The Golf Shots You Never Forget

Within even the worst rounds, it's often said that there will always be a shot that will encourage you to return for another day in the hope that next time you will produce even more of them. 

That's the tantalising beauty of golf, it makes dreamers of us all, but often those fantasies do come true. We can all relate to tales of the career, lifetime shot, that moment of perfection that will remain at the forefront of your mind forever. 

Was it that magical hole-in-one, the unexpected eagle, or a holed bunker shot that would have even impressed the legendary Seve Ballesteros.

Spreading word out to the Golfshake Team of Staff & Ambassadors, we wanted to hear about The Golf Shots You Never Forget. 

From this year - and playing two exceptional courses - Robert Cross has a pair of highlights to describe for us.

"The first was at Woodhall Spa on The Bracken Course, think it was the 15th. Long par 4. On the day, it was 40mph winds and heavy rain.

"I had hit a low driver which went about 200 yards! My approach was 180 yards, fully into wind (and rain). Hit my 19 degree hybrid, low and it ended up one inch short of going in! Amazingly we captured it in video!

"The second was the 9th hole at Sunningdale Old. 260 yard par 4. Blind shot, the guys I played with said you need to land it slightly left of the green, over the bunker. Which I managed to execute! The ball was one inch short of a par 4 hole in one! A tap in eagle was a bonus though."

Hard to beat those glorious moments, but fellow Ambassador Kevin Heggie was another who enjoyed a moment of inspiration on the iconic fairways of Sunningdale.

"I'll focus on my best shot (from this year), in a society playing the stunning Sunningdale Old. Up until this point in the round I'd played pretty average, trending terrible. However, we got to the 13th, nearest the pin. I was the first up, not just in our four ball, but the society...and proceeded to stick it to a foot, ruining nearest the pin for 19 other golfers on the process!"

(Sunningdale Old - Site of Kevin's Moment)

With regards to upsetting the odds, Golfshake's Darren Ramowski has a tale from his past to rival Kevin's.

"The best shot I ever hit will long live in my memory.

"Having only just started playing golf way back in the late 90s, I was taking part in a work charity golf event at Morley Hayes in Derbyshire. As is compulsory in charity events, the long drive hole was on the long par 5 13th which plays from a slightly elevated tee with the fairway dropping away. I was in one of the last few groups and saw the long drive marker 250+ yards away. Standing there with my off the shelf non-branded driver in hand, which is now smaller than modern-day 3 woods, I had nothing to lose and 'had a go'. To my surprise, my ball landed just short of the marker, took advantage of the downslope and summer conditions and sailed past just managing to hold on to the fairway. With only two groups left, my playing partners delighted in telling me that I had it.  

"23 years later I can still remember sitting there for the prize presentation to discover one of the remaining groups outdrove me by three yards!  And I've never been close in a long drive competition since."

That prize was taken away from Darren, but they'll never be able to snatch away a pair of aces made by Ambassadors Mel Davies and Richard Moore in the past year. 

Richard describes his unforgettable achievement.

"It was the 15th hole - 8 iron 145 yards over a quarry on Cleeve Hill - the course that nearly closed. One bounce and in it rolled. I was just wanting to clear the quarry so as not to have to play my second off rocks. My playing partner screamed ‘It’s in!’"

(Mel After His Ace!)

When playing at the Home of Golf, you will likely remember every shot, but Golfshake Ambassador Matt Holbrook will never forget this tale from the ancient links.

"The most memorable was actually my second shot on the 1st hole of The Old Course at St Andrews.

"After teeing off and finding the middle of the fairway, I was chatting to my caddie on the way to my ball. I told him I had all my numbers written down in my book and handed it to him and he told me to just trust the club he gives me. 

"I had around 155 yards to the pin. He handed me a club (think it was a 7 iron) and he told me that with the wind into and off the right I needed to hit a full one of these, and he picked a starting point. 

"Having full trust in Lurch (that's what he was known as because he was so tall) I hit the shot he told me to. I then stood and watched as my ball started on the exact line, held up in the wind which brought it round to a gentle stop about 12 feet from the pin. The perfect end to this story would have been a holed putt but being petrified of knocking it 10 feet past the hole, naturally I left it short and made par."

(Matt & 'Lurch' at St Andrews)

Staying in St Andrews, local resident and Golfshake Editor Kieran Clark has a shot that has stuck with him seven years after hitting it. 

"Playing the famous Road Hole into the breeze, my 3-wood (I never hit driver) just about carried onto the fairway, leaving a considerably long approach. Using the same club, I caught it perfectly and the ball shot forward with a low flight under the wind, hitting the ground and continued to run beyond all expectations until it climbed onto the green and finished eight feet short of the hole.

"Remarkably, I had a makeable putt for a birdie on the most fearsome hole in championship golf. Terrified - mostly that I was somehow going to three-putt - I cosied the ball to the edge and made a comfortable four, my second (and to date last) par on the famous 17th.

"Naturally, there was regret that I hadn't struck that first putt more confidently, but to have hit that shot from the deck, into the wind, from about 230 yards to the most awkward of targets, it will be hard to ever better it - and I'm quite content with that."

However, when we think of the The Golf Shots You Never Forget, it's not always great ones that first come to mind.

Golfshake Ambasssador, Rob Treanor said: "It's funny how we always focus on the bad shots but I'll come clean and share the first thing which came to my mind. I was on a golf trip to Portugal where we played a couple of different courses over a long weekend. Always the highlight of the year, we were having a great time on the course and enjoying plenty of cold fizzy refreshments post round.

The morning after quite a few of those cold, fizzy refreshment from the night before, I stood up for a tee shot to get the game underway. Our group plus a few others were amassed around the first tee as I pulled out my trusty 3-wood ready to land a safe one out there on the fairway. During the backswing I forgot the range of movements required to effectively strike a golf ball and to my surprise hacked the ball through between my own legs, to rapturous applause of course. I don't believe this "move" has a name in the same way a shank does, but we named it an inside edge. Haven't seen anyone play it before or since!"

Darren adds: "If I was asked for the worst shot I have ever had, there are many. Topped tee shots, thin air whiffs and the many pointless efforts to get out of bunkers! But the worst I have ever seen was by a talented sportsman I knew who didn't play golf that often but his sports ability got him around the course. 

"Standing on a short par 3 measuring around 95 yards, he hit a horrible thin which scuttled off down the fairway managing to make it to the left side of the bunker and seemingly running off the back. Arriving at the hole, my ball was nicely placed eight feet from the pin but his ball was nowhere to be seen. After spending four minutes checking at the back of the green, he did what we often do and had one check in the hole. It was there! Awful shot, great sportsman, lucky bugger! And to cap it off the clubhouse was shut so a cheap evening for him!"

(Andy Playing TPC Sawgrass)

Finally, Golfshake Ambassador Andy Picken has a story from one of the game's grandest stages that initially went spectacularly wrong.

"Travelled halfway around the world to play at TPC Sawgrass. First tee, cameras and gallery. Spectator seating all in place ready for The Players in five weeks time. Epic slash and knobbed it four foot. It was that bad nobody even laughed. Total silence. I never said a word. Simply walked up and hit a 240 yard hybrid dead straight. So pumped up and furiously angry. Caddie quietly said “nice lay up” and we all dissolved into fits of laughter. Fabulous couple of days and memories."

So, there you have just some Golf Shots We Never Forgot. Good or bad, glorious or tragic, we'd love to hear about the shots that you think about more than any other!

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