Best Shot of the Week

[Laurentius]

Last Saturday at my home course Emeralda Indonesia designed by Arnold Palmer.

My best shot came after 3 horrible shots:

1.  100 yards drive with a driver

2.  100 yards with 5 woods

3.  100 yards with 5 woods

Fourth shot 130 yards  used a Pitching wedge uphill and it went straight to the hole for PAR!!!! WOA

[Topper]

I'm excited that I have a "best shot" to report.

Anyway, here's the stage.  I play the front 9 OK but my driver was horrible and long approach shots were mixed.  My driver kicks-in on hole 10 and I play the back 9 great which includes pars, bogeys and double bogeys (no disasters).  Hole 18 is a short par 4 (335 yards) which is nearly driveable for my golf partner who can carry 275-300 yards but not for me.  My driver fails on this hole and I top it for only 100 yards, but at least it was reasonably straight and only in the first cut of rough.  I pull out my hybrid and proceed to strangle the club resulting in a miss-hit... pushed right into an adjacent fairway 90 yards from the pin.

An oak tree about  40 feet high is directly in line with the green.  I can see under it and contemplated playing a worm-burner which is my natural shot shape.   I also thought about a SW since this is a good distance for me but I'm on a very tight lie and I sometimes have problems hitting my SW off tie lies.  So I grab my gap wedge and make perfect contact followed by a beautiful trajectory over the tree and onto the green about 10' from the pin.  I nearly holed the putt for par but tapped in for bogey.

That was an awesome feeling being able to hit that pitch shot over the tree and I kind of have a sense of what some of you low and mid-handicap golfers feel on a routine basis.

[ochmude]

I was on a par-5, dogleg left, and hit a pull-draw off the tee.  I ended up in the left rough with no line towards the green at all, so I just pulled out my 6i and aimed for the corner of the dogleg.  Well, I completely duffed the shot just about 20 yards further down the left rough.  I then took my 7i and attempted the same shot, but hoping to cut a bit off the corner by going over a couple trees.  I pulled that off beautifully and was faced with about a 50 yard pitch over a greenside bunker.  The only though running through my head was to not come up short and end up in the bunker.  I didn't come up short, but did overshoot the green and I ended up in thick rough on top of a ridge, with a severe slope away from me and to the right.  So, this is basically a nightmare chip shot for me.  I saw my line, knew exactly where I wanted to land the ball in the fringe, and made the stroke.  The ball tracked exactly as I visualized it and I holed out for par.  As a 30-capper, that felt fricken amazing.

[future pga 2b]

160 yard par 3 80 yard wide green pushed my shot and also sliced and the pin was on the other side of the green had to pitch it under a tree as well and also was an elavated green couldnt see the flag ha was 5 ft away and dropped the par putt :]

[LeftCoast]

Was playing a really short par 4, about 295 plus it was downhill, hit a really high drive that ended up about 12 feet from the pin.  The downhill drop plus the sky high drive resulted in the ball only traveling about a foot past where it hit, you would have thought I hit a nice 100 yd SW.  Sunk the putt for eagle.

[sonnydamico pdx]

Once again this week, the putter is on fire; I was co-winner of the "low putts" award at the weekly men's club mini-tournament .

[darkhunter139]

My best shot of the weekend was a 3 hybrid over water and it landed on the green from 210 yards.  Pretty awesome, I never hit greens with my 3 hybrid :)

[nachosgrande]

Knocked a 3 wood to ten feet from 245 yards out.  Two-putted for bird.

[JoelCochran]

Sunday, on the hardest hole on our course I was 180 out, in the rough, about 5 yards behind a tree.  Couldn't even see the green.  Severely uphill approach, I hit a 3H with a HUGE slice that rammed into the upslope just short of the green and popped up, trickling to about 3 feet short of the hole.  Made the birdie, first one I've ever seen on that hole.  Best part is I was playing with my Dad and I called the shot before I did it!

[BuckeyeNut]

June 2011 was a crazy good month for me......I holed out for a deuce twice on par 4's........and holed a shot from off the green on an 'unreachable' par 5 for eagle....all in one month.  CRAZZy.......I love it!!  My home course ringer score isn't believable...........(I wouldn't believe it)    My home course ringer scores since 2006.....I've eagled all 4-par 5's and 7 out of 10 par 4's.....INSANE..that's 11 holes out of 18.  call me crazy.....

