The Bird is nothing to fear. The Dutch Stonewall is very annoying for either side but it can be ripped apart if a player knows what to do in the middlegame. The From Gambit offers pressure for the pawn but that takes skill to maintain.
The Dutch Stonewall is annoying. Then White composes himself and realises that he has a very straightfoward idea against it, namely stopping e5 forever, thus making Black's pawn structure a headache for himself. Rubinstein demonstrated this:
Obviously it helps to be as good as Rubinstein but at least it showed that it's nothing to be feared
The biggest flaw of f4 is that is opens up the g1-a7 diagonal to the king. With c5 and cxd5 you can begin to undermine it, and with Bd6, Qb6, and Nc6/d7, the pin on the d4-pawn all but takes away the e5 square for White. A well-timed g5 or just about any positional thrust becomes much more effective in that situation. 1...f5 is also playable, but be ready for 2. e4
One of my friends in Portland used to give the idea of playing g5 in the Dutch as a way to mix things up on the King side. Is this the same idea you are referencing? Also how effective do you find it if Black can eventually outpost a Knight on e4 in this opening?
Great info guys on QGA and counterattacking. Typically though as White, After 2.... cd I usually reply 3. e3 and if Black tries to hold on to the gambit pawn via moves like 3... b5, 4... c6 or 4... a6, I would then worj to try for the h1-a8 diagonal and pressure the a8 Rook. I've also tried ideas like 3. Nf3 but it seems a bit slow to my tastes. Are there any real good lines where White instead plays 3. e4 that don't open him up to the Ragozin-type setups that arise on Black's playing for Bb4 after the e6 advance? All I have for ideas right now is an outdated BCO Vol. 2 to refer to.