According to my extensive research, 99 percent of people who golf are terrible at the sport. I include myself in that number, of course.

Given those most definitely accurate and indisputable numbers, it should come as no surprise that birdies are a rare occurrence. Heres where Id make a joke about a bird watcher seeing a rare bird, but lets be honest, I dont know any rare birds and no one would actually get it.

I carded eight birdies (or better) this past season. I kept track of them and I remember each of them like they just happened. Thats how much fun it is to sink the ball in fewer strokes than par allows for. For reference: birdie is one less than par; eagle is two under; and technically albatross is the term for three under par, but good luck ever getting one of those.

To make birdie, you either need to be incredibly good or very fortunate. Its usually one dynamic shot that makes it all possible. Lets take a look at my eight circled numbers (birdies are circled once on the scorecard while eagles are circled twice) in 2019 and how I got there. Theyre in chronological order, as if that matters.

1) Cassadaga Country Club, No. 7 This is a majestic hole. Standing above the trees way up on the tee box, a golfer has an incredible view of Cassadaga Lake and the surrounding area. Looking towards the green, way down the hill, theres a pond some 200 yards away (needing some 225-250 to clear it). In one of my first (it may have been my first) round of the year, I tattooed my drive not just over the pond, but actually onto the green. It wasnt terribly close to the pin, so a two-putt for birdie was exactly what I was trying to do.

2) Shorewood Country Club, No. 9 Par 5s are easily my most birdied holes in my golf career because theres a little more margin for error. This one is a long ways to the green with a slight dogleg. My drive was nothing special. In fact, I was off the green to the right a little bit. My second shot was a bomb, but I pulled it left into the trees about pin height. I had a pair of trees making something like uprights, to use a football analogy, between me and the green. I decided to basically just close my eyes and go for it. The end result was my ball splitting those trees and stopping about five feet from the pin for an easy tap-in (and incredibly fortunate) birdie.

3) Silver Lake Country Club, No. 4 This is the only par 3 on the list, though I certainly gave myself many more chances on various par 3s this year. This one was not just almost a hole-in-one, rolling within inches of the cup on the way by, but it was in a huge tournament and almost won me a new car! It was a long par 3 and I struck my 3-hybrid about as well as I can hit that club.

4) CCC, No. 5 Eagle alert! This came during one of my weeks as a sub in a league at CCC. I had never actually driven the green on this short, but very uphill par 4. That said, after smoking my tee shot and making the drive up to the green, we found my ball maybe five feet from the pin. Tap-in eagles dont happen everyday, but this one even gave me skins for the day, so that was a nice bonus.

5) CCC, No. 4 Thats right, yet another birdie at CCC. This one was a bit of a redemption hole for me. The round before this one, I drove the green and had a painful three-putt for par. My drive rolled onto the green briefly, but ended up off to the right. An easy chip and putt for birdie made up for that first one a little bit, at least.

6) Rosebrook Golf Course, No. 15 This is another long par 5 with a dangerous treeline along the entire right side of the fairway. Not only did I smash my drive, but I annihilated my approach shot and actually ended up past the green. It may be the furthest Ive ever hit a 5-iron. That said, I still had my work cut out for me. But a decent chip preceded a dropped put and there was my birdie. Just like they draw it up.

7) Pinehurst Golf Club, No. 5 If you would have told me Id birdie this hole after where my drive went, Id have called you a liar. I sliced the daylights out of the drive and was almost on No. 8s green. Not only did I have a lovely grove of trees between myself and the green, but I had a nasty downhill lie, making it very unlikely Id get the height needed to clear the trees. Since its on this list, you can probably guess what happened. I hit one of my shots of the year and landed the ball in the shadow of the flagstick before burying the putt. Incredible.

8) Pinehurst Golf Club, No. 1 This is a par 5, but was actually very similar to the above entry at Pinehurst. My yanked my drive left into No. 2s fairway. Not only that, but there was a giant tree directly where I wanted to hit my ball. Sometimes it pays to be stubborn because I lasered my ball through the tree without making so much as a rustle. Some 250 yards later and my ball was on the fringe of the green. If I hit that same shot 100 times, theres no way I duplicate this shot. A chip and a putt for par had me off to a wonderful start to a round.

There are eight birdies with extremely different ways of getting there. Great drives. Terrible drives. Lucky shots. Awesome shots. The only way I didnt get a birdie this year was with a hole-out or chip-in.

Does anyone else track their birdies? Maybe youre part of the 1 percent that gets them too regularly to make them a special occasion. Did you have any extra memorable ones this year. Please shoot me an email with your stories.

Until next week, golf is great. Go get some.

Stefan Gestwicki is an OBSERVER contributing writer. Comments on this article can be sent to golfersdiary@gmail.com

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