Breaking 80: A Practical Guide & Tips to Consistently Break 80 in Golf

Breaking 80 consistently is hard work.

There are some key skills that need to be developed in order to learn how to break 80 in golf and then do it on a daily or weekly basis.

Shooting 78 one time is too much of a tease. If you have done it once, you can do it again.

We will show you the key skills you are missing, some great drills to work on, and how you can start breaking 80 in golf consistently.

How to Break 80 in Golf (Key Takeaways)

To break 80 in golf, you have to develop a course management plan, be in good physical condition, understand the role of the wrists in the golf swing, and work on hitting fairways and greens in regulation, but most importantly, you have to change your mindset on the golf course.

Here are the six most important things you can do to break 80 in golf:

• Develop a practice plan.
• Set a goal that you can achieve (you can do this in pieces).
• Learn to control the clubface using the proper wrist positioning.
• Strengthen your mental game.
• Know how to react when the plans change.
• Dedicate the time.

How to Break 80 in Golf Consistently

Every golfer and golf professional goes about the process of breaking 80 differently.

However, these important steps in learning how to break 80 will all happen at some point in the process.

Know Your Game

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Do you know how far you hit each of your clubs? Not how far you want to hit them or how far you should hit them, but how far they all go.
• Do you know what your miss is?
• How about your strengths and your weaknesses?

To break 80 consistently, you have to dive deeply into who you are as a player, what makes your game great, and what makes it not so great.

Begin taking notes after each practice session and maintain a journal of your data.

The key is to identify what parts of your game need the most work.

Eliminate Penalty Strokes

Breaking 80 gets a lot harder when your tee shot goes OB or finds water. Want fewer penalty strokes?

Start with better driver control. Your wrists control the clubface.

The best players follow a consistent wrist pattern—slight extension at setup, flexion at impact. That’s how they hit it straighter and keep big numbers off the card.

Here’s a quick drill to help ensure better wrist and body action for better drives and less penalty strokes:

Control the Clubface

When you first started playing, it probably felt like you were just swinging a club, grip it, rip it, and hoping for the best. It might’ve even felt like baseball or hockey.

But as you improve, the focus shifts. It’s not just about swinging the club; it’s about what the clubface is doing at impact.

If you want to break 80, that’s where your attention needs to be.

• The clubface angle at impact (square, open, or closed) determines your shot shape.
• That angle is controlled by your wrists.
• Golfers who break 80 consistently understand and manage this relationship.

Developing a Practice Plan

With golf, you can’t break 80 unless you put the time in and develop a plan. At some point, your game may be good enough to walk up to the first tee and shoot 79, even when you don’t play well.

However, this takes time.

One of the best things you can do is create a structured driving range practice plan to improve your skills.

The practice plan should include a certain amount of time that will go into your game each week, as well as various areas of the game to work on.

Go back to your golf game analysis and the reasons you came up with for why you don’t break 80. Whatever this is, be it chipping, putting, or the driver, make this about 40% of your practice time.

The rest of the time should be split up into different areas of the golf game.

Check the Equipment

Your golf clubs are your tools. You get 14 in the bag, and you have to choose them wisely.

What’s more important than the technology in a golf club is how well it fits your game. For shorter or taller players, the lie angle may need to be adjusted. Faster or slower swing speeds might require a different shaft.

The key is finding something that matches your game. Club fitting has become more accessible and far more accurate. If you haven’t used a launch monitor or any type of golf tech to check your setup, now is the time.

Make the tweaks you can to the clubs you already own so you feel confident stepping onto the course and shooting in the 70s.

Improve Physical Fitness

Today’s PGA Tour players are stronger, more flexible, and more physically prepared than ever—and for good reason.

When your body moves well and stays pain-free, golf gets easier. You’ll have more energy on the back nine, more speed off the tee, and a better chance of staying consistent from the first hole to the last.

In this video below, you’ll find five simple exercises that can help you move better and play better.

Mental Game Improvement on the Course

The better you get at golf, the more influential the mental game becomes.

PGA Tour golfers can all hit the ball far and straight, but the ones with the better mental game can win week in and week out.

To consistently break 80, you must focus your mental game around being positive and only allowing positive thoughts on the golf course.

These are my top tips for how to improve your mental game to perform better on the course.

• Always stay positive, regardless of the shot you hit, you will always make a few poor swings. Move on from them and make the next shot better.
• Overcome your fears. Head out to the golf course late in the afternoon, go to all of the spots that you find to be the most difficult, and overcome your fears.
• Control your emotions, no club throwing, no lashing out. Take a deep breath and move on.
• Visualize each shot and tell yourself that you can pull it off. Positive self-talk and visualization, combined, are quite powerful.

Start Placing Your Tee Shots

Breaking 80 isn’t just about hitting the fairway—it’s about hitting the right part of it. To make approach shots easier, you need control over your shot shape.

That starts with better backswing mechanics and face control.

