INTIMIDATION

[Patrick_Mucci]

What feature most intimidates a golfer off the tee ?

What feature most intimidates a golfer on their approach ?

What feature most intimidates a golfer on the green ?

[Evan_Green]

I think the most intimidating thing off the tee is a long narrow chute through the trees. Whereas the golfer can start the ball over something like a lake or bunker, there is no room for a cut or draw on a shot like that. #12 tee shot from the black tees at the Olympic Lake is a good example.

[Bill Weber]

A. Trouble left for scratch golfer, trouble right bogie golfer, and no room opposite to bail out.

B. Small greens.

C. 3/6 feet  

[Rick_Noyes]

A. water
B. water
C. 3-4 footer downhill left to right(for right hander), right to left(for a left hander).

There is no recovery from water.

Rick

[Dan Kelly]

1. Forced carry.

2. Forced carry.

3. Severe slope, fast green.

[ForkaB]

1.  Hitting out of a tree lined chute
2.  green framed by gunge or gorse (where if you miss you may have to walk back and hit it again)
3.  any 3-6 foot putt when something (score, bet) is on the line

[A_Clay_Man]

OBJECTION:

Calls for the witness to speculate on someone else's golf or to state they know what's in someone elses head.

As for me: if a certain hole/shot takes to me to a place where I'm intimidated, I better adapt my club selection to the point where something so fearful (yikes) is designed out of the shot. Of course if you have no options, walk off the course.

[JakaB]

I personnally find the splash of water to be comforting when compared to the uncertainty of woods or weeds....Lateral Hazard penalties are often less severe than ball of lost.

[Dan Herrmann]

1.  House Golf  (houses on both sides of the fairway)
2.  House Golf  (houses too close to the green)
3.  Downhill 3-foot putt that could end up off the green.

[MikeMcCartin]

1. History  (ex. the tee shots on 1, 18 at The Old Course, they should be so easy, but it's hard to make a swing when you consider where you're playing.   Any tee shot you've been anticipating for a long time--famous holes, courses.  History might not be a feature in the traditional gca sense, you can't just create it on any course, but is intimidating)

If you don't count history, then gorse flanking both sides of the fairway on an exposed links.  It's almost equivalent to out of bounds.

2.  Water short.

3.  A putt up and over a hump/ridge where there's a chance for the putt to get away from you on the other side.

[Jeff Fortson]

1 - O     B
2 - H2O
3 - Crowned hole location


Jeff F.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jeff Fortson,

I'm surprised that you're the first to mention OB off the tee.
I would have thought that was the most onerous obstacle.

What holes that you've played exemplify the thoughts everyone has provided ?

[MikeMcCartin]

OB is the most severe penalty, and therefore intimidating, but I have never come across a hole with OB on both sides of the fairway.  

Gorse, as a hazard, is similar to OB--if you hit it in gorse off the tee, you might as well tee up another.  And I have played holes with gorse lining both sides of the fairway and to me they are the most intimidating of all tee shots.  Examples include the 7th at Dornoch (and I've heard it used to be even narrower) and the 6th on the New Course at St. Andrews.  When played in any type of wind, keeping your tee shot between those remorseless thorns is a difficult and intimidating proposition.

While writing this, I've thought of an example which combines the two--the 11th at Troon, one of the hardest tee shots I've ever had to play.

[ForkaB]

Mike

You forgot that the 1st and 18th at TOC each has OB right and left, as Ian Baker-Finch can testify to!

You are also right about the oft denigrated 7th at Dornoch.  Even now, since the gorse has been cut back and tamed to allow for mortals to be able to finish the course, the gorse can grab you either side, on your first or second shot.  When the gorse was grown in tight, in the mid-80's, it was one of the most intimidating hoels I have ever seen.

[Rellio]

Go to Hilton Head.  There is OB left and right on almost every hole.

1) Long bunker shots
2) OB for sure

[Jeff Fortson]

Patrick,


1 - OB off the tee.....

#14, #16, #17 St. Andrews (Old Course)
#6 Pasatiempo (as my King's Putter playing partners can vouch for)

Plus many more on courses that are a little less known.



2 - H2O on iron shots to greens.....

#11, #12, #13, #15, #16 ANGC
#17 TPC Sawgrass
#8 Pebble
#16 CPC

plus many others.



3 - Greens with crowned hole locations.....

#6 ANGC
#6, #12 NGLA
#2 Pinehurst-#2
#11 Shinnecock

plus many others.



Jeff F.

[cary lichtenstein]

Fear, nothing is worse than the fear in the mind of a man.

[ACR]

A) members having dinner in a spot, where a heeled hook could land in the soup (Merion)

B) members having dinner behind a plate glass window, where a skulled wedge could land in the soup (Louisville CC)

C) Any downhill putt that could realistically wind up in a bunker or 30 yards down the fairway (almost any hole at Pinehurst, #1 at Sandhills)

[Andy Hodson]

1]  OB.  1a] would be a hidden water hazard

2]  Water over a green (or OB), esp. to a back hole location

3]  A green whose contour could be such that, while the ball may be on the green, the best play is a pitch over the intruding collar.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jeff Fortson,

Doesn't NGLA have OB left ?

[JLahrman]

1) I agree with OB.  At least if you splash one you get to drop.

2) ACR makes an interesting point.  There is a covered patio behind and to the left of the 9th green at Camargo.  You don't have to hit it over by much to put it in there.  If there was a dinner party or anything going on out there, you play a knockdown short and right if you even finish the hole.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=2817

#9 is to the left of the tennis courts.

3)  Any putt on a reasonably fast green that has a slope that starts a foot or two past the hole.

[Jeff Fortson]

Patrick,

Actually, I believe the scorecard at NGLA says something to the effect of, "There is no out-of-bounds on the golf course, anywhere."  If there is OB at NGLA, I never saw it or knew of it.

Jeff F.

[Mike Benham]

OB is the most severe penalty, and therefore intimidating, but I have never come across a hole with OB on both sides of the fairway.  

The first at Pebble has OB left and right ... coupled with the "oh-I-have-a-gallery-watching-me-tee-off-playing-Pebble-for-$350-and-the-first-hole-is-suppose-to-be-the-easiest-on-the-course-and-I-am-too-nervous-to-begin-my-takeaway" intimidation factor ...

[ian]

1. Tightness and blindness
2. Blind shot
3. A steeply downhill putt

[Doug Siebert]

I played Dornoch in May 1991, had the gorse been cut back already then or not?  I recall that tee shot being pretty dicey, and even after I successfully kept it straight with my 1 iron, the second shot wasn't a picnic either.  I seem to recall it really closing in to the left and behind the green, but maybe I was just imagining it since my misses are often left or long left.