Your best shot of 2023

[Tommy Williamsen]

Even though I had surgery in April, I played a lot of golf. I had many chances to be brilliant and had both success and failure.
I holed out twice from 100 yards +, but they weren't my best shots. Hole-outs are as much luck as skill.
Two shots stick out in my mind, and both came on golf trips.
The first was a driver off the deck on 18 at Lido. After a poor drive, my caddie handed me my driver. "Adam, I just hit a lousy shot with that club. What makes you think I can hit it off the deck?" He just said, "You got this shot." I hit it to ten feet.





The second was a putt at Cabot Cliffs. Seventeen is a cliffside par three from 180 yards from the back tees. The green slopes severely from left to right. The pin that day was on the back left. I pushed my tee shot a bit, and it ended up on the back right of the green 40 feet from the hole. The putt broke two ways, and I had to start it  over the fringe. I saw the line in my head. Very seldom does that happen for me. Putting is not the best part of my game. The uphill putt started over the fringe broke left traveled up the to the second tier and broke right and stopped on the lip for a tap in par.

[Ally Mcintosh]

In to the teeth of a gale, I punched a low 2-iron in to ten feet from the left rough on the 18th at The Renaissance Club. Then I proceeded to hole the putt to win the tournament.


Oh hang on…






The shot I remember most was one of relief: Having just got a new set of irons with lighter, ascending weight shafts, I was catching some of my long irons embarrassingly fat… Turning out for Portmarnock Junior Cup team a couple of weeks after, I was faced with an 195 yard par-3 opening hole in front of an audience. Terrified I was going to virtually miss the ball, I sent a soaring 5-iron in to about 12 feet.

[John Kavanaugh]

On the 17th hole of a match where I had seen two holes in one by my opponents, one on a par four, I had a simple chip straight up the hill for eagle. Got up and down to finally contribute. Didn’t get a reality eagle but it counted on the card because I was stroking.


What made a simple chip so difficult was that I was Chokezilla minus one for the previous 16 holes. This was my one shot at redemption. Dug us out of a hole for the sweetest $20 loss of recent memory.

[Brad Tufts]

By odds, probably an eagle hole-out in an interclub match from 148y on #17 at Tedesco.  I shot 67 and we best-balled 65, but it was only a halved match!  Also made one from about 135 at Belvedere, on #13.


By importance...club championship finals, a wedge to 4" for a birdie on #16 to even the match, and then a 10-footer for par on the third extra hole.  My opponent unfortunately missed his 4-footer to tie.  This was my first win since 2020, #9 overall! 

[Matt_Cohn]

Well, this is probably the best one I have a picture of! 

[Tim Martin]

I made an ace on my 65th birthday on the 110 yard 7th hole at Suneagles GC in February which is a Tillinghast course on the Jersey Shore. Knock down nine iron into the wind that bounced twice to a back pin and found the darkness. It was my first and only play at the course.

[Peter Sayegh]

190 yard putt from the fairway, Mid South 15th hole.
Only eagle of the year.
The outcome of my tee shot and approach may have been lucky...but both were envisioned.

[archie_struthers]

 


Hit a really good shot to the 18th green in our senior club championship on the last of 36 stroke play. my buddy got up and down from behind the green in an impossible spot to make my birdie putt moot. I've been bad until recently so it was a little bit of redemption. He has won over 35 club championships at various clubs around the country so losing . while disappointing , wasn't a  real surprise....hope we have a rematch next summer!

[David_Tepper]

I have played Royal Dornoch twice with fellow GCA-er Ken Moum. The first time was 5-6 years ago, when I made an ace on #10. The second time was this past August when I hit it to 8 feet on #10 and made birdie. A total of 3 strokes in 2 rounds playing with him. Otherwise I am rarely unhappy making 4 there.

[Kevin Pallier]

Hard to go past my 1st hole-in-one after 35+ years of trying on 29/07/23. 6 iron - hole was playing about 155m (170 yds)


On the 1st hole at Russell Vale golf course. Was playing in a stableford competition - twas nice to write 1 = 5 pointer.


I didn't care about the rest of the round. 

[John Crowley]

Holed 175 yard 4 hybrid for eagle on 18 for net albatross in a team match. Bested age by 4 strokes. We won.


Also, since January holed 4 shots from 50 to 80 yards with my Callaway 58 degree PM grind wedge.


Lost the wedge last week. Has yet to be turned in at the course.


Replacement on its way from Second Swing.

[Ira Fishman]

First hole, first time playing TOC. First time playing anywhere with our host and his friend.


I hit a decent enough tee shot given how nervous I was on the tee. Proceeded to half chunk, half toe my second into the burn pretty close to the right edge of the fairway. Disaster and embarrassment lurked. My pitching game is weak, and I now faced a pitch with the wind behind me from a tight lie over the burn with people on the path watching, let alone my new playing partners. Trying to keep visions of a full chunk into the water or a skull over the green out of my head, I managed a crisp pitch to about six feet and made the putt.


Runner up: not hitting the hotel/sign on 17 coming back in that day.


