Shot you remember years later?

[larrybud]

The Club Championship two years ago, I was out of the running, but I had 3 birdies through 17. I hit my approach to the fringe on 18. As I standing over my putt, my partner asked "How many birds do you have?" I said " I have 3....so far." The group started cracking up. He said: "So far? Who's this guy?" I proceeded to hit a 20 foot slider for my 4th birdie of the round. I said "Now I have 4".

 

Moral of the story: If you're going to be cocky/trying to be funny, better hit the damn putt.

 

Playing in a scramble probably 20 years ago with some cowokers. We were invited to an IBM outing every year. Had about a 40 foot putt, and a photographer was out there to take pics of the event. I said "don't put that camera away!". Yes, I drained it. One in a thousand.

 

I have no idea what we shot, I don't even remember what course that was, but I'll never forget that.

[LightBearer]

I don't play in tournaments or championships, but in my second year of playing I really couldn't get past the 95-97 range. I was at DW Field in Brockton, and felt I had a real steady round going, although I never keep track of what I am shooting until the 18th is finished.

On hole 12, I pulled my driver very far left, did not hit it far, and had a thought that this may be where the ship takes a hole in the port side. My ball was muddled in the rough and a leaf riddled area next to the adjacent 13th fairway. I hit a 5 iron dead straight to the right side of the green about 185 yards out, which allowed me to two putt for a par. I continued steadily and finished the round with a 90, by far my lowest score at the time in my golfing infancy.

 

For whatever reason, I can always remember that shot even if it doesn't seem very spectacular now.

[ZenMasterCoop]

I was playing in Cabo a few years ago - I think this was at Club Campestre San Jose. Par-3, about 150yds which is a 7-iron for me.

 

All I heard when I hit the ball was a soft 'click'. Slight draw and ended up 14" from the hole. I've never heard that sound again on any shot I've hit. Could be why I'm a 19HCP. :tongue:

[platgof]

Practicing on a par 3 and hitting beautiful shots with an old McGregor 6 iron blade! The ball flight was amazing with that club.

[RayGorman]

There are a couple over the 40+ years of playing. The earliest are actually TWO shots... in a row. 14 yo playing at either Stumpy Lake or Redwing in Virginia Beach. (odd- remember the shots but not the course)

 

My Dad and I were first off at the crack of dawn at a course we knew nothing about. We arrive at the par 4 "4th" tee and we tee off. I hit a stinker of a worm burner pulled down the left side into the rough. Dad hit his usual fade to the right side. I'm rightly P.O.'d at my miserable luck. I wanted to hit that damn ball into the next county. Probably had 240/250 to the green and pulled out my Driver to smash the ball as far as I could. This was the days of wooden drivers with smaller heads. (It was a Northwestern "Chi Chi Rodriguez" set)

 

I lined it up and took a mighty swing.. and nailed it. It took off with that rising bullet flight with a slight left to right fade and landed on the front edge and rolled up to what looked pretty close. We get to the green and it was less than a foot from the hole. Made the putt. Oh, did I mention it was also my first birdie...ever?

 

Dad finished up his usual bogey and we look around for the next hole... We see a maintenance guy going by, so we flag him down and ask where is number 5. "5? This is 14 (or something), Y'all took a wrong turn back there"

 

WHAT!???? my first bird and it didn't count!!!! (officially, anyway) We had to find our way back to the "real" #4 and play out from there. Next time around I had an eight (didn't count it, of course. took my original 3)

 

Plenty of other random shots pop into my head once in awhile from various rounds- birdie putt at 18 @ Pebble, hitting the 17th at Sawgrass, NUMEROUS near misses of Aces at different courses, first drive at Bethpage Black after the rebuild- nailed it just past the corner, all kinds of shots.

[golfer07840]

What shots stay in your mind years later? I don't mean a hole in one or the final putt for the tournament win, I mean some random innocuous shot that sticks in your memory long after the ball was eventually lost, the club retired, and the scorecard lost.

 

I'll start, was playing skyview in north jersey and the 8th hole is a monster, long par 4 with an elevated green, my second shot was a 5w and is the only time I've ever held the green (false front and sloped front to back) in many rounds on the course.

 

What random shots, good or bad, stay with you?

 

North Jersey, we speak the same language. If you're familiar with the courses in the area, you'll recognize the hole in my avatar. Anyway, on to your question..

 

Crystal Springs, 12th hole, having an absolutely miserable day (then again, that course seems to do that to a lot of people, but I digress), and I had at least a 55' putt from the back left corner down to the front right corner. And I knew I was picking up after an "8" anyway, so this, my 7th shot, I just said to hell with it and sunk the putt to save double bogey.

