Review of Breaking 80
I can hit the ball pretty straight. Not long. But straighter than most. I’m not that strong, so if I don’t force it, I am a finesse player when it comes to golf. I also live pretty close to a pitch and putt par 3. With my already unimpressive golf skills hampered by my recent surgery, pitch and putt might just be my new bread and butter. Which sucks, because it should have been my old bread and butter. But I digress.
By Adam Faraca, bad golfer
8/5/20253 min read


I have a shelf or two or three of golf books. Enough that I have a little library of classic golf books. I still buy more. My most recent is The Little Book of Breaking 80, which is a short read about course management. It reads kind of like those recipe books where the author shares long stories and personal anecdotes while including a recipe now and then. Only the recipe is for lowering your golf score. The thesis is simple and agreeable, golf is a target sport, and the best way to lower one’s score, regardless of skill level is to focus on course management. I agree. Completely.
I plan to get The Elements of Scoring by Ray Floyd and Golf by Design, which both also focus on course management. Most golf media is all about swing. I will die on the hill of Dave Stockton’s Unconscious Putting being the best putting book there is, and the PGA’s Get Golf Ready lesson package being just enough fundamentals for anyone who wants to learn how to swing a club. Past that, the YouTube videos, magazines, hell even Ben Hogan’s book, are only of minimal help and can even be hindering. Learn the basics of a swing, then focus on course management. Then watch your score lower, probably dramatically.
I have a 2002 Scotty Cameron. My other putter is a Ben Hogan Bettinardi collab. I was insanely good with a putter for a while. I’m still alright, but I lost that aspect of my game. I need to find it again. Unconscious Putting remains my go to, thought I also have a copy of Zen Putting and probably several other books. Most amateurs probably average somewhere between 2-2.5 putts per hole. Nothing to be ashamed of, but nothing to be proud of. Suppose you average 2.5, that’s 45 putts per round. At my best I probably averaged 1.33. 24 putts. A difference of 21 strokes if you are keeping score. The simplest way to lower your score and to execute course management is to be cold as ice with your putter. How you do that is up to you, but doing it matters. It is also the area of your game where practice makes perfect.
For years, my goal was to go 18 without losing a ball. I once got to the tee shot at 17 at Songbird Hills. That seemed like as close as I was ever going to get. What a dumb white whale! Now I regularly go 18 with the same ball. I expect to. My golf ball expense has gone down considerably. I even retire balls. I’ll try to get 27 or 36 out of a ball, but if it is not perfectly round, or scuffed, I’ll put ‘er down like Old Yeller. I don’t quite have the confidence to tee off on one with a single sleeve, but I probably could if I wanted to. I break tees like all the time. Want to break 80? Don’t lose your ball.
Learn to chip. It isn’t that hard. High handicappers miss chips all the time. If you can chip, like even a little, you can avoid hazards around greens by simply chipping over them. Nobody’s approach shots are perfect. Laying up and chipping might now be sexy or follow the grip it and rip it ethos, but control it and chip it will result in fewer lost balls and more greens in regulation. Short game and course management are the areas to master to get the score down. You don’t need to drive it 300+. Spend more time at the pitch and putt than at the range. Take just enough lessons to have a decent swing. I swear by Get Golf Ready. That’s basically it. Do those things and your score will improve, and you’ll have more fun. The Little Book of Breaking 80 is worth a read. It might not make you break 80, but it might.