We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Making Par (Birdie) the Hard Way

How about a hosel-rocket eagle, does that count?
 
Par 5 opening hole is about 550 yards uphill most of the way. Pushed my tee shot right (OB left) into some tree trouble and followed that up with a high-fade 5 wood that turned a little too much that landed about 50 yards short and right of the green. Bladed my wedge 50 yards over the green. Bladed my come-back wedge 20 yards over the green the other way. Bladed my wedge AGAIN but this time it hit the stick and went in the cup. Yay for par the hard way.
 
ddec said:
Hawkster I had 2 today that you were interesting. Both on par 5's and both times ended up halving the hole in our little match.

First one was on the 2nd hole. Hole started out well, hit a nice drive and layed up with my hybrid. My next shot hit the middle of the green and took a little slop that left me 25-30 feet away for birdie. I know it's not interesting enough yet to be considered the hard way right? Well I thought so too, so I decided to hit my putt as hard as I could and blew it off the green, which was 15-18 feet past the hole. So with the ball off the green, in the middle of the fringe, I drained the come backer for a nice 5.

This next one was on I think the 16th. Similar start to the hole, ok drive and a layup to the middle of the fairway that left me 145 to the pin. The wind was blowing in a times and then would seemingly stop. Decided to take 1 more club but wasn't really sold on that decision. Ended up pushing the shot out to the right, it hit the cart path and shot directly to the right, towards the tall weeds. We get up to the ball and it's just past where the weeds are, but it's sitting in a trench that looks like it's used for the utility carts. To make things better, I'm short sided and there is a tree about halfway to the green that prevents me from going high. Take a GW and hit it in to the side hill rough, the ball jumps up and forward and rolls out to 6 feet. Was able to walk up and make a little breaker to save my 5.
Click to expand...

That's my kind of golf right there. Well played.
 
I had a great one yesterday, the longest par 4 on our course, 443 yard, and yesterday played direct into the wind. I hit a pretty good drive, pulled it a bit though and it clipped a small limb, it kicked to the middle of the fairway, but I was about 210 out, I was coming down the round feeling good and wanted to finish strong, so I pulled my 5 iron thinking I just wanted to get it close to the green, I totally duffed it and left myself with like 100 in, now I'm steaming because I'm looking at an up and down to make par and knowing I'm probably walking away with bogey. I stick my wedge to the left of the pin about 12 feet and it rolls to about 10. It's a long huge left to right breaker and I drain it for par. I think it was the longest putt I made all day and I felt great.

It's not the hardest working par, but for my round and head it was huge!!!
 
I played a new course and faced a dog leg right (perfect for my power fade) with water before a wide but not very deep green. I power fade turned out to be a push slice which went into the hole next door's fairway. I had a shot facing tall trees and 170 yards to the hole. I could have tried punching through to the fair way but even that was risky so I took a 6i which started out left heading towards the water, but it nicked a branch which corrected the flight towards the green. I was short of the green, chipped on to 5 feet and made par.
 
Didn't play very well yesterday. Shot 80 which was only because I was getting up and down like no other.... But two highlights were on 16 and 18 when I pulled out my 60 degree wedge for chips. On 16 I hit a bad drive and had to punch up near the green. Was about 30 yards out and decided I'd use the 60 (which is SUPER RARE for me on anything other than a high lob). Swung back, landed 6 feet short of the pin and rolled right in the cup for birdie. On 18 I again hit a poor drive and had to hit a low 4 iron from 190....I was left of the green by about 15 yards and decided to try the 60 again since I had had success with it.... what do you know? I knocked it in again! Needless to say, that 60 degree wedge is going to be used a lot more often now...at least until I decide it was a fluke.
 
I had one a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of THPers. Drive into the woods, nutted 9i back into the fairway, wedge to the side of the green & chipped. The only good things about that hole were the chip in and the fact I didn't embarass myself with my putter again.
 
ArmyGolf said:
Par 5 opening hole is about 550 yards uphill most of the way. Pushed my tee shot right (OB left) into some tree trouble and followed that up with a high-fade 5 wood that turned a little too much that landed about 50 yards short and right of the green. Bladed my wedge 50 yards over the green. Bladed my come-back wedge 20 yards over the green the other way. Bladed my wedge AGAIN but this time it hit the stick and went in the cup. Yay for par the hard way.
Click to expand...

