Question:
1. Long-drive contest. Most require drives to be "in the fairway" to count in the judging. It’s nonsensical in the context of a long drive contest to DQ a drive for being hit THROUGH the fairway.
A long drive competition should only be held on a straight hole that is long enough that no one, barring a slight miracle, can drive beyond the fairway. It would be pretty dumb to have a long drive contest where you normally would not use a driver. 2. Keeping your own stats for game improvement. Do you want this drive to be an indicator that you need more work on your driving?
A couple thoughts on this. 1) If you topped the ball so it didn’t make it to the start of the fairway, how would you judge that? 2) I too keep track of fairways hit, but I am more interested in whether I hit the ball on/off target and short/far. I use an arrow in the upper left corner of the box in the score card to indicate general direction. Up indicates a longer than average drive, down indicates shorter than average. I use a dot to indicate an average straight drive. The only thing the ‘fairway’ tells me is that I probably had a good lie on my approach shot. NCR Corporation Global Partner Labs 17095 Via del Campo ms 9853 San Diego, CA 92127 (619) 485-2052 VoicePlus 440-2052 Morning would be fine if only it would come later in the day. I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT
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Surely there’s got to be a way to play such a shot more effectively? I thought about trying the "ricochet" but an inch and a half ain’t much room to work with, and I could easily see a double — or triple! — hit. Perhaps if I dropped a putter in the "gap", straight down, using my left hand against the tree trunk as a "guide?" Is that legal?
I play a local course that has a stone fence along the right side of a green. Right shots can wind up very close to the fence. I use a method of hitting lateral shots that a very good glofing buddy of mine taught me. With this method I can hit a shot approx: 70 deg. left of the direction I am swinging. With my 60deg wedge, I align parallel to the obstacle, as open as I can, with the ball very forward. Next I shut the club face down, turning it over so that the face has only about 20deg of loft but is incredibly shut. A short swing, hands low, down the fence line, turning the hands over rapidly, hits a low pitch just past my front leg. With a little practice distance can be controlled.
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I was playing a par 4 that had the fairway stop about 20 yds in front of the green. I hit a drive right downt he middle and it rolled about 5 yds through the end. Is this considered a drive in the fairway ??? By analogy, a pilot touches the wheels of his aircraft down on the runway but is not able to stop the aircraft until he has run through the cyclone fence and the road that bound the airport perimeter? Did the pilot make a good landing? I’m kind of bored – Tom Cute, but not to the point, IMHO. The original question only makes sense if it MATTERS whether the drive is "considered" in the fairway. For the two cases I can come up with where it matters, it SHOULD be considered in the fairway for the result to be sensible: 1. Long-drive contest. Most require drives to be "in the fairway" to count in the judging. It’s nonsensical in the context of a long drive contest to DQ a drive for being hit THROUGH the fairway. 2. Keeping your own stats for game improvement. Do you want this drive to be an indicator that you need more work on your driving? Probably not. Cheers! Dave*
* * The same thing happened to a friend while we were playing in Atlantic Beach NC. He was denied the prize. I stated to the organizers that it would probably be advisable to use another hole fpr the long drive contest in the future. I was told that the "committee" chose the hole by drawing. It seems a couple of the "committee" members wanted their favorite hole to be the one used. I just shook my head and grinned. While the ruling was technically correct, the best drive did NOT win the prize. D. Baker
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I was playing a par 4 that had the fairway stop about 20 yds in front of the green. I hit a drive right downt he middle and it rolled about 5 yds through the end. Is this considered a drive in the fairway ??? By analogy, a pilot touches the wheels of his aircraft down on the runway but is not able to stop the aircraft until he has run through the cyclone fence and the road that bound the airport perimeter? Did the pilot make a good landing? I’m kind of bored – Tom Cute, but not to the point, IMHO. The original question only makes sense if it MATTERS whether the drive is "considered" in the fairway. For the two cases I can come up with where it matters, it SHOULD be considered in the fairway for the result to be sensible: 1. Long-drive contest. Most require drives to be "in the fairway" to count in the judging. It’s nonsensical in the context of a long drive contest to DQ a drive for being hit THROUGH the fairway. 2. Keeping your own stats for game improvement. Do you want this drive to be an indicator that you need more work on your driving? Probably not. Cheers!
