Edit - Sorry for the wall of text. Got longer than I expected. I think its a worthwhile read though.

Allow me to fully explain everything before you criticize. This is kind of a mini field report as well.

So I know this seems to go against everything this community says. We all should be approaching every HB we see and gathering reference experiences. It is a learning process, and you won't grow unless you practice. I could not agree more, however, I think this might be better geared towards complete noobies. If you are completely new to the game and haven't talked to many girls, then definitely approach every girl you see. Learn from EVERY experience. However, I consider myself to be an intermediate student of the game. And I will explain my reasoning for why I feel that sometimes not approaching, might be the best call.

For the past month and a half I have been staying quite sober. I drink 3 beers or so over the entire night, and really try and work on my game. From watching videos, and reading content on this sub reddit, it is widely accepted that you should approach every girl you see. There is also another strain of thought that talks about momentum. Every time you have a decent interaction, you can build on that momentum and keep getting better. This is where I see a distinction to be made. Keeping the momentum going, instead of opening a girl you dont feel completely comfortable opening.

Now, the counter argument to this is; by opening girls you dont feel comfortable opening, you will become more comfortable. You gain that experience and learn from it. This is where my FR with begin. How I think that not opening an HB9 and her HB8.5 friend got me 3 #-closes, a k-close and a date for the next day.

I went out last night. Got to the bar with my buddies pretty early when the bar was still kind of dead. I was feeling like a pussy. I did not want to open and girls, but I knew that after opening a few sets, I always get warmed up and start feeling it. So I made my friend pick random girls and dare me to go talk to them. This way, it makes me feel like its a challenge, and if I dont do it, then I am a pussy.

So he points to an asian HB7 and her Hb6.5 friend. I had such approach anxiety for some reason, its my first open of the night and I stumbled through it. Asked them classic boring questions "What's your major," "What year are you in." Basically building no attraction, but it got my first open out of the way, and I instantly felt more confident after. (Its funny how opening any girl, even ones you are not attracted to will help. Shows you that approaching is not that big of a deal).

My next approach is an HB7.5 and her HB6 and HB7 friends. Its the HB7.5's birthday, so I yell from across the room, while pointing to her "HAPPY BIRTHDAY." I walk right over, not breaking eye contact, and open her and all of her friends. I make some jokes, work in Kino and have them all laughing about the ridiculous moustache I am growing. I could have #-closed, but I wasn't completely wanting to, and for my second approach of the night, it felt awesome. My confidence was getting really high.

After that, I just sat back and laughed with my buddies. I could feel the tension ease out of me. I go to this bar a lot, so I know quite a few girls here. I am approached by maybe 6 girls, ranging from HB6 to HB 9. Just coming to say hi and asking me to go dance. I am receptive, but don't go with any of them. It gives me a lot of social proof to other girls.

Since I am feeling like an absolute boss, I walk up to this blonde HB7.5 and open. I don't even remember what I was saying, but she started insulting my moustache pretty hard. I kept solid body posture, and told her that a lot of the girls I had been kissing tonight told me that they liked how it felt (I had a shit eating grin the entire time. This is big, be self-amused. I LEGITIMATELY found what a said funny. I was testing what I could get away with). She looked kind of amused and said "I would be all over you if you didn't have that thing." (A shit test?) I didn't flinch, remained calm, said "Oh really? Trust me, this is not holding you back. "(Something like that, I don't remember the exact words) I looked directly at her lips, grabbed the side of her face a little, and kissed her. I then said; "See, told you it wasn't holding you back." I took her phone, put my number in it, and was on my way.

This is now the part where I feel that not approaching kept me in the zone, and made my night get better as it went on. While I am waiting in the line, the HB9 bumps right into me, and says sorry. Her friend kind of says sorry too, and it was an obvious attempt to get my attention. I turn around, (I can just feel huge steel butterflies body checking each-other in my stomach), look at both of them and say,"OMG (in a joking manner), I dont think I can forgive you." Then I turn around and pay no mind to them. I knew that anything I said would not have come off right. I could feel myself about to treat this girl differently then every other girl I had spoken too. I knew I was already putting this girl on a pedestal, and I refused to open it. This kept my momentum going, I didn't feel like I screwed anything up, and continued to have a great night. I got 2 more numbers and had a blast. An HB6.5 tried to make me come hom with her, but I said no. Had to be up early. - End of FR

Analysis: Now, I know many of you are going to say that if I don't ever take the chances of opening girls like that, I won't get better. I do somewhat agree with you, and I realize that I turned down an opportunity with pretty much the girl of my dreams cause I didn't want to screw it up. However, every time I go out, I have been improving. Things are getting easier, and I can feel myself growing. I am absolutely using my momentum to boost my confidence, and I feel that is ABSOLUTELY contributing to my growing success.

Opening that girl, and ejecting before I even tried, allowed me to keep my positive emotions going. I realize that when I get to the next level, I will not treat girls like that any differently. If I get blown out, it will not bother me. It'll roll right off my back. This is where I am being real with myself. I know that opening that set and screwing it up, would have rubbed me the wrong way. And I know myself well enough to make the right decision for me, in that situation. It is specifically because I have been going out, and gathering so many experiences that I knew not to make this same mistake again. In the future, when my game has improved, I will do those approaches. However, at my current stage, I feel this allowed me to stay positive and continue having a good night. Know where you are in terms of your development in the game, and make the right decisions for yourself accordingly.

Please feel free to add any input. I would love to hear about what you guys have to say. We are all learning here, and this is my contribution.

TL;DR - Got my momentum going, felt great. Could have opened an HB9 and her HB8.5 friend who clearly wanted me to, but I chose not to in order to keep my momentum going. Got 2 more numbers and had a great night.

P.S Sorry for the grammar, I'm not the best with english.