Best Shot of the Week

[Beachcomber]

On the 18th hole today at Oak Creek which is a 456yd par 4... I got up on the tee and it is an intimidating drive. There is a big dogleg left. On the left side of the box is huge Oak trees, fescue grass which is a wrist breaker, and a large fairway bunker. Going left is death by double bogey. That fairway bunker on the left, I've been there before and took 3 shots just to get out. It's difficult as you never get a good lie in it as your second shot would be from a downhill lie hitting a longer iron with a 180+/- . So I wasn't going left... That was for damn sure. Now if I drive it straight, it will end up down the right side... I run the risk of flying it through the dogleg, and into a large bunker on the right side of the fairway about 250yds down the fairway. With 200yds in. Not an ideal golf shot either. The only real option here, if you hit a driver, is to aim out to the right - at the bunker on the right and hit a 20 to 30yd power draw. I closed my stance, and took the club inside out and cranked it. Nice bullet draw which I hit so hard it made it to the downslope and rolled out to 152yds left in the center of the fairway. Was one of the best feelings shaping a shot like that - especially on that difficult of a driving hole.

[bunkerputt]

Played this weekend at crystal fals GC in Leander, and struggled quite a bit, particularly with the short game.  Had way too many chips, but shot -3 on the par-5s.  Managed to dig deep and crank some drives there.  Best shot of the day was #9, par 4.  Blew a drive way right because left is serious trouble.  Flew it over the trees into the adjacent fairway, had to lay up with trees blocking and 180 carry to clear the creek.  I can't hit anything high enough to carry 180 so I just lobbed a gap wedge and tried to land it in the clearing before the creek.  It caught a branch at the tree tops and dropped down on the right side of the fairway leaving 130 with trees blocking and a pin on the right.  I needed a pretty big swing with a 9-iorn to get the ball down to the flag, but not too big because there's a creek on the right side.  Aimed off the left edge of the green and hit about a 5 yard fade with a 9-iron.  Ball landed and spun right leaving 3-feet pin high for par.  Sunk it.

[mattshaver]

pushed a drive straight right to the adjacent fairway and had about 190 to a flag on the left of the green. there was a clearing in the trees that gave me a perfect line to the flag from the other fairway. stepped up and hit a beautiful straight 3 iron right at the pin. bounced on the front collar and rolled to 2 ft. sank it for birdie!

[mtsalmela80]

Played 9 on the only open course in the area on Monday (55 degrees out, great February weather)

Ended up about 150 yards out on the opening hole that has an elevated green. Stuck my 7 iron absolutely perfectly, took off like a missile, starts right of the green and then draws and lands a couple feet on the green, rolls down the green to about 6 feet. I very rarely get on the green from that long of a distance from the fairway.

[bunkerputt]

Swing is really starting to come together.  Hit so many solid shots this weekend.  I hit so many greens I didn't have the usual smattering of hero shots that I usually have, but one really stands out.  Dogleg right par-4, 220 yard forced carry, you really need to place the tee shot on the left side of the fairway at around 270 to give you the best 150 yard approach shot uphill to a sneaky green complex.  Right side is dead, covered with trees.  Prepare to make bogey if you hit it over there.  If you hit the left edge, but end up only 240 or so, you end up needing to play a long uphill fade around some trees, but not too much fade because there's slope to the right running down into a creek.  Cranked a beautiful drive with a big draw that landed on the left side of the fairway, immediately hit a random rock that fell off the left side cliff and wasn't cleared, shot straight right at 90 degrees and stopped about a foot before the creek on the right side in a bunch of trees.  Crap.  Got up to the ball and tried to come up with a plan.  Thought about just chipping out, trying to get up and down from 130 yards.  Couldn't go over the trees...way too high.  I noticed there was an opening about the size of a doorframe some 70 yards in front of me framing the flag in the background.  I would need to hit something really low, maybe three feet off the ground, through the doorframe and run it up onto the green.  Took a 5-iron, hit it about two feet off the ground straight down the pipe, ran it up onto the green to 8 feet.  It's the only time I've ever shouted "What a golf shot!" at my own shot.  The ball mark was dead center on the face and really high.  I don't think I've ever hit a shot with that much forward shaft lean in my life.

Next hole was the finishing hole, 570 yard par-5, extremely uphill and into a 20mph headwind.  It felt like it was playing 670+.  Parred it.

[Beachcomber]

9th hole at Oak Creek yesterday... Playing from the tips which puts it just at 500yds as a shorty par 5... It's reachable in 2.  But requires a long tee shot, followed by a 2nd which will need 200 to 220yd carry over water, just to make it safely onto the green as there is a forced carry over a water hazard...  The pin was a sucker pin too - as it was middle of the green (left / right) - but really made you carry the hazard if you wanted to take it right at the pin - and was only about 10yds off of the hazard.

I hit a nice tee shot... Which left me at 210yds into the green from the middle of the fairway.  I didn't feel like I could carry my 3H all the way to the green without risking dropping it into the hazard, especially as the ball was below my feet as the fairway runs down toward the hazard on the right... So instead of trying to be a hero, I played it safe and hit a 7i layup to 70yds.  This is where it got interesting.  Because I left myself with a little 3/4 54* wedge.  And I have this shot in my bag... But for whatever reason, I've had troubles pulling this shot off in the past when playing this same hole.

Not this time!  I pured it... Ball hit the green and didn't move, leaving me with a 6ft birdie putt which was slightly uphill.  Hit the putt firm and walked away with a nice birdie.  Great feeling walking off the 9th knowing I just played that hole as well as I possibly could.  That my friends is what keeps me coming back!

