Approach advice for this hole....(Par 4)

[GordonRamsay]

IF I manage to connect for a good drive, my avg distance is 235.  Around 1 out of 3 drives will connect for the long ball...but there is a water hazard in front of the hole with a steep lip around the back of the pond.  Should I risk a long drive over the pond or just play close to the water and pitch over it?  I have manged clear the water from the tee, but it will end up on a 35 degree slope under those two large trees near the green.

[Sassafrass]

I would lay up and pitch to the green.

[RayG]

is it OB left? blast away to the other fairway then flop it over the trees. OR, if you're like my buddies.. ALWAYS try to clear the water with absolutely no shot of EVER making it, put it in the water, drop, flub the pitch, pitch again and 3 putt. Or, I will put it out to a GOOD yardage for SW or GW, put it close and take my birdie and 5 shots from my buds. Unless a MISS carries 240 plus and can stop, it's not worth it. But a hole like that is disheartening for the normal player... these days that's a Par 3 for the pros.. and they're hitting 4 and 5 irons.:~(

[GordonRamsay]

Looking from the tee to the hole, the right side has a road running next to it and is OOB...so playing to the right is risky...because other golfers have hit cars driving on that road.  The left side doesn't have that much room to work with and a close layup shot over the pond will likely hit the trees.

[Slowcelica]

Hit a 3 hybrid off the tee to about 60 yards from the green, and hit a 60* wedge into the green.

[Grumpter]

I would play a short/mid iron to the fairway and Lob/gap wedge to the green... unless it was a scramble.

[DaveP043]

Its a no-brainer for me.  My normal solid drive is around 240 on the fly.  There's no percentage for me in trying to hit it over the water, particularly if I can't bounce the ball onto the green.  On this hole, I'll lay up off the tee, something to stay 15 or 20 yards short of the water, and plan to wedge it close.  I do not  EVER lay up with a club that could possibly get me to the water, I plan to be well short of it.

[mdl]

Personally I carry my drives about the distance to the pin.  Depending on how I'm feeling with that club and my 3W, I might try to hit a softish drive at the right edge of the green or just hit a powerful three wood at the same target.  But I'd be worried I skip my driver way past the hole or flare the 3W into the water, so in reality I'd probably hit 7i and then a 60˚ unless, like @Gunther ramble or maybe some sort of betting round where there's big payoff for birdie but not a big penalty for a bogey or blow up hole.

With your distances it's 100% layup and wedge.  In any situation where a given shot gives you a 1/3 chance of not clearing the water you should never go for that shot.

[TimS65]

Its a no-brainer for me.  My normal solid drive is around 240 on the fly.  There's no percentage for me in trying to hit it over the water, particularly if I can't bounce the ball onto the green.  On this hole, I'll lay up off the tee, something to stay 15 or 20 yards short of the water, and plan to wedge it close.  I do not  EVER lay up with a club that could possibly get me to the water, I plan to be well short of it.

Yep. Exactly as above. 5 iron / 4 hybrid maybe...

[Jeremie Boop]

For this hole, I would probably just lay up short of the pond, probably with a 7 or 8 iron leaving a lob wedge into the green. However, if it were a scramble and there was already one safe shot out there I'd hit my 5 wood and aim just to the right between the next tee and the green. I hit a high draw and a good shot would end up near or on the green after landing if I got any kind of decent bounce/roll.

We have a hole almost exactly the same at my league course. It's a bit shorter, by about 30 yards, and it's about 70 yards from OB to OB each side of the green and long is dead. The safe shot is about 170 yards to the end of the fairway just short of the pond with about 55-60 yards to center of the green. To carry the water takes around 214 yards and the green is tiny at 20 yards front to back. I have been playing an 8 iron to the end of the fairway with a 1/2-3/4 60* wedge in, which is the safe play. However, I've started thinking its worth trying to go for it with either my 2 hybrid or 5 wood.

[Dave2512]

I would hate this hole. This is the kind of thing that piles up strokes potentially ruining what could be a good day is scoring well. It's a double bogey waiting to happen. Lay up pitch on and hope you 2 putt.

[Jeremie Boop]

I would hate this hole. This is the kind of thing that piles up strokes potentially ruining what could be a good day is scoring well. It's a double bogey waiting to happen. Lay up pitch on and hope you 2 putt.

Isn't this what some call a "sucker hole" because it's just long enough to be tough to go for but just short enough to tempt people? Either way I play a hole like this I feel like I made the wrong choice...

[thefinlex]

Lay it up all day long,there's surely heaps of other holes to go for it on and with steep slope the actual carry to the dancefloor must be 250 and more than a few guys will get a reality check about how far they can carry a drive if they go for it.....No doubt theres a student with a snorkel living nearby will await on the next tee selling nearly new, slightly damp pro V1's cheap?

If you go for it you witgh your average 235 blow

End up wet

or

on steep slope with no guarantee of your 4 or

you really catch one and blow it past the hole , you cant stop it from going thru green aaannndd....end up pitching back to the pin with the water waiting behind...feeling lucky?

6 iron or similar, then wedge,chance at bird,no worse than 4 all being well

[SavvySwede]

Speaking of short par 4's. How would you tackle this little bugger?

[Duff McGee]

I would always go for it. Point is, even if you go into the water, you are hitting three after a drop. So worst case scenario you are looking at a bogey if you two putt? Sign me up.

[RayG]

Speaking of short par 4's. How would you tackle this little bugger? [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/129891/] [/URL]

Depends on which way the wind is blowing. BUT- since my flight is a draw and carry is about 230 (since a few fixes lately), unless the wind is a really strong headwind, aim just outside the trap on the right and let the ball flow back to the left. If it draws too little, I'm right of green or in trap, too much and it shouldn't reach the lake on the left (that would be a nasty hook). Strong headwind or other factor (how I'm driving overall) would make it a layup to about 85 and go from there. Oh- can I make a suggestion to whoever? These threads always seem to evolve into various DIFFERENT situations in time. "what about THIS one?", "well, how about this one?", and so on... How about a smaller subsection dedicated to those "WTF" holes out there and situations like these mentioned above? Just a thought.

[mdl]

Speaking of short par 4's. How would you tackle this little bugger?

Play the 3W at the left edge of the trap, playing for what I'm trying to make my stock shot, straight/push-draw that starts a bit right of my aim point and draws left of it.  Bad shot left into the water and the drop is still pretty close to the green so decent chance of up and down par, only an really abnormally bad pitch or first putt puts more than bogey in play.  Good shot and I'm on or just barely off the green, putting for eagle or with a relatively high percentage up and down birdie chance.

Strong headwind and I make the same play with driver.

[DaveP043]

Speaking of short par 4's. How would you tackle this little bugger?

Obviously I'm different form the others here.  I also carry my driver 230 to 240, but I'd never go for this one if I had to play my own ball.  If I'm aiming for the fairway with a long iron or hybrid, I can make a significant mistake and still have a reasonable chance at birdie, and a very good probability of par.  If I go to carry that little bit of water towards the green and/or bunker, even a little mistake can put me in a position where birdie is nearly impossible, and par is pretty tough.  I'd guess I'd average a half-stroke better in the long run by taking the conservative approach.