What is the best shot you ever hit

[wings02]

As you well know, golf is a game of skill and luck. I would love to hear from members about their "best" or most exciting shot ever hit. Yes, my hole-in-one in May 2023 was my most exciting especially since it was my first one ever and I've been playing golf for over 52 years and presently playing to an 8 handicap. That aside, I just hit what I would have to call my second best shot ever this past Friday. I have some explaining to do because it involves hitting from the "Ladies" tees. I play at Woodfield C.C. in Boca Raton Florida. Our 9th hole is a tricky par 4 playing 362 from the Blue tees (6,200 yards for 18 holes). The green is almost a right turn from the tees when played in the fairway. Most second shots to the green require you to hit over the water which butts up against the green. For SH TS and giggles, I sometimes stop at the ladies tee on that hole and try to hit the green which is around a 240 yard carry. I have attempted  this just a few times (never succesful) and will only consider doing it if we have the time and the wind direction is at my back. This past Friday was the perfect time. I took my Driver, which I extended to 48 inches a few days before just to have some fun, adjusted the loft on my Callaway Paradym Triple diamond to 12 degrees and gave it a whack. Probably the best swing I had thus far that day and the results were very exciting. I hit a nice high shot that carried the water and landed 2 feet from the pin (247yards according to the scorecard) before rolling out to around 15 feet. Yes, of course I missed the putt but really did not take my time with it. Pictures are below. Sorry for the wordy narrative but obviously I was very excited!  Would love to hear from others describing their best shot!

Edited January 22 by wings02

[Ferguson]

Already a thread about this.   

"best shot of your career" 

 

 

[Hawkeye77]

Congrats and sounds exciting and fun!  
 

I consider both my holes in one lucky and they aren’t on my “best shots” list which for me is more about shots that were intentional. Just a different perspective and I’ve related them elsewhere. 

 

Having said that, and meaning no offense whatsoever, the whole narrative about the second shot seemed to have the rhythm and exciting buildup of a classic Penthouse letter (or so I’m told). 🙂 No idea why that entered my mind, but there it is on an early Tuesday morning. 

Edited January 23 by Hawkeye77

[wings02]

Hey Hawkeye, stop thinking about Hotlips Houlihan! Lol

[akronswitness]

After 23 years of golfing I finally got a hole-in-one last August. Par 3, 198 yards, 5 iron. I played on the golf team back in school and I always thought if I stood a chance at getting one, it would have been then. I basically wrote it off after turning 30 and only playing once every few weeks. I just hope to hit the green at this point so I never really thought one was in the cards.

 

I guess what made it my 'best shot' was because of difficulty of the hole. It wasn't a easy par 3 or a 145 yard par 3. It was close to a 200 yard par 3 with bunkers guarding the entire front side so you had to fly it 200 which is hard enough with a long iron. The guy we played with hit a amazing shot pure as hell onto the green before me. I joked 'See easy, all I have to do is that and we're all good--just let me do that.' I tee'd it up, not confident at all and hit it a little thin and left. As it kept flying it began fading back right towards the center of the green but you couldn't see where it landed with all of the bunkers in front. So I had no idea if it was on, if it was long, nothing. Of course we let out one more joke of 'what if thats in the hole'

 

I began helping my friend try to find his ball in the tall grass and our partners on the green shouted that they didn't see it on the green. SOO Im fishing around in the tall grass with my head down and I look up and hear 'Holy **** its in the hole!!' as one of the guys were walking across the green to his ball. I didnt know what to do with myself so just screamed as loud as possible so the entire course heard 😄

 

This was the 5th hole, so naturally between photos/texting friends and family I couldn't focus at for the rest of the round and played horribly. Maybe it was the 2 rounds of shots the staff bought me at the turn lol I will have the image in my head forever of the shot itself because I still remember the ball flight and the fade that it had over the front bunkers vividly. 

 

 

Edited January 30 by akronswitness

[Kansas King]

Torrey Pines, hole 16.

 

My tee shot was short into the bottom left bunker short of the green towards the left. The green was elevated and I couldn't see the landing surface, and I had about 20ish yards I had to carry to get over the two bunkers between the bunker I was in and the green. The pin was tucked back-left on a relatively small peninsula. It was starting to get darker out, so my judgement wasn't perfect, but the weather was. So, I just yolo'd a wedge shot at the pin, and I thought the strike was better than expected as I could see the ball headed on a good line. I climb up the hill to the green and my ball was actually there about seven feet past the pin. I couldn't believe it. 

 

There are a number of good shots I've had in my life, but for whatever reason, this is the one that I always think of first even though it wasn't a hole out.

[brianp123]

Driver off the deck into wind at the 9th (or 18th?) at Sawgrass Country club in a college tournament. Hit it to about 20 feet and 2 putted for birdie

[St Jimmy]

There's this little goat track near my home.  The 17th is a 700 yard par five with crazy sloping hills and about a 25 yard wide landing area the entire length of the hole.  I hit a nice little fade off the tee, but was still slightly blocked off from a direct path towards the green because of overhanging branches.  I tried playing a big draw that turned into a nasty hook.  