Last year (I think) at the Long drive contest during the Celebrity Golf Tourney in Lake Tahoe, John Elway hit a drive 375+. It went through the green onto the fringe behind the green. It counted. He won Someone at your contest needs to rewrite the rules and be realistic.
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The same thing happened to a friend while we were playing in Atlantic Beach NC. He was denied the prize. I stated to the organizers that it would probably be advisable to use another hole fpr the long drive contest in the future. I was told that the "committee" chose the hole by drawing. It seems a couple of the "committee" members wanted their favorite hole to be the one used. I just shook my head and grinned. While the ruling was technically correct, the best drive did NOT win the prize. D. Baker
That’s kind of surprising. Was the hole a dogleg? How long was the hole? the fairway?
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1. Long-drive contest. Most require drives to be "in the fairway" to count in the judging. It’s nonsensical in the context of a long drive contest to DQ a drive for being hit THROUGH the fairway. 2. Keeping your own stats for game improvement. Do you want this drive to be an indicator that you need more work on your driving? Probably not. Cheers! Dave* * *
I ran across this same thing in my company tournament. We were using an Executive course, so finding a hole long enough was a challenge, but they settled on the 330 yd par 4 18th. This was perfect because everybody who had finished was on the deck of the clubhouse watching and we were the last group through. The guy I’m playing partners with (he’s 5′8" built like a fireplug) pulls out a TM Midsize 9.5 and puts the ball straight down the middle 3 feet off of the fringe. Unfortunately, this was not fairway cut grass and they ruled that its was not a drive because it was not on the fairway. Its a shame too, he out drove the best drive by over 50 yards!
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I was playing a par 4 that had the fairway stop about 20 yds in front of the green. I hit a drive right downt he middle and it rolled about 5 yds through the end. Is this considered a drive in the fairway ???
By analogy, a pilot touches the wheels of his aircraft down on the runway but is not able to stop the aircraft until he has run through the cyclone fence and the road that bound the airport perimeter? Did the pilot make a good landing? I’m kind of bored – Tom
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I was playing a par 4 that had the fairway stop about 20 yds in front of the green. I hit a drive right downt he middle and it rolled about 5 yds through the end. Is this considered a drive in the fairway ??? By analogy, a pilot touches the wheels of his aircraft down on the runway but is not able to stop the aircraft until he has run through the cyclone fence and the road that bound the airport perimeter? Did the pilot make a good landing? I’m kind of bored – Tom
Cute, but not to the point, IMHO. The original question only makes sense if it MATTERS whether the drive is "considered" in the fairway. For the two cases I can come up with where it matters, it SHOULD be considered in the fairway for the result to be sensible: 1. Long-drive contest. Most require drives to be "in the fairway" to count in the judging. It’s nonsensical in the context of a long drive contest to DQ a drive for being hit THROUGH the fairway. 2. Keeping your own stats for game improvement. Do you want this drive to be an indicator that you need more work on your driving? Probably not. Cheers! Dave
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I was playing a par 4 that had the fairway stop about 20 yds in front of the green. I hit a drive right downt he middle and it rolled about 5 yds through the end. Is this considered a drive in the fairway ???
Your lie for your second shot wasn’t in the short grass, was it? Jeff Rogers Fins Up! http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrogers/ "Real Life? I’ve played that game. The plot stinks but the graphics are awesome."
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I was playing a par 4 that had the fairway stop about 20 yds in front of the green. I hit a drive right downt he middle and it rolled about 5 yds through the end. Is this considered a drive in the fairway ???
Apparently not. Two years ago in the annual company tourney, we used just such a hole for the longest drive competition. I "over-drove" the fairway, so to speak. The marshal ruled that since my drive hadn’t landed on the regulation fairway, the drive was disqualified as being the longest. It was quite frustrating. How do you argue with literal translations? I refuse to hit it any shorter to satisfy the rules ;- It seems to go against the idea of what the longest drive was all about. Brian
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I was playing a par 4 that had the fairway stop about 20 yds in front of the green. I hit a drive right downt he middle and it rolled about 5 yds through the end. Is this considered a drive in the fairway ???
