Second Shot Par 5 Third at Seneca Hickory Stick - Strategy?

[9wood]

OK all you better golfers, here is a par 5 hole at a course near me, picture below. I am curious as how you would play your 2nd shot if you got off the drive shown in the photo. Are you good enough to go for the green on your 2nd shot. Would you play a safe lay-up or would you go for the green and have a shot at an eagle?

 

[Patch]

I would lay up for the score. Then pitch on, an hope for a 1 putt bird. I dont see many drives over 240 yards any more. Over all, this looks like a hole I could par a high percentage of the time.  

Of course if no one was behind me, I would probably drop a ball or two and see if I clould reach the green. They would be old balls in need of a bath. 

[BigUnit68]

In all likelihood, I would go for it unless there is a stiff breeze into me.  My 3H or 5W would be enough and I hit both of those well.  So chalk one up for going for it.

Edited March 17, 2016 by BigUnit68

[DaveP043]

I don't hit it far enough to reliably clear the water.  I'd lay up every time.  Depending on how tight things get, and maybe on things like slopes in the fairway, wind conditions, the state of my game that day, I might be looking at laying up short of the first part of the lake.  All things being equal, the better position would be to go as far up the left side as possible.

[iacas]

I hit a 3I or hybrid to land on the green and, if anything, bounce long. If the greens are soft, maybe I go for the back edge of the green. There's just grass back there.

@9wood, what hole and course is this? Please start adding these things.

And please consider buying LSW. It gives you a great roadmap for playing any type of hole.

[9wood]

12 minutes ago, iacas said:

 

what hole and course is this? Please start adding these things.

 

It's the 3rd hole at the Seneca Hickory Stick course which is a par 5 hole

Edited March 17, 2016 by 9wood

[Lihu]

36 minutes ago, 9wood said:

OK all you better golfers, here is a par 5 hole at a course near me, picture below. I am curious as how you would play your 2nd shot if you got off the drive shown in the photo. Are you good enough to go for the green on your 2nd shot. Would you play a safe lay-up or would you go for the green and have a shot at an eagle?

 

I like these challenges you are giving us, here is my own solution. . .

It looks about like a 206 carry on the second shot based upon my median drive of 260. So, my strategy is to move up to the appropriate tees for my handicap and give me 12 yards less forced carry.

Driver/Hybrid off the blue tees.

Erik, is right. Get a copy of LSW. Also, look into "Tee it forward".

 

 

[9wood]

3 minutes ago, Lihu said:

It looks about like a 206 carry on the second shot based upon my median drive of 260. So, my strategy is to move up to the appropriate tees for my handicap and give me another 15 yards less forced carry.

Driver/Hybrid off the blue tees.

Yes, it appears that teeing off from the blue tees would make the hole 10 yds shorter and 23 yds shorter if you were to tee off from the white tees.

[DeadMan]

I'd have to know a little more to know for sure, but that looks like a definite go for it for me. The green looks big, and the danger is in front with the lake. So take a club longer than usual and go for it.

If the green is smaller than it looks, or there's more danger deep or to either side, it might be a different decision for me. But from that picture, it looks like a definite go for it.

EDIT: I will say that that distance is a 5 wood probably for me, which I can still hit pretty high and stop. If I have a 3 wood into the green, I would lay up, because I'm much more inconsistent with that club off the deck.

[Lihu]

8 minutes ago, 9wood said:

Yes, it appears that teeing off from the blue tees would make the hole 10 yds shorter and 23 yds shorter if you were to tee off from the white tees.

The scorecard says 12 yards, I was originally guessing 15 yards just kind of eyeballing it.

In either case, I can carry about 200 with my 20 degree hybrid.

73.6/129 is a pretty tough course. That's all CR too. Guessing that 7016 yards plays longer in NY than it does in CA. My guess is it would feel like 7200 in CA and my median drive would probably be only 250 yards rather than 260?

[jamo]

I go for it. Take a little extra club and err on the long side.

The layup area isn't exactly safe, and then you're still hitting over the water.

[9wood]

Since I'm not a good golfer, and being 67 years old, I would tee off from the whites which would make the hole 461 yds long for me. So lets say I get off an average drive of 220 yds. That means I still am left with 241 yds still to go. Therefore, for my second shot I hit my 3-4 hybrid for a safe shot in front of the water in the vicinity that would leave me with a preferred 60 - 70 yds remaining. Now for my third shot I use my PW and try to get it up and down as close to the pin as possible which still leaves me with a birdie putt. And since my short game with my PW has been really on the money, I think a birdie is very possible here.

[boogielicious]

I would not be playing the Blacks on this. With my driver distance, I should be playing the whites. If the carry was 180 to clear the water, I would use a 3H or 5W. If longer, I would lay up towards the end of the fairway on the left to eliminate as much water as possible.

[Golfingdad]

37 minutes ago, 9wood said:

It's the 3rd hole at the Seneca Hickory Stick course which is a par 5 hole

From the point in the fairway where its 218 to the center of the green, its about 206 to the front edge of the green.  That is right about at the point where I consider laying up because I'm hitting hybrid and I am very capable of spraying the crap out of that thing.  But looking at the green area a little more closely (on bluegolf.com - handy website), its 50 yards from that point to the cart path in the back and its between 70 and 90 yards wide from the trees on the right to the creek and then cart path on the left.

That's a pretty generous landing area, so I'll take my chances with my hybrid and just play for the back of the green.

[golfncowboy]

Assuming everything as is in your picture I'm going for it. Of course as @DaveP043 said there's always the environmental factors to consider and how well I'm playing but if I've got 218 into a par 5, 8/10 times I'm going for it. That's a smooth 3 hybrid

[Pretzel]

With my driver distance I would have approximately 200-210 left on this hole, making the decision to go for it easier. 

That said, and on the original topic of this thread, I would still go for the green with a 4-iron if it was in the position specified. As @Lihu mentioned, there appears to only be a forced carry of around 200-205 yards on this shot anyways. I am confident in my ability to always fly the ball that far on all but the most severe of mishits, and there is a large enough main for error to the left and right that it doesn't much concern me (the green appears as wide as the fairway with some room on each side).

[iacas]

From a 266-yard drive, it's only 200 to carry the water. I'm going for it nearly every time from that spot in the fairway, assuming there's not a gale-force wind into me.

[jkelley9]

I like this challenge presented :)

I would probably be playing this hole from the whites. I have on occasion played from "mixed tees" if available, never tips. 

Either sets of tees would not change my drive. I cannot reach the bunker even from the whites. I would aim left rough and hit my normal shot (stronger fade) and hopefully with a decent drive (250y) I would be in front of the bunkers. I might be left of that though. @ 200y to the pin (it appears) with a front hole location, I may try to hit a 3w  only because I can usually scramble very well and I would aim for the back left of the green where it looks like there's tons of bailout area.

If I hit a shorter (my low average) of 220y, I would lay up again aiming left rough and fade... I should have no problem here even with a bad shot I should be plenty safe (I'm pretty decent with my longer irons, this may be a 5i or a 4h for me here). Then wedge in of course, with minimal danger from that spot.

Edited March 17, 2016 by jkelley9