Ira

[Tommy Williamsen]

First hole, first time playing TOC. First time playing anywhere with our host and his friend.


I hit a decent enough tee shot given how nervous I was on the tee. Proceeded to half chunk, half toe my second into the burn pretty close to the right edge of the fairway. Disaster and embarrassment lurked. My pitching game is weak, and I now faced a pitch with the wind behind me from a tight lie over the burn with people on the path watching, let alone my new playing partners. Trying to keep visions of a full chunk into the water or a skull over the green out of my head, I managed a crisp pitch to about six feet and made the putt.


Runner up: not hitting the hotel/sign on 17 coming back in that day.


Ira

The first tee at TOC is the site of my most embarrassing moment in golf. I hit my first shot out of bounds! There were a couple of dozen folks around the tee box. I wanted to crawl into a hole. My wife, however, enjoyed the moment.

[Ken Moum]

I have played Royal Dornoch twice with fellow GCA-er Ken Moum. The first time was 5-6 years ago, when I made an ace on #10. The second time was this past August when I hit it to 8 feet on #10 and made birdie. A total of 3 strokes in 2 rounds playing with him. Otherwise I am rarely unhappy making 4 there.

As far as I can tell, you OWN the 10th at Dornoch.


My best shot of the year was at Golspie's 10th.  After cold topping my tee shot and having it bounce on the path between the ponds and over the right-hand one, I proceeded to shank my second into a bunker, only to have it bank around on the revetting.


It popped over the lip and as I ran up to see where it went, I got to see it trickle across the green and into the hole for a birdie.


Since it was my last round in Scotland, I'll call it a "Haste ye back."

[Steve Wilson]

Also at Golspie.  During the senior Open on the seventh my approach had ran through the green and wormed its way into a lovely bird's nest of a lie.  I envisioned either going under and leaving it there or blading back down the fairway.  Instead it popped up into the air obediently, hit the green with a mild thunk and then began seeking the hole.  Seemed like it rolled for ten seconds, more likely three, reached the edge of the cup and with an "oh, what the hell" toppled in for a neat birdie when I had been expecting a bogie or worse. 


I think I enjoyed writing about it as much as I did the shot itself.


Of course, the fact I chose that shot tells you something about my year in golf.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Even though I had surgery in April, I played a lot of golf. I had many chances to be brilliant and had both success and failure.
I holed out twice from 100 yards +, but they weren't my best shots. Hole-outs are as much luck as skill.
Two shots stick out in my mind, and both came on golf trips.
The first was a driver off the deck on 18 at Lido. After a poor drive, my caddie handed me my driver. "Adam, I just hit a lousy shot with that club. What makes you think I can hit it off the deck?" He just said, "You got this shot." I hit it to ten feet.

I may know a guy that got video footage of that event.  If he were more tech savvy he might even post it here...


But in lieu of that suffice it to say it was majestic!!

[Tommy Williamsen]

Even though I had surgery in April, I played a lot of golf. I had many chances to be brilliant and had both success and failure.
I holed out twice from 100 yards +, but they weren't my best shots. Hole-outs are as much luck as skill.
Two shots stick out in my mind, and both came on golf trips.
The first was a driver off the deck on 18 at Lido. After a poor drive, my caddie handed me my driver. "Adam, I just hit a lousy shot with that club. What makes you think I can hit it off the deck?" He just said, "You got this shot." I hit it to ten feet.

I may know a guy that got video footage of that event.  If he were more tech savvy he might even post it here...


But in lieu of that suffice it to say it was majestic!!

What, no mention of your hole-in-one?

[John Kavanaugh]

I made a hole in one on the range today. Got ya Huck.

[Ronald Montesano]

It was a lesser-known brand of Tequila, and it came from a flask, in celebration of a friend's birdie.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Even though I had surgery in April, I played a lot of golf. I had many chances to be brilliant and had both success and failure.
I holed out twice from 100 yards +, but they weren't my best shots. Hole-outs are as much luck as skill.
Two shots stick out in my mind, and both came on golf trips.
The first was a driver off the deck on 18 at Lido. After a poor drive, my caddie handed me my driver. "Adam, I just hit a lousy shot with that club. What makes you think I can hit it off the deck?" He just said, "You got this shot." I hit it to ten feet.

I may know a guy that got video footage of that event.  If he were more tech savvy he might even post it here...


But in lieu of that suffice it to say it was majestic!!

What, no mention of your hole-in-one?

 I was right in the middle of a bunch of family stuff when I posted this and I didn't have time to elaborate on my own "shot of the year" but wanted to comment on yours. 


Now that I have a minute I will tell the tale... 


So people often ask me "how the heck can anyone have played over 2400 different golf courses?" well you gotta be half crazy, and committed (or worthy of being "committed").  This is how you do it.   On 1/19/23 I was driving home from Alabama and finished a conference call late in the day.  I was not planning to play specifically that day, but I knew I had 4+ hrs of driving to get home, and my wife would be long asleep by the time I get home, so might as well try to knock off another course on "The Quest".  I looked ahead on my GPS and saw a small town “Private” 9-hole course along the way that I had never played & I made the phone call.  The nice lady who answered said no problem when she heard about "the quest".


