Golf's Most Dreaded Shot

[Libre]

I've been playing most of my life. And not very skillfully I'll admit, but there is one thing I'm very particular about, and that is, how one finishes a hole. A lot of the time, my playing partner or a member of the foursome - or pretty much everyone I've played with - they get the ball close with their chip or first (or second, etc.) putt - let's say to about a foot or two - and then they halfheartedly tap it in the direction of the hole, scoring it as made, whether or not it actually goes in. Then they pick it up and walk off. They concede themselves anything near the hole. And this goes for some very good players, down to Sunday hackers.

I like to hole out. There are rare exceptions but that's my rule - in fact THE rule, even when I'm playing alone. In match play, it's understandable to concede a short putt, but not in stroke play, and not to yourself in any case. And it's understandable to pick up in misery and frustration. I've certainly gotten to the point of picking up (or swatting away) a golf ball, having been unable to stroke it into the hole, despite a multitude of my best efforts. Then the score is ruined in any case, and it has become a practice round. But, not when the putt is meaningful and at the same time, miss-able. Never, then.

I've been irritated when people I'm playing with don't hold themselves to this standard, and I have to card a bogey (which I earned), against their par or bogey (which they didn't). Nobody would dare concede themselves a birdie putt. Not if they want to live to play another hole.

The short putt - the easiest shot to hole - is actually the most dreaded shot in all golf. The proof of that is that so many players are willing to spoil their game, just to avoid it. And that is because although it looks like a pure formality, it's really not that easy. Not at all. The slightest misjudgement is deadly. Add a little break, or ball mark, or wind, and it becomes - well, frightening. What if you fail to sink it - after playing the hole so beautifully to this point? That would negate the beauty of what you've so far created. Where anybody could play a less than perfect fairway wood, everyone expects a half decent player to hole a short putt. So what does it mean if it happens to miss? Meanwhile everyone is looking on - and waiting for you to do something. Anything.

All these thoughts swirl around the mind of the golfer who is facing a putt of a certain hard to define distance, but somewhere between a tap-in and a knee-knocker. The player makes a show of it but doesn't exactly and sincerely putt the ball - no, not to really line it up either and take a stroke, but rather, he backhands it, or sidewinds it, and when it doesn't even touch the hole they've already counted it in because they or anyone could make it - if they took the time to really try but come on, that was in, everyone should know they couldn't miss it - even though they did.

I've seen this played out thousands of times. The object of the game of golf is to hit the ball into the hole. Ask any 5 year old.

click to this article on my web site-> MostDreadedShot

 

[TheTrueReview]

My thoughts? If it's a social round (not tournament / competition) then concede yourself as many putts as you want (if you're "that" type of person). But don't dare bother claiming a score for your round and bragging about any number in the bar afterwards. Bullsh*tter. The reality is => you didn't make any score from the time you picked a ball up without putting out.

 

[PaPaD]

In casual rounds, I only pick up a putt that a playing partner concedes. I don't concede my own. In competitive rounds (the 6 months I live in Florida is all league play), we hole out everything. Last but not least, when playing golf with SWMBO, I NEVER hear "that's good".

I do have one partner who, when playing with one other group, they pick up every putt inside the whole length of their putter! It is a little irritating to hear him tell me he shot 82 when I know he picked up a LOT of putts that I've seen him miss.

 

[TEA Time]

Screw putting, I just hole it from the tee box.

 

[Fairwaysplitter3320]

Screw putting, I just hole it from the tee box.

^^^this

 

[warbirdlover]

I like this thread. It's an issue for sure. When I'm alone or with "preferred" partners we always play the close putts. When I'm playing with the many of the groups they concede anything close sometimes even tapping your ball back to you. Well, if that's how they play I'm not going to be get beat by these guys doing that. Everyone in the club knows who putts out and who plays this game with make believe scores. They want to feel good about a round so this is how they do it. I don't care. Let them enjoy the game before they die.

 

[limpalong]

I like this thread. It's an issue for sure. When I'm alone or with "preferred" partners we always play the close putts. When I'm playing with the many of the groups they concede anything close sometimes even tapping your ball back to you. Well, if that's how they play I'm not going to be get beat by these guys doing that. Everyone in the club knows who putts out and who plays this game with make believe scores. They want to feel good about a round so this is how they do it. I don't care. Let them enjoy the game before they die.

The 77 year old in our group is this way. Says he played for some pretty large money and by strict USGA rules in past years. Now, he just wants to enjoy however many rounds he has left... and will take liberties with the rules to experience that enjoyment.

 

[warbirdlover]

Now we should talk about why me miss those putts. I think we're afraid if we rap it hard enough to take out that nasty break we'll go way past. Then we play that break and it isn't there. That's me. What say the rest of you?