Response:
: : I found my ball approximately 1.5" away from the center of the : trunk of a tree, maybe 10 yards away from the green, with a : clear line between the green and ball. : : …. : <more snipping : It is always tempting to try to find a way to hit a shot like that, but it isn’t : always worth the risk. Taking an unplayable lie, which will cost you only one : penalty stroke, is often the best way to go. : In your situation, you could have taken an unplayable lie, then pitched it onto : the green for your next shot, costing you two strokes in all. Now if you consider : trying to play the shot, it is only worth the risk if you think you can manufacture : some type of shot that will put you on the green in one. In many cases, not likely. : So even if you do find a way to hit it away from the tree, you haven’t saved : anything by playing it. And the potential is there to do a hell of a lot worse — whiffing, <snip I couldn’t agree more. One of the mental changes I have made in my game has been to avoid trying to make the ‘miracle’ shots (although they can be a lot of fun!). What I have started doing, though, is that when I am in a potential unplayable/miracle shot situation, I figure out my best unplayable relief and then my only decision is whether I can realistically do better than *that spot* with my attempt at a miracle shot. By focussing on beating that drop, I often realize that the drop is my best option, but even if I try the shot, toning down my expectations of a miracle shot three inches away from the pin keeps me from whiffing, double hiting pretty often. I think that this falls into the ‘gameplan’ section of my mental game and I have avoided a number of blow up holes by either taking the drop or maiing a more coservative shot out of trouble. –Rob Pyle
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I found my ball approximately 1.5" away from the center of the trunk of a tree, maybe 10 yards away from the green, with a clear line between the green and ball. I couldn’t hit it from either side of the tree, eg, no "left-handed putter" technique, so I settled for holding a SW horizontally, and chopping down, in the small gap between the tree and ball. It squirted out weakly, far short of the green, where I proceeded to chip and 2-putt for a f*cking double. Surely there’s got to be a way to play such a shot more effectively?
Declare your ball unplayable, pick it up and take a drop (1 stroke). Sometimes you have to bite the bullet.
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(Kevin — I enjoy reading what you have to say, but I’m having trouble quoting your replies, because of line-length). : your situation, you could have taken an unplayable lie,then pitched it onto : the green for your next shot, costing you two strokes in all. : Now if you consider trying to play the shot, it is only worth the risk : if you think you can manufacture some type of shot that will put you : on the green in one. In many cases, not likely. I agree, and would most likely have taken the stroke and drop, had, as I said, the surrounding area not been so nasty. I could easily see dropping and having the ball come to rest on a rock, right up against a tree root. 
: To me, making a poor decision like this is a lot more maddening : than hitting a bad shot. Amen. There is *nothing* that makes me more angry than a "mental error." At any rate, this certainly isn’t a shot I plan on practicing, but I wanted to make sure there wasn’t some unique way of hitting it, that I had overlooked.
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[snips included] I couldn’t hit it from either side of the tree, eg, no "left-handed putter" Surely there’s got to be a way to play such a shot more effectively?
Just saw one on a Raymond Floyd video called "Cuttin’ Strokes", which I rented at Blockbuster last night and I am eager to try it on the range. You could use your wedge. Stand with your back to the green and the wedge in just your right hand with the face of the blade facing the green. Raymond’s hand was nearer to the blade end of the grip than the "top end" of the grip. I could not tell what amount of pressure he was using (if any) to press the shaft against his forearm. He used a short sweeping stroke and hit the ball over a curbed cart path and onto the green. Cheers, Mike — Mike Marler Information Technology, Georgia Tech
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -I found my ball approximately 1.5" away from the center of the trunk of a tree, maybe 10 yards away from the green, with a clear line between the green and ball. …. I couldn’t hit it from either side of the tree, eg, no "left-handed putter" technique, so I settled for holding a SW horizontally, and chopping down, in the small gap between the tree and ball. It squirted out weakly, far short of the green, where I proceeded to chip and 2-putt for a f*cking double. Surely there’s got to be a way to play such a shot more effectively? I thought about trying the "ricochet" but an inch and a half ain’t much room to work with, and I could easily see a double — or triple! — hit.
