The Bogey Hole........

[Macster]

I'm sure we perhaps all have one at our Course, but I have officially 'had enough' of mine, and am now on a mission to conquer its Demons.

Mine is our Par 3 12th, which plays about 170/180 off yellows, but 195-205 when off Whites.
A 'bowl' narrow green, surrounded by hummocks and hollows, it 'should' be a realtively easy hole, but isnt !
It requires an accurate Tee shot down an alley of trees, and anything left or right leaves you with a helluva up & down.
Case in point was how it scored in the weekends Medal, where it averaged 4.05, including my own 6 on route to an otherwise great 79. , More often than not I'm a Bogey 4.
Just cant seem to get a Par on here for the life of me.

here u go:

 

[Ronnoc1980]

Got just the same issue with the 17th at mine needed a par par fin for 39pts and up it pops with a 6 I hate the bloody thing!

 

[StrangelyBrown]

Don't go for the green? Lay up short, wedge it close and single putt

 

[Imurg]

We have a similar hole, our 5th. Plays about 200 yards and is slightly downhill. Bunker front right, with severe clag left and right, although you have to be wayward to find it.
The green is a similar shape to Chris's but slopes towards you with a drop off the back so you don't want to be long.
And its affected by the wind too.
Its a low SI so most of us get a shot and as a result most are happy to walk off with a 4. I see it as a straight-forward 2 pointer.
I can par it and sometimes birdie it too. But 4 is not a bad score.
Our first is similar in many ways. A par 4 with a really tight tee shot (about 200 carry) to find the fairway over a diagonal stream. If you carry it there is a basic 9-7 iron to the green. Most lay-up, playing it as a par 5. But being a low SI its a steady 2 pointer again.

 

[jammydodger]

Looks nice and lush there , you've had a damn sight more rain than us. Looks like a straightforward short par4 to me

 

[bobmac]

Chris, dont panic.
If you put the whole field of a regular Pga tour event on that hole I'd guess that only half of them would find the green.
So missing the green is not the end of the world.
What they would then do is get up and down most of the time.
I would suggest you improve your short game so that when you do miss the green, you can still make a 3 or a 4 at worst.
Here's what you do.
Go to the hole when it's quiet and try different clubs off the tee ie. long iron, rescue, 5 wood, knock down 3 woods, lay ups and so on and see which is most successful.
Then get to the green and spend as long as you can chipping and putting on and around the green.
When you are happy you have mastered all the shots from all around the green, you can move on to the 13th or walk in as it's not too far from the c/house.
I'm guessing you dread the walk from the 11th green to the 12 tee and are already wondering what disasterous score will spoil your scorecard today?
With the practice you have done, you will actually look forward to the hole and when you miss the green (and accept the fact you will) you will relish the opportunity to show to your playing partnes how deady your short game has become.

Bob Macrotella

 

[bobmac]

Looks nice and lush there , you've had a damn sight more rain than us. Looks like a straightforward short par4 to me

Doesn't your cheating machine show you it's actually a par 3

 

[jammydodger]

We have a similar hole but its 220 of the whites and is very narrow and tree lined with pretty much no option for a draw or fade. I see it just like Bob says , an opportunity to show off your short game skills. Most people are resigned to a bogey or worse before they reach the tee. I see it as an opportunity to pick up shots on the field.

Bob I dont use the cheating machine here cos i know its a 3 iron on a calm day and if its into the wind then its a 3 iron anywhere short is fine but left or right the difficulty increases somewhat

 

[bobmac]

We have a similar hole but its 220 of the whites and is very narrow and tree lined with pretty much no option for a draw or fade. I see it just like Bob says , an opportunity to show off your short game skills. Most people are resigned to a bogey or worse before they reach the tee. I see it as an opportunity to pick up shots on the field.

Bob I dont use the cheating machine here cos i know its a 3 iron on a calm day and if its into the wind then its a 3 iron anywhere short is fine but left or right the difficulty increases somewhat

If it's wind against you could hit a 1 iron

 

[Robobum]

What's the yardage to the front of the green Chris??

