Davis Love's Magic 1-Iron....

[JR Potts]

That Merion v. Aronimink and the tanget it took with the mythical 1 Iron of Davis Love got me thinking.  What is the one shot you've seen on a golf course where you just shook your head in awe?  It has to be a shot that you never thought was physically capable or that you never thought of hitting.

For me, it was a shot I saw Tiger Woods hit in the final round of 2006 PGA Championship.  As some on here may know, I was Tiger's marshall for that round.  By the time he got to the 14th hole, he had a 2 or 3 shot lead and was in total control of the tournament.  The 14th was playing around 575 yards and a lot of longer hitters like Tiger would take a  shot at it in two.  Tiger hit a very good drive to about 265 away.  With the lead that he had, I never thought he would go for it.....but he did.  He hit a block cut 2-iron about 25 yards right...but the ball struck a tree and bounded back into the fairway bunker approximately 85 yards from the green. 

The longish bunker shot is in most people's estimation the hardest shot in golf.  I, most often, will either catch it heavy with a wedge or too thin with a PW....mostly always with very poor results.

On this day, Tiger did not grab a SW, LW or a PW....but an eight-iron.  It was a shot I've never heard of, thought of or dreamed of.  He opened it up, swung at it like a greenside bunker shot and the ball floated in the air with grace landing 20 feet from the hole and checking.

It was amazing to me....I've tried that shout out of that same bunker dozens of time....all without success.

It was almost as good as Davis Love's 1-iron.   

[Ronald Montesano]

I use the PW and 9-iron often for longish bunker shots.  It takes practice and commitment...Tiger has bags of those.

[TEPaul]

What immediately comes to my mind that I saw in person were:

1. Nebraskan Long John Hurley's tee shot on the uphill 400 yard 8th at PCC which got to about 15 FEET of the green.
2. All Davis Love's 1 irons in the Walker Cup at Pine Valley
3. A series of bunker shots Peter Jacobsen was doing from the back bunker of GMGC's 18th straight downhill to a pin about 25 feet away with a 6 IRON!!!   (not to even mention that he said he learned it from Ballesteros who could do the same thing as his 6 iron with a 2 iron!!!!!!)

[Ronald Montesano]

Gary McCord @ Crag Burn Golf Club in the late 1980s...gist of story:  You guys have NO IDEA how good we (PGA Touring Pros) really are.

[Phil_the_Author]

October 2008, standing behind the fence at the first tee of Bethpage Black on a wonderful sunny late mid-week morning watching the group ahead of us teeing off.

The third person in the group to hit began limping to the tee. Limping because he was wearing a prothesis as his right leg had been amputated above the knee. He was wearing shorts and so it was quite obvious to all. As he addressed the ball not even the crows that inhabit Bethpage were making a sound... dead silence and then he swung.

The crack of the ball against the metal face of the driver echoed for but a moment as a cheer went up from all those gathered in the area, growing ever louder as the ball flew high, straight and true and landed dead center of the fairway even with its right hand turn. He simply bent down, picked up his tee, tipped his cap to the 20+ people cheering and smiled ever so slightly.

Being in the group behind I had occasion to say hello to him once or twice as play slowed. He had lost his leg in Iraq while in the army. He told me that the thought of never playing another round of golf was what got him through the months of rehab and depression. He simply loves the game and wanted to play...

Great shots, mythical shots, incredible shots; they are simply fun to watch. This was love of the game at its most corny and inspirational and real, and I got to watch it played out first hand in front of me. To hear him laugh and joke and make of his friends as they ignored what was most defintiely not a disability in his mind and gave back to him more than he gave out...

That was among the handful of most magical moments I've ever spent on a golf course and the single greatest golf shot I've ever seen.

By the way, he shot a 93 from the championship tees...

[Mac Plumart]

Thanks for sharing that story Phil.

[Bill_McBride]

I use the PW and 9-iron often for longish bunker shots.  It takes practice and commitment...Tiger has bags of those.

If anyone saw the very long bunker shot Camilo Villegas played vs Poulter in this year's Accenture was magical.

[Mike Cirba]

The former pro at Glen Oak CC in Waverly, PA was a fellow by the name of Jerry Port who passed a few years back and who played the tour for a short stint.

I recall hearing him as a kid talking about what it took to make it on tour.

He relayed the story of his sometimes roommate, Homero Blancas, who evidently used to chip balls in the hotel room onto the desk chairs...and get them to stop on the seat.

