"One in a Million" (aka WTF) Moments

[BostonSully]

The other day on a par 3 180yd hole I crushed a 6i but pulled the living crap out of it 30ft left of where I was aiming. When the ball hit the ground a bird popped started to fly and crashed right back down. Then it gimped into the woods.

Poor thing, I felt horrid that I pulled that shot he/she was probably thinking no1 will pull a ball that badly all the way over here and hit me....

[Jay-Bird]

In the first day of league last week a guy hit the bottom of the pin with his tee shot (par 3). It was so very near a slam dunk hole-in-one. Instead the ball slammed off the pin and into the water. He made a double bogey, 5.

[bunkerputt]

I was practicing with a buddy and set up a really tough short game shot:  flop shot from hard pan over a bunker to a short-sided pin with a green that runs away and left very quickly.  You could land it in the rough and get lucky to get it close, or you could land it in the first cut and run 15 feet by.  That would have been a great shot.  I said it's the kind of shot that you won't make in 100 tries.  First try, I made it.  Then I threw down another ball just to show it was luck, and made that one too.  What was funny was that they both had different characteristics.  The first hit and ran with more speed straight into the cup.  The second landed softer and about a foot higher up the slope and bent into the cup.  I realized that the landing area I picked just so happened to be a really great funnel for that hole location.

His story was better.  He has a super-over-the-top mega slice with zero leg action kind of swing.  He was on a sharp dogleg left and the guys he was playing with played big draws over the trees.  Instead, he hits a low screaming slice into the woods on the right, the ball rattles around about 4 times and shoots out straight down the fairway and about 10 yards past the other guys balls.  They said it was a money shot.  Then when he got up to his ball he found a 50 cent piece right next to it.  Must've been a ball marker someone dropped.

Once I was going for the green on a 269 yard par-4 with a little pond guarding the front.  You have to play about a 5 yard fade starting at the right edge of the pond if you want to get it on because of the slope and water.  I took 3-wood and started it on a nice line but the ball ballooned and started moving left towards the middle of the pond.  It dropped out of the sky in pretty much the dead center of the water, but then instead of a splash, I saw it bounce like it hit concrete and then landed on the green.  A turtle gets the credit for the assist.

[bunkerputt]

Forgot to add my longest drive ever of 393 yards into the wind on a flat hole with no down-slope.  Normal distance drive, backed off a little because of the wind and started it up the right side for a push-draw.  I over pushed it, it drew back, but landed about in line with the cart path.  Somehow it got to rolling on the cart path and it just kept on going.  I saw it take two bends in the cart path.  My buddies hopped in the cart and asked what I was still looking at, having hit my drive 20 seconds ago.  I said it was still rolling.  I don't think I could have putt it on the right line to take both of those bends without falling off.  I probably got 140 yards of roll out of it.  Everyone else was hitting long iron into the green and I had a little chip with a sand wedge.

[iacas]

I'm sure I've seen some I'm forgetting, but one that we still talk about was when I was working with some junior golfers.

I was on the tee of a par three playing about 150, into a slight breeze, with the pin front right.

I took care to describe everything I was doing. My thought process. How I wanted to start the ball at this particular limb, let it drift right slightly, land behind the hole, and pull back. I named every little detail about how the ball flight would look, how the ball would behave, what the wind would do, etc.

I hit the shot and it fit perfectly with what I'd just described. EVERY BIT of it, including what part of the cloud it started at, how the wind would hold it up at a certain point, everything. The ball landed behind the flag exactly on the one square foot area I'd talked about, hopped like I'd said, and spun back like I said.

It lipped out and sat a foot in front of the cup and I calmly turned to the assembled juniors, who were staring at me like I'd just made Moe Norman and Ben Hogan my bitches and mumbled something like "dammit, I forgot to tell you how I was going to hole it."

Not a true "one in a million" shot, but close.

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by iacas

I'm sure I've seen some I'm forgetting, but one that we still talk about was when I was working with some junior golfers.

I was on the tee of a par three playing about 150, into a slight breeze, with the pin front right.

I took care to describe everything I was doing. My thought process. How I wanted to start the ball at this particular limb, let it drift right slightly, land behind the hole, and pull back. I named every little detail about how the ball flight would look, how the ball would behave, what the wind would do, etc.

I hit the shot and it fit perfectly with what I'd just described. EVERY BIT of it, including what part of the cloud it started at, how the wind would hold it up at a certain point, everything. The ball landed behind the flag exactly on the one square foot area I'd talked about, hopped like I'd said, and spun back like I said.

It lipped out and sat a foot in front of the cup and I calmly turned to the assembled juniors, who were staring at me like I'd just made Moe Norman and Ben Hogan my bitches and mumbled something like "dammit, I forgot to tell you how I was going to hole it."

Not a true "one in a million" shot, but close.

Very sweet.

[CdnRiderFan1]

About 5 years ago, on a golf weekend out with my cousin and his friends.

