What's the best "impossible" shot you've hit?

[rustyredcab]

Deep in woods after tee shot and about 170 to the pin. Can't go backward, sideways either way -- total jail. So caddie advises that we mine as well hit and hope toward the green. There is no place to drop and re-tee would take us out of the hole. I'm a 18 handicap and the only thing I have in common with Seve is that we both have an "s" on our first names.

Choke up on a 3-wood to try and keep ball under the first tree directly in front of me. Shot goes over, under and through trees without hitting any -- on my line, the ball avoided about 10 trees. Ball clears woods and lands fifty yards from the green in the fairway and runs up and onto the green to two feet from pin for a conceded birdie. Our side takes low ball and total.

[bkuehn1952]

(high five!!)

I had the SAME EXACT scenario when I played. I knew I couldn't hit the 3 wood straight so I flailed it out over the ocean- swung back into the right middle about 100 yds out. Had to hit over the corner of that tree (the old one before it fell down and replaced), and wound up hitting the putt for birdie in front of the porch gallery!

(fist bump back at you!)

Nice.  I, on the other hand, dumped my 3rd in the front bunker.  I did make a "sandy" par.  Making a birdie like you would have been sweet.

[BuckeyeNut]

Reading this thread, 1 stupid shot came to mind......

My ball lay short-sided in a greenside bunker in a plugged lie and I am hitting to a down sloping green........LOL....niiiice!    I have one thing working for me and that is the wind is blowing-inward hard at a slight angle.   Truthfully....I was still screwed, but at least the shot wasn't downwind...LOL

I squared my blade and popped the ball up nicely..........the ball gets wrapped in the flag, it hits the pin on the way down, and comes to rest a few inches from the cup...........LOL     Easy tap-in par...................hehe

[MS256]

I guess the one "benefit" to being as wild off of the tee as I've always been is that there have been plenty of opportunities for the impossible shots.

Hard to choose but probably this one. Playing from the wrong hole and almost on the wrong green. An uphill 263 yard fade over a tree lined fairway with very, very tall trees.

[Spitfisher]

On a 575 yard par five hole, #18 I had to eagle to win, birdie to tie. I told the guys in our foursome to keep and eye on this and that I purposely aimed down the paved cart path, figure I had nothing to lose. I hit my usual drive, it hit the cart path at least 4-5 times bouncing high each time and continued to roll down it, we eventually found it with some help of the guys in front us. Who thought it was pretty funny. It came to rest, I took a drop within the rules of tourney and hit my PW 115 yards to an elevated green, stuck it within 5 feet and sunk the putt. And it held up for a 400 dollar skin for the day. :-D

[dfreuter415]

Over 50+ years, there have been a number of impossible shots that I have pulled off, but the two that stand out in my mind...

As a young man: Green Valley #7, par 5 - third shot, level lie, uphill, over oak trees, 70-80 yards. I hit a flop shot with a 7 iron to five feet and made birdie.

As an old man:  River Forest #5, par 4, second shot, ball above feet, in the rough, over trees, 215 yards. I hit a three wood with a high draw, over the trees to 15 feet and missed the birdie putt, but made par.

-------------------------------

There was one other impossible "trick shot" that I pulled off. While playing #14 at Oakmont Country Club, I had 130 yards left to the pin from the fairway. At the moment I hit the shot, the epoxy on my 9 iron broke down, and while the ball was in the air, my clubhead was also in flight.  The clubhead landed 40 yards down range, but amazingly, the ball finished 12 feet from the pin. I told my playing partner that this really wouldn't be much of a story unless I made birdie.  I did.  :)

[flopster]

I can only remember last year I had a sand shot that was against the back lip so I had to get out at nearly 90* but the pin was in a bowl so there was am outside chance I could get it close, I pulled it off perfect the ball caught the radius just right and rolled around just above the hole and then rolled downhill another fifteen feet in the cup, our foursome let out a roar you could hear all over the course and they all said it was even more impressive than Tigers chip in on 16 back in 2005 lol.Oh yeah I had another great sand shot where I had 1 foot in and the other on top and all I could do was just pop it straight up in the air I pulled it off perfect too and the funny part was the clump of wet sand the ball had stuck on it that it rolled over at least 20 times it was da thump da thump da thump and then hung on the lip for about 2 seconds then dropped.

[Uncle Peter]

10th hole 305-yard severe dogleg left par 4, that's carved through a thick pine forest, at a local course I play often. Decided to play it safe (ironically) and hit a 3-wood, but sliced it hard left dead into the forest. I found the ball after a few minutes and assessed the situation. The ball was on level ground, but my path to the hole was blocked by about 30 yards of tall pine trees, about 90 yards away. I decided to risk it and go for a low 3H punch shot. I hit it beautifully and the ball barely got a few feet of the ground, just skipping it`s way through the forest. The ball makes it out, hops over the greenside bunkers, and lands 9 feet from the hole. I make the putt for the unlikeliest of birdies.

[brightonrock]

10th hole 305-yard severe dogleg left par 4, that's carved through a thick pine forest, at a local course I play often. Decided to play it safe (ironically) and hit a 3-wood, but sliced it hard left dead into the forest. I found the ball after a few minutes and assessed the situation. The ball was on level ground, but my path to the hole was blocked by about 30 yards of tall pine trees, about 90 yards away. I decided to risk it and go for a low 3H punch shot. I hit it beautifully and the ball barely got a few feet of the ground, just skipping it`s way through the forest. The ball makes it out, hops over the greenside bunkers, and lands 9 feet from the hole. I make the putt for the unlikeliest of birdies.

So many great replies but I really love this one!

The two that spring to mind for me were both in matchplay tournaments, one fourball and one on my own.

