Your unpracticed shot story ... and tips on how.

All the golf gods say don't hit a shot you didn't practice.   It makes absolute sense as I seem to screw up vast majority of unpracticed shots I try.   But I can't help to get into situations where I am forced to hit a "never" practiced shot.   E.g, yesterday, one of my shots ended up on car path near green (about 20 yards from hole).   From there, it is a steep drop to green and no place to drop the ball.   So, for the first time ever, I hit a ball off asphalt. Sure enough, the ball sails past the hole and ends up being a 40 feet downhill putt.   I ended up 3 putting it.   I don't think I will run into this situation again but just in case I do, does anyone have tips on hot to hit off of asphalt (not a smooth concrete, this was black pavement we see on street).

I had one of these yesterday.  I was in thick grass about 20 yards from the green, and all of that 20 yards was also thick grass.  There was a tree right on my line to the pin with an overhanging branch that prevented me from hitting a pitch shot.  So I decided to close down my sand wedge and try to hit a low shot hard, with the hope that it would get through the heavy grass which would slow it up enough to stay on the green.  I aimed a couple of yards right of the pin.  I would have taken anywhere on the green from this position.

As it turns out, through sheer luck, I hit it just the right amount of hard and the ball stopped pin high about 6 feet above the hole.

It would have made a much better story if I had proceeded to sink the putt for a miraculous up and down . . . but alas.

I practiced this shot just b/c my range practice facility has chipping green that I can simulate this.  Most of my balls get stuck on short rough or goes over hole by 10 feet.     You did well, sheer luck or not.

As one who fairly regularly whacks the ball all over the golf course, and rarely saw a shot I didn't think I could hit, I've had a lot of them. For some reason that I will never know my results on those shots are better than anyone could ever expect.

The best two that I've ever had:

I hooked the daylights out of my tee shot leaving me with 175 yards to the pin with oak trees as tall as any in Alabama in the way and starting at about 70 yards in front of me. I knew that my best chance of clearing the trees was a very hard SW but no chance at that trajectory I was going to come anywhere near the green with that short a club. I decided to hit a 5 iron with my stance wide open and the club face even more wide open and swing as hard as I could possibly swing. Not only pulled off the shot better than expected but it left me with only a 3 foot birdie putt (which I made).

The other didn't actually count because it was only a practice shot (just to see if it could be done). I hit the ball in the water next to our island green and it was close to a foot under water but close enough to the edge to have a chance to (maybe) hit the ball. I told my son I was going to try to hit the shot and he told me it was impossible and that I was completely nuts and that I should just take a drop.

I decided he was right and took the drop and played out the hole (our last hole). When I got done I simply couldn't resist the urge to try the shot. As he looked at me shaking his head I got down on one knee, closed the club face on my SW, took a very vertical back swing and tried to slice straight down behind the ball with every ounce of strength. The ball came out of the water and right onto the green. I just wish I had done it to begin with, like I wanted. Just taking a guess I would say that the chances of hitting that shot successfully ever again are next to none (a totally wasted miracle).

Trying to pull off the ridiculous shot is more fun to me than any other part of the game. When I am practicing I throw the ball into every 'impossible" place and hit the shot from there.

Me, too, except for the last part ("results on those shots are better than anyone could ever expect").   Some shots, I don't need to practice b/c I am faced with it almost every round (like hitting low with 4 iron to avoid tree problem).

Probably my favorite shot I ever hit was a unique flop shot during a semi-competitive round ($5 nassau). I was playing with some teammates when I hit a ball left of the green, with a tucked left pin on a downslope away from me. I have about 20 yards to the edge of the green, then another two after that. One of my teammates had accidentally placed his bag on the fringe in line with me and the pin (laying flat). I hit the flop and landed it on his bag, which killed its momentum and left me with about a 4 foot par putt. The best part was the confusion on his face as he rushed to move his bag with my ball in the air and I told him to leave it. He was just sort of standing there dumbfounded.

I never practice........I just play golf.  usually... A LOT.

When faced with a unique scrambling challenge, I weigh the probably of success playing the hero-shot and the penalty for failure.  Then I consider a more conservative play......

Generally speaking, I'll opt for the shot to get on the green with a chance to make a putt.  I take double-B out of play unless it's a match play situation.

I generally agree.  My course management "bible" is Ray Floyd's book The Art of Scoring, and one of his tenets is when you find yourself in trouble make sure you aren't in trouble on your next shot.  I generally try to "hero" shot, such as the one I described above, ONLY when there IS no really safe conservative play.

If I'm not mistaken, I think you should have been penalized for this shot. It's still a great shot, but if memory serves me right it's one stroke penalty for hitting another players equipment. Or if they feel that you did it intentionally, I think it's a two stroke penalty... I'm just trying to recall this from my high school golf days. I may be off on the severity of the penalty, but I'm pretty sure there is one.

Cosign

It depends what he means by teammate.  If he just means he was playing with some guys that are on his golf team, but in the context of the round the one whose equipment he hit was not his partner, then there is no penalty.  But if the equipment he hit was the equipment of his partner, then you would be correct, one stroke penalty.

The relevant rules are Rule 19-2 and Rule 19-4 and, if playing match play, Rule 19-3.

Thanks, I appreciate you clearing that up. I knew there was some rule on this, just couldn't remember the exact penalty.

You're welcome.