ever have a perfect shot 'vanish' on you...??

[RoyJeeBiv]

earlier today, i was ~185yds out on a par 5 -- aside from a creek that i laid up in front of, it was wide open to the green (open field about 15yds behind it).

hit a 4i dead straight, lost it in the clouds on the way down, but trajectory was right at the middle of the green.  my buddy even said he saw it bounce, looked to be fine just short of the green.

got up there... nowhere in sight.  doubled back a good 30yds, nowhere at all.  (even out of desperation... went and looked in the cup...)  searched another 3-4min until the group behind us got to their second shots... i ended up having to drop.  UGH!!

though we also searched the weeds at the edge beyond the green, there's no way i could have hit my 4i that far.  i literally still can't wrap my head around what the hell happened to that ball.

have you ever had a ball pull a Houdini on ya??  and i don't mean a ball that you simply couldn't find -- i mean a shot that you 100% had the spot on, and it seemingly vanished into thin air before you got to it??

[tpj070]

Yeah i attribute that to flier lies that cause the ball the go farther than i think. what kind of lie did you have?

[MS256]

I have quite a few times but I pretty much knew where it went each time.

The course where I used to be a member had some holes in a low lying area along a creek and there were very often crawfish holes in the fairways and around the greens. Several times I knew within a few feet of where the ball should have been but all I saw was a crawfish hole.

I even lost a ball down one of those holes while standing on a tee box waiting for my turn to hit. I accidentally dropped my ball right in one of those holes and it was gone forever.

Quite a few other times at the course I play now I have hit balls within a few yards of the green and had it plug out of sight. The soil is almost always very soft on that course and the grass is so thick that it seals up the hole above the ball making the plug hole very hard to see. Sometimes we find them after a few minutes of searching and sometimes we don't.

Then I've hit a sprinkler head short of the green and had the ball bounce way over the green farther than we would normally look for the ball. One day when I was a little more determined than usual to not lose my new Pro V1 and the course was empty I ended up finding my ball 20 yards into a hay field beyond the green. When the hay hasn't been cut any ball out there would be long gone.

(Until they cut it again).

[LuciusWooding]

Two times come to mind:

When I was first playing, I made a decent bogey to begin the round, on a double water carry par 5. This had me pretty pleased as I couldn't break 100 yet. The second hole had a bunker at 150 out on the right side. I hit a 6i a touch to the right of where I was aiming but it was so well struck it looked to clear it and give me a great angle on my second shot. I was quite happy with this until I started to look for my ball. I looked in the bunker, in the rough, in the fairway, optimistically far from the tee, etc. Pissed, I dropped near the bunker and played the rest of the hole and the round poorly.

My second one was almost disastrous though:

Last week, I was playing a match against my brother who generally putts a bit better than me but is inconsistent with his long game and around the greens. Generally I beat him by 14 strokes or so in stroke play, so i figured if I kept it in play I'd manage fine. I was 2 up through 9 and cruising along by the virtue of solid putting and a few holes of good play overall, though I conceded a couple holes due to bad tee shots. I started to lose control off the tee at about the 11th hole, just as the golf course starts to lengthen insanely. Though I won 10, a par 3 due to a great approach, and was 3 up, I lost on both the par 5s on the back on a pair of hooked tee shots, one knocked down on a tree before it could curve back left, the other in the trees left. I won 15, a short par 3 to stop the bleeding with a timely par, leaving me with 3 holes with a 2 hole lead, but no momentum.

