The toughest shot in golf?

So what in your opinion is the hardest shot in golf?

Mine?

When the ball lands at the front of a bunker on the downslope.

It's happened to me that the ball rolled slowly into the bunker and stoped 3 inches past the front lip. There was no chance of getting a club head down and into the sand in front of the ball without thumping the grass.

I had to bite the bullet and come out sideways.

Care to contribute your headache shots?

The situation you described Ray isn't really a problem.

Your ball is positioned so that you cannot make a normal stroke towards the hole, so therefore you have to come out sideways, which you did.

Bite the bullet and carry on with your game, and try not to put the ball in the bunker again!  Remember, either put you ball onto the green or lay-up short of the bunkers.

My problem shot is probably the same as you mentioned, only my ball would be far enough into the bunker for me to make a swing.

Nothing worse for me than being in a bunker but on a downslope.

Nine times out of ten I would get out, but the ball wouldn't be anywhere near to where I wanted it to be.

Russ

A flop shot on a bare lie?

Ball in a divot

The horrible 2/3 footers, never liked them, never will!

Be careful what you say about 'all in the mind'  you might get some NLP person start contacting you

Hardest shot for me will always be the next one - concentrate or it will bite ya....

The 1st usually!

Hmmm...

Off the tee with a driver, any shot on the fairway, short game around the green, putting.

Any/all of the above at present! 

I can understand your theory on this method, Wayne, but that is making it just mechanical.

100 yards in is judged, not by yardage but  by feel and instinct as to what club to play, what flight is intended and whether or not the ball is to run out or check.

I cannot for the life of me wonder why I should need to know the distance to the exact yard from within that range, in actual fact I am not really interested in the yardage as a be all of end all, at all.

I use four wedges and each have their part to play within my game, but I could just as easy use one wedge for all the distances from zero to 100 yards.

I feel that the secret is to not complicate an easy shot, just to impress.

Sorry to disagree with you two professionals, but learning a set swing for a certain distance will not reproduce the same shot every time for differing reasons, into the wind, following wind and firmness or softness of the receiving green. All of these knock your theory into a cocked hat and only a feel for the distrance will produce the necessary swing weight to apply to the shot.

What do I know though, the game is taught mechanically these days.

Watching the golf channel last night with a pro giving so many contradictions when attempting to say that Nicklaus' swing was perfect yet his dynamics would not be taught today.

 Re from 100yds out, I've got to go with JP on this one (and until you actually hit 20 shots in a row to the exact yard from 100 yds then the need to know the exact distance is beyond me). Lets be honest (Steve C excepted) we're hoping to put it in the hole everytime but the reality is that if we are somewhere near or thereabouts ie 10 yds then it's not a bad shot. All the rest is rhetoric or wishful thinking.

 As for the amatuers comment from Wayne and Steve: absolutely agree but I thought the the thread was about hardest shot not how to avoid a duff shot. That's what the practice pitch is for. My tip: if you're not confident with your high wedges on a particular day then use your 9 iron. 

Steve, I have tried all the techniques that have ever been invented in my lifetime and at one time I considered myself to be very adept in short game ideas. This was how the game was played when I first started.

The difference between us is that I have never needed to know how far it is. 60 yards means nothing to me, I use my eyes and all the other methods of assessing the shot in hand and then play it with the necessary feel that has been inbuilt in my game for over fifty years. I just decide whereabouts on the green I wish to pitch the ball and then proceed to execute the shot I have decided upon.

You are without doubt a very fine player and have very strong views on how everyone else should play the game. My views are just as strong, and though I never turned professional when I had the ability, it does not mean that my method is inferior to yours. You have to make a living at it, I don't.

I am sorry if you feel that I may disrespecting the professional advice, but I have just spent half an hour watching  video from David Ley on the Stack and Tilt method. I was falling asleep as it was a very poor demonstration by the professionals, so had to give up.

Golfers come to you for lessons, paying good money and hopefully you manage to help them. I do the same for free and all the pupils I have ever taken under my wing all made single figure handicaps.

From an old Pro's prospective I have to agree in part to both views.

We only use one Putter for putts from 40ft to 4". We learn to swing it at different lengths and speeds to achieve that, so that is no different to the 3x4 idea. But we also learn to "feel" the putt and work in breaks and slopes.

Teaching the short game can be done in many ways and it is when you know ALL the methods that you are at ease with it.

TheLyth

Here are three views from three era's when a Pro is stood over a shot of 170yds.

