I squeezed in nine holes before work this morning and as I headed into the seventh hole(#1 handicap), I was even par and playing really well. I get up on the tee box and crush my drive right down the middle of the fairway with about a 5 yard draw and a great low spin penetrating flight. It was one of those drives that gives you a slight glimpse into the mind of a PGA tour player. It was the type of drive that makes you think you've finally figured this game out. It was a drive you write home to momma about. You get it.

So as i'm driving down the fairway to see just where my ball ended up I start to witness a nightmare scenario approaching fast. I get about 30 yards away and I can only see half of the ball. My heart sinks, my palms start to sweat, my blood pressure starts to rise and I get a little light headed. Yes my friends, my crushing 320 yard beauty of a drive that left me a mere PW into the number one hardest hole on the course found a ****ing divot!!! Did anyone bother to repair their divot? **** no. Was it a nice shallow, dollar bill size divot where I can at least get the back of the ball? **** no. It was a ****ing 35 handicap divot that looked like some ******* took the back of a hammer and tried to hack his pinnacle "soft and long" ball another 35 yards down the fairway which left me the ultimate dream crusher of a lie.

After cursing for a good three to five minutes and telling a 60 year old lady who was gardening her backyard flowers to go to hell, I had to make a choice. I could play it as it lies, top the **** out of it and try to get up and down for par, Orrrrrr I could simply pull it out of the god awful lie and shoot for a birdie. I chose to pull it out because i'm not playing in a tournament, it's a practice nine, no money is on the line etc. etc. Now that I have it up on the nice fluffy grass I decide to pull the ole PW and put this bad boy to 5 feet and make my birdie. HA!!! **** no! Golf Gods said "NO birdie for you!!" I blade the **** out of the ball, it goes about 30 yards over the green on a down hill lie and I have to hit down to a green running away from me and that's the size of a shoe box. So I flop the hell out of it but it doesn't matter. Phill Mickeltits couldn't get up and down from this **** hole the golf gods bestowed upon me. I then proceed to three putt and double bogey the hole and then bogey the last two for a bla bla 40!

Morale of the story, take your medicine and play it as it lies. That or don't be a ***** and blade it over the green.

From this

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It was one of those drives that gives you a slight glimpse into the mind of a PGA tour player. It was the type of drive that makes you think you've finally figured this game out. It was a drive you write home to momma about.

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To this fear so quickly...

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I could play it as it lies, top the **** out of it

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Golf really screws with the mind.

Everytime this happens to me I play it back in my stance and hit a 3/4 knockdown with whatever distance I need. Seems to work pretty well.

nm

Golf gods didn't skull it. Your guilty conscience did. At least you have one though.

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Golf gods didn't skull it. Your guilty conscience did. At least you have one though.

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I prefer to blame it on the fictional over watchers of all that is golf thank you very much.

Good thing it was just a practice round

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Good thing it was just a practice round

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Practice round or not you need to practice these situations when you get into a money game or tourney. You need to learn to control your emotions and think about the problem and find the best solution for the situation and the only way to get there is to play this when they arise.

Ive seen plenty of people able to hit perfect lies on the range over and over again. Put them on a downhill lie, divot, behind a tree etc and they have no idea how to hit a recovery or a low cut 5 iron from behind a tree on a dusty lie. Play it down, learn how to take your medicine, learn how to hit crazy shots and learn how often you can actually pull these off.

Golf is a game where the same shot in the middle of a fairway can be hit so many different ways based on lie, wind, hole placement, firmness of greens and fairway, length of rough guarding the green etc. Learn to contol spin, ball flight, trajectory off each of these lies and know when they lie simply doesnt allow this and plan accordingly. There is a best shot for each scenario and the pros and good players can determine this and actually have the ability to pull it off or have the knowledge to know when they cant and choose a safer alternative based on risk award.

Torrey is a muni.

Bethpage

I don't think the point was to name muni's that the tour has visited, it was to point out that even the muni's they play are in mint condition.

As to whether to fix the lie or not in the case of a divot? I think it depends on whether you are a golfer who aspires to play tournament or at at least competitive golf or not. I play them as the lie, but that's because I don't want to be freaked out when it happens in a tourmament or money match.

If you're playing hit and giggle golf, or even a practice 9 for that matter, pull it out of there.

Well, I do think Torrey is the only muni played regularly on the tour. The others mentioned aren't Tour course, but US Open courses.

That said, sounds more like the suggestion is crappy courses. Maybe I'm spoiled in San Diego, but we have nice munis. Plenty of privately owned public courses in crap condition.

I'd say, it would be interesting to watch, specifically driving distances, as the Tour has super hard/fast fairways, and putting, being so much slower. A challenge would be, they usually can't get them as long, so they'd be playing a far shorter course than normal.

for reference I know a couple of guys who play with Omar Uresti here in Austin somewhat frequently. These muni characteristics come up and bites Omar occasionally, but in general he doesn't have any issues with them. I think in general, pros know how to hit out of a divot properly, know how the ball is going to react, know what hardpan will do relative to the club./bounce on the bottom of the club. I think most average joes don't and this hurts their game.

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I have always wanted the tour to play at a muni... I know they would still score, but would love to see the look on there faces when they have to play out of that divot, or the sand/rocks in the trap, the parched dirt patch on a green, putting across 3 different types of grass in one put, putting on greens with different types and speeds of grass on each hole, nothing but a dirt spot in the middle of the fairway, the bare dirt under trees if they go right, Not a level spot on the tee box, hole put in damn near sideways by drunk greens keeper! All of the crap muni's bring.

