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Need advice on CTTH Hole.

• Yoda79 697 Posts

  Fri, Oct 22 2010 11:37 AM

                  Hello all. Yoda here once again. I'm seeking advice from anybody willing to give it. I have a problem concerning a hole on Kiawah Island in the CTTH. Here it is. On challenge 3 (hole 4) the pin is located 165yds. away with 1ft. of upwards elevation and a bunker guarding the front of the green. Your hitting out of 10-15% 2nd cut rough. Now as soon as you reach the green, right in front of the bunker there is a little slope on the green that slopes downward towards the pin. Now I do one of two things. I either hit the ball too hard and it hits the green and bounces a few times before rolling to the back of the green and into the rough or, and this is what I do mostly, I hit the ball to softly and I find myself either in the fairway or in that damn bunker.

                   I always use full backspin on the shot. I currently have the G10 series master irons. And I normally use my 6 iron which is rated at 175yds. Now I realize that the wind plays a part in it as well. Now let's just say for the moment that there is a cross wind, going from right to left, of 8mph. Then I would obviously aim to the right of the pin and hit the ball at around 171yds. I have gotten lucky a few times and landed it on the green within 20ft. of the pin and just once I got within 10ft. of the pin. So I guess what I'm asking is where is the best spot to aim so that I can consistently hit the green and keep the ball within 20ft. of the pin.

                    Like I said before I realize that the wind plays a large part in the shot and I also realize that nobody could tell me to hit use "this" club and hit the ball with "this" much power and aim "exactly" here. Too many factors go into a shot that it would be impossible to give an intelligent response. Just looking for someone to help and point me in the right direction. Any help one could give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

• blackbeard 288 Posts

  Fri, Oct 22 2010 11:53 AM

  The only time I got within 10' of this hole was when I played a punch with the club yardage slightly more than the hole distance, but the roll was admittedly a bit flukey. I too would be interested in other peoples' views on this hole

• AvatarLee 1,644 Posts

  Fri, Oct 22 2010 12:02 PM

  Still one of the hardest shots in any of the CTTHs, the key for me used to be keep it low and run it up, like blackbeard said try a punch, or just try full top spin.  Try to shave the left edge of that bunker.  The right to left wind is probably the hardest wind to contend with on that shot because it causes the fight of the ball to counteract the hop off the slope in front of the green, don't expect too much out of that wind.  The ideal wind is left to right and slightly in your face.  It will shape the shot nicely for you.  And remember the lower trajectory shot you take (punch or full with full top spin) the less effect the wind will have on the shot (as opposed to a full shot with full backspin).  The distance that you have to hit it will take a little experimenting, so try to be patient with it.

  Hope this helps,

  Lee

  *edit* if you get caught up in that ity-bity patch of rough in between the bunker and the fringe, don't feel too bad... that means you just missed the sweet spot rolling onto the green... if you get caught there that means you are close, just try again a touch more to the left.

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Fri, Oct 22 2010 12:59 PM

  Every word from Lee is truth regarding this hole. I've aced it twice long ago and can only add what may be obvious...be certain to hit the white line.

• Yoda79 697 Posts

  Fri, Oct 22 2010 3:47 PM

                  Wow. I can't believe this. And you may not as well. I took the advice from "blackbeard", "AvatarLee", and yes even you "sweetiepie". I'm glad I did. So I read all 3 responses and thought about it for a moment and said to myself "alright man you can do this". So I get to the hole and I break out my punch shot with my 4 iron and use full backspin. Now the punch shot with that iron is rated at a distance of 182yds. So I hit it at about 175yds. As soon as I let go of the left mouse button and I let the meter come back down in hopes for a perfect "ding", I click the left mouse button once more and I hear the "diiiinngg". Then I hear a familiar sound coming from my speakers. But just not familiar for this hole. And you know what it was? I hear coming from my speakers "thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump"!!! I couldn't believe it. I'm still not sure I just wasn't just hearing my own heart beat in my chest. Anyways the ball goes up in the air and falls quickly. It hits what I thought was really far back on the fairway. But I got the very friendly bounce and roll from this shot. It hits the fairway bounces about 2 to 3 times before quickly rolling up that little slope there in the front. As it starts rolling up that slope its headed directly for the pin. It goes through the rough and thankfully slows down tremendously. It's now apporaching the green. As it starts coming down the slope the camera is positioned behind the pin and the ball is nearly lined up for a H-I-O!! It comes down and I swear on my son's life, it is, I would say about, 1 to 3 inches away from the pin. It came soooooooo close. But it rolls past the hole and comes to a stop at exactly 7.96ft away!! I'm still in disbelief. I am shocked. I can't believe I took the advice from all 3 of you and applied it and made it work. I'm so happy. Now that I know I can do it, hopefully I can start placing well in the Kiawah Island CTTH tournaments.

  So anyways I would just like to thank all 3 of you! You helped me out with this very frusterating shot so much that a simple thank you doesn't seem like it would suffice. But not sure what else I could do. So a BIG THANK YOU goes out to "BLACKBEARD", "AVATARLEE", and "SWEETIEPIE"!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

  edit- forgot to mention something. There was a 11mph cross wind that was going from left to right. Thanks so much again!

• nickuk 967 Posts

  Fri, Oct 22 2010 5:10 PM

  my potential best on kiawah is 0 ft...ahem...oh yes....took a lot of notes though!(when i first joined, basic clubs)...no notes anymore....just poor memory! (no doubt that the best must have done this too and not only kiawah) sayin that i could never string them together...heyho...blah!

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Fri, Oct 22 2010 6:54 PM

  That is fabulous! I know Tibbets was at zero, but knew of no other. I'm at 1 inch, need an ace at #1 

• Joeyola 1,210 Posts

  Wed, Nov 3 2010 12:26 PM

  I play CTTH more since "The Change" and can't really add much to what has already been discussed.  I have learned that its almost impossible, for me, to make 9 Thump...Thump...Thump shots in a row no matter how much I try.  But the more I try, the better my odds are of stringing together 9 decent shots.  This may seem obvious to some, but I wonder how many people have never figured that out and gave up on these fun games.  Unfortunately, and I'm sure to WGT's delight, my better scores always seem to come at the expense of buying better balls (smile).  Just be careful or you might get hooked.

  Joey      

• neildiamond11790 1,115 Posts

  Wed, Nov 3 2010 12:47 PM

  SP, not sure how your suggestion helped:

  "Always hit the white line"

   playing under the influence of cocaine is not good advice