The first time you broke 100, 90, 80, 70

[Brad Tufts]

That's a cool one Adrian...my home course front nine is par 34, but it's not an easy one to make 5 birdies and no bogies.  My low is 30.  Our back nine is par 36, my low is 32.


430-390-190-425-360-280-240-130-505 on the front.  2 stout par fours, one very long par three (7) and another pushing 200y...although 5,6,8,9 are birdie holes.

[Kalen Braley]

This site no doubt has a lot of very good golfers with nearly everyone reporting they have broken 70 at some point.

As a lifelong HC, who had a couple of good years, that was when all of my sub 80 rounds occurred, 3 in total.

But I have shot a few terrific 9s, including a 33 on a par 35, and a 35 on a par 36.   Unfortunately I couldn't match it with the other 9 and didn't even end up breaking 80 for either of them, much less 70.

P.S.  Never under estimate the ability of HC player to put up a snowman, even on a warm sunny day when they playing great otherwise!

[David Ober]

I was chatting with a friend of mine a few days ago. He was stoked. It was the first time he had broken 80. He had tried for decades but just couldn't pull it off. Do you remember any of those days you broke through on that kind of milestone?

I remember three milestones:


1) Breaking par for the first time at Porter Valley. I was by myself and I was ecstatic. I hit a ball OB on the second(?) hole and was pissed because I didn't know I could even hit it that far. It was before range finders and I was unfamiliar with the course. Thought I hit a perfect drive and it sailed through the dogleg and OB left. I then played a 3-under from there for a 69.


2) Breaking 70. Shot 4-under 68 at Canyon Crest in Riverside (6,580, 72.0/132 back when I played it). Had been playing golf for maybe three years at that point. Eagled the last with a chip-in!


3) Bogey-Free round: Also at Canyon Crest. I had come to the 16th hole -- a tough, 194-yard par-3 with an elevated green -- many times bogey-free, but that hole was frequently my undoing. On this day, I remember saying to myself: "Not this time," and I hit a perfect 6-iron in the middle of the green and 2-putted. I almost made a mess of 17, but got up and down to save par and then held on with a par on the relatively easy par-5 18th for my first bogey-free round. I was probably early 30's at the time and had played many, many rounds of golf by then.


The funny thing: Like Roger Bannister's 4-minute mile, once I did it the first time, it was much, much easier to duplicate. I probably have gone around bogey-free 2 or 3 times a year now for the last 20-plus years since then.

[Tim Martin]

I was chatting with a friend of mine a few days ago. He was stoked. It was the first time he had broken 80. He had tried for decades but just couldn't pull it off. Do you remember any of those days you broke through on that kind of milestone?

I remember three milestones:


1) Breaking par for the first time at Porter Valley. I was by myself and I was ecstatic. I hit a ball OB on the second(?) hole and was pissed because I didn't know I could even hit it that far. It was before range finders and I was unfamiliar with the course. Thought I hit a perfect drive and it sailed through the dogleg and OB left. I then played a 3-under from there for a 69.


2) Breaking 70. Shot 4-under 68 at Canyon Crest in Riverside (6,580, 72.0/132 back when I played it). Had been playing golf for maybe three years at that point. Eagled the last with a chip-in!


3) Bogey-Free round: Also at Canyon Crest. I had come to the 16th hole -- a tough, 194-yard par-3 with an elevated green -- many times bogey-free, but that hole was frequently my undoing. On this day, I remember saying to myself: "Not this time," and I hit a perfect 6-iron in the middle of the green and 2-putted. I almost made a mess of 17, but got up and down to save par and then held on with a par on the relatively easy par-5 18th for my first bogey-free round. I was probably early 30's at the time and had played many, many rounds of golf by then.


The funny thing: Like Roger Bannister's 4-minute mile, once I did it the first time, it was much, much easier to duplicate. I probably have gone around bogey-free 2 or 3 times a year now for the last 20-plus years since then.

Bogey free is impressive and to do it than many times even more so.

[Rob Marshall]

I was chatting with a friend of mine a few days ago. He was stoked. It was the first time he had broken 80. He had tried for decades but just couldn't pull it off. Do you remember any of those days you broke through on that kind of milestone?