It looks a fairly big area at the green front and a little apron short of the green. If its 200 ish to the middle I'd imagine it's about 175-180 ish to the front.

A decent 7 iron at the front edge would be my suggestion. Much easier club to hit straight, flush one and you are on the front, don't quite get it and you are chipping straight up the green from a flatish opening at the front.

 

[bobmac]

It's very hard to lay up to a par 3

 

[Ethan]

I used to play on a course which had a par 3 of about 200 yards, with a pond on each side of the green, towards the back on one side. There was a flat area short of the green, and no bunkers in front, so I never hit more than a 5 iron, even though I knew that was barely enough club. If I nailed it, it might just get on the front of the green without too much risk of reaching the ponds, and if I didn't quite catch it, it might come up on the fairway short, but with a reasonable chip and putt. Overall, I did all right on the hole.

On the par-3 pictured above, where are the best misses? That would help determine my strategy.

 

[Oddsocks]

What's the yardage to the front of the green Chris??

It looks a fairly big area at the green front and a little apron short of the green. If its 200 ish to the middle I'd imagine it's about 175-180 ish to the front.

A decent 7 iron at the front edge would be my suggestion. Much easier club to hit straight, flush one and you are on the front, don't quite get it and you are chipping straight up the green from a flatish opening at the front.

But is sounds so boring that way...

 

[steveyjd81]

you probably should hit a 5 iron to front of green as short would be a good miss and a fairly simple chip n putt

 

[StrangelyBrown]

We have a 200 yard par 3, which is also uphill. I can reach with a 3 wood but my dad can't reach even with his driver.

He pars it more than I do.

 

[Crazyface]

Looking at it, I'd try this. Tee up to the right hand side of the teeing ground and aim left. There seems to be a bank to the left of the green which will feed the ball onto the green. If the ball fades right you will be on the green.

 

[Dodger]

What's the yardage to the front of the green Chris??

It looks a fairly big area at the green front and a little apron short of the green. If its 200 ish to the middle I'd imagine it's about 175-180 ish to the front.

A decent 7 iron at the front edge would be my suggestion. Much easier club to hit straight, flush one and you are on the front, don't quite get it and you are chipping straight up the green from a flatish opening at the front.

Oh look,another golfer who hits his 7 iron 175 yards! I take it you would be planning on hitting a low runner then.

 

[Macster]

Thx for the replies & suggestions.

Right of the green is a very deep hollow, and some deep rough, and its amazing how many end up in here. You cant even see the green or flag from here, so is probably the toughest up & down on the course from here.

Left of the green is slightly better, but still a tough up & down too. After losing my 1st ball on Saturday into the trees right, I sent my 2nd left, and although played what I thought was a miracle recovery Lob shot onto the green, it landed in the last 12" of Bank greenside which sent it over the green into the rough, where I managed to chip & putt for the 6.

I guess the only 'safe' place to be if you dont hit the green is short front, but its still a tough 3 from there, or a 4 as per usual.

I think I'm gonna take Bob's advice and head down there tonight perhaps, about 8pm, and experiment a bit with club selections from the tee.
Perhaps a little punched 4wood, or an easy 5iron to the front, rather than the 3/4 iron with trepidation and mixed results !

Its just sooo annoying that a relatively inconspicuous hole like this can be a card wrecker so often, when we have some seriously despised holes that I can Par with far greater regularity

Damn pesky game...........

 

[Robobum]

What's the yardage to the front of the green Chris??

It looks a fairly big area at the green front and a little apron short of the green. If its 200 ish to the middle I'd imagine it's about 175-180 ish to the front.

A decent 7 iron at the front edge would be my suggestion. Much easier club to hit straight , flush one and you are on the front, don't quite get it and you are chipping straight up the green from a flatish opening at the front.

Oh look,another golfer who hits his 7 iron 175 yards! I take it you would be planning on hitting a low runner then.

I've highlighted the key words for the hard of understanding such as yourself

I thought the suggestions were for Chris anyway?? He hits the ball a long way from previous posts.

 

[Oddsocks]

chris if you dont mind me asking, whats the Si, and have you a image from the tee to green not green to tee.