Society day longest drive occurence

[Deleted member 18121]

Hi all

An incident that I was directly involved in yesterday:

Longest drive hole I battered one down the middle, only to find that the fairway wasn't long enough and I'd run into the rough. The rough then ran for some 30-40 yards before the next bit of fairway started.

By the letter of the law I shouldn't win because I wasn't on the fairway, but at the same point for me to have been in with a chance I would have needed to "lay up".

What would your decision be?

I'll tell you what happened later

 

[TreeSeeker]

Imo bugger the fairway length just the width.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Society Day, fun, you lose, make light of decision and ensure at the next event the hole chosen doesn’t cause the same predicament.

 

[moogie]

Tough luck

Fairway always

 

[Capella]

I'd say it is a very ill chosen hole for a longst drive contest. I'd say the win is yours unless somebody hits it further.

 

[MendieGK]

Hi all

An incident that I was directly involved in yesterday:

Longest drive hole I battered one down the middle, only to find that the fairway wasn't long enough and I'd run into the rough. The rough then ran for some 30-40 yards before the next bit of fairway started.

By the letter of the law I shouldn't win because I wasn't on the fairway, but at the same point for me to have been in with a chance I would have needed to "lay up".

What would your decision be?

I'll tell you what happened later

tough sh!t really. i knocked it on the green of a 365yd par 4 in a charity day last year and there were jokes in the club house that i shouldnt win it.

i've played plenty of events where the longest drive is chosen on a hole i would never consider hitting driver on (i'd actually argue having it on the 18th @ Hankley for the H4H day wasnt the best choice). I also won a longest drive on the 10th at the Oxfordshire a few years ago, hitting 4iron off the tee as it was the right club for me.

just have to live with it.

 

[PCWOX]

A lot of places are doing straightest drive these days as opposed to longest drive. The thinking is that it is always the same big hitters winning longest drive, hence the change to straightest drive instead. Nearest the pin still always popular though.

As for this one, fairway always.

 

[rosecott]

Are you saying the ball is in the middle of the fairway but is in an area of rough running across what you would expect to be fairway?

If so, I'd give you the prize.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Society Day, fun, you lose, make light of decision and ensure at the next event the hole chosen doesn’t cause the same predicament.

Completely.I had this happen on a golf day to a guy at Hainualt, we all laughed about it, as he normally wins the prize, but not that time

 

[MendieGK]

A lot of places are doing straightest drive these days as opposed to longest drive. The thinking is that it is always the same big hitters winning longest drive, hence the change to straightest drive instead. Nearest the pin still always popular though.

As for this one, fairway always.

we dont even do it for the society days that i run, nearest the pins i usually choose the shortest hole to give as many people as possible the chance

 

[hovis]

i had an identical situation at Lutterworth golf club. it was on the 18th and I put my ball through them green. i didn't get the prize because i wasn't on the fairway.

the winner actually offer to give me the prize as he thought it was crazy too

 

[PhilTheFragger]

I'd say it is a very ill chosen hole for a longst drive contest.

Plus 1 on this, my society have stopped longest drive comps as the same bloke always won it, we now do nearest the pin in 2 on a short par 4 (if there is one)

just means that almost everyone has a chance

 

[PCWOX]

Good idea that Mendie.

 

[Hobbit]

Society Day, fun, you lose, make light of decision and ensure at the next event the hole chosen doesn’t cause the same predicament.

As above. No sense in spoiling a fun day.

 

[need_my_wedge]

Played with an ex tour pro on a charity day once, he nailed his drive fairway side inside the left cut and cleared the longest drive by 30 yds. Unfortunately, the fairway narrowed to about 5 yds at the point his ball stopped, i.e. he ran out of fairway, so wasn't given the prize. If he'd been 5 yds shorter, he'd still have been the longest drive by a fair distance and would have been "in play".

At ours now, we seem to have stopped doing longest drive and go for straightest. Draw a white line up the centre of one of the par 5's and stick a flag to mark closest to the line.

 

[Imurg]

Played a while back with CVG and his society which is part of the sports and social club from the Company he retired from.
LD hole had a strip of rough just like the OP. I drove well and finished 3 yards from the strip.
A Director, playing a couple of groups behind knocked one 10 yards past me but into the rough.
The organiser gave the prize to the Director ( brown-nose) and CVG wasn't happy. The prize was a sleeve of balls so I wasn't that put out..

 

[patricks148]

tough sh!t really. i knocked it on the green of a 365yd par 4 in a charity day last year and there were jokes in the club house that i shouldnt win it.

i've played plenty of events where the longest drive is chosen on a hole i would never consider hitting driver on (i'd actually argue having it on the 18th @ Hankley for the H4H day wasnt the best choice). I also won a longest drive on the 10th at the Oxfordshire a few years ago, hitting 4iron off the tee as it was the right club for me.

just have to live with it.

LOL, i actually was denied the prize for longest drive because i was on the green. It was i a charity fundraiser for one of the Cricket clubs up here.. hole was barley 300 yards downwind and i was the only one of a handful of people that played regularly. it didn't matter as it was for charity and the prize was.. a bottle from a local distillery, which i wouldn't drink anyway as i don't like whisky.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

Are you saying the ball is in the middle of the fairway but is in an area of rough running across what you would expect to be fairway?

If so, I'd give you the prize.

Essentially yes. The hole was long and straight with, for whatever reason, an area of 30-40 yards of rough running the full width of the fairway. No hazards etc just an area of rough, strange.


All of you have echo'd all the thoughts I had. Also rest assure that the "debate" was a complete non-event, it really didn't bother me at all..... I just wanted to hear your opinions.

The outcome was that the longest drive on the fairway was given the prize, although I was told that I would have been awarded it, but as I came 2nd overall and won a prize anyway they decided to give it to the other guy.

In terms of those straightest drive comps....is there a minimum distance? ie could someone take a wedge and "chip" it down the fairway?

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Essentially yes. The hole was long and straight with, for whatever reason, an area of 30-40 yards of rough running the full width of the fairway. No hazards etc just an area of rough, strange.


All of you have echo'd all the thoughts I had. Also rest assure that the "debate" was a complete non-event, it really didn't bother me at all..... I just wanted to hear your opinions.

The outcome was that the longest drive on the fairway was given the prize, although I was told that I would have been awarded it, but as I came 2nd overall and won a prize anyway they decided to give it to the other guy.

In terms of those straightest drive comps....is there a minimum distance? ie could someone take a wedge and "chip" it down the fairway?

Where I've seen it, there is a white line painted down the middle of the fairway, but that line only starts after a certain distance, around 175 yards or so I would guess, maybe a bit more.

Which course were you playing which has that patch of rough? I don't really have an issue with that kind of hole design, but makes that hole a strange choice for long drive!

 

[dufferman]

If there is a physical limit to longest drive, it's not really longest drive is it? It's just, closest to the far edge of the fairway drive?