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Re: OAKMONT #15

• TheSpaghettiKid 424 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 12:32 PM

  I'm sure some of this was covered when OAK first come out... but I'm back (for a while at least) after a 2.5 year hiatus.  Been working on mastering tournament speed greens playing OAK unlimited for May.  My scores dropped a lot once I figured out green speeds.  Put up a 31 which is pretty good, not great.
  
  The approach on #15 is killing me.  I recently threw in an old WGT high loft hybrid to help on the par 3 #14 (193).  And so my only hope of getting within 10-20 feet on #15 is lucking into some wind in my face, hitting the high loft hybrid and dropping either in between the humps near the flag or landing it on the near hump and it rolls a few yards and stops.
  
  ANY OTHER CLUB or ANY helping wind at all... and its rolling 30+ feet behind the flag, behind the 2nd far hump or it hits just before the green and dies (with BS).  From 30+ feet behind I'm often left with a  15 foot breaking putt for par cuz you just can't play the break from 30+ enough cuz you are stuck next to the edge of the green.  A bogey on 15 means I'm never beating my 31.

  Do I need to experiment more with punch shots?  Tried a few near the end with my irons... same result.

  My Irons are the tour preferred, med trajectory.  Obviously this is the problem.  With the high traj TM's, i'm sure i could stick it right where it needs to go.  (yeah TWSS too).  
  
  Should I try a med/high traj set of irons? like the g10's or r11's or Tburners?  the r11's are a different speed and would probably mess me up for a little while.  I'd rather not change irons until I can get level 50+... high traj.
  
  I'm using the Callaway iz's for distance... would the i(s) for more spin help?
  
  Suggestions for #15 please.

  Thanks!  :-)

• piztaker 5,743 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 12:41 PM

  Are you sure it's the 15th. I've never had much trouble there. Just half backspin and a ding and it's a good chance of a birdie.

• TheSpaghettiKid 424 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 1:40 PM

  Yeah it's definitely #15.  
  
  I'm sure it's a piece of cake when you can have the L90+ irons with the high trajectory and full spin full distance nike balls.  Obviously, those factors increase your "skill".  I have to actually use my brain and get creative with the tools available to figure out the hole rather than just ding ding birdie putt like Kiawah #1.

  My Irons are the tour preferred, med trajectory.  Obviously this is the problem.  With the high traj TM's, i'm sure i could stick it right where it needs to go.  (yeah TWSS too).  

   
  
   Anyone else?

   

• WGTicon 12,511 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 3:03 PM

  Back when I was using raptures, I would choke on a driver off the tee to asbout 230-235 in tail wind and 220 in head wind.

  I would then get fairway wood, the 225 one from r11's and hit it full bs right at the pin. It falls and doesn't even more 2ft.

  Folks were outdriving me by 30 yards, until my 2nd shot, of course :)

  Try a similar tactic

  -wgticon

• TheSpaghettiKid 424 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 3:39 PM

  WGTicon:

  Back when I was using raptures, I would choke on a driver off the tee to asbout 230-235 in tail wind and 220 in head wind.

  I would then get fairway wood, the 225 one from r11's and hit it full bs right at the pin. It falls and doesn't even more 2ft.

  Folks were outdriving me by 30 yards, until my 2nd shot, of course :)

  Try a similar tactic

  -wgticon

  
  
  Thanks.  Yah that is kinda what I'm going for with the TS Hybrid.  But it won't stop with a tail wind.
  
  I'll probably try the R11 3 wood.
  
  I think rolling it up there should work somehow.  I just can't seem to put together all the right variables to get it working together for a good result.  
  
  Don't need a birdie on that hole... just no dumb bogeys ruining my good score up to that point.  Course, if I can actually putt for birdie most of the time.... wheeeee!  29?
  

   

• WGTicon 12,511 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 6:54 PM

  TheSpaghettiKid:

  WGTicon:

  Back when I was using raptures, I would choke on a driver off the tee to asbout 230-235 in tail wind and 220 in head wind.

  I would then get fairway wood, the 225 one from r11's and hit it full bs right at the pin. It falls and doesn't even more 2ft.

  Folks were outdriving me by 30 yards, until my 2nd shot, of course :)

  Try a similar tactic

  -wgticon

  
  
  Thanks.  Yah that is kinda what I'm going for with the TS Hybrid.  But it won't stop with a tail wind.
  
