Breaking 85 is a great goal for a lot of golfers. As someone who sort of hovers around this each round, it’s a good gauge with where you are as a golfer — not quite playing bogey-golf, but also not yet breaking 80.
It’s sort of the most average golfer, to be honest. You don’t need to hit every fairway, stick every approach shot, or suddenly get hot with the putter to hit 85 — you just need to avoid making a few mistakes — which is often the difference between shooting 89 and 84.
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How to Break 85 in Golf More Consistently
If you already have some fundamentals but can’t seem to get your scores any lower, the problem might not be your golf swing.
So instead of going through a full swing reboot and tinkering with things that don’t need a whole lot of fixing, just look at some of the golf tips below — which come from top-ranked golf teacher Mark Durland — who explains the common mistakes he sees from golfers trying to break 85.
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Stop Giving Away Penalty Strokes
Nothing wrecks a scorecard faster than hitting one out of bounds, re-teeing and suddenly fighting to save double-bogey.
Durland’s advice is simple: You don’t always need driver.
If there’s trouble around the landing area, consider hitting a fairway wood or hybrid instead. You might sacrifice some distance, but keeping the ball in play gives you a much better chance to make par or bogey instead of bringing a big number into play.
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When you do need driver, Durland suggests creating a more controlled “fairway finder” by doing the following:
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Tee the ball slightly lower
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Move it a little farther back in your stance
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Swing at cruising speed instead of going all-out
You don’t need your longest drive of the day. You just need a ball that you can actually find.
Know Your Club Distances
If you ask an amateur how far they hit a 7-iron, you might hear something like “about 150 yards.”
But does it actually carry 150 yards? Or did it do it once on the driving range when there was tailwind and it tends to go about 135 yards?
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Durland doesn’t want guesses. Instead, he wants the exact number.
Total distance changes depending on how firm the course is, where the ball lands, and whether it catches a slope. Carry distance is much more predictable — it’s also one reason so many recreational golfers consistently come up short on greens.
That “150-yard 7-iron” might actually carry 137 and only reach 150 after rolling out.
Try to use a launch monitor, a golf app, or work with an instructor to learn your real carry numbers. Once you know them, club selection becomes much easier — and you’ll give yourself a better chance to hit more greens.
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Never Think About Your Final Score
This might be the easiest mistake to fix — but it takes discipline.
Instead of standing on the first tee thinking, “I need to shoot 84 today,” Durland recommends breaking your round into six three-hole stretches.
Your goal? Play each three-hole stretch in 2-over par. Do that six times and you shoot 84.
It also gives you some breathing room.
Make three pars in a row? You’ve bought yourself a couple of shots. Make a double-bogey? You don’t need to panic and immediately try to get those strokes back. Just reset and move on to the next three-hole stretch.
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Stop Missing Short Putts
You can do everything right from tee-to-green and still waste shots by missing putts from 3-to-5 feet — so Durland recommends turning these putts into a fun practice game.
During your next golf practice session, set up one putt from three feet, four feet and five feet. Treat each one like it’s for par and try to make all three, starting with the shortest, and then finishing with the 5-footer. It adds a little pressure instead of mindlessly rolling putts across the practice green.
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You don’t have to make everything to break 85. But turning a few frustrating three-putts into two-putts can change your score immediately.
Look, breaking 85 in golf isn’t necessarily about hitting better golf shots. For many players, it’s simply about eliminating the dumb mistakes that turn bogeys into doubles, or pars into bogeys.
Keep the ball in play, know your actual distances, top obsessing over your final score, and clean up the short putts. Start doing those four simple things just a little bit better, and that 84 might be much closer than you think.
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Craving more golf swing tips and golf instruction? Be sure to follow Nick Dimengo on Instagram, and subscribe to Rainmakers Golf on YouTube for more relatable swing advice to help your game improve.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Aug 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the Golf section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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