[naval2006]

I shot can't forget is at 16 years old. My first sudden death playoff at the scratch bracket against a seasoned player from a neighbouring club. It was a 36 hole strokeplay competition and we shot the same (can't remember the score). On the first playoff hole we were both on the green in two. I was like 30 feet uphill so it was my turn to play. I used to have Wilson 8802 with a brown leather grip and had just started putting like Nick Faldo, which was the fashion at the time. I sank the putt down the middle in front of a lot of people watching us and he missed from closer. I couldn't believe a kid could beat such an experienced golfer. I didn't even know then that most of the times youngsters beat adults at golf.

 

I spent the week like in heaven, even school was fine LOL.

[blaird]

People say I have a weird memory about golf rounds/shots/results...

 

Summer 2001, Old Waverly (where the Women's Am will be played), number 6...It was second round of the state am and I was close to the cut line. Hit t shot way left. Out of rough, hook/uphill lie. Had a tree about 50 yards in front of me. I couldnt really punch it under to the green because theres a pond in front. My dad was walking with me and asked if I was just going to chip out and try and get it up and down from about 100 out. I told him no, Im gonna go thru the tree, the branches arent thick and shouldnt knock it down. He basically called me a moron. Boop, right thru the branches to about 30 feet. Make par. Finish par, bogey, birdie to make the cut on the number. Just one of those goofy shots that works out.

[Lenny7]

I was 16, about 1988, and playing our big jr match play championship and I shot a 78 in the qualifier. After winning my first match 5 and 4, I think, I was matched against the number one seed who shot 68. I was down 2 going into the par 4 15th hole and I basically shanked my tee shot about 50 yards into the levee. I was about 270 out in the rough. I pulled out my driver and and hit the best shot one could hope to hit with a driver out of the rough. Ended up pin high about 30 feet. Made par to stay 2 down. Lost the next hole and match, but man that driver was sweet.

[mozes]

I remember my first Eagle all the way back in 8th Grade.

 

At the time I had never played a full 18 hole round.

Was playing 9 holes at the now closed Waverly Golf Course in Lansing, MI.

It was hole #5 I believe, Playing to probably 450 from the tees i was playing. Blind tee shot to a fairway over a hill where if you caught the slope could roll quite far. Hit that fairway with a solid drive of 260 ish.

Second shot was a 3 wood short right of the green into a depression in the rough that used to be a bunker. Basically just a large crater about 30 yards from the green.

Grabbed my lob wedge that i got for $20 at the pro shop and think i was Phil Mickleson, took a massive swing with lots of grass.

Ball popped up... Landed on the fringe and trickled into the hole for my first ever Eagle.

 

That shot was the one that led to my undying love for the cruel and unusual game.

[rangepro11]

Bethpage Blue on a par 3, was using a 5 iron.

 

I planted the tee at an angle in my haste but the ball was staying up so I didn't care. The hole was backed up so we had the 4some right behind, watching us tee up.

 

So in the middle of my swing, the ball moved and fell towards me (I am a righty) however it was too late to stop. I unconsciously adjusted my swing, hit the ball so pure, about 10 feet from the pin. Everyone went nuts because they saw the ball move. I was just completely dumbfounded.

 

I then 3-putted for a bogey.

[disco111]

There were a few in my 60+ years of playing, but the one that jumps out is the following..........3rd hole at Bethpage Black. back then it was a normal length par 3, around 155 if memory serves. We finish #2 and walk to the 3rd, were there is a group waiting to hit. First 3 guys hit, 2 on the green, one on the fringe. 4th guy drops the ball on the ground (no tee), takes a couple of practice swings and then proceeds to blade a 7 iron. This thing is a screaming bullet, but right at the flag. Everybody says that's going over into the trees. Ball hits and wraps up into the flag, flag whips upwards, throws the ball straight up and damned if it didn't come straight down, into the cup.......Guy goes nuts....first ace he's running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. The other 3 guys can't contain their laughter and asked, what's so funny......they say, he's the tightest guy we know with a buck and now he has to buy for not only us and you guys, but here comes the next group off 2 and they saw the whole thing. All we know is he ain't getting any loans from us............We all had a good laugh at that and the guy that got the ace, suddenly realized what was what and that smile sure turned around real quick. But he sprung for a round and accepted he lost a bundle, but made an ace.

