What Percent Of Golfers Break 70? – And How You Can Do It!

Do you want to know what percentage of golfers can break 70 consistently and how you can do it too?

So many golfers try and try again to get better at their game, and yet so few actually get anywhere close to breaking 70 in a decent length of time (anywhere from 5-7 years to maybe 10 or 15 years).

In this post, you’ll get a clear picture of how it is to break 70 consistently, the main challenges that you might face and what it takes to do so if you want to break 70 yourself.

Ready? Read on!

What Percent Of Golfers Break 70?

You’re probably thinking: “How many people actually break 70?”

Well, the answer is less than 0.6% of all golfers break 70.

Many golfers can break 70 within the first 5-10 years of playing golf, given they get serious and consistent at golf. As you get older and less able to play as much, the percentage for breaking 70 decreases even more rapidly. Golf is difficult, and many people find don’t put enough time into improving their game to the level to break 70 consistently.

Any seasoned golfer will say that breaking 70 is a superb score. In fact, looking at the chart below you’ll see how less than 0.6% of all golfers have a handicap that low. We’re talking about the very tip-top.

The next natural step is to know how your Handicap relates to the U.S golfing community, you can check out the table below.

Why do golfers find it hard to ever break 70?

Why do golfers find it hard to break 70 consistently? Here are some reasons:

• The average golfer does not have the right mental attitude, which often comes with being too serious about the game, while others are more relaxed and focused on having fun instead of just winning golf tournaments all the time.
• Many golfers flaw their short game and as a result, they miss great opportunities in order to make birdies or eagles on par fours by putting off-line shots into play instead of sending them straight to the hole.
• When you’re playing golf, you have to have the right equipment. You need to make sure your bag has everything you need to play a great game and be able to compete with other players. But what exactly does this mean? How can having the wrong equipment affect your game?
• Golf is a sport where consistency is key—if you’re not consistent, then you won’t break 70! And while it’s not the most critical factor in golf, having the right clubs will ease things down the line. Having the right clubs that adapt to each golfer’s preferences and style is very important.
• Take some time to get good quality clubs, that suit your playing style. This includes choosing clubs with the right weight, technology, the right shaft and proper grips.

How Long Does it Take to Break 70?

It takes a lot of practice to break 70 in golf. If you’re just starting out and have never played before, it will take a long time to get good enough to be capable of breaking 70.

A lot of golfers can break 70 within 5 to 10 years but this depends on how serious they are about improving their game, how much time they practice, and the quality of the practice. Having a coach beside you can drastically speed up the process of breaking the 70-stroke barrier.

How to become one of the elite golfers who can break 70 consistently

If you want to become one of those elite golfers who can break 70, there are a few things you need to do:

1. Hit fairways as frequently as possible. If you don’t have this part down, everything else will be for naught. Refining your tee-box game will ensure that you start each hole on the right foot. With plenty of room to approach the golf ball to the green and par or birdie that hole

Hitting more fairways means you’ll have shorter and easier approaches to the green. And we all know that the shorter the approach, the easier it is to make birdie or par. Secondly, hitting more fairways also means you’ll be missing fewer greens. If you constantly miss greens, you’re much more likely to end up with a bogey or double bogey.

Finally, hitting more fairways will help you break 70 on a more consistent basis. If you can do that, you’re well on your way to becoming a scratch golfer.

Perhaps you can sacrifice distance for a bit of control at the beginning and then increase power and distance back as you get hit more and more fairways.

2. Obsess about your putting and chipping. The next natural step after you consistently hit fairways with accuracy, is mastering the short game. This is where most amateur golfers fail miserably because they never practice these parts of their game enough (if at all).

A lot of pros suggest to double-down on the short game rather than running in all directions and fixing all the other technical aspects. Zero in on your short game.

3. Play competitive amateur events. These events provide an opportunity to test your skills against a number of golfers of similar abilities, which can help you identify areas of improvement and continue strengthening these.

In addition, competitive Amateur events typically have stricter rules than casual games, which forces players to abide by a more closely defined set of parameters. This can help improve your technique and course management skills.

This can be a very effective way of putting yourself in the spotlight face-to-face with other talented players and this surely increases your skills.

So if breaking 70 is your goal, be sure to sign up for some competitive amateur events. You just might find that it’s the key to taking your game to the next level.

To become an elite golfer, you need to work harder than the other 95% of golfers.

Be ready to outwork the other 95% of golfers. There are three things that set elite golfers apart:

• Practice: Elite golfers who break 70 practice more than most people realize and they focus on quality over quantity. For example, if your goal is to hit a good shot about 50% of the time from 180 yards out in the fairway, then you should aim for a par 4 instead of trying to shoot a birdie every time from 180 yards out.
• Swing: Elites have refined their swings so that they’re consistent and repeatable (or at least as consistent and repeatable as possible). If you want to break 70, it’s important that your swing speed be both repeatable and consistent because this will ensure that your game stays consistent no matter what course or weather conditions you play under. There are only so many variables in golf not to keep your shots consistent.
• Short Game: Short game is one of the critical factors when it comes to game improvement. If you’re going for distance off the tee but not hitting greens consistently enough then improving your short game will help improve those numbers significantly. Putting and chipping effectively can reduce your handicap drastically over time.
• Mental Game: One of the big components that lots of players miss. This is as important, if not more than the other technical parts of golf. Staying focused on your goal and consistently working on your weaknesses while maximizing your strengths is one of the hardest but most critical aspects of golf proficiency.

FAQ

How Many Birdies Do You Need To Shoot 70?

Golfers that break 70, are going to need a few birdies.

Now let’s talk about some numbers. Most golf courses have Par 72. Therefore, if we were playing an 18-hole course today with this rating, we’d need three birdies each round just to break even by not scoring above par for the course!

That means only getting one bogey per nine holes of play would leave us still below par for those nine holes; four bogeys would mean our score was eight above par instead.

Is The Par At Some Courses 70?

Yes, some courses have a par of 70. The most common is to find 72-par courses, although some courses also have 71 or even 73-par.

Coming back to the 70-par courses here are some to consider:

Is 77 a good golf score?

Well, it depends on the course you’re playing and what the conditions are like. If you have a 15 handicap and end up scoring 77, that’s an awesome round for you.

If you’re a 3 handicapper and score 77, that might not be the best round in your career but perhaps the golf score you’re playing at is far from easy… Say, the Ocean Course, Koolau Golf Club or Whistling Straits for instance.

What is the average handicap for a 70-year-old golfer?

The average score for someone over the age of 65 is 90 on a par 72 golf course.

To get average scores lower than 90, golfers need to play in leagues where there are few older players or those who don’t take their game seriously. If there are lots of older people in your league, they will tend to drag down the golfers average by throwing off your handicap system and making it harder for you to break 70.

What score does a 20 handicap shoot?

20-handicappers are usually considered high handicappers in golf. There is nothing wrong with this, especially if you haven’t played golf many times or play golf every now and then.

High handicappers will usually shoot bogeys or double-bogeys on many holes, hence creating a high score on their rounds. But this can be solved over time with practice and polishing the weaknesses.

To have an idea, a 20 handicapper will be expected to score 90 or more on a 72-par golf course. So scoring less than 90 will be a superb result and shows clear progress!

Wrapping Up

Hopefully, this has given you a better idea of what it takes to break 70 on the golf course.

You now know what to expect realistically in your journey to break 70 – Remember that it’s not only about fixing the swing or the short game, but also your mental game to stay focused and disciplined along the way.

So get out there, start practicing long drives, the short game and working on your mind too. Best of luck!