A stupid question.

[Blue_Arc]

I know you can unintentionally hit things through the green and have them ricochet to where ever. Say I'm green side and there's this brick wall and my ball lands about 2 feet from it. I don't have enough room to take the chip shot. Can I turn around and chip into the wall and have it bounce back to the green legally? This happened to me Sunday. I just took the club length penalty but out on the green I wondered if I could have shot into the wall.

[OnePutt]

Sure you can. Did you watch Tin Cup? He bounced the ball off a Porter Potty with no penality.

[Blue_Arc]

Man I bet I could have pulled it off. The wall was flat and perfect.

[Wazmankg]

Originally Posted by Blue_Arc

Man I bet I could have pulled it off. The wall was flat and perfect.

I've never been in a situation where it was an option. I recall one of our members, girlgolfa, saying she pulled that one off a few years ago.

[Leaguegolf]

I once saw a guy use a wedge to try to bank one off a huge tree near the green. I think his splattered nose is still bleeding.

It can be done but Buyer Beware.....if you know what I mean.

[Blue_Arc]

Yeah but the bark on a tree could send the ball in any direction. I figure it would have to be set up right to try. A chip a little forward into the wall and a ricochet forward of that toward the pin. I'm thinking one of the chips into the ball that sticks the club in the ground so as not to hit the wall with the club. Did I mention I play pool really well...

[Ty_Webb]

Didn't Gary Player do that in the Open one time? He was up against the clubhouse and hit it straight into the wall and bounced it back behind him. I've done this too. It's quite fun, so long as you're hitting it at something relatively flat-fronted, so you avoid what happened to League (I know, you "saw" some guy... :teeth: ). I've also seen someone do that over the back of the Road Hole at St Andrews, but I forget who it was.

[Bulls9999]

I remember one tournament on TV back in the 70's (possibly was Seve) where a guy flew the green and his ball landed near a retaining wall...too close to get behind it to take a backswing, so he turned and faced the wall and hit into the wall and onto the green. I think it was Seve, not sure. I think in that same tournament he chipped with a wedge from off one side of the green to another, over 2 bumps that would have caused a triple breaking putt. You didn't see much of that back then (or even now). I think Seve lived for the thrill of pulling off those miracle shots, even more so than Phil-the-Thrill.

My son pulled a good one in a tournament when he was about 14, hitting through the green almost under a chain-link fence that borded the edge/corner of the course. The ball was on the green side, but the outer edge of the ball was almost touching the open space between the wires of a chain-linked fence. I'm standing there as a spectator figuring, geesh he's going to take a penalty drop or something....instead, he looks at it, grabs his wedge, I'm thinking WHAT?, he hops the fence, takes a few practice movements, and swing fully at the ball, hitting the fence first...popped it enough to go the 25 feet to the fringe of the green. I have to say that was one shot I didn't think of at all in regard to possiblities.

Originally Posted by Blue_Arc

I know you can unintentionally hit things through the green and have them ricochet to where ever. Say I'm green side and there's this brick wall and my ball lands about 2 feet from it. I don't have enough room to take the chip shot. Can I turn around and chip into the wall and have it bounce back to the green legally? This happened to me Sunday. I just took the club length penalty but out on the green I wondered if I could have shot into the wall.

[Fileygolfer]

Ty,
Player hit the shot with the back of his putter. It was the 18th at Lytham in 1974, I know because I was stood only a few feet away.
Many players have hit it against the wall on The Road Hole but not many have made the shot.

[straightshooter]

I forgot the details but I have read, heard or watched the story of a guy hitting the ball off the side of a moving cargo train passing right next to the course.

[Fourputt]

It happens regularly on the Road Hole (#17) at St. Andrews Old Course. The road behind the green is in play (not an obstruction) and the wall past it is the boundary fence, so a ball lying close to the wall would be unplayable otherwise. More than one player in The Open has played a bank shot from the paved road, bounced it off that wall, and back toward the green.

[mr_bogey]

I posted the following in "best shot of the day" a few weeks back...


From several candidates today I will choose this one - it got the most response from my surprised companions....