[SmiterOfPv1x]

Playing a casual round, and a shortish par 4 of 345 or so, severe dog leg left about 200-230 yards out. Green is probably 250 tops as the crow flies. I was pretty new to golf back then and didn't have any concept of how to hit anything other than a fade, which could turn into a slice. Anyways I hit a three iron just trying to play it straight out to the end of the straight section of fairway. I catch the ball really good but it starts left and is turning hard left. What? My balls don't fly like that. I will certainly admit that it was not the shot that I was trying to play at any rate. So we head up there. I'm playing with my dad and he hits his second into the green and I'm searching all over for the all but I never looked any closer than about 50 yards short of the green. Im ready to call off the search when my dad gets to the green and asks me what kind of ball I was playing? Yup. There I am sitting on the front side of the green. Of course it's a two tiered green and the pin is in the back so in true Smiter fashion I three putt for par.

 

For years I've told my kids about this shot. So the first time we play this course together which was last summer, of course I try to replicate it. I can now actually make this type of shot instead of it being a total accident. I hit the replication shot perfectly, or so I thought. I ended up pin high but about 25 yards right. Still felt pretty good about it.

 

Edit: took out hole in one story after fully reading OP as my second shot remembered story but will now mention I still play the same irons since he thinks they should be retired (and is probably right, but I'd just buy another set of the same-old pings ). Slap new grips on then each spring and they're good to go!

[fufu]

I have two:

 

My first eagle: 470yds uphill, small green with bunkers up front. To have 200 or less in, you need to carry the ball 250 down the left half/270 down the right half of the fwy. I had 220 in, blind shot from an uphill lie. I hit my 7w to 3feet for eagle.

 

"THE" putt: I was a newbie golfer, terrible at everything but putting. I picked up putting pretty quickly. I played in a scramble that required one player from each flight. I was the D player, i.e the horrible one. Someone in our group hit an approach shot that 12 feet above the flag, which was positioned on a false front. Any putt missed from that position was probably 30 YARDS off the green. I allows putted first so show the better players the line. I hit this putt so softly, you could read: "callaway, callaway, callaway" as the ball slowly trickled down the hill and into the cup. My FIL, a 2 cap said it was the best putt he'd ever seen made.

[LeftDaddy]

I always remember the bad ones, so I have a million of those. But one in particular was a 5 foot putt to win a hole that carried over 5 skins. It was a par 3 where I hit an awful tee shot, then hit a great wedge to get it to 5 feet. I pride myself on scrambling like this, and I wanted this par so badly (and wanted to beat the a-hole I was playing against). I just hit the putt on the wrong line for the speed I intended to play...it was a mental error and a choke job and I am still haunted by that miss. The guy I was playing against said "that boy is a player, but he sure ain't no gamer"...I'll never forget it. (I did beat him that day but STILL...)

 

One good one just to balance it out...par 3 170 yards ALL CARRY over water, pin about 8 paces from the front of the green. This is a tough hole. I had a guest out to my club that day...my club is tough so he was struggling. We get to this hole and have an audience. He proceeds to hit his iron to about 3 feet just short of the hole...great shot. The people watching clapped for him. So now I'm nervous as heck, but I pured my iron on the exact same line and my ball stops just in front of his ball to around 4 feet. I got an even bigger clap. I make the birdie and so does he. Cool experience.

[xoted]

I hit this shot on Saturday. I will remember it forever.

 

I shot a 100 that day, in the pouring rain we had in northern Virginia. I mean we were drenched. My stuff was still drying out yesterday. I'm a very high handicap. In fact, first round I think I kept a real score with penalties and all (helps to only have 1....)

 

It will either be one of the few great shot I've ever had, or it'll be the start of when I stopped sucking at golf (second year really playing.)

 

Teed off into the rough on the right, was behind a cluster of trees that crept out into play. Trees are completely blocking my approach. 200 yards to the green, in a sopping wet rough that made a sucking sound when the ball left.

 

I pull out my 3 hybrid, and casually say to my buddy 'I'm going to hit a fade, I can't hit a fade, but I'll try'

 

I smacked the ball and before it got 1/3 of the way there my buddy yells 'well then what the hell was that?!'

 

Sure enough, went right around the trees and up to the green, left me a 4 foot put for birdie. Didn't make it, walked off with a par.

 

Easily the best shot I've ever made. It was perfect, it was what I was trying to do, I just had zero faith I could pull it off.

[MaydayGSXR]

Par 4, topped one from the tee box and some tall aesthetic grass killed it right after the senior tee box, dug it out with a decent 3w to middle of fairway, holed out with lob wedge from about 70 yards for the hardest /luckiest birdie in my short playing time.. I was so confused to see the ball disappear in the green until gf's fathers face told me it went in.

