Best Shot of the Week

[roejye]

I had a lot of good shots today but two in particular stand out. First one is hole 6 at my home course, a 200 yard par 3 but downhill generally plays 185. I pull my tee shot left, but it gets knocked down by some trees and luckily still on hole 6. I walk up to the chip, gage the distance and pull my pitching wedge. I knock the chip to about 3 feet and tap it in for par.

The next shot is on hole 7 a par 5, I pushed my tee shot to the right and I'm on the 5th hole. Luckily/unfortunately it's a position I'm pretty familiar with. I'm roughly 180 out going after an elevated and small green with a false front. I see that I have a shot at the green but it's over some trees and shrubbery. I have enough room in front of me to clear it and I already decided before the round that this was one I wasn't going to keep score so I decided to go for it. I pull my 4 hybrid out, setup, and swing. I make good contact and watch the ball soar over the trees in the direction of the green. I try to look through a gap in the trees to see it land, but no dice. I walk towards the green and see that I'm pin high on the right fringe. I then proceeded to putt it and the read was good, it hits the flag and rolls out to a few feet. What followed was one of my worst shots of the round, leaving the birdie putt an inch short. 

When I decided to not keep score it was looking like a really good decision for my mental health, I absolutely butchered the first 2 holes. However I went on a hot streak after that. I had a "birdie" (played 2 balls), 4 straight pars, then a bogey, and finished with a par. I played so poorly on the first 2 holes that I can't remember what I would've scored. 

[onthehunt526]

On Saturday on the 364-yard, 15th at the Genny, I hit an AW from 115 yards to inside of a foot. Only birdie in a round of 3-over 74.

[Darkfrog]

Tee shot on 6th hole, short par 4. Hit my 17-degree hybrid into the front left bunker. Anything right of the cart path is dead because the land slopes aggressively into the creek. To guard against my push miss I aim at the bunker, even though the hole is slightly downhill, usually the dew and municipal golf fairway slows down the roll enough to keep the ball about 20-30 yards short of the green. But I just hit it too good this time.

Bunker is shallow and was very firm, and I blasted that shot way past the front pin, and then 3 putted for bogey.

 

 

[The Flush]

I played in the Friday night 9 hole scramble at our local course. It is a school yard pick by the known "A" players. I am a "D" player. My son is an "A" player and reluctantly picked me, probably because I paid for his golf and his favorite "D" player who is a good putter was already taken. The scramble is from the back blue tees which I have never played from before. I was not particularly helpful to the team early on other than showing the line on some putts, but I started hitting some better shots around the 6th hole.  The 8th hole we played has water around 225 yards from the tees with a 280 carry required to get over the water. I hit my 4 wood to within 1 yard of the water while the big hitters all hit it into the water. We had about 140 to the pin and using the adage to take more club than you think you need I used a 8 iron. I hit it pure. Right over the green. But I was feeling better about my swing after a few good shots in a row, even if they were not used by the team. The last hole was a par 3 playing about 185 to a back pin.  This time I decided not to take an extra club and hit a 6 iron pure which landed left of the pin and followed the contour to 10 feet below the hole. There was only 1 other ball on the green which was not as close as mine. We sunk the putt to finish -7 to win the scramble by 1 stroke, thanks to making about 100 feet of putts. My son and I each won $95, although he doesn't seem to interested in paying me back for his entry fee.

[ChetlovesMer]

On 5/30/2023 at 2:31 PM, The Flush said:

I am a "D" player. My son is an "A" player and reluctantly picked me

Oh my goodness that's hilarious. ... "I guess I'll take you, dad." ... Sad face. 

[ChetlovesMer]

Here's my shot of the week. We were on the back nine for Wednesday Night Golf League. 

Hole 14 at Bent Tree in Sunbury, Ohio is a 365 yard par 4 with water on the left and several big trees on the right. (One in particular guards the fairway.) Many players use less than driver off the tee, I normally play driver as I tend to like to play a slight fade and I'm not usually long enough to find the end of the fairway. 

Wednesday I roped on right down the center. Which I've done on this hole before. It usually leaves me about 110 to the center of the green. On this Wednesday I hit it about 40 yards farther than I normally do. It went all the way through the fairway. Getting caught in the first cut about 2 paces past the end of the fairway. Shot scope said 290 yards. 💪 Best part was, this drive was on a day when the ground was pretty squongy (Yes, that's a word). It was actually cart path only due to the 2-1/2 inches of rain we just had. 

I happen to have had a really good day with the driver but this was the best of the lot. 

