I've Been Playing Since I Was 12...19 Now.. And Have Never Hit a Birdie

[cdutra40]

14 minutes ago, Shindig said:

It sounds to me like working on the par-5s is a good way to both lower your scores and give you more birdie opportunities.

I assume you work on your full swing.  I encourage you to get into the "5 minutes daily" thread and do something every day to practice.  If you are taking lessons, work on that.  If you aren't, consider making a "my swing" thread to get suggestions for what to work on.  Lessons that started in my "my swing" thread have brought me from the high teens to under 13.  It can help you too.

Improved ball striking will lead to more GIRs will lead to more birdie chances.  The more chances you give it, the more it can happen.

And if you use the recommended 15% putting time to focus on inside 15' (if you're usually 2-putting instead of 3-putting, you're probably good at speed control), then it's just a matter of time before you hit a GIR inside 15' and make the putt.  

Another question:  when you are aiming for a green with a full swing (whether it's for GIR or not), what's your thought process like?  

For me, I get the distance to the pin, adding 5 if it's a forward pin, subtracting 5 if it's back.  I do this because it's more important to be on the green than to take the higher chance of missing the green, but being close if I hit it right.  Then, based on that distance, I try to figure out where I can start the ball to give it the highest chance of being on the green -- even if that position is nowhere near the pin.  

Last question for this post:  do you flight your short irons and wedges?  

 

Since my friend is a quite low handicap (came out today with an 8.8 on the ghin system) he helps a lot with telling me where wind is going where pin is (I play at his own courses he belongs to) and what to do with pin placements. So when I get up to a ball for a short iron or wedge in I tend to aim middle green if it is in the back or front of the green if it is in the front or middle. I'm completely content with a 2 putt for par/bogey.

I've never thought about the flighting part though, from what I've browsed before replying it looks like something I should practice. My dad built a projector to watch movies in my backyard and I found this really tight wound netting at one of his job sites and took it. So soon we will have a mini backyard hitting station and I can work on everything necessary!

[klineka]

17 minutes ago, cdutra40 said:

So when I get up to a ball for a short iron or wedge in I tend to aim middle green if it is in the back or front of the green if it is in the front or middle. I'm completely content with a 2 putt for par/bogey.

As a 23 handicap, on every shot outside of like 50 yards, you should always be aiming for the middle of the green. 

When most amateurs miss a green, it's short because they mishit the shot. So for a front pin, if you aimed for the front of the green and mishit, you're obviously short of the green. If you had that same front pin and aimed at the middle of the green and mishit, guess what, you're on the front of the green with probably a pretty good look at birdie. If you hit it solid you are on the middle of the green and can still 2 putt for par.

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by klineka

[cdutra40]

32 minutes ago, klineka said:

As a 23 handicap, on every shot outside of like 50 yards, you should always be aiming for the middle of the green. 

When most amateurs miss a green, it's short because they mishit the shot. So for a front pin, if you aimed for the front of the green and mishit, you're obviously short of the green. If you had that same front pin and aimed at the middle of the green and mishit, guess what, you're on the front of the green with probably a pretty good look at birdie. If you hit it solid you are on the middle of the green and can still 2 putt for par.

 

That is pretty good advice! Thanks! I think what happens is most of the greens I'm playing have stupid speed and are slopped pretty harshly too, I think I might think like that is because I'm afraid I'm going to putt it off the green because I can't read greens well if at all. I think I just overcomplicate things for myself. 

[sjduffers]

When I started playing, it took me probably 3 or 4 years to get my first par!  And probably another year or 2 to get my first birdie.  Sure, my ball striking was terrible and I rarely got on the green in regulation, say around once per round and I always 3-putted that one chance! 

It turns out I was likely the worse putter on the planet (besides a really bad golfer with the full swing): no feel for speed at all, and the direction was questionable too. Green reading was a glaring weakness as well: nothing like thinking the putt breaks one way, set up to the ball, strike it and see it break the other way! 

All these are fixable, with a bit of putting practice. I did that, deliberately, and now (another 10-12 years later), putting is my strength. Of course, ball striking has improved a lot too, but I average about 6 greens in regulation per round and manage to convert almost 1of those 6 chances for birdie on average, per round (not counting the chip-ins which also happen once in a while!).

If you think that green reading is a bad weakness for you, you should spend some time working on it and/or take an AimPoint class, until it is no longer a weakness. You might even convert that weakness into a strength. Of course, something else (e.g. the full swing) will become a (relative) weakness then: rinse and repeat!

