The ORLANDO SENTINEL tees off on a golfer who’s in trouble for getting a birdie - by killing it with a golf ball.

Orange County (FL) authorities are charging Tripp Isenhour with two counts of cruelty to animals and killing an migratory bird for taking a swing at a red-shouldered hawk. All because he was trying to finish a video shoot.

Last December, Isenhour was at the Grand Cypress Golf Club filming an instructional video called “Shoot Like A Pro”, when a hawk about 300 yards away started singing - and stepping on Isenhour’s lines.

Not wanting to be upstaged, Tripp “hopped into a golf cart and drove around a lake to the tree where the bird sat. For 10 minutes, while the crew waited, Isenhour hit several golf balls toward the bird. The golfer gave up and returned the set.”

Isenhour’s bad marksmanship only encouraged the hawk to fly closer to the set and continue its song. Tripp again started shooting balls at the bird. On his 10th swing, he finally struck, and the bird fell 30 feet to the ground.

Sound engineer Jethro Sanger described the gruesome scene:

“The bird was on his back, bleeding from his nostrils, his mouth was opening and closing slowly, and it was looking up at me as people ran over.

“I saw its eyes slowly close and I was pretty sure that the bird had died.”

Isenhour’s bullseye could end up costing him up to $10,000 in fines and a long stint in community service. A county prosecutor suggests putting the golfer to work at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey, “if the center will have him.”

Ouch.