Post Your "Death Shot" with Pics/Video

[billchao]

46 minutes ago, Zekez said:

From the vantage point of the picture, that show looks impossible to move forward.

You hit the sand really hard and the ball pops up and forward. It kind of has to because all that force has to go somewhere, it won't just get absorbed by the sand. The one good thing about the lie is it's basically skull-proof so you can swing as hard as you can at it without worrying about blasting it to kingdom come, unlike your typical bunker lie. I have a decent amount of experience with these types of shots because I hit the ball high with a steep angle of descent, so I tend to encounter it more often than the average guy IMO.

I'm not cool enough to hit it backwards though. Maybe someday...

[billchao]

Just remembered this thread exists.

Knee high ball position with me standing in the bunker. Fun times.

I hit it to like 25’ and two putted for (checks notes) triple bogey 🤬

f*** this hole.

[boogielicious]

I had this lie in a bunker yesterday. What you can’t see is I am six feet below the green. I chunked it out to the other side of the green with my lob wedge. I think if I opened the face a bit more, I would have got a better result.

[CarlSpackler]

27 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

I had this lie in a bunker yesterday. What you can’t see is I am six feet below the green. I chunked it out to the other side of the green with my lob wedge. I think if I opened the face a bit more, I would have got a better result.

Your course has quicksand?!!! 🤣

That’s just nasty right there. 

[billchao]

41 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

I had this lie in a bunker yesterday. What you can’t see is I am six feet below the green. I chunked it out to the other side of the green with my lob wedge. I think if I opened the face a bit more, I would have got a better result.

Should have done the old Patrick Reed 😜

[Vinsk]

#9 Par 4 at my course. Pulled my drive ( I’m left handed) and was in jail to the right. Smoked a gap wedge with a huge hook and a left to right wind to pull this shot off. Saved par.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, Vinsk said:

#9 Par 4 at my course. Pulled my drive ( I’m left handed) and was in jail to the right. Smoked a gap wedge with a huge hook and a left to right wind to pull this shot off. Saved par.

Nice shot Bubba 😉

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, CarlSpackler said:

Your course has quicksand?!!! 🤣

That’s just nasty right there. 

It was like beach sand.

9 hours ago, billchao said:

Should have done the old Patrick Reed 😜

My player partners said I could move it, but I didn’t think that was the rule, so I played it.

[Darkfrog]

This is one of mine from a pre-shelter in place round, #9 at my home course,320 yard, dogleg left par-4, maybe 60-80 feet uphill.

Most people hit a mid/long iron to lay up in the wide part of the fairway, which leaves around 120-140 yard uphill shot, with basically a flat lie. The further left you land in the fairway, the shorter the second shot. From any position in the wide section of the fairway, you can't see the green at all, and you're lucky to see the tip of the flag if it is in a front position.

I used to play this hole conservatively, and hit 5/6/7-iron to the wide fairway, and then PW/9/8-iron up the hill to the green. Recently I started hitting driver because a well struck drive for me will leave about 30 yards from light rough, usually in a spot where you can at least see where the flag is. I align toward at the green "X" (fork in the cart path), playing my typical draw. If it doesn't draw, the ball will still land on an upslope and might not roll into the rough/trees. If it draws, it will carry the cart path and get a bit of roll up the hill. If it hooks, it might still be okay as long as it doesn't hook too much. The photo below shows how I intend to play the hole.

The round in question, I pulled my drive badly into the trees to the left of the tee box, and after pinballing aroudn in the trees, I had this lie.

The shot needed here was a punch out between the two redwood trees on the right. I suck at these shots, and anytime I'm in the redwood areas, I'm extra anxious due to the shallow roots, so I think that I unconsciously stand up out of my swing and top the ball in these areas. A topped shot from this spot sends the ball into a muddy, thick rough area, with no chance at all of reaching the green.

I managed to pull off a great punch out, and made it on the green with my third leaving a 14-foot putt for par (didn't make par).

[billchao]

7 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

I used to play this hole conservatively, and hit 5/6/7-iron to the wide fairway, and then PW/9/8-iron up the hill to the green. Recently I started hitting driver because a well struck drive for me will leave about 30 yards from light rough, usually in a spot where you can at least see where the flag is. I align toward at the green "X" (fork in the cart path), playing my typical draw. If it doesn't draw, the ball will still land on an upslope and might not roll into the rough/trees. If it draws, it will carry the cart path and get a bit of roll up the hill. If it hooks, it might still be okay as long as it doesn't hook too much. The photo below shows how I intend to play the hole.

I'm going to be perfectly honest with you here, I don't believe your decision to driver on this hole follows The Rule.

[Darkfrog]

9 minutes ago, billchao said:

I'm going to be perfectly honest with you here, I don't believe your decision to driver on this hole follows The Rule.

Probably 99% not. But since I haven't established my shot zones yet, I have been taking some, I guess, liberties with this. I think my rationale is good, but it's not really supported with any data.

I had 2 hours booked on a launch monitor to get my shot zones and partial wedge distances for early March, but Covid-19 kind of ruined that. Now that California is slowly opening back up, I'll be able to rebook, and then determine how dumb I've been on this hole lately.

[billchao]

7 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

Probably 99% not. But since I haven't established my shot zones yet, I have been taking some, I guess, liberties with this. I think my rationale is good, but it's not really supported with any data.

I had 2 hours booked on a launch monitor to get my shot zones and partial wedge distances for early March, but Covid-19 kind of ruined that. Now that California is slowly opening back up, I'll be able to rebook, and then determine how dumb I've been on this hole lately.

I'm making a lot of assumptions because I don't know your Shot Zones, I don't have any measurements on the hole, etc., but I think this is the play:

Assuming your driver is the yellow circle, it brings a lot of trouble in play. The green circle is what I'd play for.

[CarlSpackler]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

It was like beach sand.

When I first looked at the picture, I thought the ball was 80% buried. I zoomed in and notice that it’s the shadow that I was seeing. That’s still a nasty fried egg. 

[boogielicious]

10 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

When I first looked at the picture, I thought the ball was 80% buried. I zoomed in and notice that it’s the shadow that I was seeing. That’s still a nasty fried egg. 

[iacas]

33 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

When I first looked at the picture, I thought the ball was 80% buried. I zoomed in and notice that it’s the shadow that I was seeing. That’s still a nasty fried egg. 

Me too in our chat.

[Darkfrog]

10 minutes ago, billchao said:

I don't know your Shot Zones

I don't know them either. The yellow circle seems about right. This hole has a lot of black at driver distance, and a well struck, but pushed 3W could carry the cart path end up in the trees where the fairway runs out depending on how far right the push is.

Probably a hybrid tee shot considering LSW concepts, but it's fun to play bomb and gouge.

[billchao]

21 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

I don't know them either. The yellow circle seems about right. This hole has a lot of black at driver distance, and a well struck, but pushed 3W could carry the cart path end up in the trees where the fairway runs out depending on how far right the push is.

Probably a hybrid tee shot considering LSW concepts, but it's fun to play bomb and gouge.

Well I can’t tell you what club to hit, but the green circle is my recommended target 😃

[CarlSpackler]

9 minutes ago, billchao said:

Well I can’t tell you what club to hit, but the green circle is my recommended target 😃

If the hole is 320, the green circle is probably my driver. 😞