Consistency matters...and I consider 3 bladed wedges consistent! :)
 
Had a hole last night that I certainly made par the hard way. Long, narrow par 4, playing from the back of the back teebox it plays 460 yards. Which is really long for me and a reason why this hole is always a hangup for me on this course. Anyway. I took driver off the tee and hit it left, although it didn't just go left, it ricocheted off on of the many trees and kicked even further left. So I found myself here.

Middle of the fairway on #16, a good 100 yards off target. So from here I took out a 7 iron and decided to just get the ball back in play on the correct hole. You can kind of see the 150 marker on the right side of the screen, that is where I tried to go.
20140501_182921_zpskyexxtkn.jpg



Success! We are back in play, just a little behind the 150 marker. The pin is in the back of the green, lasered it at 167. Decided to hit a 6 iron.
20140501_183139_zpsyp11yki2.jpg



Shot of the day indeed for me. And I rolled that in for par.
20140501_183245_zpstz2e6jsk.jpg


This is a hole that frustrates the heck out of me. However last night, with probably my worst drive ever on it, I managed to make a par. Here is what it would have looked like from above.

parsave12_zps47d7d325.png
 
12th hole last night. Par 4 playing 358 uphill into the wind. I decided to hit 3w off the tee and hit it really thin barely across the water in front of the tee box. It rolled 3/4 of the way up the hill where the ladies tees are. Now I am 260 from the middle of the green, with a side-hill lie and the ball about chest high. I decided to take a 1/2 swing punch shot with my hybrid; and of course the ball skyrockets high into the wind, takes a dead left, and comes down in the fescue 110 yards from the pin. I pulled an extra club (PW) for no other reason than the ball was sitting up a little and I expected to hit it high into the wind. I couldn't see the pin, so I took basically a controlled blind swing focusing on contact. I hit the ball to about 6 feet and rolled in the par putt.
 
That course needs a good bulldozer and a truck full of gasoline.
 
3 bad shots and one brilliant shot still make par
 
A few months ago, playing the 450 yard par 4 ninth at Mountain View. Hit a great drive that left me about 200 to the hole. Proceeded to hit my second shot off the toe and into the adjacent fairway. Ugh. So now 175 and over some trees. 4-hybrid over the tree, drop like a stone, kicked off a bump to the right of the green and rolled to within 3'. Hardest hole on the course, my only par that day, and I picture the flight on that third shot whenever I'm looking for a happy thought before a long iron.
 
I have one par 3 at my course that found me make some very improbable par saves last year. Punching out from under trees from a bare lie and running it up to kick in range happened on more than one occaision.

One of the craziest birdies that I've witnessed happened in a 2 man scramble at my home course this past weekend. The hole is a dogleg left and the green is tucked back to the left and protected by big pine trees and a low area on left side. My friends both pull shots into the trees and have to play their third shot from the low area back up the hill to a narrow green around 30 - 40 yards away. This area has a lot of pine straw and soft lies that generally result in shots getting caught a little heavy and left short of the green.
My buddy steps up first and of course hits it fat, leaving his ball short of the green and on the side of the slope. With the pressure on, his playing partner then hits a line drive over the green. Then lady luck steps in and the ball smacks the flag stick near the top and the ball drops to within 2' for a kick in bird.
 
Drive to water - drop - skull to greenside bunker where the ball lips out after going round the edge almost half round, just like from the hole sometimes; ball ends up two feet from the flag - make.

Hard way to a bogie: Almost chip in for birdie, ball half an inch from the cup. Two putt.
 
While playing in Palm Springs earlier this year I hooked a drive left into a lake on a short par 5. White stakes of course. I re-tee and blast one up the left side leaving about 190 into the green. I then hit a flush 4 hybo to about 4 feet and sank the putt for par.

I was happy.
 
I top a drive in singles at #theking thinned a seven iron then flushed an 8 iron from 169 for birdie.
 
