NP or LD?

[KeefG]

I've won 3 nearest the pins in my old society, i'm quite a specialist at them for reasons unbeknown, hitting a couple of spectacular shots in the process too!

I'd really like to win a longest drive though, i nearly won on the 18th on the PGA at the belfry last week but the guy who tee'd off last beat me by no more than 3 inches....how gutted was i?

 

[theeaglehunter]

Thinking about it, even though I'm not a short hitter myself- do people not think long drive contests are unfair purely because not everyone in the field has a chance to win it even if they produce their career shot? I wouldn't like to be in a position where my entrance fee is being put towards a prize I had no chance of winning. Actually I probably wouldn't worry because I'm not that tight: but you get my drift. Anyone can get near a par 3 pin if they produce a career shot (obviously excluding monster 250 yard pro length holes) where as some people simply do not have the physical ability to hit a ball far even if their technique is miles better than everyone else in the field.

I know some comps opt for a straightest drive comp instead, which I personally do not prefer, but it is definitely a fairer option imo.

 

[Imurg]

Thinking about it, even though I'm not a short hitter myself- do people not think long drive contests are unfair purely because not everyone in the field has a chance to win it even if they produce their career shot?

I refer the Honourable Gentleman to my previous reply......


Mate of mine won a longest drive with a 6 iron!
Nobody else had hit the fairway on a windy day and he was last to play. So he took out his 6 iron and made the fairway by about 6 feet. Won a trolley bag!!
Doesn't seem right but it doesn't say you have to use your driver...

Don't forget its gotta stay on the short stuff

 

[Cernunnos]

That's the thing about longest drive, it doesn't matter how far you can boom that drive out there, if you can't hit the fairway you don't get the longest drive. Though in our works society some joker plonked the spike in the middle of a fairway bunker... He was a bit disapointed when we broke the news to him his drive didn't count... His face was a picture.

So its not always the longest drive, or longest driver of the ball that gets longest drive, you just need to be able to hold a fairway.

 

[theeaglehunter]

How many times can you people honestly say that one of a fields big hitters don't hit the fairway? Often the real big hitters are low handicappers anyway so no how to keep the ball in play and will often hit the fairway along way from the tee! I accept that saying people have absolutely no chance is wrong but other than on rare occasions many members of the field will have a greatly receded chance of winning.

 

[Canfordhacker]

The fairway argument is interesting. I lost a longest drive two years ago (still rankles!) because the club misjudged the wind and put it on too short a hole. My drive was pretty much at the end of the fairway, and it was awarded to a guy who went past me and ran out of fairway!

I also saw no prize given in a ladies comp for NP - because none of them hit the green...

Interesting to see that it is 2:1 in favour of control rather than distance - this would suggest the head is ruling the heart in this instance.

 

[Cernunnos]

I'm no short hitter, but amoungst our works society I don't rate as a bomber, but on one event I outdrove our resident low single figure player.

At another event one old boy who usually goes just to get blotto won a bottle of scotch for a hole in one on a parr3... What club did he use...? Driver..!

Did his ball hit the green, no but it bounded onto it, rolled around the green till it drained into the hole like the last remnants of the batth water going down the plug hole...

Does it rankle... You bet it does. Thing is he got the hole in one & I supose it doesn't matter how. I think its that most of us are used to people hitting the green either for nearest the pin or in his case, or especially for a hole in one.

 

[Cernunnos]

The fairway argument is interesting. I lost a longest drive two years ago (still rankles!) because the club misjudged the wind and put it on too short a hole. My drive was pretty much at the end of the fairway, and it was awarded to a guy who went past me and ran out of fairway!

I also saw no prize given in a ladies comp for NP - because none of them hit the green...

Interesting to see that it is 2:1 in favour of control rather than distance - this would suggest the head is ruling the heart in this instance.

If he had run out of fairway then it would be the longest drive still on the fairway. It would be different if he'd made the green with his drive. But he's not on the short stuff then the longest drive imo is yours.

 

[mattdeeks]

The fairway argument is interesting. I lost a longest drive two years ago (still rankles!) because the club misjudged the wind and put it on too short a hole. My drive was pretty much at the end of the fairway, and it was awarded to a guy who went past me and ran out of fairway!

A couple of years ago in my works society get together exactly the same happened to me. I hit my drive in the middle of the fairway and someone out drove me but ran out of fairway by about 2 foot, even he said his doesn't count. So I would have been a little angered if I was was you.