I never saw it, but hearing it let me know at a very early age that this wasn't going to be a lucrative path for me.

[Ben Sims]

Gary McCord @ Crag Burn Golf Club in the late 1980s...gist of story:  You guys have NO IDEA how good we (PGA Touring Pros) really are.

I echo this sentiment.

However, I think what amazes me more is watching guys that get paid to do things other play golf for a living, hit amazing shots.  My buddy Wyatt's hole in one on the 9th at Kingsley was one of the purest shots I've ever seen.  I've seen him hit 340 yard drives dead on line.  I've seen him saw off lasered mid irons dead into the wind.  

He's not the only one.  It's mind boggling to me just how good guys that play once a week can be.  

[Tim Gavrich]

It was a relatively "routine" shot I suppose, but I struggle to think of a better shot I've seen in person than Bubba Watson's wedge shot on the first hole of the playoff at the Travelers Championship a couple weeks ago--the one he nearly holed out.  It was an incredible moment, followed by an emotional victory and acceptance speech on Watson's part.

[Ronald Montesano]

Story # 2...Billy Andrade at Wake Forest...hitting wood-head drivers to his Kappa Sig fraternity brother (catcher's mitt) on Polo Field driving range (before they had Haddock Center.)  Dude move a bit left, a bit right, no more.

Story # 3...Len Mattiace hitting knock-down two irons...same place...never got more than fifteen feet off ground...called it his "British Open shot."

[Ronald Montesano]

Final story...holed a full sand wedge on Tuesday for eagle on a par four...good hole, too.  My reaction?  Holy fruck!  Tour pro reaction?  Wow, that almost missed...or, About freaking time...or Yeah, you know it.

[TEPaul]

I guess if one wanted to discuss amazing shots one might have to include the entire career of Canadian Moe Norman. One of my best friends, a Canadian, played in numerous pro-ams with Moe Norman over the years and he tells me it was constantly so remarkable no one would believe it if they didn't see it. He said amongst other things it would be unusual if Moe did not hit a flag or even two with approach shots during a round.

I never saw Moe Norman but I heard that Ben Crenshaw actually went and sought him out to watch him and came away a believer. Any of you ever talk to Ben on the phone? He's just great and he will spend an hour or two on the phone talking over interesting stuff about golf and architecture. I talked to him yesterday about a specific subject. I wish I thought to ask him if it's true he sought out Moe Norman just to watch him hit the ball. I think he said he was the best ball striker he ever saw.

Here's a great Moe Norman story some of you may've heard before. Moe was teeing it up on the first hole of a professional tournament and some heavyweights like Snead and another like that was in his group. The fairway ran out to a creek across it with a narrow bridge to fairway on the other side. They all took out something to lay up before the creek thinking the carry past the creek was too far but Moe takes out his driver to their amazement and lands his tee shot on the middle of the narrow bridge and carooms the ball far down the second fairway with the comment: "That's what the bridge is for...that's what the bridge is for" he says as he hands his driver to his caddie.

By the way, Moe was apparently sort of rainmanish and everything he said he said twice.

[David_Elvins]

Greg Norman hitting Driver off the deck.  I suspect they were like Love's one irons.  Unbelievable contact, long, straight and such a nice trajectory. 

[Ben Sims]

 Any of you ever talk to Ben on the phone? He's just great and he will spend an hour or two on the phone talking over interesting stuff about golf and architecture.

Mr. Paul,

No, but I'd like to.  Can I get his number? 

I followed Ben Crenshaw and watched him putt when I went to the Masters during a practice round back in college.  If one can be impressed with how true a roll can be, Mr. Crenshaw is the man to watch.

[Tim Gavrich]

I guess if one wanted to discuss amazing shots one might have to include the entire career of Canadian Moe Norman. One of my best friends, a Canadian, played in numerous pro-ams with Moe Norman over the years and he tells me it was constantly so remarkable no one would believe it if they didn't see it. He said amongst other things it would be unusual if Moe did not hit a flag or even two with approach shots during a round.

I never saw Moe Norman but I heard that Ben Crenshaw actually went and sought him out to watch him and came away a believer. Any of you ever talk to Ben on the phone? He's just great and he will spend an hour or two on the phone talking over interesting stuff about golf and architecture. I talked to him yesterday about a specific subject. I wish I thought to ask him if it's true he sought out Moe Norman just to watch him hit the ball. I think he said he was the best ball striker he ever saw.