MODERN DAY - So its 168yds to the pin.

SLIGHTLY OLDER - So its about 170.

EVEN OLDER - It looks like a 6iron.

TheLyth

Lyth, I am afraid I am in the "It looks like a six iron" bracket, as you knew I would be.

My point about the method advocated by both Wayne, Steve and now yourself is that saying that the length of the swing dictates the distance is, in my honest opinion, not strictly true, because I can play a full swing wedge that will travel any distance I want it to and likewise I can play a half shot the same distances. 

Advocating the same strength of swing with different swing lengths is not the way to go to learn how to judge these very tricky distances.

I go back to the throwing of a ball, it is instinctive and the correct weight is applied without even thinking about it. I use the same philosophy when playing these kind of shots. I just cannot approach this part of the game with mechanical thoughts, Sorry.

Confidence in your ability to execute the shot, is the most important part for a lot of amateurs, how you do it!! is as individual as the person but if your confident and get the result then it works for you and that's all that matters.

Where does that fit with your 3 x 4 then Wayne.

A certain length of swing with the loft of the club is entirely dependant on the weight that is applied. Weight is feel.

You are doing it the right way, Lewis, let the length of backswing be natural and comfortable for the distance you are aiming for. The only way to get consistent.

Wayne, you say that you are not using this method personally and I am glad, because this method is mechanical and will not do what it claims to do.

Your shots are subconcious, which tells me that you instinctively know how far to take the club back for the shot in hand and also the follow through is also used in this way to achieve the trajectory. When these two are added to the amount of weight one puts on the shot, then that is feel.

Have you ever played a high shot with very soft hands? Can you play a ,ow shot in with check? If you can then you will know that other things are coming into the equation, so a rigid lengtjh of swing to achieve a certain distance is absolutely ridiculous, but then, professionals have to make a living through their lessons and in order for their pupils to improve they have simplified, or broken this lesson down into a simple form, which belittles the difficulties faced with these shots.

I could never have told you the length of any hole I was playing in the old days as there were no 150 yard markers and the yardage meant nothing to me anyway.

How many of todays players can play the same shot with different irons, very few. Christy O'Connor Snr impressed me with his ability to hit every club in the bag onto a short hole. That is feel.

I agree with you, Wayne, all I am trying to say is that distance is not solely controlled by the length of backswing, many other factors come into the equation, so it is wrong to accept that method of teaching as gospel. I certainly don't.

Newcomers to the game tend to hit everything flat out as they think that the distance is everything, so when they need to be able conjure up shots that require less forced effort, they are lost.

Obsessiion with yardages is holding back improvement in a lot of players, in my opinion. No one knows exactly how far the shot they are about to play is going to travel, it is just a tool to give a rough idea as to what club to use.

After all, we all see the top pros on TV, pace out from bushes, consult their caddie, discuss what club to take, then change there mind and put the club back for more consultation and then pick the original club and hit it through the green.

This why the players of yesteryear were in a league of their own, they had the ability to look at the target, consider the strength and direction of the wind, the firmness of the greens, then decide on the way they were going to flight the ball to achieve their aim, without even considering what the yardage might be. I know this because this is how I have had to play golf throughout my lifetime.

i think the toughest shot in golf

a bunker shot with leaves all around, for some reason this type of shot keeps haunting me

The toughest shot in golf for me is when you have a delicate chip, maybe 5 yards of carry, and the grass is growing against you. I challenge anyone one to stiff that!

You hit a good shot off the first, Matt, just not long enough, like mine to see the green.

I hope we didn't intimidate you as we like to think we are a friendly bunch.

When you realise that you don't have to make any pars off your current handicap and then play the sensible way that I showed you then you will find that the scores will come to you. You have a pretty sound swing, that is powerful, but your course management leaves a lot to be desired at this moment in time, but I am sure you will soon get that handicap tumbling.

The toughest shot in golf is the one immediately after the phrase "Go on, play through"

I know wehere you are coming from with that, Chris. I hate being called through, I nearly always mess it up.

regarding the 30-40 yard shot to a green,try playing a gap wedge "off one leg" it helps with distance control and usualy sends it a bit higher thus stopping quicker, as you can only realy hit the ball 50 yards or so,swinging any harder makes you lose balance, i find it less risky than a flop 

At the moment for me Im struggling with those 3-4ft putts.......oh and also with those 15ft+ putts !!  however i think the hardest shot overall is the first one off the first tee, this is when everyone is watching just wanting you to mess up, talk about pressure !!!lol