[aschroeger]

I pushed my 2nd shot on a par4 right of the green.  I left myself with a 20 yard chip to the pin over a shallow bunker.

Hit it thin, balls rolls hot into the bunker, through the bunker, up onto the green and stops 14 inches from the cup.

Best worst shot I had.

[darkhunter139]

My best shot of the week was my best shot ever.  Holed out from 160 yards with a 7 iron for eagle!

[billk86]

167 yard par 3 with water left, deep bunker long, and a very narrow green.  I had never even hit this green before.  I am usually short with a seven iron.  This past weekend I went with a 6.  I angled it toward the edge of the water and brought it back to the middle of the green where it landed and stopped within 5 ft.   The foursome ahead of us had stopped at the tee to let me and my buddy play through and they all watched and gave me the fist bump walking off.  Very cool...

As for the birdie putt....

[inthehole]

Hit 2 great shots tonight -

- par 4:  Decent drive but faded about 30 ft behind a tree in the rough.     Could barely see the pin around the tree (145 yards out, downhill).     Hit a perfect 5 iron straight as an arrow - just missed the tree & wound up 18 inches from the pin.   First birdie on a par 4.

- par 5:  Fair drive, decent 7 iron to lay up on the low flat (didn't want to risk a 3 wood & not make the elevated fairway to the left &  be on the slope), smoked a 4 iron from the rough up a blind hill - beautiful shot, landed on the edge of the green about 160 yards or so, 10 ft from the pin - par'd it.    Loving the 4 iron (hybrids haven't seen much action now that I have discovered the joys of well struck long irons) !

What makes these 2 iron shots so memorable is that they were from the rough & I got as much loft & carry as I normally do from the fairway ...

[k14]

A 4 foot putt for par on the 18th today to win the semifinal of our club champs 1up. The ball did a full lap before deciding to give me the win too! Man I was pretty nervous over that one! Now I gotta wait 6 weeks till the guy can play the final!

[sonnydamico pdx]

On the dogleg par 4 7th at my home course, I hit a 3-wood damn near as well as I have ever hit it, winding up two and a half feet from the hole. The easy birdie putt was a way cool ending to an average round (they had sent me out on #8 to start because the course was crowded).

[bunkerputt]

Short but deadly par-4 270 to the flag.  250 forced carry over water to a dime sized green with a 15 degree grade.  Hit 5-wood, guessing it rattled the flag stick because it was going to roll over the back, but somehow rolled back to the front of the green.  May have spun back.  Too far to see.  Eagle chip to inches, kicked in the birdie.  I never went for that green before, but I've got so much confidence off the tee now...  Looking forward to many birdies like that one.

[B-Con]

I had a short par 4 where my tee shot left me 70 yards from the pin. I caught my approach thin and dumped it about 12 yards over the back. When I got to the ball, I realized I was in a pickle. I'd hit through the tree line against the back of the green and I didn't have any good options. The edge of the green was about 15 yards away and about 3 feet above the ball, but it sloped down to the front of the green where the pin was. There were low lying branches that basically gave me a 4 foot vertical window to thread the ball in if I wanted to hit the green. To keep the ball that low and hit it far enough, I'd probably end up rolling it off the front of the green, possibly into the protective bunker. My other option was to hit it over a 30 foot tree line from about 15 feet back. I agonized about it for only a few seconds before deciding to go over the trees. It was definitely the more risky shot, but I really wanted to try it. I laid my 56* wedge really open and took a full swing, flicking my wrists a bit more than usual. My contact was good I launched the ball almost straight up and over the trees. It hit the green and stopped in one bounce in its own ball mark. It only went maybe 20 yards, so I was a disappointed in that (I must've [i]really[/i] flipped under the ball), but it felt great to actually get on the green and get over the trees. It's not a very important part of the game, but I've really learned the heights of my shots and my wedge abilities, so when I find myself behind trees I know how to clear them. Obviously sometimes I need to go under them, but I know how to hit over them and it's nice to have that option on the table. I did a similar thing with a wedge on the same course with a tree line a few months ago, and I hit over the tree lines with my irons about once per round one some approach where I badly missed the fairway. And when I make good contact I pretty much always clear them, usually with several feet to spare. It's one of the simple little pleasures, IMO. :-)