Here's a great Moe Norman story some of you may've heard before. Moe was teeing it up on the first hole of a professional tournament and some heavyweights like Snead and another like that was in his group. The fairway ran out to a creek across it with a narrow bridge to fairway on the other side. They all took out something to lay up before the creek thinking the carry past the creek was too far but Moe takes out his driver to their amazement and lands his tee shot on the middle of the narrow bridge and carooms the ball far down the second fairway with the comment: "That's what the bridge is for...that's what the bridge is for" he says as he hands his driver to his caddie.

By the way, Moe was apparently sort of rainmanish and everything he said he said twice.

I have heard that Moe Norman would hold exhibitions where he would nip a long iron off the face of a watch without scratching it.  That would have been pretty incredible to see.

[TEPaul]

"If one can be impressed with how true a roll can be, Mr. Crenshaw is the man to watch."

Isn't that true! I bet Ben Crenshaw never thought about mechanics in putting in his life. If one has a natural flowing stroke like that why would you ever have to?

You know yesterday I just happen to tell him about my experiences with Glenn Collett Vare, arguably THE, or one of THE two greatest American lady amateurs (six US Amateur championships). I told him I knew her socially for maybe twenty years before I realized she was a golfer and one of the most famous American amateurs ever. And then when I started to play a lot at about 35 my father got me down to Seminole with Glenna and when she walked out on that course and took a club out and put her hands on it----BOOM----there it was, you could just see why she was so great.

I've seen less than a handful of golfers in my life whose hands on a golf club look like they were made for it and Ben Crenshaw is definitely one of them. Pay special attention to his right thumb----it sits on the grip of a golf club, particularly the putter, better than anyone else's ever has, in my opinion.

 

[Ben Sims]

I've seen less than a handful of golfers in my life whose hands on a golf club look like they were made for it and Ben Crenshaw is definitely one of them. Pay special attention to his right thumb----it sits on the grip of a golf club, particularly the putter, better than anyone else's ever has, in my opinion.

 

He was a student of the best instructor in history.  Harvey Penick's Little Red Book is still THE primer, in my opinion.  My best swings generally come after rereading a passage or two. 

[TEPaul]

Ben Sims:

You know it's pretty amazing for you to say that about Harvey Pennick as an instructor and Crenshaw's primary instructor, as well as Kite's, on a thread that has Davis Love's name in the title. I sort of looked at Pennick as a great homily instructor but it seems to me in the business of golf instruction and within that particular fraternity, the one that many said may've been the greatest techinical teaching genius they ever knew of was actually Davis's father.

Ben and Davis are very close, I think, and have been for a long time.

The particular thing that really amazed me, and certainly amused me, about Davis's father is before he died he mentioned this secret move or thought he taught Davis that created his incredible length. He said he only taught it to one other golfer but he either died or they completely lost track of him. Then he explained it in an article. I tried it once and sure couldn't do it. It's one of the most unusual swing thoughts to actually try to do and believe me I used to practice all the time and had a tome of "keys" that I used to roll through finding one that worked on the range, use it for a week, it would wear out, and I would find another in the tome---most of which my Dad taught me.

My father had a very unique philosophy on teaching and the dynamics of golf. He could explain the basic dynamics of the golf swing incredibly well in less than an hour and how those dynamics affected the ball and then he just said; "Let the ball be your teacher."

[Greg Tallman]

Not a single shot but 2 consecutive...

Rather obscure former tour pro that the Pittsburgh guys will know.

Playing a practice round for the Monday qualifier for the Quicksilver Hogan-Nike-Nationwide Tour event outside Pittsburgh. The event is at the course of former tour player Harry Toscano. Great guy, actually played basketball under the legendary Guy Lewis at Houston. Anyway, to that point I have played plenty of golf with Harry, know he can flat play and was once considered one of the longer players on tour if not the longest for a period of time but nothing ridiculous to that point.

We come to this par 5, forget the yardage but out of reach for me. I hit driver as good as I can and if I recall he hits a fariway wood from the tee... well past my Sunday best  . I should mention at the time I was 20 or 21 and Harry was turning 50! Ok now we get to the good part. Having just hit my best from the tee and knowing I cannot get home I hit as good of a 2-iron as I can. I take a drop from on top of the 100 yard marker. Harry, 50 year old Harry, hits his 3-iron in the middle of the green!!!!