I guess thats why I rarely play them... But would still be fun!

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/01/AR2007070101221.html

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Steve Marino, a PGA Tour rookie, stepped onto the first tee box at East Potomac Golf Course in Southwest Washington last month and scoured the ground for a place to push in his tee. A flat expanse of crusted dirt made up one corner; patchy grass covered the rest. Marino tried to force his tee into the dirt, but it snapped in half. He pulled another from his pocket and shoved it into a tuft of overgrown grass. When Marino stepped back into his stance, his right foot rested three inches higher than his left. "Damn," he said. "What's it take to get a few yards of even ground?"

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The par-4 first hole was emblematic of Marino's round. He crushed a drive 320 yards down the right side of the fairway, almost all the way to the green, only to find the ball settled in a pile of twigs. Marino wasted his next shot chopping the ball out into the grass, and then he pitched his third shot to within 12 feet of the pin. He struck what felt like a pure putt, but the ball ran over sand and stopped a few inches short of the hole. Marino stood on the green and shook his head. "Ridiculous. Just ridiculous," he said. Then he tapped in for bogey.

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We walked to the 16th hole with Marino three shots under par and me 22 over. I hit, and then Marino pushed in his tee and took his stance. He stepped back, made two practice swings, waggled over his ball, pulled back his club . . . and then stopped. "What are those guys doing?" Marino said.He pointed out to the fairway, where two course workers overturned soil 260 yards away. They were facing away from us, sitting in the middle of Marino's likely landing area. Oblivious to our presence, they tilled the ground and planted fresh grass. Marino waited 10 seconds, thinking they would move. Thirty seconds. One minute. Miffed, he tossed out his right arm and shook his head.

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I have always wanted the tour to play at a muni... I know they would still score, but would love to see the look on there faces when they have to play out of that divot, or the sand/rocks in the trap, the parched dirt patch on a green, putting across 3 different types of grass in one put, putting on greens with different types and speeds of grass on each hole, nothing but a dirt spot in the middle of the fairway, the bare dirt under trees if they go right, Not a level spot on the tee box, hole put in damn near sideways by drunk greens keeper! All of the crap muni's bring.

I guess thats why I rarely play them... But would still be fun!

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/01/AR2007070101221.html

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Steve Marino, a PGA Tour rookie, stepped onto the first tee box at East Potomac Golf Course in Southwest Washington last month and scoured the ground for a place to push in his tee. A flat expanse of crusted dirt made up one corner; patchy grass covered the rest. Marino tried to force his tee into the dirt, but it snapped in half. He pulled another from his pocket and shoved it into a tuft of overgrown grass. When Marino stepped back into his stance, his right foot rested three inches higher than his left. "Damn," he said. "What's it take to get a few yards of even ground?"

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The par-4 first hole was emblematic of Marino's round. He crushed a drive 320 yards down the right side of the fairway, almost all the way to the green, only to find the ball settled in a pile of twigs. Marino wasted his next shot chopping the ball out into the grass, and then he pitched his third shot to within 12 feet of the pin. He struck what felt like a pure putt, but the ball ran over sand and stopped a few inches short of the hole. Marino stood on the green and shook his head. "Ridiculous. Just ridiculous," he said. Then he tapped in for bogey.

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We walked to the 16th hole with Marino three shots under par and me 22 over. I hit, and then Marino pushed in his tee and took his stance. He stepped back, made two practice swings, waggled over his ball, pulled back his club . . . and then stopped. "What are those guys doing?" Marino said.He pointed out to the fairway, where two course workers overturned soil 260 yards away. They were facing away from us, sitting in the middle of Marino's likely landing area. Oblivious to our presence, they tilled the ground and planted fresh grass. Marino waited 10 seconds, thinking they would move. Thirty seconds. One minute. Miffed, he tossed out his right arm and shook his head.

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This is so amazing in so many ways. The other factor I'd like to see some with is no gallery to find their ball on errant shots.

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no gallery to find their ball on errant shots.

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I don't understand why people think this is such a problem for tour pros. It's not finding their ball that is the issue. The issues is someone double crosses a 4i at a tour event, it hits the gallery and drops right there...no gallery and hit hits a mound, cart path, what have you and doesn't leave a simple up and down.

also, Tour pros aren't wildly missing shots like this so it is a moot point.

what about when you lose a ball 5 feet off the fairway ? and your money game opponent makes you march back and retee for a lost ball...

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no gallery to find their ball on errant shots.

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I don't understand why people think this is such a problem for tour pros. It's not finding their ball that is the issue. The issues is someone double crosses a 4i at a tour event, it hits the gallery and drops right there...no gallery and hit hits a mound, cart path, what have you and doesn't leave a simple up and down.

also, Tour pros aren't wildly missing shots like this so it is a moot point.

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I guess you didn't watch much of The Open.

It happens often. Part of it is there misses can be much worse as the hit it so much further.

After living in Vegas for 4 years, I have come to the certain conclusion that the golf god during the day is the same god as the poker god at night. If it is not the same dude they are very closely related. Brothers. Or maybe sisters. Could be cousins that were raised together. But I think it is the same god.

Either way he is a major *******