What shot do you dread?

[SCfanatic35]

Originally Posted by Dev 0

Side hill lies where the ball is above me. I can never seem to hit these well. Other way around, no problem.

Wow. I am the exact opposite.  Side hill lies with the ball below my feet is hard for me to hit.

[Golfingdad]

Tee shots which necessitate I use my driver. ;)

Actually, if there is one shot that I have been having a lot of trouble with lately, I'd say it's the 30-50 yard pitch shot to an elevated green, frequently over a bunker ... specifically when the ground is really soft.  There is a hole at the course I play that is a short par 4 and a good drive feeds down into a low area 50 yards from the hole, and because it's a low area, it's always soft ground.  Same thing happens when you find collection areas off the green sometimes.  It's hard to rely on the bounce of a wedge when the ground is so soft, and since I'm going up and over something, chipping isn't really much of an option.

It's just a tough shot, I guess.

[trackster]

Chip shots on downhill lies to greens sloping away from me.  Skull city!!

[Dev 0]

Originally Posted by SCfanatic35

Wow. I am the exact opposite.  Side hill lies with the ball below my feet is hard for me to hit.

I think it is all mental with me. When it is above me I think the ball is way too close. When it is below me I just think, well I better stay down.

[Dev 0]

Originally Posted by trackster

Chip shots on downhill lies to greens sloping away from me.  Skull city!!

I almost always try to put those or take a nice easy putt style stroke with a longer iron.

[MS256]

Any full shot that's "easy" and doesn't require me to work the ball or create a shot. The easier it is the more likely I am to mess it up.

Fortunately messing up the easy shot usually leaves me a tough shot, which is my bread and butter.

[Paradox]

20-40 yard pitches from a tight lie(I seem to always hit it fat in this case)

ball below my feet( I somehow can manage to pull hook a shot from this lie with great regularity)

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by MS256

Any full shot that's "easy" and doesn't require me to work the ball or create a shot. The easier it is the more likely I am to mess it up.

Fortunately messing up the easy shot usually leaves me a tough shot, which is my bread and butter.

Easy solution. Never hit an easy shot. When you have one, just make it hard anyway...don't take the easy route!

"Hmm this is tough, I think I'll try to hit a low fade and let the ball release to the pin....tricky...." -You

"Why? It's straight to the pin...flat...no trees or wind...." -Playing partner

"SHUTUP YOU!!!" -You

;)

[MS256]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

Easy solution. Never hit an easy shot. When you have one, just make it hard anyway...don't take the easy route!

"Hmm this is tough, I think I'll try to hit a low fade and let the ball release to the pin....tricky...." -You

"Why? It's straight to the pin...flat...no trees or wind...." -Playing partner

"SHUTUP YOU!!!" -You

;)

Believe me I've tried to visualize trouble that's not there many times. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Three statements I hear from my playing partners:

"Are you the same guy that hit that first shot?"

"I'm going to plant some trees in the middle of the fairway for you."

"You don't even try until you get in trouble."

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by MS256

Believe me I've tried to visualize trouble that's not there many times. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Three statements I hear from my playing partners:

"Are you the same guy that hit that first shot?"

"I'm going to plant some trees in the middle of the fairway for you."

"You don't even try until you get in trouble."

I'm the same sometimes. I had a tree and water directly in my way to the pin...so I open the clubface, swing out to in, and hit a huge huge 5 iron banana slice that ends up on the green. My friend was like...WTF man? You just chunked a ball 25 yards with the same club. lol

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

I'm the same sometimes. I had a tree and water directly in my way to the pin...so I open the clubface, swing out to in, and hit a huge huge 5 iron banana slice that ends up on the green. Had about as much movement as Bubba's infamous Master's shot. My friend was like...WTF man? You just chunked a ball 25 yards with the same club. lol

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by MS256

Any full shot that's "easy" and doesn't require me to work the ball or create a shot. The easier it is the more likely I am to mess it up.

Fortunately messing up the easy shot usually leaves me a tough shot, which is my bread and butter.

LOL Wanna be my new scramble partner? We'll be the only team high fiving when we end up in BS hazards/lies.

[dsc123]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

Short side, ball sitting up on a downhill, side hill lie chip to a green sloping away from me. Out of fear of sliding the club all the way under the ball it's common for me to not hit it hard enough and leave it in the rough or skull it trying to flop it up. There's a couple of holes with hills behind greens at most of the courses I play and without fail that's where the doubles come. I've got to the point where if I look for a bailout it's a bunker.

ditto.

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Spyder

LOL Wanna be my new scramble partner? We'll be the only team high fiving when we end up in BS hazards/lies.

One ball in the middle of the fairway, another in the rough behind a tree. Other team shakes their head in disbelief as you pick up the one in the fairway.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

One ball in the middle of the fairway, another in the rough behind a tree. Other team shakes their head in disbelief as you pick up the one in the fairway.

Mickelson style!

The hell with a lay up... who lays up? Go for it from the pine straw in the middle of the trees with a 3w that requires a cut into the wind.... duh. Obvious no brainer.

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Spyder

Mickelson style!

The hell with a lay up... who lays up? Go for it from the pine straw in the middle of the trees with a 3w that requires a cut into the wind.... duh. Obvious no brainer.

More like McAvoy...

[ApocG10]

Squire green, Hole#1, firs and second shots are completely blind to the green, just bad course design. If you get a good drive, you are either forced to lay up 30 yards to the 90* dogleg, or ake a chance at floating a wedge shot 75 feet high over the stand of Spruce protecting the right side of the green which is just bad disign. Most people chip out to the dogleg, but as long as im 50 yards + away from the tree, I'll float a very high 48* wedge over the trees, which will land on the rock hard green behind it. I make sure I get lots of backspin so that it lands directly at the back flat of the green and checks, or pops back and rolls back doen the green towards the middle of the green.

Of course, this is 50/50. Often, I hit the top of the trees, knocking the ball down straight, forcing a wedge shot over a large sandtrap, to a flag that is often on the far left side of the green.

If you get a perfect drive, still in the fairway, you are too close to the trees and have absolutely no shot at the green at all. You cannot punch it through the thick, thick branches and bush, believe me I tried, and you ALSO have no shot to punch it out to the dogleg.

One of the tree's may be cut soon, as we have 350 member signatures pushing the course to cut the middle tree, and it is first on the agenda at the next members meeting on Wednesday. Its bad design when anyone who can drive over 250 cannot have a chance at getting in on two, yet rewards short hitter, giving them an easy three shot to the green.

And yes, these trees are directly IN the fairway, with the right side OB because its lined with homes.

Only a few of us hit 3w off the tee, civing us a chance to get up and over the trees, and on to the green. That is the shot I hate worse.

[MS256]

Originally Posted by Spyder

LOL Wanna be my new scramble partner? We'll be the only team high fiving when we end up in BS hazards/lies.

I was in a scramble a few years ago and only one guy on our team knew me.

We all hit our tee shots on a par 5 and mine was the only ball not in the fairway but was the only one long enough to give us a chance at getting to the green in two. I assumed the team would want to play a ball from the fairway but the guy that knew me said we would play my ball, which required about 40 yards of hook to get around some trees. The other 2 guys were very unhappy about the decision but when I hit the shot on the green my friend said "that's why I wanted to play that ball" and we all headed off for the green without anybody else even hitting the shot.

I've thought a lot about why I am better at those shots and I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with working the ball per se, because if the trouble shot has a dead straight ball between trees as the only option it works just as well. It seems that on those shots I simply commit more to the shot and hit it like I have nothing to lose. No matter how hard I try I don't commit and focus on unobstructed shots from the fairway as much.