Worst Shot You've Ever Witnessed (not by you, unless yours is the worst. )

[Kingkat1954]

The worst shot I ever witnessed was during a "semi" friendly match with three friends. My team had teed off, and we watched as the two other guys stepped up to the tee. First guy, hits his usual fade to the right of the fairway and he says to his partner, "I need you to put one in the fairway." No pressure.......right?

Partner steps up to the tee, he takes his usual mighty swing, hits the ball flush................to the left...................nails the telephone pole that is 20 yards ahead................ball caroms straight back.......

and flies 20 yard behind the golfer and tee!!!!!!!!!!!

His partners yells , "THATS it! I have never seen a golfer LOSE yardage on the tee before! You're done!" He drives off....................leaving us all laughing hysterically.

Did I mention, we also drank a lot?

[gregsandiego]

Probably the idiot stood next to me at the range yesterday afternoon. One of those annoying grunters!

Somwhow he managed to sky his Hybrid into the roof and just missed my head. I almost crapped myself.

"Dont know how that happend", maybe because youre a moron mate!!. He had a good point though, how the hell do you hit hybrid vertically???

Could be a whole separate topic - those guys that vocalize every shot they make on the range. I'm fond of wearing headphones these days.

[Stretch]

Played it.

18th hole at my former home club, which was a short par 5 with a stream crossing the fairway twice and a pond right of the green with the club house behind that. Three wood, 4 iron, wedge on the green, two putts and into the bar happy 99 percent of the time. Anyway, one day I had a 52 degree to a back pin and cold shanked it dead right to where the club captain, head pro and director of golf were having coffee on the terrace. It whistled straight over their heads, hit one of the metal balcony supports, rang it like a gong -- scaring the piss out of them -- and bounced back into the water. I had to go over and drop right in front of them, with considerable commentary obviously, and pitch back across the hazard.

Got up and down at least, so I got that going for me.

[DrvFrShow]

I managed to top my own worst shot. Tuesday I hit a tee shot off the toe of the 3W and it hit the tall cedar tree next to the tee and ricocheted to a spot 10 yds in front of the tee in the thick rough.

I followed this with a shot out with my 6 iron of a whopping 34 yds. Just wanting to get out of the mess and hit a club I knew I can actually hit, I went back to my 6 iron for 170 yds, followed by a 56 wedge that was a little short because I didn't get my weight forward enough, a chip with the PW that was a little long and a two putt for DB.

[Strandly]

Worst I've seen are various double-taps of chips and putts.  They're always ugly no matter who does them.

[Jeremie Boop]

I think I have a shot that may have been the worst many people have seen that was witnessed by a few people on this forum.... We'll see if anyone remembers and cares to elaborate.

[mcanadiens]

So many bad shots to choose from. It's hard. A buddy of mine went right off the tee and had a tree blocking all but a sliver. He thought he could draw around it and ended up blasting it off the trunk and into the farside rough of the adjacent hole. The dumb thing was he creamed a 3W onto the green and saved par

[Tgb02]

So I have seen two, one in a tournament and one in a casual round with my dad.

The one with my dad was when he hit his tee shot well into the woods on a par 4 and he decided instead of punching out that he would go for it and I was probably like 9 years old so I didn't know any better but I was sitting in the cart and thankfully the plastic thing was up on the cart. My dad swings and it nails the tree dead on, barely misses him and shatters the plastic thing on the front of the cart.

Second was in a tournament a kid from another school sets up on the tee box on a par 3 and he pulls out his hybrid and the kid was really cocky and he birdied the first hole so he is like I'll show you guys how it is done well he proceeds to toe shank it dead into a little group of moms standing around carts and thankfully the ball did not hit any of them but it was almost really bad.

[The Recreational Golfer]

Guy new to golf (obviously). Ball in waist-high weeds. Wedging out 20 feet to the fairway would have been a challenge. But he's about 200 yards from the green, so out comes his 3-wood. Ball goes six feet. I was surprised he even made contact with it.

[dfreuter415]

The worst pro shot I ever witnessed was Jean Van de Velde on the 72nd hole of the Open Championship at Carnoustie in 1999.

The situation: Leading by 3 strokes, and needing to make only a 6 on the par-4 18th hole to secure the British Open on Sunday, Van de Velde hit a series of shots that led to a triple-bogey 7.

The shot: After a so-so drive, Van de Velde had 185 yards to carry the Barry Burn. He wanted to go for the green, and tried to do so with a 2-iron. Van de Velde related, "The ball was lying so good, I took my 2-iron. ... I pushed it a little. I didn't hit a very good shot." Not even close. The third shot was hit into the Barry Burn. The fourth shot was a drop. The fifth shot was hit into a bunker. The sixth shot was hit to 5 feet from the cup. He holed the 7th shot with a putter. But, it was the second shot with a 2 iron that I consider the worst shot that I ever witnessed. It set up his decisions for the rest of the hole.

