triple.

Your new mindset is this: Bogey is not your enemy. The double bogey is. From this moment on, your entire on-course strategy will revolve around one single principle: the complete and utter elimination of “the other” from your scorecard. Every decision you make - from club selection off the tee to how you play a shot from the trees - should be filtered through the question: “What is the absolute safest way to avoid a double bogey here?”

Your New Golden Rule: Say Goodbye to Double Bogeys

If you can trade every double bogey on your card for a bogey, you will break 80. It's that simple. Blow-up holes are the number one killer of good scores. Here’s how you start systematically removing them from your game.

Course Management 101: Play the Course, Not Your Troubles

Golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s play a reactive game. They stand on the tee, hit the ball, find it, and then figure out what to do next. Golfers who shoot in the 70s play a proactive game. They plan a hole backward from the green.

Before you even pull a club, ask yourself:

• Where is the real trouble? Is it the water on the left? The out-of-bounds on the right? The deep bunker guarding the pin? Identify the single biggest danger and decide your entire strategy around avoiding it. If the trouble is left, aim for the right half of the fairway, even if it means a slightly longer shot in.
• What is my ideal leave? Don’t just blast the driver as far as you can. Think about what yardage you want for your approach shot. If your ansolute favorite club is your 100-yard wedge, maybe it's better to hit a 3-wood or hybrid off the tee to leave yourself that exact distance, rather than getting too close with a driver leaving you with a tricky half-swing pitch.
• Where is the "miss"? You aren't going to hit every green. When you look at an approach shot, don't just see the pin. See the surrounding area. Where is the safest place to miss? It's almost always short and center, leaving you a simple chip uphill. Aim for the fat part of the green and accept a 20-foot putt. Firing at a tucked pin is a low-percentage play that often leads to a short-sided chip, which is a classic recipe for a double bogey.

The Art of the "Punch Out": Your Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card

You are going to hit the ball into the trees. It’s inevitable. What you do next is what separates the 70s-shooter from the 90s-shooter. The high-handicapper sees a tiny window through the branches and thinks, “I can probably thread that.” This is ego talking. The odds are not in your favor.

You need to fall in love with the punch-out. It’s an unglamorous but essential shot. Find the widest, most obvious opening back to the fairway - even if it means hitting the ball sideways or slightly backward. Take a mid-iron (like a 7 or 8-iron), put the ball back in your stance, keep your hands ahead, and make a short, firm, low punch swing. Get your ball back in play. Take your medicine (a bogey) with a smile and move on. Attempting the miracle shot and hitting another tree is how a 5 turns into a 7 in the blink of an eye.

Rethink the Par 5

The par 5 is designed as a scoring opportunity, but for most amateurs, it’s a double-bogey trap. The temptation to “go for it in two” is overwhelming. The reality is that this requires two perfectly struck, long shots. More often, it results in a pushed driver into the woods or a topped 3-wood into a water hazard.

Instead, treat the par 5 as a three-shot hole. Your goal is to get on the green in three strategic, controlled shots.

1. Shot 1 (Tee Shot): Driver or 3-wood to the widest part of the fairway. Position is more important than pure distance.
2. Shot 2 (Layup): Select an iron that will leave you at your absolute favorite wedge distance. For many, that's 80-100 yards. This is a stress-free shot. There’s no pressure to be perfect.
3. Shot 3 (Approach): Now you have a full swing with your most trusted scoring club into the green.

This strategy gives you an excellent chance at par, a decent look at birdie, and almost entirely removes the risk of a 7 or 8.

Know Your Real Distances (Not Just Your Sunday Best)

One of the biggest leaks in an amateur's game is misjudging club distances. You might have hit your 7-iron 170 yards one time a year ago, but that is not your 7-iron distance. You need to know your average carry distance for every club in your bag.

The next time you're at the driving range, ignore the flags. Focus on your 7-iron. Hit 10 balls and either use a personal launch monitor or simply watch where most of them land. Throw out the absolute best and the absolute worst. Where did the other eight cluster? That is your real number. Repeat this for every club.

Once you know these honest numbers, start embracing the pro-level move: take one extra club and swing smoother. If you have 150 yards to the hole and your 7-iron is your perfect 150 club, take the 6-iron. A smooth, controlled 6-iron is almost always more accurate and reliable than trying to get every last yard out of your 7-iron. Most amateurs come up short because they choose their "best ever" distance club, not their average one.

Master the Green: The Two-Putt Mentality

Look at your last few scorecards. How many three-putts do you have? Each one likely contributed to or was a double bogey. To break 80, three-putts must become a rarity. This starts by changing your goal on long putts.

When you are more than 20 feet from the hole, your objective is not to make the putt. It is to lag it down to within a three-foot circle - the "trash can lid." Your only focus should be on speed. A great putting drill for this is the ladder drill:

1. Place three tees on a practice green, at 15, 30, and 45 feet from you.
2. Putt one ball to the first tee, focusing only on getting the speed right so it stops next to the tee.
3. Putt the next ball to the second tee, and the third ball to the third tee.
4. Then, work your way back down the ladder.

This drill trains your brain to connect feel with distance. Mastering speed and committing to the two-putt strategy will save you countless strokes by converting potential three-putts (and the anger that comes with them) into simple tap-in pars or bogeys.

Simplify Your Short Game: The "One Bounce and Roll"

Many golfers think they need a PGA Tour-style short game with high, floaty flop shots to score well. The truth is, that shot is incredibly high-risk. A much simpler, safer, and more reliable shot for chipping and pitching around the green is the bump-and-run.

Instead of automatically grabbing your 60-degree wedge, consider using a 9-iron, 8-iron, or even a 7-iron. The mechanics are simple:

• Set up with a narrow stance, with the ball slightly back of center.
• Put about 60% of your weight on your front foot.
• Make a short, simple putting-style stroke. There's very little wrist hinge.
• Focus on a landing spot on the green, just a few feet on. Imagine you're tossing the ball underhand to that spot.

This shot gets the ball on the ground and rolling like a putt as quickly as possible, which takes spin and unpredictable bounces out of the equation. It's the highest-percentage shot in golf and will get you closer to the hole more often than the flashy flop ever will.

Final Thoughts

Breaking 80 revolves around a straightforward formula: manage your misses, eliminate big-number holes, and play with a clear, conservative strategy rather than just reacting to where your ball lands. It's about playing smarter, not harder, and choosing the high-percentage shot every single time.

This strategic approach to the game is exactly why we built Caddie AI. Knowing what to do in every situation - whether it’s picking the right layup club on a par 5, getting a strategy for an unfamiliar tee shot, or understanding the best way to play from a tricky lie - is what separates low scores from high ones. With Caddie AI, you can get instant, expert advice right on the course, so you can make the smart decisions that prevent blow-up holes and confidently commit to every shot.