I didn't manage to save par but I saved a potential high score on the card with this one

Par 4, 350yds or so but it doglegs 90 degrees left and you have to be able to carry the ball around 260yds if you want to cut the corner as it is all OOB along the left side of this hole. I hit a bad tee shot that I pulled left into the OOB so tee up a second ball and put it in the ideal position at the corner leaving myself around 100yds to the green. Took my SW and put the ball straight on line with the flag to leave myself with a 4ft putt which I sunk to make the bogey - which was quite frustrating to know that if I had put my original tee shot in that position it would have been a birdie


Another day and a different course, I managed to make a par without going anywhere near the fairway - sliced my tee shot into the rough on the right but left myself with a gap through the trees to be able to see the green, hit my second shot but clipped a tree branch which ended up deflecting the ball across to the left rough. I wander over to that side of the fairway, take out my PW and hit a perfect shot that landed so close to the pin my playing partners told me not to bother with my putter as it finished no more than a couple inches from the hole which they gave me for my par
 
TheDoctor said:
Another day and a different course, I managed to make a par without going anywhere near the fairway...
Click to expand...
+1: Drive to bunker, from there to another bunker, from there to greenside bunker, from there to green, two putt par.
 
par the hard way at my home course: I'm a single, grouped with a twosome I've never met before. The 1st is 340 yards from the member tees. They both tee off, decent shots about 250 and in the fairway. I stepped up and blasted one way past theirs, still in the fairway, leaving about 30 yards in. They're both like "wow, helluva drive!" I'm feelin good. They both hit their approach shots just off the green but not bad. I get to my ball and I notice that the cup is set towards the back right, a very forgiving placement on this hole. Great chance to get this one close and start off with a birdie. The green is short enough on this side that I decide to go aerial and drop it in close. Pull my 58 and proceed to hit it so chunky that it goes maybe 30 *feet*. ok, no problem... first hole jitters playing with new people, right. 20 yards now. let's bump this one up to the edge of the fringe and let it roll to the cup. Overshoot that edge by 3 feet and it ends up rolling off the back of the green. *sigh* Next shot is about 15 feet to the cup, all downhill. gave it a little tap with the PW and it lands perfectly, rolling right in for par. Somehow from 30 yards out, I took 3 strokes to finish with a zero-putt par.
 
This was at Torres Blancas in Green Valley, AZ. Both sides of the fairway were lined with trees. Push-faded my drive about 2 feet from the OB line and directly behind a tree. This tree has two gaps to play out of. I took a half swing to punch out with a 4i under a low branch, but didn't hear or see anything, although it felt pretty solid. Turns out my ball ends up 30 yards from the pin. Then, of course, I hit my pitch shot fat - no, obese - and then I end up sinking an uphill, 25 footer for par.
 
Back in the day, wooden woods / balls not as hot etc... so these distances won't translate today. This is my first course as I first took up golf right after joining the USAF so I've played this 385 yard par 4 probably 100s of times. This hole often required me to cut my approach (usually a 2i or 4w) around a scraggly old pine if I was anywhere right of center off the tee. On this one particular occasion I crushed a 4w but pushed it a little and might have also over cut it because it ticked a limb and screamed almost straight right toward a chain link fence and parking lot (obviously OB) that I really never knew existed it was so far from the course. My ball clears the fence and ricochets just back in bounds off one of those curb type things you pull your wheels up to in a lot. The kick was good too because it came back over the fence about 35 yards further up the hole. So I'm way over to the right hitting 3, have zero idea how far the green is because there are some trees in between so I pull what I know will clear those trees (6i) and hit a nice shot toward my best guess as to where the normal back edge of the green is so as to avoid bunkers guarding front. I came up about 15 yards short of the green but had a nice open chip and holed it for a par. I think I used up most of my golf luck on that hole way back in the day and the golf gods have been getting even ever since:beat-up:.
 
I love reading these stories. Reminds me to study my cards and not just the aggregate numbers.

I've had rounds at or just below my handicap where I felt I had little control, a lot of luck, and was close to blow up holes at every turn.

And I've had rounds at higher numbers that I was extremely proud of and where I was playing some of my best golf for long stretches.

That's part of the horrible beauty of this game.
 
Last weekend, very windy, 165 yard par 3 all carry over water. Dumped the 6 iron tee shot in the lake.
Went to drop zone that is about 75 yards out, and jarred the knockdown 56* wedge for par.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top