Your First Birdie

After responding to @CoryO article about what hdcp makes you a “good golfer” I got to thinking about how we forget to remember where we came from in golf. We all started having never touched a club at some point. We all fell in love with the game and decided it was something we want to do and get better at. We all worked and learned and practiced. We all chased that first bogey, then that first par, and that first birdie.

Do you remember your first birdie (or if you’re still chasing it, your first par)? Tell your story! Where were you? Who were you playing with? What hole was it? What did you hit? What was par on the hole? How’d you feel? How’d you react?

Reflecting on this stuff is fun…and it can be important to show us how far we’ve come. That can be huge when we’re struggling with something in our game. Celebrate your progress and remember that you crushed goals before and you’ll do it again.

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I can’t remember my first scores but one moment that sticks out is at 12 years old on hole 4 of Hooper golf course in Walpole NH, I hit a 3 wood 140 yards or so to 2” from the cup. Still the closest to a hole in one I have ever had. I was pretty much hooked.

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I can’t remember my first birdie (probably was 7 or 8 on the par 3 course I grew up playing) but do remember my first eagle.

I was probably 10 or 11 playing a 9 hole course affectionately known to locals as “the patch.” I think it’s #7 that’s a dogleg left par “5” at probably 425 (the dogleg isn’t severe but I guess enough to add a shot to the par and otherwise the course would probably be a par 33).

Anyway I hit my drive in the fairway and screw up my second shot into the left trees/crap. Have about 90 yards in and I holed it!

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This is an awesome thread idea! And I’m gonna buck the trend early on, because I jumped the gun and had my first eagle before I ever had my first birdie!

The course is called Pioneer Hills, and the opening hole is 347 on the card but if you take a super aggressive line you can drive the green with a 250ish drive. I did this very much by accident my first time at the course (pushed the drive right and got lucky). Then ran in about a 25 footer for an eagle!

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Love it! What a memory! That hole-in-one is still out there.

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Recovery shot power ups are the unexpected miracles that bring us back when things go off the rails. Love it.

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Overachiever! Never let anyone know a great result was anything but exactly what you intended!

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Feel like this could be a segue for a discussion on how stupid “line of sight” out of bounds is when you’re not allowed to hit it over an area of manufactured “out of bounds”. Played a hole growing up in a HS match that was maybe 275 straight line but you “had” to play around the semi circle fairway so hole was 425. If it wasn’t a match I would have said screw the “rule” and hit the green.

I mean it went exactly as I drew it up on the tee box! (better?)

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I cannot remember my first birdie ever but I can remember my first one today. It was a par four. I hit a nice drive, a good 6 iron and made a beautiful 20 foot putt that never thought of staying out of the hole.

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First Birdie:
I was a teen at my hometown course out in the boonies. Par 3 second. Hit tee shot over the back. Chipped it in from the rough. I kept that golf ball for well over a decade ha. I’ll never forget that moment.

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My first birdie was when I was 10. It was my first year playing golf on actual courses. We were on a Disney trip in Orlando and all I wanted to do was play golf. I couldn’t have cared less about the theme parks.
We were playing the Palm course. Second hole from the gold tees. I “crushed” a drive and rolled my second shot up just onto the front of the green. Holed probably a 25 footer for the birdie.
I remember pointing at the hole, then pointing at my dad and said, “Did you see that!?”

He didn’t. He was ordering a Gatorade from the cart girl. :joy::man_shrugging:t4::man_facepalming:t3:

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Not sure exactly how old I would have been when I made my first birdie but I would have been around 10. I was playing a par 3 course with Grandpa.

I drove the 10th hole a 230 yard par 4 green and two putted from about 15 feet.

I remember being a little scared as my Grandpa told me I had to go apologies to the group in front of me as I rolled the ball up to the green when they were putting.

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Mine would have been at least 40 years ago so don’t remember the details of my first one. I actually went straight from hanging up my baseball spikes for golf spikes when I was in the 8th grade so I’m sure it happened that spring.

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I remember making a 2-putt birdie on a short par 5 when I was 15 or 16 using my cousins 460cc driver which went 50 yards farther than my $10 rattling driver. Don’t know if that was my first birdie, but it’s the oldest one I remember and I didn’t play much (and wasn’t very good) as a kid so it very well might be.

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I don’t remember my first birdie because it would have been 50 some years ago, but I can guess that I did get it with my dad, which was more important and memorable.

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the predecessor to Spieth’s “go get that!”

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I don’t remember my first birdie either, but I do remember my first eagle. I was playing with my dad and my aunt which was great. It was pretty much luck. I did pound a drive on a short par 4, but I caught some hardpan and then the cartpath and wound up pin high right in the rough. Horrible lie, but I gouged it out and it banged the flagstick and in…I think I still shot about 100 that day lol.

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I don’t remember my first birdie, but I do remember my first Eagle. I was playing Aliente Golf Course in Northern Vegas area. I think it was hole #15 par 5 in a tournament It was May 20th 2018. I had 208 to the pin from a flyer lie out of the rough, I hit the best 5 iron I’ve ever hit to 12 feet. Standing over that putt was probably the most nervous I had felt in golf to that point. I hit the putt perfectly and it was sliding towards the low side but hung on. Everyone in the group I was playing against were so excited for me. It was an amazing feeling, I’ve had one additional since.

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I’ve been close but I’m still chasing my first birdie. I’m having to good a time to really even care that much. Just happy to be able to be outside.

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