People that always find their ball

[Izzy Gaye]

Its funny how some people always seem to find their ball. They will hit it into the deepest/ thickest junk, and if no one is around, they always seem to find the ball. The next move is to loudly claim how they "can't believe they actually have a clear shot to the green."

[SoonerBS]

Have you ever heard of a guy named, Larry?

[Kiwi Player]

Have you ever heard of a guy named, Larry?

He hits 99% of fairways so it's not often that he needs to pull this stunt. On the rare occasions he does miss the fairway he prefers to employ his leather wedge technique.

[Not a hacker]

Ah, the old 'trouser ball'. It's quite amazing how you can walk over a section of course and see nothing, only to get to the green and hear the cheat loudly proclaim "Found it", then turn and see it sitting up on a perfect lie right out in the open where you just looked. There are a few guys at my club like this. Not surprisingly they are all well known cheats who shoot scores nothing short of miraculous in big events, but fail to deliver in the later matchplay stages when someone honest is marking their cards. I sometimes ask them why they need to carry a ball in their trouser pocket during their round, but they just try to laugh it off.

[SoonerBS]

What these guys don't understand, is just how challenging and fun it is to create a shot to get out of trouble. On some holes, I will risk some shots purposely by taking them over wooded areas because I have played out of the woods so often I have confidence in doing so. To me, it's kind of fun to see guys think they have me on a hole and I punch one low out of the woods, under tree limbs, and bump and run it up on the green. You can just see the wind go right out of their sails.

[Not a hacker]

What these guys don't understand, is just how challenging and fun it is to create a shot to get out of trouble. On some holes, I will risk some shots purposely by taking them over wooded areas because I have played out of the woods so often I have confidence in doing so. To me, it's kind of fun to see guys think they have me on a hole and I punch one low out of the woods, under tree limbs, and bump and run it up on the green. You can just see the wind go right out of their sails.

The guys I'm talking about don't 'find' their ball in a good spot because they fear a challenge, they find it there because their tee shots were last seen sailing over the OB fence, but I agree with you in principle. The way I've been hitting them lately I am becoming quite proficient at hitting them out of the tees. If you hit it far enough and get close to the green, it's surprising how often you get a shot and a swing in the trees, and are able to knock it up onto the green.

[oldplayer]

The guys I'm talking about don't 'find' their ball in a good spot because they fear a challenge, they find it there because their tee shots were last seen sailing over the OB fence, but I agree with you in principle. The way I've been hitting them lately I am becoming quite proficient at hitting them out of the tees. If you hit it far enough and get close to the green, it's surprising how often you get a shot and a swing in the trees, and are able to knock it up onto the green.

Yeah with the new technology and balls many PGA pros these days also employ this strategy.

[Not a hacker]

Yeah with the new technology and balls many PGA pros these days also employ this strategy.

Funnily enough, I think the recovery shot is perhaps the one area that has suffered with the advent of technology. Apart from Tiger, I think you would be hard pressed to find any really good shot makers who have the shots to get out of any situation. Back in the day guys like Seve, Trevino and even Norman had the ball on a string and could get up and down from anywhere around the green, or on the green from anywhere on the course. The shotmaking ability of Seve was unparralleled. As ironic as this sounds, I think Tiger was actually unlucky that he played durng the equipment revolution, because he would have put a bigger gap between himslef and the field if technology hadn't happened. He is probably the one guy on tour who benefited least from technology. When you hit it as pure as he does, you don't need technology to get good results. And in the old days when he first came on he was 40 yards ahead of the rest of the field from the tee, but now he is only a run of the mill long hitter. I don't know the numbers, but I'd bet that Tiger got the least gain in distance in the last 10 years of any top player on tour. Norman suffered to an extent from equipment allowing inferior ball strikers to keep up with him, but with Tiger it's even more pronounced. Put persimmon woods, blade irons and wound balls in their hands, and there is no way a bum like Nick O'Hern is going to be fit to carry Tiger's bag, never mind actually beat him in matchplay.