Report from closest-to-pin hole

[WUTiger]

I saw some interesting swing patterns from the closest to pin hole I monitored Monday. I volunteered at a veterans benefit golf tournament on Monday at Old Hickory CC in St. Peters, Mo.

The hole is No. 5, set at 139 yards that day. Players have a slightly uphill shot to the crowned green, which has a pronounced ridge (red lines inserted in pix) that runs left to right about 2/3 the way back. This kills any shots from rolling to the back, where the pin was located. Green was about 30 yards deep.

We were close enough to see the player swings on tee shots. Here are the patterns we saw.

• About half had a noticeable over-the-top swing, resulting in a short right - or occasional low left - miss.
• Another cluster tried to make a smoooooth swing. But, they were soooo lazy going back it was mostly arms and not much body from the top. This gave a lot of bloopers that came down near the front edge of the crowned green and kicked away.
• Players who hit a draw seemed to do best, but nobody was hitting enough club. On the day only four shots made it back to or behind the pin.

Note: The winner put his shot 2 feet short of the pin. We then moved the marker sign to behind the cup, so it wouldn't deflect incoming tee shots.