I remember three milestones:


1) Breaking par for the first time at Porter Valley. I was by myself and I was ecstatic. I hit a ball OB on the second(?) hole and was pissed because I didn't know I could even hit it that far. It was before range finders and I was unfamiliar with the course. Thought I hit a perfect drive and it sailed through the dogleg and OB left. I then played a 3-under from there for a 69.


2) Breaking 70. Shot 4-under 68 at Canyon Crest in Riverside (6,580, 72.0/132 back when I played it). Had been playing golf for maybe three years at that point. Eagled the last with a chip-in!


3) Bogey-Free round: Also at Canyon Crest. I had come to the 16th hole -- a tough, 194-yard par-3 with an elevated green -- many times bogey-free, but that hole was frequently my undoing. On this day, I remember saying to myself: "Not this time," and I hit a perfect 6-iron in the middle of the green and 2-putted. I almost made a mess of 17, but got up and down to save par and then held on with a par on the relatively easy par-5 18th for my first bogey-free round. I was probably early 30's at the time and had played many, many rounds of golf by then.


The funny thing: Like Roger Bannister's 4-minute mile, once I did it the first time, it was much, much easier to duplicate. I probably have gone around bogey-free 2 or 3 times a year now for the last 20-plus years since then.

Bogey free is impressive and to do it than many times even more so.

I agree that's impressive.

[James Brown]

My story of breaking 70 is a little bit embarrassing.


I took up golf late, starting as a sophomore in college at the University of New Mexico in the spring of 1994. 


By the fall of 1999 I was in grad school at Penn State.  Today, I am a HUGE Penn State football fan, but back then I was a total golf addict and football wasn’t that big of a deal. 


I had many brushes with shooting under par before finally breaking through.  I would be 1 under through 12 or 13 holes and then choke and shoot 78.  Many, many time.  My golf coach at the time told me when I break through, I would probably go deep.


Anyway, I broke par and shot 69 on the Penn State Blue course from the tips.  October 16th, 1999.  Same day Penn State beat Ohio State in State College, and I was playing golf across campus listening to the roars indifferently from 2 miles away and almost the only one on the course.  Just me and a older couple out that day. 


I shot 1-under on the front and then went into the zone.  The last hole is a short par four and was downwind.  I nailed a drive and hit 4 iron on the green and two putted for 3 under.  Can remember every shot on that back nine still.


I’ve broken par about 50 times since but only beat 69 3 or 4 times. 


What’s funny is that I am such a Nitany Lion fan now that I darn say I would give up a finger or a toe to watch Penn State beat Ohio State in Beaver Stadium!


And I am heading up to State College this weekend to see the Michigan game this weekend!!

[Jeff_Brauer]

Sure I remember breaking 70.....it was last night in my dreams.


Breaking 90 - as a teen, I often filled in with the man next door when they had a Sunday morning opening.  After flubbing a lot of shots and sort of giving up, I birdied 3 in a row on the back nine which put me to 89.


I clearly recall breaking 80 at age 16 - I wedged in for an eagle on the 18th to do it. 


I also recall the first time I came close to even par, at Grand Cypress New, where I bogeyed 18 for a 73.  Probably would have parred, but one of the playing partners told me just as I teed off that "all you need for 72 is a par" which of course, jinxed that whole deal.

[Bill Seitz]

In my experience, milestones tend to get shattered the first time.  By that I mean, I had a lot of rounds where I shot 80 on the number.  I'd start thinking about it, tell myself I could just bogey the last three holes and still shoot 79, and then I'd go bogey, bogey, double.  But when I finally broke 80, I shot like a 76 or something.  I got into the same position and parred out.  Same for breaking 70.  I'd been around there a few times, but when I finally broke 70, I shot 66.  Granted, it was from the white tees (corporate outing) at a par 70 that wasn't super tough, but I'm not giving it back.


In college, our team advisor (we were a D2 club team, and he more or less organized it) had two young kids.  They were playing behind us one day at Victoria Club in Riverside, and the younger one had never broken 50 for nine holes.  The day finally arrived, and the poor kid made 7 on the ninth hole to shoot 50 on the number and was just bawling.  Everyone who has aimed for a milestone has a story like that.  The kid ended up OK, and played fairly big time college golf.