It is always tempting to try to find a way to hit a shot like that, but it isn’t always worth the risk. Taking an unplayable lie, which will cost you only one penalty stroke, is often the best way to go. In your situation, you could have taken an unplayable lie, then pitched it onto the green for your next shot, costing you two strokes in all. Now if you consider trying to play the shot, it is only worth the risk if you think you can manufacture some type of shot that will put you on the green in one. In many cases, not likely. So even if you do find a way to hit it away from the tree, you haven’t saved anything by playing it. And the potential is there to do a hell of a lot worse — whiffing, double hitting, having the ball strike you, or hitting it into other trouble — than you would do if you took the unplayable. Sometimes you have to take your lumps. In your case, with your ball against the tree, you have to figure that getting the ball onto the green in two strokes is about the best you can expect. Don’t give yourself a chance to take more. I remember a competitive round I played where I hit my ball into some deep rough with small plant behind the ball. Not wanting to "waste" a stroke on an unplayable lie, I decided to hit it, or should I say, try to hit it. Two whiffs later I was convinced that I couldn’t get the club on the ball, and I had to take the unplayable anyway, but I had already tossed away another two strokes in the process. To me, making a poor decision like this is a lot more maddening than hitting a bad shot. Kevin
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I found my ball approximately 1.5" away from the center of the trunk of a tree, maybe 10 yards away from the green, with a clear line between the green and ball. … I couldn’t hit it from either side of the tree, eg, no "left-handed putter" technique, so I settled for holding a SW horizontally, and chopping down, in the small gap between the tree and ball. It squirted out weakly, far short of the green, where I proceeded to chip and 2-putt for a f*cking double. Surely there’s got to be a way to play such a shot more effectively? I thought about trying the "ricochet" but an inch and a half ain’t much room to work with, and I could easily see a double — or triple! — hit.
I’ve faced this situation a few times and generally played the shot you attempted (hit down with some flavor of wedge and try to squirt the ball towards the green). I’ve had mixed results as well, but recall at least one miracle save accomplished this way, so I keep trying it. As you said, almost any other approach risks a double hit. Perhaps the real escape artists out there just practice the shot enough to get good at it. On a related topic, I’ve occasionally considered carrying a left handed iron to escape from impossible shots. I have hit and even practiced hitting a left-handed shot with a reversed iron, but the results aren’t all that good and it sometimes even produces a double hit or a whiff. I’d think that anyone whose job was golf (i.e. a pro), could practice a left handed shot enough to hit one well enough that it could be trusted as a "normal" club, and I wonder whether any touring pros carry a left handed club for this purpose and if so why not? Maybe they just don’t get stuck next to trees, ponds, fences, etc. as often as I do -:) — Warren Montgomery Lucent Technologies, formerly AT&T’s systems and technology business
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I’m just curious – last weekend, when I was playing, on one hole, my approach bounced off the side of the green and rolled into a stand of trees near the green. I found my ball approximately 1.5" away from the center of the trunk of a tree, maybe 10 yards away from the green, with a clear line between the green and ball.
I had almost the same situation happen to me last week. I took my lob wedge, and opened the face up a lot. I played it left handed, and tried to dig the ball out with the toe of the wedge. It worked fairly well, it landed short, and rolled onto the fringe from 10-15 yards away.
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I’m just curious – last weekend, when I was playing, on one hole, my approach bounced off the side of the green and rolled into a stand of trees near the green. I found my ball approximately 1.5" away from the center of the trunk of a tree, maybe 10 yards away from the green, with a clear line between the green and ball. Since the surrounding area was a nasty sort of "hard-pan" with roots, rocks, and other trees, I didn’t see much point in taking a stroke and a drop, so I decided to play it where it was. I couldn’t hit it from either side of the tree, eg, no "left-handed putter" technique, so I settled for holding a SW horizontally, and chopping down, in the small gap between the tree and ball. It squirted out weakly, far short of the green, where I proceeded to chip and 2-putt for a f*cking double. Surely there’s got to be a way to play such a shot more effectively? I thought about trying the "ricochet" but an inch and a half ain’t much room to work with, and I could easily see a double — or triple! — hit. Perhaps if I dropped a putter in the "gap", straight down, using my left hand against the tree trunk as a "guide?" Is that legal?