So heading into 16, I decided to play for a safe par with a 7i in the fairway as I normally do, since a partial wedge was a risky play for me that day. I hit first as I'd gained the honor, and decided to play my last brand new prov1x as I did on the last hole. I summoned my focus and I hit a mighty, perfect high draw 190 yards down the left fairway, and it kicked left slightly near the corner of the dogleg right. I knew there was very sparse rough and few trees back there, leaving me with a great angle since I knew my ball would only be out of sight from the tee by a couple yards. I was very pleased with that result, since I knew my brother had to match it to have any hope of winning at all, and if I won the hole I'd almost guarantee winning the match. He hit his ball into the trees at a 45 degree angle, hit a provisional to the same spot, found his original and punched out sitting 2 in the same spot as me. I couldn't find the ball. Not only was I forced to concede the hole, I was only 1 up with 2 to play. I should have been 2 yards off the fairway on the pivotal hole, but instead I needed to win a hole to guarantee the victory.

The 17th is a water carry par 3, and I own the par 3s and the water carries because my brother hits a lot of low line drives. My brother, who had the honor, stuck a perfect pitching wedge to 15 feet. I hit a conservative shot due to the uncomfortable yardage and sucker pin, and knowing a tie would be fine. I get a bogey from just off the fringe while he made a great par. All square.

Well, I had one ace up my sleeve: I have never, in 7 or 8 rounds, hit my tee shot on the 18th into the water. My brother on the other hand, does this almost every time we play. And I reminded him of this fact as I informed him he hit first, and needed to win or tie the hole or he'd lose, and I got to pick any club I want based on the result of his shot. The pond is only about 70 yards to carry, but there's a noisy fountain and the hole looks longer than it really is. I pulled out my driver and started waggling it so he could see it and think about it, then let him hit; topped into the water. I quickly switched clubs, as I had no intention whatsoever of hitting driver, walked up to the tee and hit my shot, seeing my opportunity; a perfect 240 yard draw with my 3 iron that almost hit the 150 marker. I played conservatively as I could, getting a bogey while he somehow set up about a 50 foot chip to tie the match. He scared the hole but ran it about 20 feet past and lost the final hole and the match.

Fortunately in the end, the worst possible break didn't cost me the match. However it did make my brother believe in his game a bit more, and his best score is now within 2 strokes of mine. However, I plan on shooting 20 strokes lower than him as soon as possible to restore balance to the universe.

[WUTiger]

I was playing a short par 4 (310 yds.). Hole has elevated tee, and a creek ran down right side of fairway and crossed the fairway about 50 yds. from green. The fairway is the low point of the course. It had rained two days prior to the day I played.

I played a 5i off the tee, a nice high shot that dropped into the fairway, hitting with a small geyser of water. Day was cart path only, so I pulled up even to where the ball "splashed" and got out of the cart. One step onto the high side of the fairway and I sunk in up to my shoe tops. Whole fairway was soft and puddled, and I could not see ball from about 30 feet from where it landed.

I just went on to the next hole, which was up higher. Bridge had water splashing over when I crossed it. When I got back to the clubhouse, starter said to "take a par" because hole was effectively unplayable.

Around Labor Day, an landscape engineer crew came in, dug out soil from around the creek banks, built up the fairway level and put drainage tiles underneath it. After that, the hole could take some rain without turning into into a bog.

[BuckeyeNut]

I've lost some tee shots in the middle of the fairway before.......   wet bentgrass fairways and a plugged ball can be difficult to find if it plugs deep enough.

[bridiefree]

I hit one right at the flag on a par three and looked for 10 minutes and couldn't find the damn thing.  Ended up just skipping the hole... but I was so pissed off that I came back that evening and looked over every single inch of the hole.

The damn thing ended up being plugged just off the back of the green in the rough, right in line with the flag.  It was buried such that you could only see it if you were at the perfect angle.  It was vindication to know that I wasn't crazy for thinking it was tracking the flag... just a little long...

[AmazingWhacker]

It happens a lot here in South Texas.  The fairways can get so hard that, unless you see the ball come to stop, it's hard to guess where it ended up.  The ball could hit and roll a really long way . .or land on a hill and kick way left or right.  Even if it splits the fairway . .you really have to watch it until it stops (sometimes impossible) or else there is always a chance of losing it.

[tomvk77]

Well i had something like this and still don't know what the specific rule is.

