Good afternoon TT-
After years of playing, and years of struggling in the 80s, I am pleased to report that I finally carded my first round in the 70s with a 78. Used my trusty full bag of Titleist clubs and a pro v1x to make it happen.
I know that a lot of people like me struggle to get past this barrier so I will take this opportunity to point out a few things I noticed:
(1) Drive the ball in play. I had one double on the score card and that is the one hole I drove the ball out of play. Normally, I have a few of these a round which will kill your scorecard. The other advantage here was that I had a visible approach shot on every hole. I was fortunate to be on an open course so even when I drove it in the rough, I still had shots at the hole so my "misses" were not bad. This set up great chances for a lot of GIRs.
(2) Hit GIRs. I am not sure how many I had, but it had to be somewhere between 8 to 10 GIRs. The iron dispersion on my AP2s was tight. So when I felt like I missed a shot, I was still making a good swing and either landed on the green or within a close chip. I was lucky in that I didn't even need to get up and down during the round that much because I was hitting somewhere on the green. Also, the advantage of hitting the GIRs is that you get a few that will land close enough to give you the bird (carded 2 this round).
(3) Don't be scared to lay up short if the situation calls for it. Going into the final hole, a 210 yard par 3, I had never been more nervous standing above the ball. I had to clear 170 yards of water. Normally, I would have hit my 4 iron to get to the pin. However, I decided to go with the 5 because I knew I had confidence I could clear 170 and even though I would be short, I could bump and run it for a par or bogey worse. I eliminated the bad 4 iron shot that I would hook or skull into the water. I ended up missing the put and getting the bogey, but it took a double/triple out of play, which was what I needed to card the 78. (I'm happy that hole is over).
Overall, good luck to all those struggling like me. Now I will struggle to get a second round in the 70s. Can't wait to get out there again! Thanks for all your help TT!