This Short Par 4 - Lay Up or Drive It?

[b101]

We have a 237 yard par 3 here, so I'd definitely be going for it - that's a 3 wood to be sure of clearing. Yeah, you could lay up, but if you push it out right, it looks like you have a decent chance of an ok lie meaning probably par at worst.

[DrvFrShow]

Lay up with a 5 iron to be safe. No choice. I can only carry it if I hit my best driver. That would leave me a fat SW to the center of the green. 

[billchao]

19 hours ago, 9wood said:

Here is a short par 4 that I play regularly. It's a 252 yd. par 4. It's 211 yds to the front of the water and 222 yds to carry the water. Green slopes gently to the right. If you were playing this hole would you 1) Shoot for the green or 2) layup in front of the water? Which club would you use?

 

Lay up, lay up, lay up. That's what I'll keep telling myself until I get to the hole, brimming with confidence (or was it bravado?) and hit 3W or 2W, whatever I happen to be carrying that day. At least the trees look easy to pitch over when I miss right.

[Lihu]

21 minutes ago, billchao said:

Lay up, lay up, lay up. That's what I'll keep telling myself until I get to the hole, brimming with confidence (or was it bravado?) and hit 3W or 2W, whatever I happen to be carrying that day. At least the trees look easy to pitch over when I miss right.

That's exactly how I feel, then the consequence of that overly brimming confidence would be a 3W fade/spin high and drop left directly into the ditch along the longest possibly path where it could go in. My son would land the center of the green with a hybrid, and wonder why I need to lay up. 

This hole also begs layup to me. It's basically a par 3 they modified with the ditch to qualify it as a par 4 which it barely qualifies by 3 yards.

 

[GolfingInHawaiiSpoiledMe]

There is no lay up in my game unless there $ on the line or im in a tourney.  Whip out the 3 or driver depending on the wind and go for it.  

Edited April 8, 2016 by GolfingInHawaiiSpoiledMe

[Pretzel]

20 hours ago, 9wood said:

Here is a short par 4 that I play regularly. It's a 252 yd. par 4. It's 211 yds to the front of the water and 222 yds to carry the water. Green slopes gently to the right. If you were playing this hole would you 1) Shoot for the green or 2) layup in front of the water? Which club would you use?

 

If I hit 3 iron I'm clearing the water pretty easily. I would think I could hit it with enough accuracy (using the scale of that water being 10 yards wide) to not need to worry too much about taking a swim if I hit it towards the right half of the green. With that scale it looks like the green is nearly 40 yards wide, which would be a pretty big miss for me to go 30 yards left to the left edge of the green, plus another 5 yards left of that to hit it in the drink. With an equal margin on the right before you get to the trees (looking at 30-35 yards on either side if you aim 5-10 yards off the right edge) it looks like a reasonably safe bet to shoot for the green.

[jamo]

20 hours ago, jamo said:

For club selection I'd need to know how far it is to the back of the green, but it should be a very soft 3-wood. Maybe a hybrid depending on the slope and the wind. I'd play it like a par 3. 

The more I think about it, the most I'm convinced it should be a hybrid. Still, one or the other.

[billchao]

37 minutes ago, Lihu said:

This hole also begs layup to me. It's basically a par 3 they modified with the ditch to qualify it as a par 4 which it barely qualifies by 3 yards.

The ditch doesn't scare me. Even if I end up in it, I drop and hit 3 on, which is what I'd be hitting if I missed the green after laying up anyway.

My problem is the green needs to be the size of a football field for me to guarantee I'll hit with a wood.

[Lihu]

18 minutes ago, billchao said:

The ditch doesn't scare me. Even if I end up in it, I drop and hit 3 on, which is what I'd be hitting if I missed the green after laying up anyway.

My problem is the green needs to be the size of a football field for me to guarantee I'll hit with a wood.

True, I hadn't thought of that, chance for birdie and eagle are there with possible bogey. Not too bad. Didn't think of that earlier. 

Change my vote to 3W and go for it.

[9wood]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

 

This hole also begs layup to me. It's basically a par 3 they modified with the ditch to qualify it as a par 4 which it barely qualifies by 3 yards.

 

Exactly

[Rainmaker]

If I wanted to make the best score, I'd take a 6 or 7 iron off the tee.  That would give me either a hard sw or easy gw into the green depending on wind and how hard the fairway is, etc. 

In reality, though, it'd be hard not to give it a rip.  I'd probably lose 9 out of 10 balls doing that but it would still be hard to resist.  Distance-wise it's right in between my 4w and my driver (don't have a 3w) . .4w would probably come up short and driver, if I hit it well, would probably go through the green and into the trees behind.  So . .driver. Definitely driver. 

 

[Lihu]

55 minutes ago, Lihu said:

True, I hadn't thought of that, chance for birdie and eagle are there with possible bogey. Not too bad. Didn't think of that earlier. 

Change my vote to 3W and go for it.

 

29 minutes ago, 9wood said:

Exactly

But I changed my mind to go for it. Primarily because I generally clear 220 yards with my 3W, and those times I don't would leave me with bogey. I should have applied LSW better, but it's a learning process. . .

[saevel25]

About an 85-90% hybrid. 

If I want to lay up then a 6 iron to about 10 yards short of the creek and then an easy pitch. 

[billchao]

17 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Primarily because I generally clear 220 yards with my 3W, and those times I don't would leave me with bogey.

If you end up in the hazard, you're dropping 2, hitting 3. You can still get up and down from there for par.

[JonMA1]

Even if I could carry that water, there's little chance I could keep it on the green. So if the odds are I'd have to pitch to the green anyway, why would I try for the green off the tee? Easy decision to lay up. While others are landing it on the green with a 5w or a hybrid (bastards!), I'm teeing off with that club and not worrying about reaching the water at 211.

[Lihu]

12 minutes ago, billchao said:

If you end up in the hazard, you're dropping 2, hitting 3. You can still get up and down from there for par.

My chipping has not been that great lately. . .but that's still pretty good for worst case.

[SavvySwede]

Anybody look at the whole course on google maps? Easily the plainest design I've ever seen. Dead straight holes all close to the same width. 

[natureboy]

20 minutes ago, billchao said:

If you end up in the hazard, you're dropping 2, hitting 3. You can still get up and down from there for par.

Good point.

Edited April 9, 2016 by natureboy