CMcCartney727:I guess I thought 7 iron into a green was a reasonable shot. I really was expecting the bunker... I just couldn't bring myself to lay up from 170.
Indeed. I have often tried to land in the rough short of the green, just as you did, hoping it would take the force off of the ball and it might roll gently up to the cup, a la Bethpage 15. (Instead, I land short, in the bunker, or land on the green, with the predictable bad result.) Thanks for letting us see that this is probably counterproductive.