Here’s a quick drill to help you create a more square clubface and eliminate the weak slice:

Make the Same Putting Stroke Every Time

Take a closer look at your putting stroke, from one hole to the next, or one round to the next. If you’re like most golfers, there’s some inconsistency, and it usually comes from the wrists.

Even pros have minor wrist movement in the stroke. The difference? They keep it consistent.

After analyzing over 1,000,000 putting strokes, we’ve found that the best putters repeat their wrist action with minimal variation, and that’s what leads to better roll, direction, and speed control.

Here’s a quick drill to help you quiet the wrists and improve your stroke:

Leave Yourself Uphill Putts

The easiest putts to make in golf are uphill. If you’re trying to break 80 consistently, make it a priority to leave yourself uphill putts whenever possible.

When approaching a green, don’t just aim at the pin, use a GPS or rangefinder to identify a smart landing area that gives you the best chance for an uphill look. That might mean aiming slightly short, long, left, or right of the flag.

As you get closer to the green, especially on chips and pitches, take the time to plan your landing spot.

One of the simplest and most effective strategies:

Walk up to the hole, find your ideal landing area, and walk back to your ball. For anything inside 15–20 yards, it’s a small effort that can lead to lower scores.

Be Aggressive When It Makes Sense

Aggressive golf can get you in trouble. However, making a birdie or two in a round is a really great way to keep your score under 80. There are times when getting aggressive makes sense.

Here are a few things to walk through in your mind before you play the aggressive shot.

• Do you trust the yardage?
• Is there trouble?
• What is the lie?

If you trust the yardage, the trouble is nowhere near where you normally hit it, and you have a clean lie, go ahead and get aggressive. Fire at a pin and see if you can hit it close.

As long as your aggressiveness doesn’t cost you that double bogey, pull it out when the time is right.

Vary the Shots You Hit Around the Greens

Most golfers carry three or four wedges, and if you want to break 80 consistently, you should know how to use each one.

Learn to hit both high and low shots with every wedge in your bag. Practice full swings, half swings, and calculate your carry distances. This gives you 8+ options from 100 yards and in, a huge advantage on the course.

But shot variety isn’t just about distance, it’s also about wrist control and knowing when you’re chipping vs. pitching:

• Chipping (low, short shot): Keep the shaft more upright and the wrists stable with slight ulnar deviation (wrists angled down). This creates a predictable, simple motion, ideal just off the green.
• Pitching (higher, softer shot): Add radial deviation (wrist hinge upward) and lead wrist extension to keep the face open and launch the ball higher with more spin.

The best players have a variety of wedge shots and they know how to choose the right one at the right time. Learn these key wrist motions, and you’ll give yourself more chances to get up and down.

Use Technology

When learning how to break 80 consistently, you will want some kind of distance-measuring device.

Whether a GPS unit or a laser rangefinder, it is essential to have a very good idea of how far you are from the hole.

In addition, when you are working on your game, incorporating tools like HackMotion into your practice routine can give you more awareness.

HackMotion is a device that measures your wrist angle at setup, the top of the backswing, and at impact. Even the best players in the game realize that their wrist position is often responsible for the improper clubface angle at impact.

If you struggle to make a consistent impact, your wrist angle may be the cause of the problem.

One of the great benefits of using technology like HackMotion as part of your practice routine is that it allows you to practice independently while still checking on progress in real time.

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Level 1

Release drill Train your release before working on other aspects of your swing

Level 2

Dynamic transition drill Train your sequencing and pivot, as well as punch shots or your wedge game

Level 3

Impact full swing challenge Train your maximum power swing

Explore HackMotion Today

Smart Decisions Lead to Lower Scores

Smart golfers shoot lower scores.

It’s as simple as that.

If your golf ball is buried in the rough behind two trees and you think the 3 wood is the best decision, you are not ready to break 80 consistently.

Golfers who shoot in the 70s make plenty of mistakes, but they recover quickly and get a bogey on a bad hole.

Bad decisions lead to the 7’s and 8’s on the scorecard.

FAQs

Here are a few of the most commonly asked questions about how to break 80 in golf.

How long does it take to break 80 in golf?

For golfers who commit to a practice plan and are serious about shooting lower scores, breaking 80 can happen in one to two years.

However, some people play their entire lives and can never break 80.

What is your handicap if you shoot 80?

Golfers who shoot 80 have a handicap of around 8, and golfers who consistently break 80 have single-digit handicaps.

Is it easy to break 80 in golf?

Breaking 80 in golf is not easy if you have any inconsistency in your game.

Once you develop a consistent swing that hits the center of the clubface often, breaking 80 becomes much easier.

Summary

Hopefully, you now have a better idea of how to break 80 and how your game can change by becoming a little more intentional and focused.

There is no reason not to start on this project today; start working on your mental strategy, or go hit a few balls with your least favorite club in the bag.

Great golfers put the work in, and now that you have all the details you need to break 80, you can do it too.