For the record: After the tee shot, all he had to do was lay up in front of the Barry Burn with a wedge, pitch onto the green, and then 3 putt to win.

[Golfingdad]

The worst pro shot I ever witnessed was Jean Van de Velde on the 72nd hole of the Open Championship at Carnoustie in 1999. The situation: Leading by 3 strokes, and needing to make only a 6 on the par-4 18th hole to secure the British Open on Sunday, Van de Velde hit a series of shots that led to a triple-bogey 7. The shot: After a so-so drive, Van de Velde had 185 yards to carry the Barry Burn. He wanted to go for the green, and tried to do so with a 2-iron. Van de Velde related, "The ball was lying so good, I took my 2-iron. ... I pushed it a little. I didn't hit a very good shot." Not even close. The third shot was hit into the Barry Burn. The fourth shot was a drop. The fifth shot was hit into a bunker. The sixth shot was hit to 5 feet from the cup. He holed the 7th shot with a putter. But, it was the second shot with a 2 iron that I consider the worst shot that I ever witnessed. It set up his decisions for the rest of the hole. For the record: After the tee shot, all he had to do was lay up in front of the Barry Burn with a wedge, pitch onto the green, and then 3 putt to win.

You're forgetting the INCREDIBLY unlucky bounce he got off the grandstand railing. That shot wasn't that bad. Jim furyks tee shot at 16 at Olympic on Sunday s couple of years ago was worse. As have been the several shanks that pros hit all the time. Poulter at Honda on Sunday a few weeks ago. Hunter Mahan at Ryder Cup a few years ago too on last hole Sunday.

[dfreuter415]

You're forgetting the INCREDIBLY unlucky bounce he got off the grandstand railing. That shot wasn't that bad.

The execution of the shot might not have been that bad, but when all you need is a double bogie to win the Open Championship, it was a shot that should never have been attempted.

[iacas]

The execution of the shot might not have been that bad, but when all you need is a double bogie to win the Open Championship, it was a shot that should never have been attempted.

I disagree. It was the best shot at the time. You can't look back and say "because he got a once-in-several-lifetimes bad bounce, it was a bad decision."

He got a freak bounce, took a penalty, etc. and STILL made a putt to force a playoff. The ball is 1 inch in either direction and he wins by two or three.

[mvmac]

I disagree. It was the best shot at the time. You can't look back and say "because he got a once-in-several-lifetimes bad bounce, it was a bad decision."

He got a freak bounce, took a penalty, etc. and STILL made a putt to force a playoff. The ball is 1 inch in either direction and he wins by two or three.

Correct, laying up wasn't the right play. Van De Velde hitting that small sign has gotta be the unluckiest break in the history of golf

[todgot]

Last year during our league playoffs my teammate and I were playing a 4 ball match against another twosome... I was up against one player and he was against the other.  The third hole is a medium length par 5 with water along both sides of the fairway.  The left side water goes all the way down the fairway and there is a very slight dogleg to the left just at the green... so to go for it in two you usually have to carry the ball at least 220.  For most people it's a three shot hole.  I'm in the fairway and would end up with a birdie, net eagle on the hole.  My partner's opponent pull hooks his second shot in the water... thinking the situation is obvious I don't say a word to my teammate... just enjoy the scenery and mentally putting down the hole for our team.  He proceeds to take out a hybrid and puts his second shot in the water right by his opponent.  I'm gobsmacked.  Just stand there and look at him... "Dude... what the F are you doing?"  He's like, "yea, I probably should have just laid up with an iron".  Me, "ya, think?".

Not the technically worst shot I've seen... but given the situation it was the worst shot ever.

[MEfree]

From a scoring perspective, other than doing something that costs you the hole in match play like hitting the wrong ball, I would say the worst shot you can make is hitting it Out of Bounds from a bunker, which I have done- not only do you get stroke and distance penalties, but you might end up with a plugged or thin sand lie. Similar if you hit it fat and OB through the green- your drop might end up in your divot. A few years back, a friend of mine topped a ball from the fairway so badly that the ball actually went backwards a few feet without hitting anything besides dirt/grass.

[willyb511]

I've hit and still do hit plenty of bad golf shots. I remember one day a few weeks ago I hit a drive off the first hole at a local course that sliced severely and struck a house bordering the fairway. Thank god I didn't break a window.

[dfreuter415]

One of the worst shots that I've witnessed was a shot out of the greenside bunker on hole #18 of Oakmont Country Club onto the pro shop roof, about 50 yards away.