[deadsolid...shank]

We were playing Wolf on Whistling Straits. I hit my tee shot SOOOO far right that it ended up on the shore of Lake Michigan. The one guy in the fairway went Wolf and there were serious carryovers.

 

As we walked down the fairway I saw my ball on the beach and the waves were gently rolling over it and then back out. It was a perfect lie! I told my caddie we were going to play it and he said he wasn't going to hike down the precarious 75 foot drop from the fairway to the beach. It was 170ish from the center. Got down to the beach, waited until the waves cleared and then hit a 6 iron to 4 feet. Made the putt, won the hole and the guy who went Wolf lost a cr*p load of money.

 

It's still talked about these days in our group of guys...

 

You know, I heard stories of you hanging around, letting the other guys push holes, and then swooping in and winning everything on one hole!!

 

I guess V was telling the truth!

[Clael415]

Standing on the 18th tee at -1. Thinking "don't hit it left, don't hit it left". I hit it left and short sided myself off a hard pan lie with the pin cut about 6ft from the edge. Flopped the 60 and hopped and stopped about 2" from the hole. Tap in for a one under 70. Only round under par to date and that was Feb 2010.

[mallrat]

2 shots....

 

1st - 125 yard par 3, PW that got wrapped up in the flag. Dropped to about 3/4" from the cup. Closest I've come to a hole in 1.

 

2- Pacific Dunes #7, first time I played it, on a VERY windy day. 135 to pin and caddie hands me a 6 iron (175 club for me) look at him, shrug my shoulders and take it. Hit an absolute bullet that stops pin high 6 ft from the flag. Taught me to trust caddies.

 

Most memorable hole now is #4 at Bandon Trails. First time I played it and caddie gave me 3 wood. Stone cold topped it, stepped up to the next shot 3 wood still in hand and smoked it. So now I have about 45 yards left and a pretty easy read so just bump the 3 wood up there to about 18" and tapped in with the 3 wood to go 3 wood, 3 wood, 3 wood, 3 wood for par

[Lijka]

Just screwing around by myself one evening and on one of our par 5's i hit the most satisfying shot. The hole resembles a horseshoe in shape (almost) and my drive was on the right side and i had little in the way of good options to set up an approach. So i pulled my 9 iron and proceeded to hit the most wonderful and actually intentional slice. It seriously probably went 80 yards forward and that many left too. It hugged the fairway perfectly and i guess that was such a satisfying shot it still remember it. I suppose it wasnt too long ago though...

 

Anyways when you cant drive par 4's left and right its those kind of shots that are more memorable i guess.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Two. One was a putt to win the junior golf league in my hometown. Last hole was a par three. I hit to the back, opponent missed green and chipped on. My first putt was woefully short and left me about 15ft away (probably 12', but it felt longer). Opponent got down in two putts for a bogey. I needed to par for a win, and to secure the win in the Junior League for my club. I knew I had to make it. Somehow, and I'll never know how, I managed to sink that putt. It wasn't an easy one either, as it broke about a foot from right to left, but the relief was palpable.

Golf's easier when you put pressure on yourself!

 

The other shot was more recent. A massive, slashing 4w over water to a short par-4 (about 250 direct, slightly more if you don't take it on). Somehow, I not only found the green but pitched a foot from the hole, and finished with a 6ft eagle putt.

I missed the putt, but it didn't really matter, as I had already played my real shot, and the 4w was just a "I wonder if I can reach shot."

Golf's easier when you don't put pressure on yourself!

[Pepperturbo]

Relatively straight 435yd Par 4 with breeze into face, and seriously narrow with a 3' deep trough running along the left side. I mishit driver off the tee ending up in the trough with ball below my feet, downhill lie and 220yd leave to front of green. Hit 2 iron perfect low wind cheater. Landed short of front, bounced up and a 5' birdie putt, which I made. Won the hole too. :beach: Best part of golf is having to create a shot from crap. Dam I love this game.

[ljrad1995]

One of the first times I played golf as a kid (must've been 10-11 or so) we were on a family vacation and played a course called Glen iris. I don't remember where it is but I distinctly remember the name. Now the first 17 holes I have no recollection of, but on the 18Th, a par 5, I hit my second shot into a fairway bunker about 90m away from the green, which must've been 20m uphill, could only see the top of the flag. Being the little tyke that I was, a fairway bunker to an uphill green was nearly impossible for me, so I took a 7 iron and swung as hard as I could. Ball looks like it's on a good line as it lands on the green but we can't see the hole so no biggie, probably on the green somewhere I think.

Get to the hole, and it's in the cup. To this day, I can't remember anything else about that course or that round except that last shot