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Birdie mentality.

I play very streaky as a player. I tend to go at the pin frequently and when on, the birdies come in droves. I usually can see those rounds where I get 5 or 6 birdies coming. They usually come at a time where I am hitting the 10 ft putts well and draining those putts regularly. They also tend to come when I play tougher courses with fast greens. Usually, it doesn't last very long as one stray approach can make me very conservative going forward. I tend to real it back in rather than keep going at pins when that happens. SO I would venture to say that mentality is a major factor in making birds. If you can get your mind set to be super aggressive and pull the swings off, you can go low...
 
What I'm getting from this thread is to recognize opportunities for YOUR set of skills.

If you hit a sand wedge 88-1/2 yards all the time. Then you approach the teebox for a par 3 and it says 88-1/2 yards and your rangefinder verifies it.

Go for it, hope for a hole-in-one, know it will be a birdie.

That same guy that helped me with putting, also worked on my course management.

If I hit one behind the trees, we went over on the cart and accessed the situation.

He would suggest a 30 foot chip back in the middle of the fairway. If I were to try and go thru the trees, it could bounce back farther and then I wouldn't even have the opportunity for the 30 ft chip back into the fairway.

Sure I could try a hero shot, but it wasn't televised with anyone watching, I couldn't repeat it every time from that spot, and it would only be 2 strokes difference on my scorecard.

So why gamble.

So it is about recognizing opportunities that apply to you. With my current skills it is more luck. With Freddie Kongs, he gets more opportunities because he is faced with shots he KNOWS he can make, then make the putt on the next shot.

I would love to watch Freddie and some of you others play golf.

Jack
 
I agree with those that feel it is a combination of both. I know which holes I can try and go for a birdie one, such as which par 5's to maybe try for the green in 2 or which ones to be safe on. I also know certain par 4's to just play safe and do my best to get it on the green in 2 and not try for certain pins. Having the mental confidence to go for some of those birdie holes definitely pays off and it keeps me from taking chances I shouldn't on other tough holes that could end up costing me more strokes.
 
Thedoswells said:
Biggest issue is putting. At the weekend I had 6 putts that I estimate were between 4 and 6 feet. Ok, only 2 were for birdies, but I didn't make any of them. I just don't believe I can do it..
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In this instance I feel that your negative thoughts are holding you back and more than likely your skill level. Either you don't read the greens well and your speed doesn't match. Couple this with a strong level of doubt and you are stuck dreading putts inside 10'. Only you know how you feel on putts over 10' but my guess is that its not good.
 
Tadashi70 said:
In this instance I feel that your negative thoughts are holding you back and more than likely your skill level. Either you don't read the greens well and your speed doesn't match. Couple this with a strong level of doubt and you are stuck dreading putts inside 10'. Only you know how you feel on putts over 10' but my guess is that its not good.
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This is exactly the case. Confidence and reading the putts poorly..
ive not played much over the years, last year being my first proper year, but it's been the same from the start. For some reason I always believe I (for example) will hit a green from 140 yards out. Of course I don't always, but I really believe I will. With putting I never believe I will make it. In my best ever score of 1 over, I still only made 1 putt over 4 feet. I just happened to hit the ball into 2 putt range regularly that day, with 1 birdie..
i have just started a series of lessons, where I'm concentrating on short game. Had one so far focussing on chipping, and then I'm going to move to putting. Hopefully I can marry better technique with a better mentality and it will get better...
if I could putt like Steve Stricker......
thanks for your thoughts...
 
Not sure if it's lack of a birdie mentality or what for me, but I figured I throw this in here. I've noticed over the past 6 months or so that I don't make many birdies. I can make a truck load of pars but just seem to struggle with making up ground. I know I have the physical abilities to go lower. It has to be a mental thing, but I don't know where to look honestly.
 
T2GRN18 said:
Not sure if it's lack of a birdie mentality or what for me, but I figured I throw this in here. I've noticed over the past 6 months or so that I don't make many birdies. I can make a truck load of pars but just seem to struggle with making up ground. I know I have the physical abilities to go lower. It has to be a mental thing, but I don't know where to look honestly.
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It's weird. Some days I know at the start of a round that I won't be making any birdies, and other days I make them in bunches. Likewise, I will go a few weeks without any, and then pile them up.
 
Erky said:
It's weird. Some days I know at the start of a round that I won't be making any birdies, and other days I make them in bunches. Likewise, I will go a few weeks without any, and then pile them up.
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I think for me I play a little to safe, and not attack pins that I should be. Not sure though, but it's something I have on the radar of things to look at.
 
I think there is some mentality to it and some of that mentality is based in preparation.

Today, I had a couple of hours before I could tee off and I went to the short game practice area and practice chipping from just off the green. I've been screwing that up a lot lately decelerating on short chips and I really wanted to work on that. I picked a couple of places and chipped from each until I holed a couple of shots.

Later on the course, I was playing a 350 yard par 4 and was in great position 70 yards out after my drive. I hit a cr***y shot that comes up 4 feet short of the green and I am po'd at myself. I am standing over that chip - the pin is 15 feet or so away, up a gentle slope and with a slight left to right break. I bear down and say fix this now - make this chip. It lands 2 feet on the green and runs the 10 feet or so straight into the cup for birdie.