[cdutra40]

@Shindig @Wally Fairway Well guys... something happened today.... I did it. I putted a birdie. Since a shot by shot account was asked for, one will be given. I'm playing a 9 hole par 33 course (par 66 18 if you go around 2 times like me). Something to get out there and beat the heat we are having in MA this weekend. (went out at 6:30am) Shot a 38 on the front 9 (+5) and headed back around for the back. Went bogey par for holes 1/10 and 2/11. Walked up to the tee at 3/12 and was thinking where I want it. It is a straight slightly uphill par 4 clocking in at 291 yards. I hit a drive up the left side and its drawing to the rough. Still had a line to the pin and it was in the left middle of the green so I went right for it. I was roughly 35 yards out. Hit a nice high chip with my 56 and landed it 8ft from the pin. This is the longest 8ft of my life. I knew this could be it. I was reading the green from each side of the hole to only realize...it was a straight putt slightly uphill. So I said ok cam just square it up and hit it straight. and oh baby I did it. I hit that birdie and I was like Tiger winning the masters. People on the 7th green were quite confused but they wouldn't understand hahaha. Went on to finish the round a total of +10 (76)

 

Now if someone could help explain, now if this was a par 72 course what would be my score? would it have broken 90? If anyone knows I'd love to know.

 

This was the best round of my life. Thought of you guys that I tagged when I hit it, I said I can't wait to go tell those guy and anyone else who was wondering. 

 

But finally, the search is over and I'm playing much more confident golf..

 

Thank you guys for all the help and teachings 

[boogielicious]

28 minutes ago, cdutra40 said:

@Shindig @Wally Fairway Well guys... something happened today.... I did it. I putted a birdie. Since a shot by shot account was asked for, one will be given. I'm playing a 9 hole par 33 course (par 66 18 if you go around 2 times like me). Something to get out there and beat the heat we are having in MA this weekend. (went out at 6:30am) Shot a 38 on the front 9 (+5) and headed back around for the back. Went bogey par for holes 1/10 and 2/11. Walked up to the tee at 3/12 and was thinking where I want it. It is a straight slightly uphill par 4 clocking in at 291 yards. I hit a drive up the left side and its drawing to the rough. Still had a line to the pin and it was in the left middle of the green so I went right for it. I was roughly 35 yards out. Hit a nice high chip with my 56 and landed it 8ft from the pin. This is the longest 8ft of my life. I knew this could be it. I was reading the green from each side of the hole to only realize...it was a straight putt slightly uphill. So I said ok cam just square it up and hit it straight. and oh baby I did it. I hit that birdie and I was like Tiger winning the masters. People on the 7th green were quite confused but they wouldn't understand hahaha. Went on to finish the round a total of +10 (76)

 

Now if someone could help explain, now if this was a par 72 course what would be my score? would it have broken 90? If anyone knows I'd love to know.

 

This was the best round of my life. Thought of you guys that I tagged when I hit it, I said I can't wait to go tell those guy and anyone else who was wondering. 

 

But finally, the search is over and I'm playing much more confident golf..

 

Thank you guys for all the help and teachings 

Awesome! Now they will come more often.

[Wally Fairway]

@cdutra40- congrats, monkey is off your back.

 

 

 

[Shindig]

Congratulations.  Now future GIRs will feel familiar when you set up for birdie.  I bet you make a few more in the not-too-distant future.  

Stick around TST, practice with us, that sort of thing.  

Don't worry about what your score would have been on a par-72.  The scaling isn't perfect anyway.  We can find your differential today and try to compute that differential on a nearby par-72 for you if you really want. 

[cdutra40]

9 hours ago, Shindig said:

Congratulations.  Now future GIRs will feel familiar when you set up for birdie.  I bet you make a few more in the not-too-distant future.  

Stick around TST, practice with us, that sort of thing.  

Don't worry about what your score would have been on a par-72.  The scaling isn't perfect anyway.  We can find your differential today and try to compute that differential on a nearby par-72 for you if you really want. 

It was a par 66. The rating was a 61.7 with a 105 slope. Very easy course but hey if thats what I needed to do to get my first birdie then so be it.

[Shindig]

15 hours ago, cdutra40 said:

It was a par 66. The rating was a 61.7 with a 105 slope. Very easy course but hey if thats what I needed to do to get my first birdie then so be it.

Okay, and you shot a 76.  That's good for a (76-61.7)*113/105 = 15.4 differential.

My home course, white tees are 68.8 and 120.  The same differential would be (x - 68.8)*113/120 = 15.4 --> 85 or so.  A pretty good score if I say so myself.

Of course, that's making some big assumptions to translate a differential like that to another course, especially one you haven't seen more than three kilomiles away.