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  1. #1
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    Default Suggestions on how to approach this hole

    This hole does my head in - probably an example of good course design I guess.It is a not-too long par 5 (around 480 metres depending upon tee location) with a fairly narrow green that has drop-offs pretty much on all sides (except for the right sided bunker).

    However, it has a dam which cuts into the left-half of the fairway and which requires a carry of about 230-240 metres; if the wind is behind I can carry it OK and then it is a fairly straightforward hole, as you can get near the green for 2 easily enough. Unfortunately, the prevailing wind is usually into, not helping, and I tend to therefore lay up short of the dam with 5 wood. But laying up short of the dam then brings a creek that crosses the fairway short of the green into play for your second shot. So, the safest way to play the hole is to hit 2 ~200m shots which places you onto a nice flat part of the fairway about 70-90 metres short of the green. See below as an example - Garmin hasn't quite captured the fairway, dam or the creek correctly, but its close enough to give you an idea.
    5th hole.jpg

    All good so far. But I tend to over-spin my wedge shots, even on partial shots. I took the below video yesterday - this was a 3/4 gap wedge from around 75 metres into the back (flat) part of the green. It doesn't really show it well, but I was still probably around 15-20 foot from the pin. Full wedge shots spin even more.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xUzZsFc0xM

    I find this green particularly frustrating, as I just cannot get near a front or back pin with a wedge. The front half of the green slopes back towards the fairway, so whenever I land it anywhere near the middle it spins back off the green and down the slope. For back pins, I cannot land the ball far enough past the hole (i.e. it would be over the back), so I always tend to just end up being happy hitting the shot like yesterday where it lands towards the back and ends up in the middle of the green. Which is "sort-of fine" I guess, but I find it very frustrating that for a fairly short par 5 I rarely have a decent birdie opportunity.

    The fairway has around 30 metres of 'downhill' from about 140 metres to 110 metres out, so if you don't get to the bottom on the hill with your second shot, you either face a downhill lie or you have to lay back with your second shot to about 150 metres (which is then quite tough to hit with the small green). This makes laying up further back a bit complicated. I've tried hitting it 'softer' with a pitching wedge or even 9 iron in order to try and reduce the spin, but then my distance control just seems to go out the window.

    Any thoughts on how to approach this differently? (and congratulations to anyone who read through all that ...)
    Last edited by Stuart; 11th August 2018 at 05:47 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Grand Slam Winner
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    Use a less spinning ball just for this hole.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrins View Post
    Use a less spinning ball just for this hole.
    +1

  4. #4
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    Take divots with a couple of practice swings and fill the grooves with dirt and grass.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrins View Post
    Use a less spinning ball just for this hole.
    OK, pretty embarassing really that I didn’t think of that. I thought about switching balls completely, but I really like how it performs on other holes. Doing it just for one hole never occurred to me ...

    The idea of “pre-filling” the grooves with dirt is also great left field thinking.
    Last edited by Stuart; 11th August 2018 at 05:01 PM.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart View Post
    The idea of “pre-filling” the grooves with dirt is also great left field thinking.
    I genuinely do this. I also suffer from the mega-spins on my wedge shots and it is not something I play for (flying over and zipping it back) and on holes where I don't want it I leave the grooves full of stuff. Or if it's an early game the face will be covered in dew.

    I had 100m in this afternoon into a sloping green and pulled out my 54 and the grooves were full of gunk from my previous wedge shot from the rough on the last hole. I left the shit packed in there.



  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by henno View Post
    I genuinely do this. I also suffer from the mega-spins on my wedge shots and it is not something I play for (flying over and zipping it back) and on holes where I don't want it I leave the grooves full of stuff. Or if it's an early game the face will be covered in dew.

    I had 100m in this afternoon into a sloping green and pulled out my 54 and the grooves were full of gunk from my previous wedge shot from the rough on the last hole. I left the shit packed in there.
    OK - something else to try out.

  8. #8
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    3 5 irons.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrins View Post
    Use a less spinning ball just for this hole.
    Exactly what I would do.




  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrins View Post
    Use a less spinning ball just for this hole.
    Didn’t this cost Phil Michelson a couple of strokes penalty somewhere?

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Captain Nemo View Post
    3 5 irons.
    Tried that (or something similar) for a month or so, with a five wood, five iron, seven iron. But it didn’t really work any better - while the ball doesn’t spin off the green with a seven iron, I obviously hit a small green less often from 150 metres than from 75, so it didn’t really improve my actual scoring (in fact, my average score on that hole went up a touch).

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3puttpete View Post
    Didn’t this cost Phil Michelson a couple of strokes penalty somewhere?
    Pretty sure that the pros have to use the same exact make of ball across a round, but amateurs are not so limited.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart View Post
    Pretty sure that the pros have to use the same exact make of ball across a round, but amateurs are not so limited.
    It may be the other way and the pga tour has a local rule allowing them to change and he was playing a different tour (president’s cup?) with no such local rule. Or something like that

  14. #14
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    Default Suggestions on how to approach this hole

    Quote Originally Posted by 3puttpete View Post
    It may be the other way and the pga tour has a local rule allowing them to change and he was playing a different tour (president’s cup?) with no such local rule. Or something like that
    The Pros have a one ball / compression rule.

    No club implements such a rule.

    I’d be interested to know more about the Phil violation.




  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny Canuck View Post
    The Pros have a one ball / compression rule.

    No club implements such a rule.

    I’d be interested to know more about the Phil violation.
    https://www.golfdigest.com/story/sti...point-by-point

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart View Post
    Tried that (or something similar) for a month or so, with a five wood, five iron, seven iron. But it didn’t really work any better - while the ball doesn’t spin off the green with a seven iron, I obviously hit a small green less often from 150 metres than from 75, so it didn’t really improve my actual scoring (in fact, my average score on that hole went up a touch).
    That’s not 3 5 irons is it...?


 

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