30 Birdies or Bogey Free: Which Would you Take?

[Eric C]

Bogey free, without a doubt.  My thought is that the answer is going to somewhat correspond with your skill level - for me, even if you give me 30 birdies I'm going to screw up enough on the remaining 42 holes to still shoot over par.

[dennyjones]

There have been a few tournaments where par was good money.   It's not always that way though.

[lastings]

wait...  I change my vote.   

I had voted 30 birdies, but I retract.   

my average score is 14 over (for 18 holes), or .77 over per hole.  

If I take birdies on 30 holes, then I have 42 left.   42 x .77 = +32.   So I'd guess that my 72-hole score would be -30 + 32 = +2.  

Where as the worst I can do with no bogeys is Even par.  

 

 

 

 

[NJpatbee]

As a 17 HCP I would go with a bogey free round.  That would leave me at par or perhaps a little lower since I do make an occasional birdie.  If I had 7 birdies per round my usual bogeys and couple of doubles would leave me farther away from par.

[Vinny Cap]

This is a good question and I hope a lot more people chime in.

It looks like the better golfers pick the 30 birdies as they stand to par the rest of the holes and maybe throw in an eagle.

The bogey + golfers look at the bogey free round as a godsend and if you can squeeze in a couple of birdies or an eagle you will have an unbelievable 4 rounds.  I have about 10 - 20 birdies under my belt and just got my first eagle a couple weekends ago so to have 4 rounds of 72 would be sweet!  Mount those 4 cards in a nice frame in my office and show everyone!

[dbuck]

If I was playing well enough to make 7.5 birdies per round, I could still live with my occasional 8.

[The Hook Meister]

Something about no bogeys I like. I know that with 30 birdies I would have a bunch of 8's and other ugly stuff.

[Patch]

30 birdies. No question about it. 30 birds would mean I was playing some damn fine golf over 4 rounds, and would finished higher than the golfer with 72 pars.  

In real life, if I recall correctly, my personal best is 10-12 birds over 4 rounds, and that was done a really long time ago.

As for par, that would have been around 50 or so, for four rounds. Again, a really long time ago. 

[chilepepper]

30 birdies.....only because it sounds cool

[BogeySwine]

I'm going to have to go with even par. I usually shoot 10-15 over par. 

[shanksalot]

I would think most of the single digit handicappers would go for the 30 birdies since they don't make a ton of bogies or others. When I was playing to a 5.0 I would take the 30 birdies, but today I would take bogie free in a heartbeat.

[Kalnoky]

I choose bogie free, because I will statistically birdie 2 of those holes and finish under par - an incredible thought for me. 

[djfajt71]

I chose bogey-free.  I read bogey-free as exactly that, bogey free.  It doesn't mean par, it simply means bogey free. Thus, you'd be able to score birdies or better.  And, as some of the others have mentioned, I'm liable to follow up each birdie with a bogey or worse.

[rehmwa]

• Birdie fest - My very best rounds haven't been the ones with a lot of birdies.  I've had quite a few of those.  but they seem to balance out with bogies.  I had 5 birds on 9 once - we don't talk about the back 9 
• My very best rounds have been the (nearly) bogie free rounds.  there I played solid the entire round and had just a few birdie.  Over 18 holes?  I think I've only ever had like 2 rounds.....

I might actually lean to bogie free - If I'm playing that solid over 18 holes..., then it's pretty much a repeat of the best round of my life and that turned out 3 under - with a TON of missed birdies opportunities even still......  I can earn a few birdies from a day like that

That said - 30 birdies over 4 rounds is cool regardless if the other holes are all meltdowns.

[No Mulligans]

Am I the only one that hates thread titles that give you no clue what the thread is about?

[iacas]

Fixed, @No Mulligans.

[MacDutch]

If bogey free means you make 72 pars, I would go for 30 birdies. If it means on every hole you score par or better, I go for bogey free.

 

[Pretzel]

I would FAR rather have 30 birdies over a 4 day tournaments, because that means I'm averaging 7.5 birdies a day. Even if my tournament isn't bogey free, you're starting out of the gate at -30 before you make any bogeys. Say an average of 2 bogeys a day or one double and you're still at -22, a VERY good score. 

It's much harder to make 5.5 birdies in a day (what you'd have to do to score -22 with no bogeys) than it is to limit yourself to only two bogeys a day.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Pretzel