[Peter Flory]

I never thought about scoring milestones in golf and don't remember the first time that I cracked various levels.  Part of the reason is that I probably broke those levels in casual rounds and on easy courses or from shorter yardages- so it didn't seem like anything special at the time. 

Which brings up a great drill for breaking barriers- and that is to play tees much shorter than you normally would.  It gets the scoring clubs going, it makes you aggressive, and it gets you into a greedier mindset instead of a defensive one.  Ideally, you'd do this drill while playing against other players at your skill level and with a real game on the line.  The best player that I knew growing up did this once per week at his club as a junior golfer at the suggestion of his pro. 

[cary lichtenstein]

First time I broke 80 was a 77 and I was sooo cocky, I couldn't stop bragging about it, the next day I shot a 91, taught me to be humble. I was about 30 years later that I broke 70 for the first time, I started off birdie, birdie, hole in one and shot 68 or 69. Another time I started off with 4 birdie and an eagle and shot 66, but my rounds in the 60's probably were less than 10 in all. I was always trying to shot the best score whereas alot of my playing partners were only interested in gambling. I was a purest, loved the feeling of a pure shot, driver, iron, sandwedge or putters. The best part of my game was my wedge play, I was probably scratch or a plus 2, but the rest of my game was nowhere as good. I could only hit the ball one way, a draw. I couldn't hit a fade or slice to save my life. I once played a course where the trees on the right side off the tee were overgrown and badly invaded the right side of the fairway off the tee. I was hopeless on that course and never went back to play there again, whereas I did best on links courses where I could shape my draw as much as I liked. I was an 8 handicap up north on heavily treed narrow courses but a 4 handicap in Florida on more open courses.

[Jeff Schley]

Sure I remember breaking 70.....it was last night in my dreams.


Breaking 90 - as a teen, I often filled in with the man next door when they had a Sunday morning opening.  After flubbing a lot of shots and sort of giving up, I birdied 3 in a row on the back nine which put me to 89.


I clearly recall breaking 80 at age 16 - I wedged in for an eagle on the 18th to do it. 


I also recall the first time I came close to even par, at Grand Cypress New, where I bogeyed 18 for a 73.  Probably would have parred, but one of the playing partners told me just as I teed off that "all you need for 72 is a par" which of course, jinxed that whole deal.

Jeff funny story atGrand Cypress.  Was the Eagle on 18 at Medinah?

[Jim Franklin]

First time I broke 70 was at Brookhaven CC outside of Dallas. I birdied 18 to do it. First time breaking 70 at my home club was in Club Championship. I ended up shooting 67 and it realistically could have been 63. Missed two four footers, left one on lip on 18, and chipped into pin on 10 and instead of going in, caromed off 10 feet away.


Career low was 66 at Nicklaus North. Hit every green but one. Was on fringe on a 200 yard par 3.

[Tommy Williamsen]

First time I broke 70 was at Brookhaven CC outside of Dallas. I birdied 18 to do it. First time breaking 70 at my home club was in Club Championship. I ended up shooting 67 and it realistically could have been 63. Missed two four footers, left one on lip on 18, and chipped into pin on 10 and instead of going in, caromed off 10 feet away.

Wow Jim. Doing it in the club championship is a great place to do it.

[Andy Shulman]

I can't come close to topping that one, but can lend support to Bill's theory about shattering milestones.  I shot an 84(!) the first time I ever broke 90.  Then, I did it again a few weeks later, posting an 86 on the same course.


My first time breaking 80, though, was different.  Almost unbelievably, I had a triple and two doubles (that's 7 over on just three holes) and had to shoot one over on the back to post a 79.  That back 9 was either clutch (at least for me) or two hours of my life during which I was in the zone!

