Going for it and actually pulling it off

Played in the first individual tournament I've ever been in last Friday and coming down the stretch I knew I was somewhere in contention.

Hole 15 is a sharp dogleg right. It's about 175 off the tee straight away to the 150 stick, then a hard right over water to an elevated green with a deep bunker guarding the right front. I play the tee shot and I'm sitting at 155, wind in my face, and the flag is tucked back right. First thought is - 6-iron.. bail out left.. try to 2-putt for the par.. don't F with that bunker. There are woods not far off the right side and the bunker is almost a sure bogey. But my inner Tin Cup said - No way. pull the 5 and fire right at it.

It's a work tournament.. no money involved. Just a trophy and braggin rights so I man up and absolutely flush my 5-iron. I'm crouched down on one knee watchin it fly sayin - Carry it.. carry it.

Landed 15' short of the cup.. one hop and stop. Ended up winning by 2 in the end so that shot really was make/break.

Best feeling in golf. Anyone else ever pull one of these in a tournament or otherwise they care to share?

I was playing in a high school tournament (Bart Granger Memorial) in the DFW area. We came to a 200 yard par 3. The kid who tee'd off before me hit a great shot to about 15 feet. On a 200 yard par 3 thats an accomplishment for a high school student. I walk up to the tee and mutter to myself "I can beat that". I take a 3 iron and I thin the stupid thing, it probably never gets more than 20 feet off to the ground. It hits the front of the green, checks, and then rolls up to 6 feet. Great day.

Saturday, 400 yard dog leg right. At the inside of the turn my drive trickled down to a collection area a couple of feet short of OB and I couldn't see the green. To get on, I needed to go under some overhanging brush, past a tree on the OB line, then fade it about 20 yards. Or layup in front of the stream that crossed on the approach. Without thinking I hit a hybrid, under the brush around the tree with the fade & got it on the green and 2 putted for par. Looking back, had I thought about all the things that could have gone wrong (the brush knocking down to the stream, hitting the tree, and not fading it) I should have laid up and taken the bogey.

Playing my dad's course in upstate NY, a re-worked par 5. Only measures 465, but the tee shot is uphill, blind and doglegging left. Second shot is somewhat downhill but the green curves left, with a pond running the last 100 yards left, just a thin landing area on the right, and that's protected by a bunker if you go through the fairway. There's also a bunker on the back of the green, coming out of which leads to a sharp downhill bunker shot back toward the pond.

I hit a good drive, not awesome, up over the blind hill, right side of the fairway, with about 210-something to the flag, wind was coming slightly in and from the left. I just had a sudden flush of confidence, and took my 3I hybrid, really stayed quiet and through the shot, hit it dead down the right side with a soft draw into the wind, came left and bounced to about 20 feet or so, IIRC.

And for the win too, nice!

I had a moment like this earlier in the year at a tournament on the Golden State Tour at Oak Valley. #16 is a reachable par-5, 523y. I pounded a driver off the tee and found myself 220y to the pin. I get to my ball to find that its on a bit of a downhill slope. Worse yet, from where my ball is to the front of the green is a lake that guards the entire front of the green. There is fairway right, but only for a layup bailout. I gathered my nerve, went through my preshot routine and pulled off the shot. A bitchin' high fade, a laser at the pin that ended up 2'! Tap in eagle!

saturday afternoon... short muni course, par 4...usually a 330 yard hole but the tee box is under repair so it was moved up to 280 yard to pin.

I COULD hit an iron and lay up... or i can hit my driver and get it on the green. Smashed my driver to slight right of the green, but I'm on! and then I 3 putted like a god damn champion for PAR.......ahem...

Yeah Def.

On saturday afternoon I was playing Heather Hill in MA. On the 6th hole 350something par 4 with a huge dogleg in it I hit a drive to about 90yds short of the hole. Now I was looking at a 90 yard shot right over a bunker guarding the entire front of the green which was especially small maybe 10ft wide at most and elevated with a steep 10ft drop off all around it. Basicly I was looking at dropping the ball in a 5ft size area from 90 yds out. I nutted up and croaked my 50* putting it as far back and trying to pop it up as much as I could and absolutely dropped a dart that stuck to that barely 10ft wide piece of green and rolled in the par put. I wound up winning that 9 by one shot and if I had laid up I wouldve totally tied or lost.

Another Work Tournament story, but this one is a scramble. I'm generally the A player in any group I get placed. There are maybe two guys better than me, maybe. Probably 5 single digit cappers total out of 50.

This course had nice GPS carts, and the ability to post your score after each hole, and leaderboard tracking. Nice deal. We par the first three to fall a few shots behind. I'm putting like a drunk blind man at this point. My partners are so bad I quit trying to get a read off of their full body dry heave style strokes.

A group that was +2 after a few holes starts posting birdies hole after hole after hole. We get hot as well. With about six to go, it's us and them. We post a birdie to tie, they immediately post one to take the lead. Our last hole is a par five, theirs a par four adjacent to us. I busted a drive (after the other three skanked it bad) and we watched their second come up SHORT of the green. Par at best for them. My guys hit safe irons as they could not reach in two. I jumped on my hybrid big time to a sucker pin on the front edge, practically on the upslope of the apron. One of those greens with a bout a 15 by 15 foot area at the entrance to the green, flanked by bunkers. 95% of the time the pin is somewhere else, as there is not much room there at all. I smoke the hybrid, right at it. My guys are yelling as it's carving. I know it's good because I hit the hybrid about 215-220 when I flush it, and our yardage was 218 or something like that. It hits about two steps on the green, and trickles up to about 6 feet.

My guys did not even get out of the cart, just told me to "go get my eagle." Which I did.

It turns out the other team had been posting fictitious birdies on the computer, and we won by four. Good thing I went for it, huh?

Hey, what course is that? I live in Buffalo, so just curious.

Wasn't for a tournament, but it was for a skin. 180 yard shot after the tee off. 10 ft pot bunker guarding the front left stick. I know I can hit my 4i at least 180 with a bad shot, so I say what the hell and play a draw aimed to the middle of the green. I figure if it doesn't draw, i'll be able to 3 putt. The shot landed 8 ft from the pin and I knocked it down for a bird ;)

I was down by three going into the last hole in a club tourney yesterday. Par 5, around 525. I have about 230 to the front edge and a front pin. Deep bunkers protect the green on both sides and the run up area to the green is narrow. So i pull out my 17 hybrid (no other choice really) and hit a good shot. It took some kind of weird forward bounce and the ball ends up rolling through the green into the greenside rough. I choked from there and ended up with only a par. The dude in first made a birdie anyway, so a eagle for me wouldn't have mattered. But it was a tough shot, and i sorta pulled it off.