Hendy
Tour Rookie
For me its hitting more greens with my second shot on a par 4. If I do that I get into the 70s no problem
Making More Birdies
- Thread starter Region3
- Start date
MadAdey
Money List Winner
Some people are saying it is all about putting. You can be the greatest putter in the world but if it is not on the green then it really does not matter. My putting at the minute is embarrassing, but I can still make birdies, but that is down to the fact that I do hit a lot of greens and give myself a chance of making some.
jason6r
Assistant Pro
Completely agree with this, and it was this thinking that underpinned my post on how to hit more greens in regulation. So we've figured out what to do, just need to solve the "how to" part of the issue!
Val
Ryder Cup Winner
They go hand in hand, if your a bad putter then hitting greens just gives you a chance, to make more you need to be more positive in putting.
bobmac
Major Champion
If you want to hole more putts for birdies you have to give yourself more chances, so you have to hit more greens.
To hit more greens, you have to hit more fairways.
If I'm playing serious golf, I stand on every tee and think 'how can I birdie this hole....I have to hit the fairway'.
Then, if I want to birdie this hole, I have to hit the green.
Then, if I want to birdie this hole, my putt has to reach the hole.
Of course, most of that goes for a ball of chalk after the tee shot
To hit more greens, you have to hit more fairways.
If I'm playing serious golf, I stand on every tee and think 'how can I birdie this hole....I have to hit the fairway'.
Then, if I want to birdie this hole, I have to hit the green.
Then, if I want to birdie this hole, my putt has to reach the hole.
Of course, most of that goes for a ball of chalk after the tee shot
StrangelyBrown
Tour Winner
MadAdey
Money List Winner
They sort of go hand in hand, but it is hitting GIR that gives the chances not being a good putter.
To me someone who is good at putting is someone who rarely 3-putts, knocks in his fair share of 10 footers and makes most of his his 6 foot putts. If he hits 4 GIR and lets say he leaves a 6 footer, a 10 footer and couple 15+ foot, realistically he is expecting to make 2 birdies.
I am not that brilliant with a putter but then I go and hit 12 GIR. Leaving 3 6 footers, 5 10 footers and 3 at 15+ foot. Even I would expect to make a couple of the 6 footers and get 1 or 2 of the 10 footers, so now I am realistically expecting to 3 or 4 birdies.
So which is it then? Using my examples, I think it is reasonably fair to say that it is me hitting more greens that is getting more birdies. Do not get me wrong putting is very very important and I am not trying to take away from that, as knocking in those 6 footers regularly is what scrambles pars and gets you good scores. I just think that if people concentrated more on just hitting the green and accepting that it does not matter how far you are from the hole, within reason, then people would make more birdie putts through the law of averages. Rather than trying to force it close all the time which then leads to you missing the green as you are trying too hard.
Region3
Ryder Cup Winner
[video=youtube;9EH1G4EwljM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EH1G4EwljM[/video]
MadAdey
Money List Winner
So what we have brought this down to is driving again and making sure you hit the fairway rather than worrying how far you can knock it out there...............:mmm:
bobmac
Major Champion
Region3
Ryder Cup Winner
Not necessarily.
I will hit more greens from 150 than I will from 180.
Course strategy has to come into it as well. There are holes at my place where you're very unlikely to make birdie if you miss the fairway, but there also holes where you can if you miss on the correct side.
So to sum up:
1) Hit the fairway - as far down as you can.
2) Hit the green
3) Sink the putt.
Glad that's sorted then
MadAdey
Money List Winner
You wont make many birdies from the trees at Spalding thats for sure
Tell me about it mate, you can walk off a hole with double all because you hit the wrong side of the fairway. Hitting the fairways is certainly the name of the game at my place.
MadAdey
Money List Winner
Not necessarily.
I will hit more greens from 150 than I will from 180.
Course strategy has to come into it as well. There are holes at my place where you're very unlikely to make birdie if you miss the fairway, but there also holes where you can if you miss on the correct side.
So to sum up:
1) Hit the fairway - as far down as you can.
2) Hit the green
3) Sink the putt.