[Jwat381]

My first entry in this thread.

I played Emerald Valley in Creswell last Thursday and, after my tee shot found the right side rough, I had about 175-180 to the flag, but had a good amount of trees in my line. I chose to be ballsy and lined up a shot I thought I could hit, just so long as I kept it straight on a line where the trees were a little lower. I must have been more focused on my line and shot, rather than my swing, because I pured it right over the trees onto the green. My game is still developing, so to hit a more difficult shot of greater distance like this was, for me, a big step in my golf career.

[darkhunter139]

My best shot of the day came on the 18th, was on a par 4 and my tee shot was a bomb.  Measured it with the gps on my phone and it said 245 which is really good for me.  Only had 80 yards left to the green but  unfortunately I 3 putted for bogey.

[Tburn 20]

Since I have only been playing for 6 months the shot I made yesterday, although pure luck made me look like a pro. It was a par 3 and my first shot was 100 feet from the green typical amateur shot being short. I took my pitching wedge and since the green had a left to right down hill pitch a chipped it to the left of the hole and watched it roll into the hole. Probably never happen again!

[tomvk77]

Last weekend i had training with the team. The week before we took video off my swing. ( see my other post in my swing section)  I saw i had a little sway.

So this weekend i tried to keep my weight on the inside off my right foot, making it impossible to sway.

I started by pulling everything hard left. but after 10-20 shots it started to feel better, and my little draw came back, this is my standard ball flight.

As you al can see i have a little inside out swing plane. That was the thing we were working on this day, well shot shaping that was. I used to have a lot off trouble hitting a fade, but with keeping in mind that i should keep my weight on the inside off right foot, i started with aiming left off target with club face on target. It was amazing  balls started left of target and faded back on target i had picked. It was just great to finally hit fades in the most simple way.

[Chilli Dipper]

I took a club too much on Lanier Golf Club's 125-yard par 3 second hole, leaving me with a 35-foot downhill putt breaking away from me. I wanted to hit it just hard enough that would trundle down near the hole, and not run well off the green. After contact, I was sure I had struck the putt too soft and played too much break. As it fed off the slope, though, the ball kept rolling...kept tracking...and came to rest at the bottom of the cup. Birdie.

I also hit two mid-iron approach shots to within 10 feet during my round, but I didn't make those birdie putts.

[CoryMartin]

I played a tournament yesterday in 20mph wind (gusting of 40mph ) and on a short par 3 around 148 with my coach sitting on the tee box. It was my second to last hole and knew I needed to par this hole for an 81. I the wind got a hold of my soft 7 iron and a chip left me with 12ft to the hole. I sank the 12 ft putt down a nasty hill for the par and ended up shooting an 81!

[jtw89]

Yesterday was probably the best driving day I've ever had.  I'm not a very good player, but yesterday I only missed three fairways and was getting pretty decent distance for me (250-270).  After making a pitstop at the turn, I teed off on 9 and hit what me and my partners estimated to be a 330 yd bomb. It was straight as an arrow and came off my club at the perfect angle. I don't think I've ever hit a ball so pure in my life.  I ended up missing the green on my second shot, and having to get up and down for par.  Man that drive felt good though.

[Fairway_CY]

2nd hole of my season... I hit a pretty good drive up the left side of the fairway, leaving myself about 225 or so to the middle of the green.  There's really no trouble on this hole short of the green, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I hadn't been able to hit my 3 wood at ALL last season if I wasn't on the driving range, but I wanted to start taking some cuts with it early this season so I could get used to it.

I lined myself up and struck the ball perfectly.  It probably never got more than 15 feet off the ground... but it was on a rope.  No curve at all.  It hit the front of the green and ran up to leave me 18 feet for birdie.  I ran that by about about 3 feet and made that coming back for birdie.

It was nice to get a pure shot with that club so early on.  Gave me the confidence to use it quite a bit later in the round.

CY

[ghalfaire]

Had a lousy day last round and the drive on 18, which was hooked left on a dogleg right,  left me 185 yards over the lake and sand.  I hit a career 26* degree hybrid (fake 5 iron) over the lake and bunker, dropped about about 5" inches on the green and rolled to 2 feet below the hole.  Ended the round with a birdie,so I guess I'll play again even though it was still a lousy round that will never count for handicap.

[B-Con]

Two nice shots. One was a chip-in for birdie on a par-5. My ball was sitting on the steep downslope on the back of a green about 4 feet below the green. I took an open stance and gently pitched it up and onto the green, and it rolled straight for the hole, never deviating from the line. Couldn't have dreamed it any better. This was probably shot of the day for me, and possibly for my foursome. The other was a gorgeous 3-wood. We were playing another par-5 and this time into the wind. A solid drive had left me in the fairway, but not very far down. After some debate, I pulled out my 3-wood and decided to try to make some progress down the fairway. I had been playing badly the last few holes and figured I had little to lose by choosing a trickier club. That, and this was the first game using my 3-wood, so I was kind of looking for a reason to use it. Off of a perfectly clean lie I caught the ball perfectly and sent it 210 yards down the fairway into the wind. A pitch to 12 feet gave me a birdie.

[mtsalmela80]

Yesterday, on a 404 yard par four I killed the drive, however it landed right of fairway under a tree, in a depression. I was about 130 away and pulled an 8 iron, not expecting much due to the poor lie I swing away and lose the ball as soon as it takes off. Lands on the green, probably 12 feet away from the pin. Probably the first time I have been on in regulation on a +400 yard par four. Of course I missed the birdie but but made par!

[Haacker15]

Playing a par 500yrd par 4 and had a 30 yrd chip for par and sunk it!!!