 

BTW - Because the flag was right at the front of the green (maybe 4 paces from the edge.) I had less than 50 yards to the flag.  I hit lob wedge about 3 feet short of the green (it didn't bounce on, as I said it was squongy). I was 12-15 feet or so below the hole. Hit my putt from 3 feet off the green past the hole 4 or 5 feet. Had a slippery little side winder for par. Missed it. Tapped it in for bogey. Oh well, still a great drive. 

[klineka]

34 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

BTW - Because the flag was right at the front of the green (maybe 4 paces from the edge.) I had less than 50 yards to the flag.  I hit lob wedge about 3 feet short of the green (it didn't bounce on, as I said it was squongy). I was 12-15 feet or so below the hole. Hit my putt from 3 feet off the green past the hole 4 or 5 feet. Had a slippery little side winder for par. Missed it. Tapped it in for bogey. Oh well, still a great drive. 

Nice drive but man that's tough. Was missing the green an error in strategy or execution?

I know hindsight is 20/20 but sounds like you gotta play for that shot to land 5+yds long of the flag to make sure you find the green and leave yourself a 30-40 footer if you hit your spot and maybe a bit less if you mishit the approach shot. 

That's one thing I've been cognizant of when it's a front pin is to play it at least a few yards further than the flag (subject to how far my approach shot is) 

[ChetlovesMer]

8 minutes ago, klineka said:

Nice drive but man that's tough. Was missing the green an error in strategy or execution?

Strategy. I played it out of the rough and assumed it would bounce. It was too mucky (or squongy as I like to say). By 5 holes in, I should have known better. 

 

9 minutes ago, klineka said:

I know hindsight is 20/20 but sounds like you gotta play for that shot to land 5+yds long of the flag to make sure you find the green and leave yourself a 30-40 footer if you hit your spot and maybe a bit less if you mishit the approach shot. 

100% correct. 

I hit my approach within the expected amount of error for me playing that shot. My mistake was not setting my target in a place where all the errors would have been an acceptable result. 🤷‍♂️

 

When I hit the approach I thought I hit a great shot, when it didn't bounce I felt a little silly. So, I hit it where I was aiming, I just wasn't aiming in the right place. 🤪

[billchao]

10 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

My mistake was not setting my target in a place where all the errors would have been an acceptable result.

There’s a book you might have read that covers this, but I know where you went to school 😉

[ChetlovesMer]

52 minutes ago, billchao said:

There’s a book you might have read that covers this, but I know where you went to school 😉

Oh, I've read it. But being able to read something and being able to understand it are sometime two different things. 

[mailman]

Chunked drive of about 140 yards on a tight dog leg left hole leaving me 210 to the pin over water.

Lined it up, absolutely pured possibly the best shot of my life with the ball coming to rest about 6 inches from the hole (tapped in for a birdie😁). I turned to begin signing autographs for the other three in my group only to discover the f99kers were all off in the trees looking for a lost golf ball! 🤣

So no one saw it, no one believed I had got up there with my second shot, no one wanted my autograph! 🤣

Edited June 21, 2023 by mailman

[ChetlovesMer]

30 minutes ago, mailman said:

Chunked drive of about 140 yards on a tight dog leg left hole leaving me 210 to the pin over water.

Lined it up, absolutely pured possibly the best shot of my life with the ball coming to rest about 6 inches from the hole (tapped in for a birdie😁). I turned to begin signing autographs for the other three in my group only to discover the f99kers were all off in the trees looking for a lost golf ball! 🤣

So no one saw it, no one believed I had got up there with my second shot, no one wanted my autograph! 🤣

Well, I didn't see it. But I believe you...

Not sure about the autograph. 🤪

[ChetlovesMer]

I had a pretty good one in my Wednesday-Night-Golf-League last night. 

Number 8 is a short par-4 only around 300 yards. I almost always play driver off the tee as it takes the fairway bunkers out of play. (Although, I'm hitting my driver longer these days so it's starting to bring the greenside bunkers into play. But that's a story for a different day. 

I overcooked my first tee shot. It flew directly over the trees on the left and was drawing. I knew it would be in the rough, but I also know that I've played this hole from the 10th fairway before and it's not so bad. I hit first. By time everyone else played their first and their second shots, we finally get around to going to my ball and I see an eightsome (yeah, that's not a type-o, an eightsome) doing some kind of scramble and I see one of them clearly addressing my ball. (I play Srixon Divide and it's easy to spot.) He whacks it down the 10th, way the F off to the right. I'm like

• "Dude, you hit my ball." 
• "No, I didn't." 
• "That was a Srixon Divide; White on one side, Yellow on the other." 
• "No, it was a Titleist."