  I'll probably try the R11 3 wood.
  
  I think rolling it up there should work somehow.  I just can't seem to put together all the right variables to get it working together for a good result.  
  
  Don't need a birdie on that hole... just no dumb bogeys ruining my good score up to that point.  Course, if I can actually putt for birdie most of the time.... wheeeee!  29?

   

  until you get a higher end fairway wood, you can try going right of the flag by landing on front and let it release. you likely can't stop it if you go right at the flag since it lands on a downslope.

  -wgticon

• Lmorgan007 408 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 7:32 PM

  Hiya Spaghetti - I assume you're talking about the front left pin.

  Took me ages to work this hole out and I had same problems as you.  I'd be tryin to land it on the top of the hump short of the pin, but often shot through or (if I over-compensated came up short).  Then i figured it out; the ball won't stop because it's landing on a downslope.

  The solution is to try to aim 2-3ft long (yes that's right!) and land the upslope of the hump behind the flag.  It's a little risky and needs a ding (or near-ding) but it works.

  Alternatively if you want a par and walk away just aim for centre of green right of hole - no downslope and fairly easy to be pin-high.

  Oh and if you're shooting 31 on Oaky with med flight irons, respect is all I can say - I need high flighted irons and high spec balls to stand a fighting chance!

   

  Luke

• TheSpaghettiKid 424 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 8:08 PM

  @WGTicon - yeah even that is kinda scarey for my med traj irons and tail wind.  But something I should perfect for consistent pars on that hole.
  
  @Lmorgan - I actually had that thought today after I finished messing around tryin for about 20 minutes this afternoon.  I dunno why it never occured to me before.  Sounds risky yes, and with my irons it might be impossible unless i use balls with more spin... but it's worth a good effort.
  
  Well I posted up the 31 just once... and I'm kinda "cheating" (some may say) cuz I'm just playing to beat my score and restart if I'm not -3 while standing on 16 tee.  Ya know, it's fun to try and beat a score.  I'm sure I can beat the 31 by figuring out how to par 15 more often and then nailing some more putts on 12, 13! and 16!.  Greens on this course are insane! I'll just take my par on 18.  Thanks for the respect.  :-)
  
  Time to tee off!! 

• Lmorgan007 408 Posts

  Thu, May 10 2012 8:19 PM

  TheSpaghettiKid:

  @Lmorgan - I actually had that thought today after I finished messing around tryin for about 20 minutes this afternoon.  I dunno why it never occured to me before.  Sounds risky yes, and with my irons it might be impossible unless i use balls with more spin... but it's worth a good effort.

   

  Hope it works for you! :-)

• TheSpaghettiKid 424 Posts

  Fri, May 11 2012 2:20 AM

  

  Wheeeee 29!  
  
  I rented the r11 3 wood and the TM r11 3 hybrid... both high loft.
  
  I used the hybrid on 13 tee to get it close and sunk it from 11 feet.  Got it even closer on 16 with the high loft hybrid... I had a good tail wind and took one avatar move off... finally hit a good one to 6 feet.

  I got 12 mph tail win on 15... the worst for that hole and pin location.  I hit 3w off the tee to about 238 left.  Then hit the 3w again... i think took about half a move off, maybe full move off... it hit almost perfectly right in between the  humps but it wouldn't stop due to the strong tail wind and rolled through to the rough about 8 yards from the pin (I had a good angle to the hole).  

  I had to chip with my 54 wedge instead of my 60 cuz i'm carrying the hybrid.  That club chips 16 yards and the hole is downhill 11 inches... lol.  I put back spin on it and hit it just about 55-60%... praying it would actually come out of the grass... luckily it was a 20/25 lie rather than a 35/40 or it woulda gone about 2 inches. LOL.  It rolled 6 feet past and I knocked it in for par.

  I had a 17 footer on 18 from almost directly behind the hole.  Didn't ding it and missed it by a hair... actually my late click helped since I hadn't played enough break.
  
  I knew if I could par 15 in the same round I birdied 13 or 16, I'd beat 31.
  
  Wheeeee!

  Thanks for reading all this if anyone did lol... I'm pumped! 
  
  Now I guess I gotta buy them clubs?... argh!