Glad that's sorted then
Why not just learn to hit it 400 yards then just hit the green from every tee and 2-putt...............simples:thup:
Val
Ryder Cup Winner
But the OP is asking how to make birdies not make chances. You could hit 18 GIR and make no birdies if you are a bad putter but a good putter could maybe hit 4 GIR and make 4 birdies, they go hand in hand if anything more towards putting IMO.
MadAdey
Money List Winner
But surely if you are not giving yourself chances then you can't make birdies, can you? I would say with a club golfer, someone who is good at putting will sink 1 in 3 birdie chances and someone who is not as good 1 in 5. So someone who is better than me at putting hits 6 greens in regulation and makes 2 birdies 3 or 4 on a good day. I will hit 10 and make 2 birdies but 4 or 5 on a good day. That is how I see it anyway. If we start talking about someone who hits 12 greens and makes 6 or 7 birdies as he is a good putter then we are talking about a player taht has an ability beyond a scratch golfer and that is not what the vast majority on here are.
JustOne
Ryder Cup Winner
I've yet to see someone who was able to 18 greens in reg that wasn't capable of wielding the putter sufficiently well not to be known as a bad putter (apart from Westwood of course!!!!)
Are we talking Nett Birdies here.......................:whoo:
I have read most of this thread and it's all ifs and but's, you can make birdies from being on the green in reg or from off the green there is no great answer on how to make birdies other than just go out and do it. Stats mean nonthing and the part about someone nailing 1 in 3 is total tosh and if it was the case then all Pro golfers would be at least 6 under after every round, that just dont happen.
Go out and play the game and forget about Birdies and just work on making pars and take a birdie if it happens, ask a Pro and I am sure the answer would be find the fairway then the green and you have a better chance of birdie and in most cases extra yardage with the tee shot gives you more chance to get close with a short iron than a long iron it's not rocket science.
Thats why we all got handicaps but reading some of these post we have scratch/Pro's in our company the way they talk:rofl:
I have read most of this thread and it's all ifs and but's, you can make birdies from being on the green in reg or from off the green there is no great answer on how to make birdies other than just go out and do it. Stats mean nonthing and the part about someone nailing 1 in 3 is total tosh and if it was the case then all Pro golfers would be at least 6 under after every round, that just dont happen.
Go out and play the game and forget about Birdies and just work on making pars and take a birdie if it happens, ask a Pro and I am sure the answer would be find the fairway then the green and you have a better chance of birdie and in most cases extra yardage with the tee shot gives you more chance to get close with a short iron than a long iron it's not rocket science.
Thats why we all got handicaps but reading some of these post we have scratch/Pro's in our company the way they talk:rofl:
Region3
Ryder Cup Winner
I think I've drawn the conclusion from this thread that the best way (unless you're a terrible putter) is to give yourself more chances, ie hit more greens.
I'm not the best putter, but I'm not awful either. At the moment I'm making 20% of my birdie putts and probably average somewhere between 15' and 20' away, so I don't think that's too bad.
I also don't think how far away I am is too bad either (although obviously room for improvement), so I just need to hit more greens to give myself more chances, and hope the 20% holds true.
I think it sort of goes hand in hand with the thread I started a couple of weeks ago about putting the ball in play off the tee but giving yourself a longer shot in. I've had mixed results with it so far but I've found out I can hit a green with a 4 iron more often than I expected to be able to.
MadAdey
Money List Winner
That is the point I am trying to make. Hit lots of GIR and you will have more chances to make birdies, simple.
MadAdey
Money List Winner
It has sort of crossed over hasn't it. But it is relevant, look at what Bob wrote earlier in the thread. Hitting the fairway gives you more chance of hitting the GIR. Hitting the GIR gives you a birdie chance. Simple, yet straight forward approach that will not only give you birdie chances, but also give you lots of tap ins for par lowering your overall score. All the lads at my place that are more or less playing off scratch all hit lots of GIR. You are never going to get low single figures by relying on your chipping and putting to save you pars all the time and you are certainly not going to pick up many birdies which those lads do.
