They are not as easy as you think
One of the most important lessons that I have learned from playing golf is that you should not be in a hurry to “make a birdie.”
The term “birdie” is used by golfers whenever they make the shot that equals 1 under par on a hole. While golfers want to shoot as few birdies as possible, they should attack a hole rather than trying to make a birdie and then be overly cautious by forcing a bogey.
The game of golf is very different from other sports. It is more about playing one shot at a time rather than thinking of a lot of shots ahead.
If you think of birdies and bogeys, the first shot becomes more difficult.
Instead, you should just aim for the best shot possible.
You don’t just have to play your first shot accurately.
You should be a little aggressive.
Attacking is the best way to encourage that shot to be at least a good one.
When you try to “make a birdie,” your psyche gives up when you fail to do so.
When you attack the hole, you benefit from the perception of a possible miss.
Why is Making Birdie So Difficult?
One of the most useful tips for any golfer is to simply stop trying to make birdie. Birdie is the best score you can have on any hole. But most players try to make birdie just a little too often. It’s better to wait until you have a clear shot at birdie and then give it everything you can. So don’t try to spot a birdie in your mind. Instead, wait for one to develop before you take it.
In most cases, your opportunity to go for a shot at birdie will come at the end of your game. In the beginning, you should try to simply master the first nine holes before you start thinking too much about the back nine. No matter how the competition is the back nine if you can’t nail the first half then you probably won’t be able to catch up. So get the first nine done and then let the birdies fall where they may.
So Where Are All the Birdies Coming From?
Amazingly men are playing better than women in nearly all professional sporting events.
Women are just not that competitive, which may not be too surprising considering most of the professional women are not even allowed to play professional basketball due to the “amateur” status of the sport.
Male domination in major and international events is very prevalent in golf, with a few women have been able to rise above the pack to become great and even dominate the game at one time.
But what is this desire for competition, and why are they so dominant?
Hormones are one very powerful and the dominating force in sports and in life. Each sex has its own set of hormones that dominate their body and control their behavior.
Males of the species have much more of the hormone known as testosterone which drives their desire to compete. Men have a desire to compete, and they are naturally more aggressive. This is an important part of why they are so dominant in sports.
When a man finds competition, he is thrilled and overjoyed, while the same conflict will often cause the female to feel a little bit of an upset.
It is well known that men are brought up in a very competitive world, so they are used to the idea that someone at some point will beat them. As a result, they are not only willing to compete, but Women are used to being in more passive roles.
You Can’t Force Them…
They Just Happen
Many golfers set apart one or two days a week to practice their short games ‑ particularly on putting and chipping ‑ because it is important to be able to make putts and chips in a pressure situation.
However, there are a lot of things that can happen on the course to waste a lot of your time practicing, such as:
- Losing balls
- Incorrect course management
- Hitting bad shots
- Forgetting your rangefinder
- Seeking longer-than-normal drives
- Being distracted by your pull list
All of these things can take away from the time that you would have otherwise spent practicing your short game, and you can be sure that most of them will happen to you at some point in time.