The one on my own was on #14, I was 2 down and looking out of it. It's a dogleg left par 4, SI1, maybe 200y to the corner and then easily over 200 coming into a pretty small green with a bunker at the front. Everything left is thick rough and scrub and trees too, so it's risk/reward depending on how much of the corner you're prepared to bite off. I tried to play safe with a hybrid to the corner but hit a horrible thin, fadey thing that ran through the dogleg into some trees at the back. I should've taken my medicine and pitched out sideways but I tried to get clever and punch a 6iron out, hit a tree and bounced back even further behind me, now out of the trees but blocked out by them, and requiring a huge cut if I stood a chance of making it. Knowing my opponent was about to go 3up unless I did something I pulled my 4 wood and decided to go for it, GPS (which is allowed in this tourney to my great pleasure) read 236 to the middle. Never before or since have I caught it so pure off the deck with that club - 40/50 yards of cut on it, perfect contact, and it bounced over the bunker and released up to the pin in the back right to 5 feet. I was on such a high I got really heavy handed with the par putt and knocked it past so had to settle for a bogey, but the adrenaline in my veins for the last few holes saw me string together par-par-par-birdie to sneak it 1up on the 18th :)

The other was on the 18th of a fourball game, we're 1 down, and my approach shot was pushed way right and ended up lying on pine straw underneath this really low tree. My partner was out of the hole and one of their players was out too, although his partner had hit a scruffy chip to about 7/8 feet having come up short in the fringe with his approach. I'm maybe 40 yards from the green, and have to go over a bunker to make it - but I have no room to make a proper pitch swing in that direction as I'm completely impeded by the tree. I even thought about chipping into the bunker and trying to hole out but my sand game is very average indeed! In the end having looked at it a bit I see the right edge of the bunker as I look at it has a high bank, making a sort of bowl feeding down into it. With no other option I hit a 7iron chip through the rough and bounced perfectly on the bank, it pops out at a 90 degree angle onto the green and rolls over to the pin, absolutely stiff for an unorthodox but nevertheless, tap in par. My opponent is gobsmacked and fluffs his par putt so we sneaked a half!

As a higher handicapper I love the stories in this thread because it gives hope that whatever trouble you're in, you can escape it - something I need to try and do far too often for my liking!

[goatlord]

Since I have played golf just for 6 months now, it would be my first birdie. Chip from the middle of lateral water hazard (dried out as a muddy swamp) right to the hole in Par-3.

[hsgolfer]

In trees about 140 out and had to play a very low cut, so I took my 4 iron out and landed it around 15 yards short of the green and holed out!!!!!!

[shakogolfer78]

Bluff Creek Golf Club Hole Number 16 Par 5.  Hit my drive in the fairway but I had about 220 so I tried to reach in two with my 3Hy.  Badly pull hooked the shot into the trees on the right.  Ended up being about forty yards from the back pin location in a heavily wooded area.  I had a lane to the flag, but the rough was thick, trees were hanging low and a bunker guarded the front of the green, so I decided to go for it naturally!

I hit a punch 7-Iron under the tree limbs, over the bunker, and landed it in the rough just before the green.  It slowed down the shot enough to let it track right at the flag and in for my first ever eagle!

Whole lot of luck, but hey it turned out how I imagined it would in my head.

[cipher]

Bump, this was a pretty cool one by my brother.  Drew it around the corner.  Pretty impressive for a 15 handicap.  You can actually see the ball flight as well.

[Big C]

Bump, this was a pretty cool one by my brother.  Drew it around the corner.  Pretty impressive for a 15 handicap.  You can actually see the ball flight as well.

That's not really that impressive. I hit that shot all the time. Unfortunately, it's usually when I have driver in hand and I'm aiming straight ahead!

Seriously though, nice shot to your brother. Pretty cool that you caught it on video too.

[Dloy]

The shot that I remember most often was a lob shot from behind the green maybe 30 yards, to a significant downhill green. At the time I had a Callaway S2H2 lob wedge with practically zero bounce. You could really dig a ditch with this club. Anyway, the only way to get this close was to sky the wedge, and it dropped just perfectly on the fringe which killed it just enough to trickle onto the green and down slope 15' or so to cozy next to the pin. A Mickleson moment for sure.

The best I ever SAW however was when a friend was maybe 30 feet from the pin but with a tall fir perfectly on line. He was helped with an uphill lie, but still, he sky'd a wedge easily 60' in the air, cleared the tree top by maybe a foot and dropped the shot a foot from the pin. Glad I saw it because I doubt I'd ever believe it. A circus shot.

[jetsknicks1]

Draining a 200 yd 4i for an eagle on the #1 HC hole. :-)

[Aguirre]

I have two.

The first was at Lone Pill Golf Club in Washington PA. I don't remember what hole because I'm no longer a member and haven't played there for a decade.  I was up against a tree by the green after my approach on a Par 4, with no room behind the ball for a swing.  So I chipped directly into the tree with a lofted club (to hopefully prevent it from hitting the club on the deflection) and ricocheted the ball off the tree onto the green about four feet from the hole.

The second was after I hooked a drive on 18 Woodside Butler's Golf Club in Elizabeth PA.  I had 190 to the green.  But I had about four trees in succession blocking my approach.  They also blocked a straight shot somewhat because they had overhanging branches about twenty five feet off the ground.  Then after that line of trees was another tree directly in my path.  So I had to hit a ball 190 yards, uphill, to a green, and I had to keep it low for about 50 yards, then the ball HAD to cut quickly (I'm a lefty) to avoid the other tree.  I pulled it off, hit the front of the green with a three wood.  Shot was exactly how I imagined.  Low screamer for 50 yards, started to cut, lost lots of distance because of the hill and trajectory but it ended up on the front.  Two putt par.