Take your time, use your sights, make sure the notch cut is clean, leave holding wood and use your felling wedges to finish the job. People get too impatient and feel like their eyeballed assessment removes all need for the holding wood hinge and keep cutting until the tree starts moving and in the process remove so much of the holding wood that there’s nothing controlling the fall, and that’s when things go wrong.
It’s good to have one wedge that has been blunted back a bit so that it just fits in the saw kerf. That way it can go in right behind the bar as soon as there’s room.
I don't claim to have felling skills. However, the last tree I laid down went exactly where and how it was supposed to. Much of what I mess with has already given up and fell over, so I don't get any regular practice.
I think what you do is make one big slash cut through the tree, ideally around a 45 degree angle. They always fall down when doing so. If you can do this from a ladder, even better. I am of course joking, please DO NOT do that.
