The poll in the sidebar asking for your most dreaded shots has been running for a while and as time goes on, I’m getting a much clearer picture of what kinds of golf shots you collectively don’t want to face.

Previously, I covered the tee shot on a tight driving hole, and the long carry over water.  Since then, the tight tee shot was overtaken by the delicate downhill pitch/chip over a bunker with the pin cut close, moving it to second place.

It’s very interesting to me that this shot is in second place behind the long carry over water.  The reason being that the delicate pitch or chip over a bunker downhill to a closely cut pin position is a virtually no-win situation.  The other two are almost completely mental challenges.

I would have expected the no-win situation to be more dreadful, but I suppose the things that cause those kinds of feelings are specific to the individual based on ability, experience, and the like.

If you can forget about the water or the trouble on the hole with OB, woods, water, etc. coming in to play on the tee shot, the shots themselves are completely routine.  If you have the ability to hit the ball to a reasonably sized target and carry it a reasonable distance most of the time, then those shots are psychological barriers.

In fact, in the delicate pitch/chip scenario, the bunker is really a mental challenge, as well.  I just threw that in there to add to the anxiety.  I know that many of us have trouble hitting delicate short game shots.  Some players have real trouble with skulling or chunking pitches and chips.  In that case, the bunker does come into play.  However, if you have a reasonably decent pitching or chipping stroke, the bunker shouldn’t even be a factor.

The real issue is, this shot is very difficult, even for a tour pro.

We need to consider our expectations around the greens.  As you probably know, our objective, when the ball is somewhere around the green, is to get the ball on the green and make the putt to save par.  To do that, we need to get our pitch or chip to stop reasonably close to the hole.  Dave Pelz calls that the “Golden Eight Feet”.  If we can get the ball to stop within 8-10 feet of the pin (or closer, obviously) we give ourselves the best chance to make the putt.  Further out, and the odds are heavily in favor of missing, even for a tour pro.

If you have to pitch the ball to a pin that is cut close to you with a severely downhill slope in the way, then the shot is nearly impossible, even if you manage to hit the hole or pin.  It doesn’t matter how much spin you can put on the ball or how adept you are at hitting the flop shot.  When the ball lands and its spin is expended, gravity will simply carry it well past the hole.  And, don’t forget the fact that if you’re forced to land the ball on the slope, the angle will propel the ball forward, giving the it zero chance of landing softly and rolling out.

Prevention is the Answer

Prevention is really why this shot is an issue of course management.  You should be doing everything in your power to manage your misses.  Don’t think for a second that the pros don’t know where the best miss is on every green they hit a shot at.  If their natural shot shape will have them flirting with disaster like that, you can bet that they’re either going to shape the shot differently to keep the ball in a safer area (which you may or may not have the ability to do), or they’re going to aim their shot at a spot that takes the danger out of play if they miss it (which we all have the ability to do).

If you hit the ball for the fattest part of the green, you have a good shot at getting down in two putts or maybe even making a long putt.  Even if you miss the green, you have a good chance of getting up and down.  If you get into a spot where you have that nasty downhill shot, you’re almost definitely looking at the pitch and two putts, and if you hit your pitch poorly and fail to get on, the outcome will be worse.

I Hate to Say “I Told Ya So”

OK, I did, but we both know that we’re all going to end up with shots like that at some point, despite the fact that we know we should try really hard to avoid it.  Even tour pros will find themselves in a spot like that on occasion.

The key is to manage your expectations at that point.  When I’m in that spot, I forget about making the shot or even getting it close.  My number one goal is to get it on the green.

When you start thinking about making it, the first instinct is to try and get cute and feather the ball up there and let it run out as slowly as possible to try and stop it close.  In some cases, if you can just barely get the ball started, you might be able to stop it close.  But I’ve been in situations where I could just set the ball down on the edge of the green and it would roll 10-15 feet past because of the severity of the slope.

When you get in that mindset of feathering it, you run the risk of forgetting your fundamentals and decelerating through the shot and hitting it fat (or just simply not hard enough).  Do that and you may not even reach the green.  That wastes a stroke and leaves you in essentially the exact same predicament.

The conservative  play is to just get the ball on the green so remember your chipping or pitching fundamentals and be sure to land the ball on the green and suffer with the run-out.

Depending on the area where the pin is located, you might want to consider the riskier cut lob (flop) shot.  If the spot around the pin gives you a fairly flat landing area, you might have success flying the ball to, or just past, the flag.  If you practice the flop shot and the lie is suitable, then it can be a decent option.  If you don’t practice the shot or the lie isn’t suitable, then you’re primed to either skull the ball over the opposite side of the green or to barely advance it.

Take YOUR Game into Consideration

The basic idea here is that this shot is nearly impossible to get close to the hole.  You need to give your own skill level realistic consideration and try your best to avoid it, and to limit the damage when you end up putting yourself in that difficult position.  Pick your shot carefully and play within your own comfort zone.  If that means accepting that the ball will have to be played well past the flag and that you’ll likely be two-putting, then so be it.  In the long run, accepting a little pain will prevent the big blowups that can come from situations like this.

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