How Would You Play It? (Hole #10 at Goose Creek)

[Big C]

The wind was the difference maker for me yesterday. As @tristanhilton85 can attest, I pulled a 5 iron out of my bag and was prepared to follow through with the layup. 

But as I stood on the tee, I felt a pretty good gust straight downwind and thought that might give me enough of an assist to clear the center bunker. 

So I went back to the cart, traded the 5 iron for my driver, and hit a solid drive. It cleared the bunker and left a 30 yard uphill pitch to the flag. I hit a good pitch to 5 feet, made the putt and walked away with birdie.

 

[Shindig]

I didn't read this thread before the round.  Big mistake on my part.

Hit driver, thinking I could go left of the big bunker.  After all, it would take a good drive to get to it... 

... which I did.  Didn't hit my iron all that solid out, and was left with a 55 yard pitch.  Which, and I'm not being sarcastic here, is one of my favorites.  I hit that distance 3-4 times yesterday and I think I hit the green on every 55 yard pitch.

Like this one.  And I two-putted for a bogey.

Next time I will be laying up short of the bunker.  And I would like to play this course again before too long!

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, Big C said:

It cleared the bunker and left a 30 yard uphill pitch to the flag.

Don't sell yourself short.

The pin was about 26/27 yards on, so it wasn't just a 30 yard pitch to the flag, you darn near drove the green. 

[onthehunt526]

I have a question for the guys who had their outing yesterday. Is there enough room to the right of the big bunker to fit a fairway wood in there and not run through?

[Golfingdad]

26 minutes ago, onthehunt526 said:

I have a question for the guys who had their outing yesterday. Is there enough room to the right of the big bunker to fit a fairway wood in there and not run through?

Yes, plenty.

---

So I am aware of the play of 8/10 yesterday and the results are as follows (@spider hasn't responded yet and Colin's uncle doesn't count because his driver doesn't even reach the bunker):

8/8 hit driver.  5 of the 8 found the bunker.  4/5 made bogey and one made double bogey.  The three that avoided the bunker made two pars and a birdie.  And only one of the 3 actually hit it far enough to clear the bunker.

Edited May 1, 2017 by Golfingdad

[onthehunt526]

So by my math, the 8 drivers had a 4.625 stroke average. Maybe laying up would have produced a lower scoring average?

[mvmac]

1 hour ago, Golfingdad said:

@spider hasn't responded yet

@spider hit driver, wasn't his best, pull hook into left rough between 10 and 13. Then hit a great shot to 25 feet for a nice par.

13 minutes ago, onthehunt526 said:

So by my math, the 8 drivers had a 4.625 stroke average. Maybe laying up would have produced a lower scoring average?

I think it just depends on your length and accuracy. With those conditions yesterday and where the pin was, if I played the hole 20 times (10 with driver, 10 laying up), I'm confident I'd average a lower score with driver.

[onthehunt526]

2 hours ago, mvmac said:

@spider hit driver, wasn't his best, pull hook into left rough between 10 and 13. Then hit a great shot to 25 feet for a nice par.

I think it just depends on your length and accuracy. With those conditions yesterday and where the pin was, if I played the hole 20 times (10 with driver, 10 laying up), I'm confident I'd average a lower score with driver.

In those conditions I might be tempted to hit driver... But I'd probably slice into the right fairway... Or the trees.

[oregongolfguy]

My play on this is most likely lay up in front of bunkers.  Maybe hit a 3 wood to the right, hard to tell without standing there but most likely layup.

[span3636]

What is the point of hitting the driver. The risk is far too great. Take your medicine and lay up.

[Lihu]

On 5/1/2017 at 0:55 PM, Golfingdad said:

Yes, plenty.

Yeah, like I mentioned to you on the course, I totally forgot which hole we were on and hit driver to the "271" or more line IN the bunker. My out wasn't too bad on that hole as I recall being in a near green situation with my gap wedge. Totally missed that this was the hole to layup on. Could have been me who doubled it, but I also recall at least five 3 putts that day in addition to the quad and triple I got.

[Jack Watson]

I'd play short of trouble off the tee.  I feel good about my chances with what that leaves.   Too much trouble for me to pull driver with not much advantage gained.  If I went in the big bunker I'd be screwed.

Short par fours always have tricks up their sleeve.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Jack Watson

[jamo]

On ‎3‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 10:23 AM, iacas said:

Unless the rough to the right is really light, in which case #2 is the best option, #3 is the best option IMO.

It's rare, but a 50-80-yard bunker shot is a horrible shot to have to play. It's going to lead to an average of a bogey. You can't make enough birdies to offset how often you make bogey from the bunker.

Laying up to just short of the bunker leaves you with a wedge from a better angle that should result in roughly a par on average.

30 yards is not that wide for an average golfer. And the trees beside the tee may force/require a cut - if you can't start the ball right enough to play a draw to the right side, that hampers your ability to avoid the bunker.

I'm subtly patting myself on the back from having thought almost exactly this before I saw @iacas's post.

I don't practice that long bunker shot enough to have any sort of confidence in it (does any amateur?). If I'm in that bunker I'm just hitting and praying. But if there's room to miss it right, and the rough isn't too bad, I can feel okay with option 2. With that short of an approach I'm also slightly less worried about not having a good angle at the green.

Ultimately, though, it's not that long of a hole, so if I can go with option 3 and get my drive up near the bunker (but still short of it), I've still got a short iron in my hand.

[Golfingdad]

   

LOL, this is from the current edition of Fore Magazine (SCGA member quarterly magazine)

[Bonvivant]

Laying up to the 144 marker all day. Good angle and no trouble

[biodarwin]

Fairly easy decision for me, I lay up with a 5i and come in from ~125-145.

[Casualgolfer]

Most likely going for the green if I'm driving well. If not then laying up. 

[Golfingdad]

On 5/1/2017 at 6:34 AM, Big C said:

The wind was the difference maker for me yesterday. As @tristanhilton85 can attest, I pulled a 5 iron out of my bag and was prepared to follow through with the layup. 

But as I stood on the tee, I felt a pretty good gust straight downwind and thought that might give me enough of an assist to clear the center bunker. 

So I went back to the cart, traded the 5 iron for my driver, and hit a solid drive. It cleared the bunker and left a 30 yard uphill pitch to the flag. I hit a good pitch to 5 feet, made the putt and walked away with birdie.

 

Played here again yesterday - this is by far my favorite course in the area, it has all kinds of fun decisions like this on several holes - and went with option 1 (bomb a drive at the green) with similar downwind conditions.  Slight toe hook but with good distance - had about 50-60 yards straight up the length of the green. Hit a good partial wedge that rolled out too far on super firm green, but made a long birdie putt.

Two playing partners are long hitters who could drive this green - one yesterday was actually over the back left of the green. 🙂

As long as the wind is helping, I am likely always hitting driver towards the green here.