I was on a 410 yard par 4 dogleg right. fairway slopes from left to right.

I know there is a manhole on the fairway. I hit a high draw with 3 wood and landed

straight on it. Nothing seems wrong and the ball was about 15 yards further in the fairway.

i had only 160 yards in. took a shorter griped 7 iron and hit it. The ball shoot off going in 2 directions.

one part left in the woods and the other right side in the woods.

never saw a piece again.

My competitors let me play a new ball from the place i hit my shot without penalty. But something tells me this

is not the right thing to do.

[MS256]

Originally Posted by tomvk77

My competitors let me play a new ball from the place i hit my shot without penalty. But something tells me this

is not the right thing to do.

Your competitors were right.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/32518/what-happens-when-your-ball-splits-in-two

[mp33 man]

I was in South Carolina a couple years ago and was playing a course that was quite lush, on a short dogleg left with a somewhat blind landing area I hit a perfect 3i dead center and when I drove down to hit my second I realized that I had hit into the guy in front of me... I apologized profusely but he laughed and told me "don't worry about it, I've been looking for a ball that I hit with my 4i for twenty min". He explained to me that he had heard my ball hit but had not seen it bounce when he looked up. He and I both looked for about another ten min as there was no one else in the course but still found nothing. We both agreed to take a drop dead center and never tell a soul. Until now i've said nothing so if your reading this and you remember doing it let me know since I never saw you again, maybe we'll get to golf again sometime when I'm up there.

[Slice of Life]

Happened to me last week. 90 degree dogleg left. About a 320 yard par 4. I hit an intentional slice with the driver, and it went exactly how I had planned. Guy I was playing with saw it bounce and said "great shot"!

Get over there...nothing. Nobody was on the course so we looked for 20 minutes. It was just gone.

[Ernest Jones]

Yes, all the friggin' time. Although they may not have been perfect.

[BostonBrew]

One shot I will always remember comes to mind. Playing in Raleigh, NC, but I forget the course name. Fairway was straight ahead of us with a line of bushes about 100 yards short of the green. Nutted a 3 wood dead straight. Bent down to pick up my tee not thinking anything of it. Should be in the middle of the fairway. Drove up and the ball was no where to be found. I assumed it was in one of those bushes but couldn't find it. For pace of play reasons, I dropped by one of the other guys.

[cipher]

Not usually, but I have been having issues finding shots in the rough this year.  So much rain and they have not mowed it much.  I feel like it is a US Open every time I got out right now.

[Roblar]

Several.  Lake Chabot, in Oakland, doesn't do too well with the wet.  Playing there in December two years ago, my brother and I both lost multiple shots (all drives from elevated tees) that plugged in the fairway.  Hit the middle of the fairway, and you just can't find the ball if it plugs.

[saevel25]

Originally Posted by RoyJeeBiv

earlier today, i was ~185yds out on a par 5 -- aside from a creek that i laid up in front of, it was wide open to the green (open field about 15yds behind it).

hit a 4i dead straight, lost it in the clouds on the way down, but trajectory was right at the middle of the green.  my buddy even said he saw it bounce, looked to be fine just short of the green.

got up there... nowhere in sight.  doubled back a good 30yds, nowhere at all.  (even out of desperation... went and looked in the cup...)  searched another 3-4min until the group behind us got to their second shots... i ended up having to drop.  UGH!!

though we also searched the weeds at the edge beyond the green, there's no way i could have hit my 4i that far.  i literally still can't wrap my head around what the hell happened to that ball.

have you ever had a ball pull a Houdini on ya??  and i don't mean a ball that you simply couldn't find -- i mean a shot that you 100% had the spot on, and it seemingly vanished into thin air before you got to it??

Maybe a handful of times in my lifetime. Alot of times the ball takes a fun sideways bounce i don't see, and its hidden in some thick rough, so you know were it landed but can't seem to find it.