[Tommy Williamsen]

I guess I could have entitled this "the first time you reached a score milestone." The one I remember the most was when I shot my age for the first time. I had wanted to shoot my age before I turned 70. The resort where I live has a very user friendly Ed Ault course. I was playing in a little tournament with other guys from the Shenandoah Valley.  I was playing very well.On the twelfth tee I discovered I was two under. With only easy holes left I thought I'd shoot my age today. Twelve is the easiest hole on the course. I choked and made a dreadful bogie. Thirteen is an uphill long par five. I normally par it but between the tricky green and the length I rarely birdie it. I made a mess of the first three shots and had 100 yards in. I hit the shot. It took two bounces and went in for birdie. I was back to two under on my par 71 course. I made one more bogie going in but hit my tee shot to five feet on the par three 18th hole. It was a left to right putt. I rammed it home. 69.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Tommy,


I’d be interested to know the youngest person to have shot their age on a 6,000 yard+ course.


One for the Guinness Book of Records.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Tommy,


I’d be interested to know the youngest person to have shot their age on a 6,000 yard+ course.


One for the Guinness Book of Records.

Me too. I always felt that the requirement for shooting your age was to do it on a 6000 yard course. My course just made it at 6100 yards. At 75 I have played some courses at 5800 yards. It is hard to wrap my head around playing such a short course but if I hit a 220 yard drive I am happy.

[Rob Marshall]

Tommy,


I’d be interested to know the youngest person to have shot their age on a 6,000 yard+ course.


One for the Guinness Book of Records.

I have a friend who has done it over a hundred times. Plenty were over 6000 yards but I know he’s not playing that yardage now but he keeps counting.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Certainly Bernhard Langer must have shot his age? Wonder when was the first time he did it.

[Rob Marshall]

Certainly Bernhard Langer must have shot his age? Wonder when was the first time he did it.

I heard this week he played in 39 events this year. Amazing

[Mike Hendren]

My double-bogey (or worse) round from the tips at Sand Hills many moons ago remains memorable.  All I remember is that I played my backside off. 


Bogey

[Brad Lawrence]

I can’t remember any of these milestones. I started playing around age 11 and the game came very easy for me.  I immediately fell in love with the game and had to play every single day. Memory tells me I was breaking 90 almost immediately, 80 within a year, and 70 within several years. As a teenager, my mountain was making the tour and those seemed like insignificant accomplishments along the way. I had a decent college and amateur career, but obviously never made the big time. As I’ve gotten older and look back, I’ve learned to appreciate the successes, but thru the decades, I’ve been torn down and criticized, ridiculed and questioned by many guys they can’t break 80.

[Jim Franklin]

First time I broke 70 was at Brookhaven CC outside of Dallas. I birdied 18 to do it. First time breaking 70 at my home club was in Club Championship. I ended up shooting 67 and it realistically could have been 63. Missed two four footers, left one on lip on 18, and chipped into pin on 10 and instead of going in, caromed off 10 feet away.

Wow Jim. Doing it in the club championship is a great place to do it.

It was a crazy day for sure. One of my playing partners was a very good friend of mine and we spent quite a while looking for three of his tee shots on the first five holes. I think that relaxed me. I was 3 under through those five holes and missed a three foot putt on #4. My score was four shots better than the next best and we have a lot of really good players. It was certainly my best ball striking day ever.

[Kalen Braley]

First time I broke 70 was at Brookhaven CC outside of Dallas. I birdied 18 to do it. First time breaking 70 at my home club was in Club Championship. I ended up shooting 67 and it realistically could have been 63. Missed two four footers, left one on lip on 18, and chipped into pin on 10 and instead of going in, caromed off 10 feet away.

Wow Jim. Doing it in the club championship is a great place to do it.

It was a crazy day for sure. One of my playing partners was a very good friend of mine and we spent quite a while looking for three of his tee shots on the first five holes. I think that relaxed me. I was 3 under through those five holes and missed a three foot putt on #4. My score was four shots better than the next best and we have a lot of really good players. It was certainly my best ball striking day ever.

...and just like that, Jim's locker room nameplate was changed to "Jim 'Sandbagger' Franklin" 

[Michael Felton]

Certainly Bernhard Langer must have shot his age? Wonder when was the first time he did it.

I thought I read he had just done it for the first time in competition. He shot 63 and is 64. He's probably done it in practice earlier, but he also probably doesn't often play courses at 6100 yards. I'd be surprised if anyone has beaten him by more than 2 or 3 years and even that is a serious stretch. Hale Irwin was playing top quality senior tour golf for a long time. He could be up there too.