Play for birdie or avoid bogey?

Question

Hit the green or hit the pin?

Tight par 4, hit driver or 3 wood?

Putt to the hole, role it 2 feet past?

Do you play better when you play aggressively or passively?

Is there a point, as a golfer, when your round (game) depends on making birdies more than avoiding trouble or big numbers?

It seems to me that pros have bad holes, they take bogeys and worse, but they make enough great shots, birdies a better to make up for bad holes.

Is the key to golf, and playing well, learning how to make birdies?

Thanks!!

Answer 1

It really depends on the situation.  If you are just playing a casual round with friends and it doesn't mean anything you can fire at every flag if you want.  But in tournament play it is different - you have to avoid double bogey or worse.  The reason the pros can go for it more is they are great at getting up and down to save par from anywhere.  It also depends on where the flag is.  If it is pretty much in the middle of the green then fire at it, and if you miss you should still be on the green somewhere.  But if the flag is tucked way over in one corner with a water hazard or deep bunker right next to it, then  you have to miss away from the hazard to avoid the big number.  

In match play you should just hit fairways and greens and keep throwing pars at your opponent.  This forces him to make birdie to beat you and the harder he forces it the more likely he will mess up, make a big number, and lose another hole.

I would say the key to golf is not learning to make birdies, but learning to get up and down to save par.  At the same time you want to stay aggressive as much as possible, and when an opportunity arrives go for the pin.  The better you are at getting up and down the more you can afford to do that.

Answer 2

Avoid bogeys. Play for pars cause im sure if you just focus on pars your gunna get some birdies and put you at an under par round. Even if your one under your gunna be happy with it. Look at the scores for the U.S. Open.

Answer 3

Play aggressive, it's the best way to improve your game. Journal your play as best you can so you can refer back to it in different situations. It's a face your fears kinda thing. Most get conservative when playing for $ or in a tournament, I say thats when you attack the pin!!!

Answer 4

I putt for par way better than birdie. I hit great off of par 4 tees, and terrible off of par fives. Birdies are needed in every round. I say the only risk reward to go for is to carry over the bunker, water, or hazard. If you know your distances, this wont be an issue. If you want to make birdies, work on making some of those twenty footers.I say that the game is hard. the key to scratch golf is taking as little bad as possible, and harnessing the good.

Answer 5

Depends on how the swing is working that day.  Golf magazine did some great analysis that showed # of GIRs (greens in regulation) correlated directly to where your score would fall.  If I recall, 8 to 10 GIRs in a round put you in the mid 80s. So hitting the fairways and the greens will provide the lower scores more often.  Avoid the big number, especially at mid to high handicap matches.  More than likely your opponents blow up.

Answer 6

Unless the situation requires an agressive play, you need to play within your own limits...

Let me offer an example from my last time out on the course.

I was lucky enough to birdie the first hole on a 4 footer...I hit a great seven iron with some roll in it...

Then I had two long three putt bogeys, but I stayed out of trouble that lurked on both holes...

Then a bunch of non descript bogeys...

I parred the 9th, with a solid up and down from the collar...

I got tot he 12th...a 'gotcha' par 4 (290 yards)...I went for the green, swing went haywire and I ended up with an 8 (water, trees, trap, etc......

I then got my game back together, birdied the next par 3, from 25 feet (again, I hit away from trouble)

bunch of ho hum bogey and on 18 another birdie from 35 feet...dropping long putts is so cool...

MORAL of the story...avoid the big nimbers and you can get smaller ones...

Manage your game and the course...don't try to be a hero!!!

Answer 7

golf is a game of salvaging your mess ups play passive to avoid the mess ups, although i put aggressively

Answer 8

Aggressive players usually have stellar rounds and then go into a funk because their swing goes out of whack.The better players do not play for " sucker pins", will settle for the middle of the green, avoid trouble when necessary. If that is what is described as passive playing, I am both old and passive. One doesn't learn how to make birdies and " isn't afraid to go low " as professed by our erstwhile commentators. One learns to hit golf shots, learns to work the ball  and learns to read greens which puts him in better scoring positions. If everything is in sync and the putter is working, birdies will come. As for the Tour Pros, they must gamble and hit that perfect shot very often for their competition on any given day, is as good as they are. Being conservative may make a living but not a champion.