TEPaul,
I was playing in a match, my foursome against two other foursomes, and additional matches whereby each member of my foursome was paired with me in two man matches against other two man teams from the other foursomes. In addition, I had some individual matches with members of the other foursomes.
On the 8th hole we thought that the foursome in front of us had birdied the hole, a 160 yard par 3.
After the other members of my team hit their shots, I hit mine.... for a hole in one.
But, that wasn't the best shot of the day.
On the 16th hole, another par 3 of about 185 yards, the other 3 members of my team all hit mediocre to poor shots.
I then hit an iron which embeded in the face of the right side front bunker.
The ball was totally embeded in the steep face of the bunker with only a small portion of the ball visible.
Fortunately, I could take a fairly normal stance since the ball was closer to the bottom of the bunker.
Upon arriving at the bunker, the caddy handed me my L-Wedge and my partners said, "just get it out somewhere on the green and maybe you'll make the putt."
I then put the L-Wedge back in my bag, and took out my Tommy Armour IMGT blade putter and walked into the bunker to my ball.
My partners walked into the bunker, and said, "what are you doing" I said, "I'm going to take the my putter, turn it sideways, and hit behind the ball with an upward swing" They then grabbed me and said, "Not with our money. There's no way we're going to let you hit that shot". I said, "Listen, I know what I'm doing. I can't even move that ball with an L-Wedge, now stand back and get out of my way." After a mini-conference, they left the bunker, grumbling to themselves.
I then took my stance, a wider stance, aimed about 2-3 inches behind and below the ball, and swung pretty hard.
Lo and behold, the ball flew out of that incredibly bad lie to about 3 feet from the hole, whereupon I made the putt for par.
They looked at themselves in disbelief.
Then they turned to me and said, "You must have practiced that shot 1,000 times."
I said, "That's the first time I ever tried it."
They said, "What ? With all the money on the line, you tried a shot you'd never tried before ?
Where did you learn it ?"
I said, "last night I woke up at 2:00 am and couldn't go back to sleep, so I turned on the TV.
At about 4:00 am, Chi Chi Rodriquez comes on and says that he's had this lie many times and that he's never been able to get the ball out until now, when he discovered this new shot, which he demonstrated. He said, you have to have a blade like putter to execute this shot. So, when I saw my ball in the bunker, the lie looked exactly like the lies on TV that night, so, I decided to try it. And, to my surprise, the damned shot worked. And, Just think, If I hadn't woken up and watched TV, we'd have a lot less money in our wallets."
A few weeks later I was playing at Southern Hills for the first time.
My hosts, really terrific guys, had been inviting me for years, telling me what a great course SH was and how difficult it was.
I had birdied # 1, parred # 2 and birdied # 3. As we walked to the 4th tee I kidded them and said, "I thought you said this was a difficult golf course" They grumbled and groaned. On # 4 I hit a good tee shot, then, trying to get my approach between the front of the green and the hole, buried my approach in the fronting bunker. When we reached the bunker, my hosts, now busting my chops, said, "we don't play unplayables in the bunkers here" When I walked into the bunker with my Tommy Armour IMGT blade putter, the look on their faces was priceless. They had no idea as to why I had a putter in my hand. I think they thought I was going to line up a potential putt from the front of the green to the hole.
When I took my stance, their faces were really puzzled.
I then turned the club sideways, swung, and lo and behold, the ball ended up a foot from the hole.
What followed was quizical language unfit for print.
"Holly S, What the F ? Are you F'n kidding me ?
They asked, "How in the hell did you do that ?"
They said, "oh yeah, do it again and one of the fellows came into the bunker and threw a ball down into the sand such that it was very well embedded. I then repeated the shot, this time, not quite so close, but still in one putt range.
They asked, "how often do you practice that shot ?"
I said, that's the second time I've attempted it."
They couldn't believe it.
They then all entered the bunker and said, "TEACH US THAT SHOT !"
To which I said, "The minimum opening bid is $ 100" They all reached into their pockets and produced $ 100.
I told them to put their cash back in their pockets and that I wouldn't charge them, on one condition.
They said, "what's the condition ?" I said, "that you promise to keep the shot to yourself, and, that you don't claim that you invented shot, and that you tell them who taught you the shot." They all agreed and were amazed at how easy the shot was to execute once you commit to it mentally.
There's another great shot that Peter Kostis showed me, but, that's for another time as I'm off to dinner.