Still a great round Phil! I did this recently. Needed par on the 18th to shoot 79. The hole was a 175 yard par 3. I pulled the heck out of my tee shot. Wound up making double, shot an 81. I haven't broke 80 and I knew I was close so I was thinking too much about it and let everyone in my group know about it before I hit my tee shot. I got to stop knowing my score, those pressure shots are brutal.

I remember a couple of years ago before I actually did break 80 I was playing well and knew I was close but didn't know exactly what I had. I came to 18 and had a 6 footer for par. As I was lining it up my buddy says " hey if you make this you'll shoot 79". Of course I missed it and tapped in for 80. A good round for me but not the magic number. Don't know if I would have made it if I didn't know, but it did seem to make the putt look a lot longer than 6 feet.

Great round. Hopefully someday I will be standing on 18 looking to break 80.

The main reason I don't count my score until I'm done with the round is so that I don't add that kind of pressure to my game. I'll have a pretty good idea of whether I'm having a good round or not, but i'm quite often surprised by my final talley at the end of the round. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. I figure though, that if I have a good one going, and I encounter a situation like yours, I probably won't even know about it so I won't be thinking "Must ________" or anything like that.




Edit to add: Nice 81! That's solid. Maybe I'll get there one day.

Nice round.. no doubt u'll break 80 by the end of the year... just keep doin what ur doin

Thanks a lot guys. Id love to have that round again any day.

Anyone else have something like this happen to them. You've got to hit the shot. Just have to.

You'll get it done. I went into the 18th thinking I needed birdie to get my 79, but it turned out I only needed par. Which I got. I hate knowing what you need to get a certain score, but as your scores get lower, the harder it is to not have some sort of idea of where you stand.

Great sounding round , your getting close to breaking 80 and if you had your sticks 80 would have been a thing of the past.

I hate those pressure shots. The day I shot my PB for 9 holes of +1, I had a 6 foot putt for par on the last to shoot even par for the round. Of course I was thinking about it and of course I missed. Lol.

18th hole. Must hit this to break 80.
 

I avoided looking at my potential score for the last few holes, but I knew where I was headed. It was a good round. I didn't even have my 3-pw since they were off at Ping getting bent 2 upright. I had a set of 4-9 polished 845s that have been in my basement for ten years. I've only hit them on the range one time. Well that didn't matter since I only hit probably 7 shots in my 4-9 iron range. It was driver wedge most of the day. I avoided those irons as much as possible until the last hole.

I needed birdie on the par 5 no. 18 and it's pretty much a three shot green. Well I made the announcement on the tee and immediately faded my tee shot onto a hillside about 250. I've never played this course before and hit what i thought was a perfect layup but when I got to it, I was in my 7 iron range. Plus the ball was sitting down in a low spot in fairway. I knew I had to hit it close. Well, my yardage was dead on but I pushed it right of the green. A crappy pitch followed by a poor chip shot and I'm looking at a 12 footer for bogey. Drained it and shot a 81.

Someday I will break 80, but it wasn't going to be yesterday. I typically shoot 85-90 and I know EXACTLY why I nearly broke 80. I average 36.5 putts and 3.5 penalty strokes. I ended up with 30 putts and 0 penalty strokes. I played with the same ball all day. It was kind of nice. Plus my R11S feels amazing and I'm super confident standing on the tee box. That thing is a missile launcher and feels amazing.

Back to that 7 iron that I just HAD to hit close. I started to get nervous over the ball and it got to me. I HAD to hit this shot and I've never swung this club before. I wish I had my Pings back. Oh well, I had a great day and can't wait To go back out.

Tough break GP.. Solid round though!

You might not have broken 80 but it sounds like you had a great round nonetheless.

I was in your hometown just down the street. It was at Kings Island Grizzly Course (North to West). I'm sure you know the hole. Not overly tough but I didn't hit the right tee shot, layup, approach, pitch, chip, etc. The putt was good though!

Plus its a par 71 so I get that one free shot to break 80!

Dude it's a great round regardless. You will break 80 one day, just a matter of time

Sounds like you had a great round nonetheless. Keep practicing and it will happen for you. It's great feeling to break 80 for the first time.