When I got to Pell City (AL) CC she told me I needed to have the cart back basically in a little over an hour.    So I headed out on a pretty quick pace.  On the 2nd hole I came upon a single young guy, whom you could tell was just learning.  I asked if I could play through and he said yes.  I quickly finished the hole & headed to the Par 3 - 3rd. 


When my tee shot seemed to disappear I was pretty confident that it had gone in for an Ace!  I asked the young guy who was still on the adjacent green would he mind hitting his teeshot and coming up to possibly witness for me? You can see video of the actual moment of truth with young Cooper as my witness on my Instagram post  https://www.instagram.com/p/CoepGe0JroN/ 


My third ever hole-in-one!  147yds with a 7-Iron! 


I continued on my way now intent on trying to finish my round at all cost since I had a card with a “1” on it and wanted to fill in every box.  I played until I caught several groups on the 8th hole & it was getting close to the time I was supposed to have the cart in.  The lady was so nice that I did not want to be late brining the cart back. So I took the cart in and asked if she would drive me back to 8th tee so I could walk the last couple holes and try to finish? She said "Yes!"


 So she drove me out to the 8th tee and I finished my round on Course #2297 at the time! 


2023 was an epic year overall, but that shot and round reminded me of why you never pass up a chance to play, especially a course you have never played before!  Pell City CC will never be on anyone "best of" anything list architecturally, but it has a warm spot in my heart!

[MCirba]

Despite having been out to Monterey Peninsula once prior about 20 years ago, I had never played Pebble Beach but walked much of it with Dr. Geoffrey Childs after playing somewhere special that morning.   This past October I finally had the opportunity and it definitely lived up to the hype and featured any number of exhilarating opportunities for memorable shots.


Fortunately, despite a slow start and a disappointing finish I played some very good golf most of the day.   The highlight came in two parts.   First, a wedge on 7 to 15 feet and a birdie putt that yielded something like a primal scream from me, followed by #8.


I was lying just into the rough on the left side, about 190 yards from the hole.   I somehow nervously hit the dead center of the clubface with a 4-iron and excitedly watched as the ball soared over the cliffs with a slight left-handed draw, the perfect angle and trajectory for that setting, settling about 12 feet under the hole.   My birdie putt was tracking, but just short, and walking off that green I could have died quite happily on the spot.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Pulled my drive on our #10 - slightly downhill, slight movement to right Par 4 of 450 from the tips with a river running across the FW at ~300.

Drive almost landed on 17th tee box where 4 "younger members" (who o know well) began to chirp and heckle me as I approached, rightly so.


 Had 195 to the flag but several mature oaks, elms and the west fork of the north branch of the Chicago River to deal with.
My opening was about 8-10 feet wide and had to keep it under 10' tops or I was dead. Fast, firm fairways and a pair of bunkers to deal with once clear of the trees and water.


Grabbed a 5 iron and with weight on front foot, I hooded a low, drawing piss-missile that seered through the trouble and found the FW where it turned over and trundled up onto the green and came to rest about 3 feet from the hole.


Missed the putt though...;-)

[John Kavanaugh]

Those young turds can’t smell that shot. Congrats.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Pulled my drive on our #10 - slightly downhill, slight movement to right Par 4 of 450 from the tips with a river running across the FW at ~300.

Drive almost landed on 17th tee box where 4 "younger members" (who o know well) began to chirp and heckle me as I approached, rightly so.


 Had 195 to the flag but several mature oaks, elms and the west fork of the north branch of the Chicago River to deal with.
My opening was about 8-10 feet wide and had to keep it under 10' tops or I was dead. Fast, firm fairways and a pair of bunkers to deal with once clear of the trees and water.


Grabbed a 5 iron and with weight on front foot, I hooded a low, drawing piss-missile that seered through the trouble and found the FW where it turned over and trundled up onto the green and came to rest about 3 feet from the hole.


Missed the putt though...;-)

So, what was the response from the guys on the tee?

[Ian Mackenzie]

Pulled my drive on our #10 - slightly downhill, slight movement to right Par 4 of 450 from the tips with a river running across the FW at ~300.

Drive almost landed on 17th tee box where 4 "younger members" (who o know well) began to chirp and heckle me as I approached, rightly so.


 Had 195 to the flag but several mature oaks, elms and the west fork of the north branch of the Chicago River to deal with.
My opening was about 8-10 feet wide and had to keep it under 10' tops or I was dead. Fast, firm fairways and a pair of bunkers to deal with once clear of the trees and water.


Grabbed a 5 iron and with weight on front foot, I hooded a low, drawing piss-missile that seered through the trouble and found the FW where it turned over and trundled up onto the green and came to rest about 3 feet from the hole.


Missed the putt though...;-)

So, what was the response from the guys on the tee?

Ha...!...they loved it and it was just a funny moment as I am now 60+ and these guys are what I was 20 years ago...


They also asked later if I "made the bird"....sadly, no, but the shot was worth it.