 

My second shot ended up just to the left of the 10th tee box, under a tree, in the mulch, with the ball about 20 inches below my feet.  That was hit right into a backlog of groups waiting to start the back nine.

 

180-190 yards in, ball 18-20" below my feet, and a 12+ gallery of drunk weekend warriors.

 

I struck the best shot of my life, somehow drawing off that lie, and ending up 6 feet away from the pin.  

One of the watchers jokingly asked me to sign his hat.

 

It felt pretty good.

 

The first picture is direct line to the hole and the second is approximately where I was after two.

McHenry County golfers are all aware of this hole and it's absurdity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18 by St Jimmy

[Mikey_HACKilroy]

This one sure ranks up there. Part plan, part luck. I mean, what's not part luck in our games. 😄 

I was roughly 170 out and the left side of the green was preferable given the lie I was in; I had a tree threatening a rightward shot, and the green is optimal to land to the left anyways. I was hitting out of some pine-needles so that wasn't optimal either.

 

I struck it pretty well with good flight with a nice peak and carry. It dropped just on the fringe and then continued to roll with the contours of the green as it fed toward the hole. Definitely one of my best in recent memory.

 

[Blaiser]

Was with some friends at the range years ago, and the range picker cart was at the back of the range probably 260-270 out driving across the range. Told my friends "watch this" and I freaking nailed it. Moving target from over 250. Will never hit a better shot in my life.

[david.c.w]

Mine was interesting as it was not a HIO and I did not even make birdie.  

 

Was playing in a member/guest last summer (I was the guest).   My partner and I are a combined 8 index and are in flight 3, so lots of solid golf being played.  I have an approach on a par 5 from 120 or so.  My partner (the member), says something like "See where that guy is standing?  If you land it right there it will feed toward the hole."  I landed it EXACTLY where he was standing.  Partner said if he was still there it would have hit the bill of his cap.  Ball fed down and gave me a 5 ft downhill tickler that I missed.

 

It was a combo of environment, competition, and doing what I wanted that made it great.  We won our flight and lost on the 2nd hole of the shootout.  

[HoosierHacker89]

I made a 4 foot putt once. 

[Kai Slater]

I mentioned this in that other similar thread, but just to summarize....

 

1. I hit a nearly 400 yard drive with a 17* Cleveland Quadpro FairwayWood back in the day. It was a scorching hot day in coastal North Carolina, during a drought-stricken summer.  On this day, fairways were baked-out, to go along with nearly 100* temps.  On a flat, 390 yard, par 4, I swung for the fences.....home-run derby style...and just happened to catch that little fairway wood in the dead-center of the clubface.  I never saw the ball in the air and assumed I hit it OB left.  Well, I hit a provisional, then when I was up near the green, on the fringe, there my ball is sitting there, just a few yards from the cup.  Since I didn't see the ball, I can only assume that I must have had 100 plus yards of roll on that concrete-like, baked out fairway.

 

2.  Par 4 shot at Canyon Ridge(Georgia), fairway wood off the tee to the edge of the fairway that drops off on a cliff.  The distant green is about 225 yards away from me, down that cliff, the flag looking like a distant speck.  I took out a 7 wood, hoped for the best, and watched as my ball sailed off the cliff, through the sky, a couple hundred feet elevation later, my ball lands about 1 foot from the hole.  Krazy!!!

[ctbro1999]

While my time playing on course is pretty limited (only the last couple years really), my best shot to date was on a ~330 yard par 4 with a slight decline to the green. There were some trees on the left side of the fairway maybe 200 yards out, so if you hit your drive low and to the left, very good chance of catching the trees. The hole kinks slightly to the left after the trees, so it's not a 100% straight shot. 

 

I line up my driver and swing away....sounds good, feels good, but I have no idea where my ball went. I ask the random guy I was playing with if he saw it, and he's like "Yeah man, you killed it! Straight down the middle!". I guess I had obliterated my ball clear OVER the trees. We walk towards the green and I find my ball right in the middle of the fairway maybe 30-40 yards away from the hole, so with roll I had boomed my drive nearly 300 yards! Easy par at the worst, right?? Nope. Somehow I chunk my chip to the right into the rough still 15 yards from the hole. Then hit another chip about 10 yards past the hole, and end up 3 putting. So from almost certain par to a triple after a perfect drive. 🤡

Edited April 25 by ctbro1999

[unclefreizo]

Holed out on a steep uphill par 4 at my local municipal.

 

I was a kid. I've holed out plenty of times since then but that was the round with my father and our friends that really gave me the bug.

[SurfDuffer]

Low hook from behind a tree with a 3-iron and made birdie after hitting my tee shot into the trees.

 

 

[teewinot]

Exactly one time in my golfing career.  About 110 out,  ping tour gap wedge in hand.  Nice stroke, land on green ( not close to pin),  spins back about 10 feet. I’ll never forget it.  To this day, have never spun one back again.