I was real proud of that chip. I worked on that shot, preparing for it. And when it presenting itself, I willed myself to take it seriously and commit myself to making it. What you don't demand of yourself is not likely to happen.
 
I struggle to make birdies, and I think it's mental. I've been talking about this A LOT this year and it's something I'm determined to work on. All too often I'll go out in my 9 hole league round and shot 1 or 2 over with 7 or 8 pars and 1 or 2 bogeys, or I'll play 18 and shoot 3 or 4 over with 14 or 15 pars and 3 or 4 bogeys. I just HATE giving a shot back. I absolutely despise it. Because of that I know I'm too tentative putting. A lot of times I'll look at a 20-30 foot birdie putt and think to myself just nestle it up there and take your two putt par so I don't give one back. If I do give one back generally it's from missing a green and a poor chip shot and missed par putt. But I MUST start getting more aggressive on birdie putts, it's the only way I'll get shots back.
 
Six4three5 said:
I struggle to make birdies, and I think it's mental. I've been talking about this A LOT this year and it's something I'm determined to work on. All too often I'll go out in my 9 hole league round and shot 1 or 2 over with 7 or 8 pars and 1 or 2 bogeys, or I'll play 18 and shoot 3 or 4 over with 14 or 15 pars and 3 or 4 bogeys. I just HATE giving a shot back. I absolutely despise it. Because of that I know I'm too tentative putting. A lot of times I'll look at a 20-30 foot birdie putt and think to myself just nestle it up there and take your two putt par so I don't give one back. If I do give one back generally it's from missing a green and a poor chip shot and missed par putt. But I MUST start getting more aggressive on birdie putts, it's the only way I'll get shots back.
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What are the par 5's like on your course? Can you get after them? Are they reachable in 2? Do you take on pins? Putting is important but getting close on approaches is a big part of scoring.
 
If I'm going to make more birdies I need to become a more aggressive putter from 10+ feet, and I need to get better from 210+ so that par 5s are more of an opportunity for me.

I find I putt more aggressively when I need to save par and I make a ton of great par or even bogey saves, but get tentative when it's for eagle or birdie.

My last round I left an eagle putt 8 feet short...I almost puked.
 
JMN57 said:
What are the par 5's like on your course? Can you get after them? Are they reachable in 2? Do you take on pins? Putting is important but getting close on approaches is a big part of scoring.
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Every par 5 except one is into the wind on my course and all them are over 5 hundo so getting home in 2 is pretty tough and damn near impossible on 2 of them. The one with the wind at your back as forced carry over water for the second shot so unless I'm feeling good I usually lay up on that too. I have no problem hitting greens. Last round out for 9 holes I think I hit 7 greens so it's a matter of being more aggressive on putts I should be on. Number 3 is a par 3 that plays anywhere from 155 to 170 pending on the tees and I had probably a 15 footer which decent break and I left my self with a 3 inch par putt so I'm getting close enough just not dropping the putts.
 
ArmyGolf said:
If I'm going to make more birdies I need to become a more aggressive putter from 10+ feet, and I need to get better from 210+ so that par 5s are more of an opportunity for me.

I find I putt more aggressively when I need to save par and I make a ton of great par or even bogey saves, but get tentative when it's for eagle or birdie.

My last round I left an eagle putt 8 feet short...I almost puked.
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This is me in a nut shell. I made some devastating par putts on my opponent in my league round, but give me a birdie putt from that distance and no way I would have dropped them lol.
 
Six4three5 said:
This is me in a nut shell. I made some devastating par putts on my opponent in my league round, but give me a birdie putt from that distance and no way I would have dropped them lol.
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Do you think we are just too satisfied with pars? Too scared of bogeys?

I missed a birdie putt last round that I almost NEVER miss (4' straight uphill inside the hole) and it has me rattled a bit.
 
ArmyGolf said:
Do you think we are just too satisfied with pars? Too scared of bogeys?

I missed a birdie putt last round that I almost NEVER miss (4' straight uphill inside the hole) and it has me rattled a bit.
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For me it's the hate of bogeys. My problem is I hate bogeys more than I love birdies at the moment. The thought of giving one back drives me crazy. Part of the reason is because I know I don't make many birdies but it's something I'm going to change.
 
Six4three5 said:
For me it's the hate of bogeys. My problem is I hate bogeys more than I love birdies at the moment. The thought of giving one back drives me crazy. Part of the reason is because I know I don't make many birdies but it's something I'm going to change.
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so brother your saying this is 100% defensive maneuver. Which is 100% mental.
 
Six4three5 said:
Absolutely dude. Without a doubt.
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Shooting close to par bends ones mind to be defensive and eliminate mistakes (which I admit I need to do a better job at - short game / mishits). But I am finding that I can be smart at forcing things and I've been racking up 3-4 birdies a round and today drained a 54' putt with a 6' break for eagle.

Feel the force, go to the next level, burn it into your head that par is not good enough!
 
JMN57 said:
Shooting close to par bends ones mind to be defensive and eliminate mistakes (which I admit I need to do a better job at - short game / mishits). But I am finding that I can be smart at forcing things and I've been racking up 3-4 birdies a round and today drained a 54' putt with a 6' break for eagle.

Feel the force, go to the next level, burn it into your head that par is not good enough!
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Haha I need the push man that is for sure!!
 
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