Playing a very difficult track in the kelowna area called Paradise Ridge(redtail).

the Hole is a long dogleg right par 5 that basically goes around a large pond, so you can try to cut corners at your own risk, or even try the Hero 270 yard drive right across the pond to the green.

I hit my drive pretty straight, and then hit a decent second and 3rd shot so that i"m on the  large green about 80 ft from the pin looking at my birdie putt.

I really didn't have a read on the greens that day, and Hit my putt way to far to the right of the proper line. All of a sudden about 20 ft from the hole, my ball appears to hit something and deflects sharply to the left, rolls down the slope and into the hole.

My playing partners were standing there dumfounded, then proceeded to give me High Fives for my only birdie of the day...

When I walked up I found a small pebble on the green that must have tracked on the green from a previous players shoes...

I didn't know whether to pick it up and throw it off the green, or to leave that wonderful little karma pebble there for the next errant putter.

I tossed it because I figured the next poor schmuck will be putting straight for the hole and then get the 45 degree deflection into the pond.

There is no way I'll ever be able to repeat that combination of speed, and redirection to make such a long putt in my lifetime.

[brightonrock]

I played a local course in January on the day of a VERY heavy British frost, after a week or so of freezing temperatures. We tee off at 8am when its even colder, not feeling very enthused about the prospect of a round in sub-zero temperatures, and my buddy comments on how he feels so cold and stiff he can barely make a practice swing. The first hole is a short par 3, about 130 yards but with a small green and very well protected by bunkers. He tees off first, and spanks it into the heavens. It looks good but comes up short into the bunker, and springs out fully 40 ft in the air and lands on the green. We wander down after hitting our shots and there is a block of sheet ice at the bottom of the bunker, and his ball has flown miles into the air off it, and finished about 3ft from the cup. He rolls in (needless to say) the only birdie of the day as we gave up after 9 holes to avoid frostbite!

Also I just played a new course which has a dog leg left on the 12th with power lines running across the fairway (as in, above the fairway) about 160-170 yards from the tee. I'm in a four-ball and tee off first, ping a hybrid down the middle, good start. The second player goes and hits a long iron also down the middle. The third (the same mate as the first story) pulls a 3 wood and hits an ugly snap-hook which is heading mega OB when it spanks into the telegraph pole and bounces off like a trampoline about 30 yards past our first two tee shots. We're all laughing about how lucky he gets as the fourth player steps onto the tee. "I never get luck like that!" he says as he tees it up. He hits driver and the ball hits the actual wires overhanging the course, and drops straight down like a bird laying an egg, fully 60 or 70 yards back from where we've hit ours, and maybe 100 back from my particularly lucky mate. Point proven, he doesn't get luck like that...

[soloredd]

Nothing too crazy but yesterday my buddy hit a wedge from 90 yards out or so to a green that had boulders protecting the left front. His ball hit a boulder and flew backward and high, got a bounce off a cart path, and it ended up behind his original spot.

I felt bad for him...and then 1/2 second later I couldn't keep from laughing :)

[TheGeekGolfer]

Remembered a couple more...

1. This happened to a friend of mine, first tee at Skamania (a mountain course in SW Washington).  It was early in the season and they were doing maintenance on the bunkers, etc.  The last guy to tee off steps off right as a truck carrying a load of sand drives by on the cart path down the left hand side.  He pulls his drive left, it bounces off a tree about 150 yds down the left side, bounces on the cart path, bounces over the cab of the truck and lands in the back in the middle of all the sand and drives away.  We're like...wtf, how do you play that?  We yelled at him to drop it by the hole, but he didn't hear us.

2. I was playing in a scramble tournament last year and we were lining up for a birdie putt on a par-5.  Our group was 5 or 6 under at this point and doing really good, considering the various levels of skill in this group.  Right as I was lining up my putt (I was going last), a little mini tornado (dust devil, whatever) blows through and my ball starts going round and round on the green in a circle.  The mini tornado then went in the sand trap and started picking up the rake and rattling it around.  It was crazy, it was a sunny, calm day until that point.  Went back to calm immediately afterwards, too.  I hadn't addressed my ball or picked up my mark, so I put the ball back where it was on my mark and then proceeded to hole the 15 ft. putt for birdie.  We went on to a 2nd place finish.

[SIDESHOW]

i was playing a short par 3 (130 yards) and decide to try and it my seven. i lifted my head and thinned it and hit left. it was traveling FAST and about 10 feet off the ground. at first i just was furious with myself until i saw it aiming straight for a tree about 15 yards off of the green. sure enough it hit the trunk and bounced to within 5 feet of the green which i putted in for birdie.

[gn87berner]

My league partner invites a former teammate to play a weekend round together. Old partner struggled on a par 5 and was out of it and I, in poor manners, place the flag down between his ball and the pin, he was slightly off the green. Like I said he was batting it around like a kitten with a new ball of string and was out of it. I am like "Oh I am sorry" and go to pick up the flag. He says that's cool and chipped, ball bounces once, then over the stick and rolls in. 30 footer. I say Damn! did you see that? My partner says what? I told him and toss the ball back and he did the same exact thing a 2nd time!

