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Pebble Beach #8

• BPeterson8256 2,913 Posts

  Thu, Mar 23 2017 9:01 PM

  I was hoping someone could help me understand the drive on #8 @ Pebble Beach. I can normally make par on this hole, with the occasional bird, but I want more good chances at bird. From the long tees, there is about 250-260 yards to work with. (going by my bad memory here) It shows as 40+ feet of elevation gain. Most of the time the drive plays as I would expect. Then every once in awhile I will hit a 3W full power in to the wind, and it rolls out way past 250 and into the rough over the edge. Am I missing something as to how that slope is in the landing area? It has me too nervous about hitting close to the edge, or even within 10 yards or so. Consequently, I end up playing a 3 iron most of the time, which plays like you would expect, not even getting 220 because of the uphill. That leaves for a very long approach shot, which is not exactly the strongest part of my game. On most other courses I can play shots right up to the edge of obstacles. I have pretty good distance control. I just can't figure out why it runs so much on this hole sometimes. Any tips on what I am missing? 

• Kenher01 1,151 Posts

  Fri, Mar 24 2017 10:55 AM

  BPeterson8256:

  I was hoping someone could help me understand the drive on #8 @ Pebble Beach. I can normally make par on this hole, with the occasional bird, but I want more good chances at bird. From the long tees, there is about 250-260 yards to work with. (going by my bad memory here) It shows as 40+ feet of elevation gain. Most of the time the drive plays as I would expect. Then every once in awhile I will hit a 3W full power in to the wind, and it rolls out way past 250 and into the rough over the edge. Am I missing something as to how that slope is in the landing area? It has me too nervous about hitting close to the edge, or even within 10 yards or so. Consequently, I end up playing a 3 iron most of the time, which plays like you would expect, not even getting 220 because of the uphill. That leaves for a very long approach shot, which is not exactly the strongest part of my game. On most other courses I can play shots right up to the edge of obstacles. I have pretty good distance control. I just can't figure out why it runs so much on this hole sometimes. Any tips on what I am missing? 

  Just land angle, As the fairway Is above you you're ball is coming In at a shallow angle so It "skid's" or gets a big first hop

  Play that hole on the one hole practice off the legend Tee's (tip in another thread called "playing the same hole several times") & play it with a headwind, tailwind & crosswind & you'll be able to hit driver with all 3 wind directions & roughly know how hard to hit each drive

  Ken

• lonniescott711 4,207 Posts

  Fri, Mar 24 2017 11:35 AM

  I play it with 3 wood full b/s off the tee hitting to far left of fairway and mid iron  from there . I can usually birdie it  as I dont find it a hard hole to play . You have to also remember that even though the wind indicator is showing wind that sometimes its no wind at all . Play a couple of practice rounds using the rockjust to get a better idea of how to pick your spots for shot placement .

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Fri, Mar 24 2017 11:46 AM

  BPeterson8256:

  I want more good chances at bird

  Learn the approach from 180-200. Use a 3W or 3i off the tee (depending on wind) and don't worry about trying to max the fairway. The 3, 4 and 5 irons are the clubs you want to look at because how the wind blows is going to affect their usefulness.

  The green is below you so your shots will go long, expect it. Use the wind to your advantage. Headwinds are my preference because they help stop the landing. Tailwinds are going to cause roll so expect it. The green itself is uphill if  you land early so that rollout is going to be compromised if you play a run up shot-use ts.

  My favorite setup on that 2nd shot is with a headwind. Club up, choke the swing, use bs and stick it.  :-)

• K7JBQ 1,468 Posts

  Fri, Mar 24 2017 12:40 PM

  All good advice. The other thing I've noticed about the second shot is that it always takes a little stronger shot than the elevation change would have you think. Not a huge amount, but using the shot you would normally calculate will generally come up about 10 yards short. It's almost like they didn't calculate the elevation into the shot (like they didn't on the uphill on 6).

• BPeterson8256 2,913 Posts

  Fri, Mar 24 2017 9:46 PM

  Kenher01:

  Play that hole on the one hole practice off the legend Tee's (tip in another thread called "playing the same hole several times") & play it with a headwind, tailwind & crosswind & you'll be able to hit driver with all 3 wind directions & roughly know how hard to hit each drive

  Ken

  That is a great tip. I need to figure out how to do that. I have very rarely used practice mode, and forget what a great resource that is for figuring things out. Although I think driver will be way too much there.

  As I think about it, this drive plays a lot like the 2nd shot on #6. It is another elevated shot that is hard to control the distance. It seems like if a ball gets to the green, it will roll all the way to the back. It is an easy hole to birdie, but eagles would come easy if I could just control the distance a little better.

• borntobesting 9,706 Posts

  Sat, Mar 25 2017 1:50 AM

  One thing I have noticed on # 8 lately is that the elevation change has little or no effect on the shot. 

• Kenher01 1,151 Posts

  Sat, Mar 25 2017 12:12 PM

  BPeterson8256:

  Kenher01:

  Play that hole on the one hole practice off the legend Tee's (tip in another thread called "playing the same hole several times") & play it with a headwind, tailwind & crosswind & you'll be able to hit driver with all 3 wind directions & roughly know how hard to hit each drive

  Ken

  That is a great tip. I need to figure out how to do that. I have very rarely used practice mode, and forget what a great resource that is for figuring things out. Although I think driver will be way too much there.

  As I think about it, this drive plays a lot like the 2nd shot on #6. It is another elevated shot that is hard to control the distance. It seems like if a ball gets to the green, it will roll all the way to the back. It is an easy hole to birdie, but eagles would come easy if I could just control the distance a little better.

  Hi BP,

             Example of my 1st shot at the 6th using my driver (rated 282), 15mph left to right crosswind, Hit driver at 88% power with FBS & It leaves me a couple of yards short of the end of the fairway which leaves an easier second shot over hitting a 3i off the Tee.

  (all trial & error using the one hole practice on the quirky holes)

  My way of playing the 2nd shot of the 6th hole Is to Ignore the distance to the pin & Instead play to the stated yardage at front of green (6 yd's less). In my early day's I was also nearly always long on that second shot so went to One Hole Practice & using ScottHope's tip to change the Tee Box to Legend I found a way to be just on or just short of the green by not going to the stated yardage of the pin Irrespective of wind

  Ken

• K7JBQ 1,468 Posts

  Sat, Mar 25 2017 1:49 PM

  On the second shot on 6, I've had my best results landing the ball just short of the green using full bs and letting it trickle up toward the hole. Ignore the "elevation" completely.

• Kenher01 1,151 Posts

  Sun, Mar 26 2017 5:04 AM

  BPeterson8256:

  Kenher01:

  Play that hole on the one hole practice off the legend Tee's (tip in another thread called "playing the same hole several times") & play it with a headwind, tailwind & crosswind & you'll be able to hit driver with all 3 wind directions & roughly know how hard to hit each drive

  Ken

  That is a great tip. I need to figure out how to do that. I have very rarely used practice mode, and forget what a great resource that is for figuring things out. Although I think driver will be way too much there.

  As I think about it, this drive plays a lot like the 2nd shot on #6. It is another elevated shot that is hard to control the distance. It seems like if a ball gets to the green, it will roll all the way to the back. It is an easy hole to birdie, but eagles would come easy if I could just control the distance a little better.