Our third hole today was the island green par 3, playing at 157. It should have been a near perfect 8 iron for me, but I hit it toward the toe of the club, and tho dead at the flag, short. It landed on the island okay, in the rough, and spun back and disappeared. When I arrived I saw it nestled in the long grass two inches from the 6" x 6" timber that forms the bulwark. In that spot the earth has settled several inches, so the ball was at least an inch below that bulwark. There was no way to put a club on the ball to strike it toward the pin. I sized it up, knowing my only other option was to drop 50 yards back across the water. So, I decided to try to beat it into the board and ricochet toward the pin - my big fear was hitting the ball twice, but I knew I could never clear that board. I faced away from the hole and swung - the ball popped out and flew onto the green, but had heavy spin and backed up to the fringe. Two putts later I walked off happy with bogey.__________________

[atticusfinch]

Originally Posted by mr_bogey

I posted the following in "best shot of the day" a few weeks back...


From several candidates today I will choose this one - it got the most response from my surprised companions....

Our third hole today was the island green par 3, playing at 157. It should have been a near perfect 8 iron for me, but I hit it toward the toe of the club, and tho dead at the flag, short. It landed on the island okay, in the rough, and spun back and disappeared. When I arrived I saw it nestled in the long grass two inches from the 6" x 6" timber that forms the bulwark. In that spot the earth has settled several inches, so the ball was at least an inch below that bulwark. There was no way to put a club on the ball to strike it toward the pin. I sized it up, knowing my only other option was to drop 50 yards back across the water. So, I decided to try to beat it into the board and ricochet toward the pin - my big fear was hitting the ball twice, but I knew I could never clear that board. I faced away from the hole and swung - the ball popped out and flew onto the green, but had heavy spin and backed up to the fringe. Two putts later I walked off happy with bogey.__________________

If your ball was not in the hazard why did you not take relief from the bulwark?

[mr_bogey]

The bulwark is definitely in the hazard, and the ball two inches away appeared to be - yellow stakes were recently placed around the periphery of the 'island' and are inches inside the bulwark. Before the stakes were placed there, I presume we would have considered the edge of the water against the bulwark to be the margin of the hazard and I could have dropped away from the immovable obstruction (the bulwark). That also would present a problem, since that margin is basically round - it would be difficult to drop no nearer the hole since I was inches from the margin - I would probably have to take that free drop back across the water.

[atticusfinch]

If the ball and the IO were both in the hazard you get no relief from the IO. But you would get relief from the hazard under penalty.

[mr_bogey]

Originally Posted by atticusfinch

If the ball and the IO were both in the hazard you get no relief from the IO. But you would get relief from the hazard under penalty.

Exactly - so I chose the ricochet for my second shot rather than a penalty - so instead of a 50 yard pitch for my third shot, I ended up with a 25 foot putt from the fringe for my third shot.

[atticusfinch]

Originally Posted by mr_bogey

Exactly - so I chose the ricochet for my second shot rather than a penalty - so instead of a 50 yard pitch for my third shot, I ended up with a 25 foot putt from the fringe for my third shot.

A wise choice.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by mr_bogey

Exactly - so I chose the ricochet for my second shot rather than a penalty - so instead of a 50 yard pitch for my third shot, I ended up with a 25 foot putt from the fringe for my third shot.

I've never been in a situation where such a shot would be needful, but it would be fun to try sometime... certainly an option to always keep in mind. I like playing creative shots, and I give myself sooooo many opportunities to use them.

[atticusfinch]

Originally Posted by mr_bogey

Exactly - so I chose the ricochet for my second shot rather than a penalty - so instead of a 50 yard pitch for my third shot, I ended up with a 25 foot putt from the fringe for my third shot.

I just remembered seeing such a shot at the Masters one year.. the players ball was up against one of the pines off the back of the 15th green. it probably stopped his ball going in the pond on 16. He had no shot directly onto the green.

He had two options. declare it unplayable and add a stroke or do what he did. ricochet off the tree onto the green which he did. fun to watch.

[JimSomebody]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

It happens regularly on the Road Hole (#17) at St. Andrews Old Course. The road behind the green is in play (not an obstruction) and the wall past it is the boundary fence, so a ball lying close to the wall would be unplayable otherwise. More than one player in The Open has played a bank shot from the paved road, bounced it off that wall, and back toward the green.

Here's an ordinary golfer hitting that shot:


.

[firestone123]

huhuh,, funny one!