 

[limpalong]

Now we should talk about why me miss those putts. I think we're afraid if we rap it hard enough to take out that nasty break we'll go way past. Then we play that break and it isn't there. That's me. What say the rest of you?

I seem to be able to read a long putt easier than the really short ones. Don't know why, other than exactly what you just said. I'll either knock it past further than the putt was to begin with... or watch it snake past on the low side because I was afraid to hit it. To me, the short putts are almost totally dependent on speed... the correct speed. Complicating things is the fact that we always have seemed to play very early in the mornings. When we start a round as "dew sweepers" the greens are wet and slow. As the round progresses, the greens dry out and get faster. A short putt on #1 will react entirely different than a short putt on #10. So, in addition to direction, we have to have a feel for a changing speed issue.

 

[mygolfbuddyph]

Now we should talk about why me miss those putts. I think we're afraid if we rap it hard enough to take out that nasty break we'll go way past. Then we play that break and it isn't there. That's me. What say the rest of you?

3 to 5 ft. is the most crucial part of the game!. Missing one of this game changers will carry all throughout your game. It's hard to imagine a shot off the tee that has the same value as your short putt finishing the hole. Nonetheless, that's the reason why this game is both challenging and rewarding at the same time.

 

[Libre]

I shot a 104 today, and I had a really good round. Don't laugh. I count everything and it was a totally legit 104. Okay I had to take a drop from a pile of gravel but I took a penalty stroke. Other than that, I never changed/improved the lie, and I putted out on 18 with the same ball that I used to tee off on #1. Hit 17 tee shots out of 18, somewhere on the golf course, not in jail. All except the gravel shot.
Putting was the reason it wasn't a 94. Over and over and over - I'd have any length putt - miss left or right by a miserable fraction of an inch - but i'd go at least 3 feet or more past the hole. Now I'd miss the putt coming back. And once in awhile miss even the next one. 4 putted several times...chipped and 3 putted (just as bad)...missed tiny putts 2 or 3 times.
It seems to me that there must be a way to putt the ball absolutely straight, and if you have a very short putt, and you put a modicum of speed on the ball straight at the hole - 99 times out of 100 it will - or it should go (uh, should have gone) in. But then we start thinking. Hmmmm, it's going to break away from the mountains, 25 miles away. Or all of a sudden you think it breaks a half a ball to the left. And these and other thoughts and uncertainties continue - after you start your backswing.
I tell you, sometimes I think I black out at the moment I'm putting. But only short, almost impossible to miss putts.

 

[limpalong]

I shot a 104 today, and I had a really good round. Don't laugh. I count everything and it was a totally legit 104. Okay I had to take a drop from a pile of gravel but I took a penalty stroke. Other than that, I never changed/improved the lie, and I putted out on 18 with the same ball that I used to tee off on #1. Hit 17 tee shots out of 18, somewhere on the golf course, not in jail. All except the gravel shot.
Putting was the reason it wasn't a 94. Over and over and over - I'd have any length putt - miss left or right by a miserable fraction of an inch - but i'd go at least 3 feet or more past the hole. Now I'd miss the putt coming back. And once in awhile miss even the next one. 4 putted several times...chipped and 3 putted (just as bad)...missed tiny putts 2 or 3 times.
It seems to me that there must be a way to putt the ball absolutely straight, and if you have a very short putt, and you put a modicum of speed on the ball straight at the hole - 99 times out of 100 it will - or it should go (uh, should have gone) in. But then we start thinking. Hmmmm, it's going to break away from the mountains, 25 miles away. Or all of a sudden you think it breaks a half a ball to the left. And these and other thoughts and uncertainties continue - after you start your backswing.
I tell you, sometimes I think I black out at the moment I'm putting. But only short, almost impossible to miss putts.

Good review of your round. Just shows how important the short game is. When I have the bad days on the course, I can almost always look back and say "short game". Seldom are the significant percent of the shots that run up the score from the long game. Sure. They are out there. But, you can recover. Chipping and putting.... Each one of those that misses by a foot or lips out as it kisses the lip of the hole costs a stroke.

 

[PaPaD]

Golf is a bitch. In my quota round yesterday I lost a stroke when I hit the wrong ball on the last hole. Mine was buried in the Bermuda rough beside the green about 3 feet to the left of one of the guys in my group. That stroke was the diff between first place money and tied for first money. I need to mark my golf ball.

 

[Fairwaysplitter3320]

Golf is a bitch. In my quota round yesterday I lost a stroke when I hit the wrong ball on the last hole. Mine was buried in the Bermuda rough beside the green about 3 feet to the left of one of the guys in my group. That stroke was the diff between first place money and tied for first money. I need to mark my golf ball.

That is a shitty way to lose.