​I was at the Travelers a few weeks ago when I noticed Akshay Bhatia grinding over a birdie putt in his pro-am. He went through his full routine and pulled his caddie in for a read, clearly taking it seriously. It surprised me a little. It turned out he and Chris Gotterup, who was playing in the group behind, were in a match. The rules are surprisingly simple: each birdie is worth a set dollar amount, the golfer who makes the most birdies wins, and the golfer with the fewer birdies pays the difference. So if you and I were in a $10 birdie sprint and you make five birdies while I make two, I’d owe you $30.
Anyway, the more I asked around, the more I learned how common this game is on tour. It’s one of the go-to games for tour players during pro-am or practice-round days, and there are solid reasons why. You can dive deeper into this in our latest episode of Golf IQ, or keep scrolling.
First, it reinforces positive feelings. The eve of a tournament is the worst time to obsess over pars and bogeys, especially the week after the U.S. Open, which is where the Travelers event sits. The best time to analyze honestly what went wrong and where to improve is after the tournament. Beforehand, the goal is preparation and confidence-building. Birdie-only matches help with that. They keep players in an attacking, forward-leaning mindset. Rather than dwelling on bogeys they wish they hadn’t made, they draw confidence from the birdies they did.
Second, it prevents scar tissue. These matches help pros not only chase the positive but actively erase the negative. In a birdie-only format, the rules are straightforward: anything other than a birdie is irrelevant. You’ll often see players pick up a tricky par putt because it doesn’t affect the match. But why not roll it in anyway? Missing those putts could plant a bad memory in a player’s mind, exactly what you don’t want on the eve of a tournament.
Third, it conserves energy. Tournament weeks are seven-day mental marathons: one travel day, two days of preparation, and four days of competition. They’re elite athletes, but several consecutive weeks of that pace can be exhausting quickly. There’s plenty of time to grind over par and bogey putts, but that time typically isn’t in the practice rounds. When it’s clear that birdie isn’t in play for the moment, players often scoop up their ball and head to practice chips and putts to refine future hole locations instead. Save the mental and physical energy for when it matters most.
Fourth, it stirs the competitive juices. The best players are instinctively wired to compete in nearly every setting, and they’ve learned to channel that drive in different ways. A birdie-only sprint match injects competition around a specific skill—in this case, the ability to convert birdies. Get creative with how you compete and do it often, and you’ll sharpen your game as a result.
In short, birdie-only sprint matches aren’t just fun side bets; they’re strategic tools for focus, memory, energy management, and competitive edge. They give players practice in staying aggressive when it counts, while limiting the mental baggage that can linger before a big event. If you’re looking to apply this approach, start with a simple format, make the stakes clear, and emphasize the birds—because those are the moments that shape confidence and performance on the course.