Talk about deflated. At this stage I was thinking of ginving playing a whirl for a few years. Then I witness this. Now my short game was as good as it gets, sorry, but it was, and i still left that round feeling so inferior and completely outclassed I pretty much hung up thoughts of playing which turned out to be a great idea given the power game in play today.

Nevermind that I go on to beat him in the qualifier on his own course and nearly qualify for the event. I could not get over that display. I was dumbfounded. We share a few beers in the following days and Harry shares a few distance stories that included a common friend who comes from my hometown. He and Harry playing together in Hilton Head, this guys hits his Sunday best and feeling pretty good about it turns to harry and says "chase that one big boy". Well, Harry puts the driver back in the bag, grabs an iron and blows it 30 yards past our friend's drive... I still felt violated, though I was able to laugh a bit at Chet.

This was 20 plus years ago and I can recall it like yesterday.

[Tom Birkert]

Tom,

My favourite Moe Norman story is when he was told that the upcoming hole was relatively short, a "driver, wedge" hole.

Moe preceded to hit wedge off the tee, then hit his driver from the fairway to a couple of feet from the pin.

I've seen some footage of him, and it really was metronomic. Amazing to watch.

[Ron Farris]

I have seen many shots of awe over the years, but one sticks in my mind and Pete Dye has reminded me of it the last two times I saw him.  In 1980 I was fortunate enough to play a round of golf with Pete a co-worker at Long Cove, Buzz, Tom Doak, and Alice Dye.  Yeah that makes a fivesome, but that is a different story.  Cant remember the hole but Alice was about 40 yards out in a bunker.  Pete and I were standing by the green.  I was just a kid who grew up in the Sand Hills of Nebraska and I spent most of my golf trying to take spin off the ball to fight the wind.  Well Alice proceeds to take her most graceful swing and throw the ball on the green about 5 feet past the hole.  The ball checked and spun back next to the hole.  To this day I envision it as the most beautiful shot I have witnessed, partly because Pete saw my mouth drop open in AWE.  Secondly because he has reminded me of how I was so impressed with a true Lady of Golf, and thirdly because Alice graciously fixed my reverse pivot that I had been doing for 12 years.  The other reason is because it was the fivesome.

[Steve Kline]

My family went to a parent-child Golf Digest golf school sometime in the late 80s. Davis Love, Jr. was to be our instructor but he died in the plane crash shortly before the school. 

The best shot I've ever seen was in a practice round at the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. I decided to follow Tiger for one of his early morning practice rounds and there weren't many people following. On the par 5 4th hole Tiger went for the green with a 2-iron. The first one went a little left into the rough about 20 yards short of the green and the second one ended up on the green. I was on the left side of the hole and not far from Tiger's shot that landed in the rough. He walked up to the ball, 2-iron still in hand, and squatted down so his butt was almost touching the ground. He then laid the face of the 2-iron wide open and hit the most beautiful flop shot out of U.S. Open bermuda rough over a bunker to about 10 feet. No one else in the 100 person gallery seemed to be paying attention but I turned to the guy next to me and said that is the best shot we will ever see.

The most amazing shot I ever saw was also at Pinehurst. My dad and I were playing #2 one afternoon. We were on the 9th tee and waiting for the guys on the 10th tee to hit (the tees are quite close together with the holes going in opposite directions). One of the guys in the foursome on 10 is standing even with his partner's ball but off to the right side of the tee. His partner swings, hits the ball on the outside of the toe of the driver (not on the toe of the face, but the outside of the driver) and it goes straight to the right (I mean perpendicular to his line of play), takes one hop, and hits his partner square in the temple. The guy's knees buckle but he doesn't hit the ground. Fortunately, the halfway house was right there so the guy got a huge bag of ice. Three holes later we saw him walking down the fairway still holding the bag of ice to his head. Dude never skipped a shot during his round.

[Mike Benham]

And once, at band camp ...

[Sean_A]

On a more human level....I saw our once retired Rihc Goodale hit a bunker shot for the ages.  We were playng Deal back into a wind strong enough to send boats to their docks and with rain slapping our faces sideways.  Rihc is in the short left greenside bunker on 15 - maybe 50 yards from the hole.  He blasts out high enough to scare birds - well above the flag.  The Deal wind then blasts back.  No exaggeration here, the ball came back about ten yards in the air, hits the deck, screws forward (yes forward) and tumbles toward the hole for a kick in par.  Most would say it was luck, but I was there.

Ciao