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14th at St Andrews....

• tiffer67 1,764 Posts

  Fri, Nov 5 2010 5:12 AM

  I have been playing the 18 hole ready go round St Andrews for the last couple of months. The conditions are set to heavy winds and on the 14th I was very much of the mind set that if it was into the wind, I had little chance of a birdie. The chances of clearing the rough were nil, leaving me a long shot into the green in regulation.

  The question always put to you in this situation is where to bale out with your second shot. I had always taken 1 of 2 options. The first being to hit down the right side of the fairway as far it goes, landing just short of the rough. The problem with taking that route is that you have a very long shot into the green.

  The other option is to cross to the left hand fairway which leaves you a shorter 3rd shot into the green. I'm sure however we've all been a victim of the out of bounds when taking this option.

  In the last couple of weeks I have now gone down the route of a 3rd bale out place to land. Perhaps I've been a bit slow with this one but in playing against other players, none have taken this option. I now aim to land in the rough to the right hand side of Hell Bunker. It seems the worst lie you get there is a 30/40% but often a 20/25% and you usually have a 9 iron, wedge in from there. This makes a birdie a real possibility.

  Hope this is of use to someone out there :^)

  

• sumitkaushal 32 Posts

  Fri, Nov 5 2010 12:24 PM

  Hi tiffer67

  That really is a great post, even i was struggling with it, and i tried this new option, and seems to work better.

  Will practise more to perfect it..

  Wish you happy playing

  Thanks

  Sumit

  Birthday Cakes

• mohuyu 891 Posts

  Fri, Nov 5 2010 1:15 PM

  For some reason tiffer that had never occured to me - I usually like to take on the "OB challenge" and have fallen victim on many a meter freeze.

  Good post.

• tiffer67 1,764 Posts

  Fri, Nov 5 2010 3:21 PM

  Thanks guys, glad to see it may well be of help.

  The reason you get such a generous lie is actually staring us all in the face. The right hand side of Hell Bunker is where a lot of the real golfers walk to get to the final part of the 14th hole. You can see the paths of well worn rough winding their way through.

  I've managed a few birdies from there now and put to bed the anger and frustration that comes from the ridiculous OB on the left :^)

• Solid1 95 Posts

  Fri, Nov 5 2010 4:05 PM

  good tip Chris , I'll give it a try next time  I have the dreaded 30 MPH headwind

• SuttonPlaysGolf 18 Posts

  Sat, Nov 6 2010 12:38 AM

  Excellent idea - I'll give it a try and hopefully get back on track with my scores.

  BTW: Any tips for the 17th ? With the wind against the landing area on the normal fairway is very tight. I've tried baling out to the left and it has kinda worked but still more often than not it's a layup then a tricky up and down.

• Covenant 1,498 Posts

  Mon, Aug 8 2011 8:17 AM

  For a long time I tried to get my ball on the left side fairway, but that cost me balls because if you hit it a bit too much left its out of bounce.

  So i focused on the other area you suggested and luckily WGT did make that rough playable, however I expect it to get the awefull 40-50% we all love to hate.

  From that patch of rough a good appraoch for your 3rd shot is very possible

• DarSum 1,440 Posts

  Mon, Aug 8 2011 8:30 AM

  That is a great tip. I found that area on accident a few months ago. Generous landing area too.

• todser 122 Posts

  Mon, Aug 8 2011 8:50 AM

  If u have a decent lie on 2nd shot,play a punch with some top spin aiming for front of green,7/10 u will roll to within 20 feet of pin,but be warned to little you roll back leaving hard putt uphill with movement everywhere,too much & your against the wall.

  Todser.

• MBaggese 15,367 Posts

  Mon, Aug 8 2011 10:28 AM

  I've been playing that shot into the wind for a long time now, funny though, I used to recall it being 20/25 rough, then about the time CCC was introduced I've noticed in the same location it's now 25/30 rough.

   

  I also noticed 25/30 rough on other courses since about the rollout of CCC as well.

   

  Anyone else notice that too?