How to break 105 in golf

Breaking 105 needs no pars: fourteen doubles and four bogeys is 104. The round is decided by the holes worse than a double, which is a penalty problem, and the published tables price the penalty at two strokes. On the benchmark model a 104 is 33 strokes over the tour average, and 21.5 of them sit in the long game.

What a 104 is made of

A 104 is thirty two over. Fourteen doubles and four bogeys gets there with no pars at all, so the target is a card with no triples: every tee shot in play and every long putt lagged close.

Ways to shoot 104 on a par 72

Ways to shoot 104 on a par 72
Pars	Bogeys	Doubles
0	4	14
1	2	15
2	0	16

Where the strokes come from

Bogeys are two shots to the green area and two putts, and the published table says the average player is expected to do about that from most approach distances: from 150 yards in the fairway the tour average needs 2.945 strokes, so a bogey from there is only 0.06 worse than the average. A 104 is built by keeping every hole to that shape, which means a tee shot in play and a first putt lagged inside 3 feet.

An approach from 150 yards, by finish

An approach from 150 yards, by finish
Finish	Expected putts	Approach worth
10 feet	1.626	+0.32
15 feet	1.784	+0.16
20 feet	1.878	+0.07
25 feet	1.931	+0.01
30 feet	1.984	-0.04
40 feet	2.058	-0.11

Cutting the median finish from 40 feet to 25 is worth 0.13 of a stroke per approach.

What is off limits

Each mistake below costs a full stroke or more on the published baseline. A round that breaks 105 can afford a few; a round that does not usually contains one more penalty or one more three putt than the card allowed.

Mistakes that cost a stroke or more

Mistakes that cost a stroke or more
Mistake	Cost in strokes
A tee shot out of bounds on a 400 yard hole	2.05
Three putting from 20 feet	1.12
Three putting from 30 feet	1.02

How the round is measured

A 104 in strokes gained shows where it came from: the long game carries 21.5 of the 33 strokes over the tour average on the benchmark model, the short game 6.6 and putting 5.0. Against a 32 handicap lens the same round reads close to zero; against the Tour lens it reads the gap. The lens shows the round on your scale; the categories show what to repeat.

In PinFlag

On the course PinFlag prices every target before you swing with your own dispersion, so the line that risks a penalty is priced against the safe one on your real spread. Afterwards Insights shows approach proximity by band and club, three-putt frequency, the putting heat map and Score Killers, which for a golfer breaking 105 is the card that matters most.

Frequently asked questions

How many pars do you need to break 105?

0 pars and 4 bogeys with 14 doubles, or 2 pars, 0 bogeys and 16 doubles at the other end of the table. Every double bogey costs a par and a bogey.

What handicap breaks 105?

A 104 on a par 72 is a 32 handicap’s modeled round, and a typical day sits three to five strokes above the index, so golfers with an index near 28 break 105 regularly.

Is breaking 105 about putting?

Less than it feels. Putting carries about 15 percent of the gap to a tour field on the published split; a three putt from 40 feet costs 0.94 strokes, which is why the lag putt matters, but the strokes are in the long game.

How much does one penalty cost a round of 104?

A tee shot out of bounds on a 400 yard hole costs 2.05 strokes on the published table, which on its own turns a 104 into a 106.

Which golf app does this on the course?

PinFlag, on iPhone. It prices any target on the hole you are playing before you swing, with your own dispersion and the lie read from the course map, draws your real shots on the hole with Shot Cloud, logs a shot in two taps with nothing to buy, and breaks every round down shot by shot. Golfer is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year with a 14-day trial on the annual plan through the App Store.

Sources

Every figure on this page is computed from the published baselines, the same ones PinFlag prices your shots with. The scope of the figures: Compositions are arithmetic on a par 72 with pars, bogeys and doubles; the shot values are the published tour baseline and the benchmark model’s split by handicap.

Get PinFlag for iPhone

PinFlag shows you this number on the course, for the shot in front of you, before you swing: any target priced with your own dispersion and the lie read from the course map, your real shots drawn on the hole, and two taps to log. Golfer is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, with a 14-day trial on the annual plan through the App Store.

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