I'm sure he's either too drunk to tell or he's lying, but there's nothing I can do. They all whack their goofy-ass drunk scramble shots and my ball is no place to be found (Although, we did find the afore mentioned Titleist not 5 yards from where he says he hit one.) Anyway, I go back to take 3 from the tee. I'm a little pissy because I'm certain he hit my ball. I retee and give it a whack. 

I roll back up and the 3 guys from my foursome are like "You have a par putt!" No way! Yeah, I drove it on the green. 
Missed the putt.

Made bogey.

Still disappointed that drunk guys probably played my ball. Great second tee shot to give myself a chance at par though. Best drive of the day for me. 

[StuM]

Let’s not talk about the drive on this hole, at least it hit “A” fairway.  The 2nd shot was a PW over trees landing just short of the green for nGIR.

unfortunately could not capitalize and got bogie.

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by StuM

[ChetlovesMer]

23 minutes ago, StuM said:

Let’s not talk about the drive on this hole, at least it hit “A” fairway.  The 2nd shot was a PW over trees landing just short of the green for nGIR.

There are no pictures on the scorecard...

... But there are pictures on ShotScope? ....

[klineka]

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I had a pretty good one in my Wednesday-Night-Golf-League last night. 

Number 8 is a short par-4 only around 300 yards. I almost always play driver off the tee as it takes the fairway bunkers out of play. (Although, I'm hitting my driver longer these days so it's starting to bring the greenside bunkers into play. But that's a story for a different day. 

I overcooked my first tee shot. It flew directly over the trees on the left and was drawing. I knew it would be in the rough, but I also know that I've played this hole from the 10th fairway before and it's not so bad. I hit first. By time everyone else played their first and their second shots, we finally get around to going to my ball and I see an eightsome (yeah, that's not a type-o, an eightsome) doing some kind of scramble and I see one of them clearly addressing my ball. (I play Srixon Divide and it's easy to spot.) He whacks it down the 10th, way the F off to the right. I'm like

• "Dude, you hit my ball." 
• "No, I didn't." 
• "That was a Srixon Divide; White on one side, Yellow on the other." 
• "No, it was a Titleist."

I'm sure he's either too drunk to tell or he's lying, but there's nothing I can do. They all whack their goofy-ass drunk scramble shots and my ball is no place to be found (Although, we did find the afore mentioned Titleist not 5 yards from where he says he hit one.) Anyway, I go back to take 3 from the tee. I'm a little pissy because I'm certain he hit my ball. I retee and give it a whack. 

I roll back up and the 3 guys from my foursome are like "You have a par putt!" No way! Yeah, I drove it on the green. 
Missed the putt.

Made bogey.

Still disappointed that drunk guys probably played my ball. Great second tee shot to give myself a chance at par though. Best drive of the day for me. 

As long as you were virtually certain that other group hit your ball, you should have been able to drop as close as possible to where it originally ended up with no penalty, right?

Kinda like if a spectator picks up someone's ball on the PGA Tour.

From your description it sounds like you were pretty certain that it was your ball that he hit.

Rule 9.6

Quote

If it is known or virtually certain that an outside influence (including another player in stroke play or another ball) lifted or moved a player’s ball at rest:

• There is no penalty, and

• The ball must be replaced on its original spot (which if not known must be estimated) (see Rule 14.2).

This applies whether or not the player’s ball has been found.

And 

Quote

Known or virtually certain means more than just possible or probable. It means that either:

• There is conclusive evidence that the event in question happened to the player’s ball, such as when the player or other witnesses saw it happen, or

• Although there is a very small degree of doubt, all reasonably available information shows that it is at least 95% likely that the event in question happened.

If you saw one of them clearly addressing your ball, they claimed they were hitting a Titleist, you find said Titleist nearby, especially since to my knowledge Titliest doesn't make a ball that looks like the Srixon Divide, IMO there is enough evidence to say that you could have been virtually certain he hit your ball.

Let's put it this way. If I was playing against someone and they described that situation to me as you have described it, I would have no problem at all with them taking a drop with no penalty. 

[The Flush]

Last hole of tonight's league match was a par 3 playing about 140. Hit a 9 iron that one hopped off the pin and settled about 2 feet from the pin. Easy birdie. Might be worth a skin in my flight.

[StuM]

Played Inverness Club in Toledo.  Overall a bad round but there was that drive on #15.  And for a change I followed it up with a good Sand-Wedge and got par. The drive was helped by gravity once it got past the two bunkers on the right.