[Gerald]

I have seen some pretty shots, like balls skipping along a water hazard ending near the hole but last sunday we were playing in a single hc FBBB competition match and we were 1 down at the 17th Par 5. after our opponents both hit great tee shots, I kinda topped my tee shot (still ended at about 200 yds middle of the fairway (but no chance to go for the green in two) and my partner hit a huge drive at about 330 yds on the left edge of the fairway just behind a tree he needed to draw around to cover the 210 yds to the green as our opponents were lying in the middle of the fairway and both had less than 200 yds straightforward shots ( no problem for these guys hc. 4 and 8), I tried to get my second shot close to the lake in front of the green ...... I hit my 4i about flush ..... shittttt..... it went in.

My partner curved hit 2nd shot perfectly around the tree but thinned it half and it kept on bouncing along the fairway also in the direction of the lake I went in ..... just in front of the lake it hit the ground, bounced huge to the left and bounced three or for times on the small bridge, hit a tree at the other side of the lake and came to rest 30 ft. short of the flag. Our opponents (and I and some people watching the game) couldn't believe their eyes.

One of the guys went in the lake aswell and the other thinned his ball, was lucky enough to end close to the lake, but only their best score was a par.

We won the 17th and birdied the 18th to win the match.

[Slim]

my ball was about 4 feet from the cup for birdie. Playing partner was in the rough.

He plays a chip, and his ball hits mine and knocks it in.

I took a par i think. What should i have done?

[livendie4golf]

Back in a golf match in high school we were playing at a really nice course out on cape cod (to remain nameless).  While waiting on the first tee I was working on my juggling with a wedge (the Tiger Woods bouncing on the Wedge) and as I tried to switch up and hit it between my legs the ball thinned off to the side, right where my partner was taking some practice swings.  He was facing the wrong way and had no idea that I was doing this.  The ball that I thinned flew through his legs, and into a perfect downswing, with a driver, right into our other teammates leg.

The best part was, it was our most annoying teammate (Everyone has one on their team).  It all happened so fast that none of us knew what to do, until the other team started laughing.  Luckily the coaches weren't around.

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by livendie4golf

Back in a golf match in high school we were playing at a really nice course out on cape cod (to remain nameless).  While waiting on the first tee I was working on my juggling with a wedge (the Tiger Woods bouncing on the Wedge) and as I tried to switch up and hit it between my legs the ball thinned off to the side, right where my partner was taking some practice swings.  He was facing the wrong way and had no idea that I was doing this.  The ball that I thinned flew through his legs, and into a perfect downswing, with a driver, right into our other teammates leg.

The best part was, it was our most annoying teammate (Everyone has one on their team).  It all happened so fast that none of us knew what to do, until the other team started laughing.  Luckily the coaches weren't around.

Crap.  Practice swings generate some serious ball speed too.  That should be a scene in Caddyshack.

[Fairway_CY]

Growing up, a buddy and I played a 9 hole course repeatedly.  We probably played it in the summer of 1996 about 75 times.  The 5th hole was a par 5 that was about 495 yards.  At the time, neither of us really hit our drives much beyond 210 yards... so it was never really a 'reachable' hole.  It was early October and we'd decided to just get a round in before it got cold and we put the clubs away.  There were a bunch of wild turkeys that lived in the woods on the left side of the hole but it was very rare to see them actually on the course.  Of course, that day... they were all kind of hanging out in the left rough.  I had a fade/slice that I was playing with at the time and had no way to correct it... so, I took dead aim at the turkeys figuring that I'd end up, as I typically did, on the right side of the fairway or in the right rough.  Well... you know what happens next.  I hit the straightest shot I've ever hit and it went right for the turkeys.  It landed about 5 yards short of them and bounced right at the first turkey... the ball landing spooked them and they began to flap their wings.  The ball got a nice little 50+ yard assist off the back of a turkey, landed back in the fairway and rolled for another 25 yards or so.  Left me about 215 to the front of the green which I reached with a 3 wood... then proceeded to miss the eagle and birdie.

The following spring, same friend I was playing with in October... we were at a high school practice round.  The 1st hole is a par 4 that's about 375.  He hit a really poor drive and left himself about 200 yards to the front of the green.  There is a pond down the right side and a stream crossing the fairway about 50 yards in front of the green.  He pulled his 5 wood out on this hole but caught the ball in the equator.  This, of course, send the ball screaming towards the green no more than 4 feet off the ground.  Just in front of the stream was a number of Canadian geese.  The ball caught one right in the head, sending his head and neck spinning.  The bird dropped dead right there.  It was easily the most disturbing thing I'd seen on a golf course.  He became gun-shy every time there were geese in the fairway from there on out.

CY

[Mizuno Guy]

I have actually done this before execpt in my case my friend hit his tee shot then I proceeded to hit mine and it landed right on top of his.