Hi D:

Hit something off the tee that keeps you in play, and, SHORT GAME, SHORT GAME, SHORT GAME. Not having penalties or punch outs off the tee saves the average golfer several strokes/round. If you two putt every green that is 36 strokes. If your chipping and putting, especially from 6' in, get better, that number comes down to 30 strokes or less/round. That gets you very close.

If I could consistently hit my approach shots, I would be joining you. Wedge game good. Approach irons, a train wrench. Lack of speed. I lost at least ten shots plus yesterday due to lousy approach shots. Sick, sick, sick. Practice is not in the cards at this time. Was breaking 90 and then the bottom fell out. Where are your weaknesses? Where are you loosing strokes? I play three days a week and can tell you where I lost strokes every time I play. Find the time to work on that area of your game. If that does not work, see a teaching pro. I have a teacher, just cannot practice right now.

All short game.

My key is trying to avoid the big number. I shot 80 last week with 2 double bogeys. Change one of them to just a bogey and I would have been there. Big numbers are my nemesis.

Consistent short game practice is going to translate in lower scores...without a doubt. Another thing to consider is proper course management. To break 80 you really need to keep the double bogeys and 3 putts off the card...period.

In my experience breaking 90 is primarily a good short game coupled with course management. If you play bogey golf, which can be achieved by hitting a hybrid off the tee, iron from the fairway, and then a chip and two putts on the vast majority of par fours, you only need to hit the green and two putt on a single hole to shoot 89. Breaking 80 is a bit of a different story. This requires an increase in the precision of the scorning clubs to allow a birdie opportunity and tap in par from 150 yards and closer to the hole.
My advice would be to start with ladder drills in the putting green (make three putts in a row from 3’, 5’, and 7’ and if you miss start over from 3’). Progress to achieving a second tee club that can hit any fairway you’re presented with and learn to move the ball both directions with it. Once those are mastered you should be consistently shooting in the mid to low 80’s. Then it becomes about honing your 8 iron through wedges. It’s boring practice, but will transform your game. This, is the quickest way to get into shooting in the 70s consistently.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I am never going to hit the green in regulation, so it all boils down to chipping and putting. That’s all I work on these days. I broke into the 70s recent for the first time is days. Felt great and it was all short game and I he hit a few greens!

From my perspective, the biggest change in my game scoring wise came when I started focusing my practice from a 120 in. Obviously, all parts of the game need focus, but if you can focus on sharping your shots from 120 in and on the green you will see DRASTIC impacts on your scoring. And if you think about it, Putting on green practice 100% needs to be a major focus because the bulk of your score comes from there.

Once I started that, became very easy to get my scoring down and around scratch.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the perspective. I have a couple of par 3 courses and I should play those more often than regulation courses. It’s all short game practice so I can get more scoring shots in an hour than 2 hours walking 9 regulation holes. Hitting wedges on a range isn’t as useful. Having a good look at up and from 70 yards and in would be a game changer for GIR+ situations.

Remember, breaking 80 is about +8 over par (all pars and 8 bogeys). Less room for errors and blow ups. They say it's only about 2% of golfers.
Identify your weaknesses. With Arccos or other devices - they will show you. I still keep track of Fairways/Greens In Regulation/Number of Putts.

If you aren't hitting 8-10+ Fairways, might want to figure out how you can best do that (less than driver or range time). Especially if you are taking penalty strokes for out-of-bounds off the tee.

If you aren't hitting 8-10+ Greens In Regulation, determine why. Left/Right misses - might be alignment at setup. Short/Long misses - work on knowing your yardage and the actual yardage to the green and flag (don't just guess). Either way, probably means range time hitting to targets vs working only on your swing.

If you have more than two (2) 3+ putts during a round, more work on putting (especially lag putting) and short game (chipping and bunkers) to get it closer to the flag. Obviously, we all need more work here.

Good luck on your journey.

The easiest way is to stop emphasizing the result. To many that might not make sense, but you have to stop focusing on the score, just make good decisions and swings. Play the percentages. I'm working on the next milestone down from you, and it's HARD! Just relax, and play golf, it'll come when you least expect it!

The best tip that I can give you is that if you are really serious about this is to go see a PGA Teaching Pro that you can work with. He will guide you to your goal.

For me, aside from lessons to get my swing more consistent, a lot of it came down to improving my short game and putting. I quite enjoy short game practice so it's not something I struggle to do regularly. Improving accuracy off the tee is also important because constantly punching out of trees or whatever wastes a lot of shots that could be going on or near the green if they were in play to begin with.

The other thing that helped me was to completely ignore the scorecard during the round. I'd had a few rounds before I did break 80 where I knew I was on track to do it only to fall in a heap on the last couple of holes because of the pressure I put on myself.

Also not getting too upset with bad shots, or letting it go quickly. Like if (when) I miss the green it doesn't bother me too much because I'm confident that I can chip it close, sometimes it even goes in.

Just to echo what others have already said on here but keep track of your stats. Learning where you are losing shots is massive. You might be surprised between the difference in what you think costs you vs reality.

As well as this, figure out how much time you have to practice and how to make the most of that time. Better to have one hour of focused practice vs 3 hours of just mindlessly hitting golf balls.

Like others have already said, work on that short game. Learn how to play from 120 in, practice getting up and down, learning how to minimize any silly three putts. You can create little challenges for yourself on these to add a little pressure to the practice.

When on the course, just take your medicine. No need for hero or miracle shots, just put yourself back in play and go from there. There's no need to be aiming for tight pins just middle of the green will do.

Good luck!