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Putting approach for birdie?

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Lynchburg14

Lynchburg14

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Playing the other day with my buddy he committed that I can't make the birdie if I don't get the ball to the hole. I had 5 pars all were solid birdie putts that I left just short for a tap in. I told him that I was thinking that it was better to try and just get the ball to the hole and if it did not go in then I have a tap in. The one time I really went after one I hit by by 2 feet and missed the par putt back. If I was a better putter as some on here are, then I guess I would have more confidence in trying to give it a chance every time, instead of playing it safe.

So do you go after the birdie or just try and get there leaving a guaranteed par if you miss.
 
I always putt best when I am not worried about making the come back putt if I miss. I think there is something in the old adage "can't leave a birdie putt short".
 
Howzat said:
I always putt best when I am not worried about making the come back putt if I miss. I think there is something in the old adage "can't leave a birdie putt short".
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Took more of that approach today and made 4 of them.
 
For me it falls back to the approach shot, always leave the ball below the hole. Uphill puts are much easier than downhill on our slick greens.
 
Easier to just treat it like any other putt, cause if you go into the putt scared of it, you'll have no chance of making it. If your pace is good, your next putt will be close enough to tap in anyway.
 
Doesn't it sort of matter how long the putts were? If I have 20 footer for birdie and I'm slightly short it doesn't bother me too bad but if I leave a 5 footer short I get really upset with myself!
 
Uzumati said:
For me it falls back to the approach shot, always leave the ball below the hole. Uphill puts are much easier than downhill on our slick greens.
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For what it's worth, the physics of this suggest the opposite. If the ball already has some downward velocity, it effectively makes the hole larger - while uphill putts effectively have a smaller hole. I imagine if you think about the number of times you've had an uphill putt horseshoe and come back to you vs. the number of times that's happened downhill, you will agree.

Uphill putts are easier to two-putt though.
 
RNG said:
Doesn't it sort of matter how long the putts were? If I have 20 footer for birdie and I'm slightly short it doesn't bother me too bad but if I leave a 5 footer short I get really upset with myself!
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I feel the same way
 
Howzat said:
I always putt best when I am not worried about making the come back putt if I miss. I think there is something in the old adage "can't leave a birdie putt short".
Click to expand...

This is it for me, since switching flat sticks this year I don't worry about the come backer. Granted twice over the weekend I blew it by quite a bit hahaha. So that was a bit of a tester to which I was 50%. But typically I know if I miss I'll be inside a comfort zone.
 
I putt the best when I try to make everything, what I mean is, instead of lagging one close, I'm trying to make every putt, even the long ones, and rarely do I leave myself in a bad spot. Granted I will run one by every now and then, but when I worry about getting one close or leaving a putt here or there, I usually leave it way short.
 
I've been putting much better pretending the hole is 1 foot in size. If I can put it in the zone, particularly from 15+ feet then I seem to be making more birdies or pars. As a 17 handicapper sometimes I feel like a par is as good as a birdie and as a result my handicap even over winter has started steadily coming down. Just a thought I've been using that seems to work for me.
 
Depends on how long. Of its over 20 feet I don't want to run it too far by. Under 20 feet and I am confident that if I miss I will be able to tap it in.
 
I have been working on getting my putts past the hole. Seem to score better when I try to make instead of just trying to get them close.
 
No chance of holing the putt if it doesn't even make it to the hole. Sometimes it's a better play to just try to get it in the vicinity but more often than not you gotta give it a run.
 
I try and make every single putt I line up for. Lag or placement is not in my bag.
 
Confucius say ... ball that does not reach hole, have absolutely NO chance of going in. :banana:

With that being said, I try to Make everything (depending on severity of slope). You should be concentrating on the putt at hand & not worrying about the comebacker if you happen to miss. It's all about confidence. You have to be confident that you can make anything, then you will start to get balls to the hole more often & not worry about the one coming back. I'm not content on making easy par's all day ... I want to go low ... so the only way is to make the birdies.

Let me ask you ... if that same putt was for a scrambler Par, would it have been hit with anymore force? Would you have tried to make sure you got it to the hole?
 
I hate leaving putts short, but there are circumstances when it may not be bad to err on the side of short (e.g. a steep slope past the hole that guarantees a comeback putt will be 10+ feet and tricky to read).
 
Thought bubble while putting: "Don't leave it short or my buddies will call me names"
 
there's no putt coming back if you make the first one....anything inside 20 feet i'm looking to make it, don't care what the end result is of the first putt if it's not in. I'm focused on making the putt i'm currently hitting.


*work in progress lol
 
I always try to let the ball die into the hole, while I am not a bad putter I certainly like a stress free par.
 
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