Most Disappointing Shot on a Renowned Hole

[The Great White Shark]

I think it would have to be Larry Mize's chip on 11 at AGNC.

[Doug Siebert]

A couple years ago I teed it up on the first hole at Prestwick, hoping to make up for my lousy 95 in 30-40 mph winds 10 years previous, my only score higher than 90 during nearly two weeks in Scotland.  It was equally windy, with intermittent squalls of that wonderful rain they have over there that feels like sleet needling into your skin, but I felt confident that my swing was working well enough to face the challenge, having scored 77 on Turnberry the day before in 20 mph winds, which would have been lower had I been putting.

I open with a perfect 4 iron into the best possible position, and arrive to find my ball in a divot.  Uh oh, could be one of those days.  I try to erase those thoughts from my mind, but in trying to avoid a thinned shot shooting through the green and against the wall, I hit way behind it and leave it in one of the deep bunkers ~50 yards short of the green.  I eventually end up with a triple bogey 7.  On the short 2nd, I put it into a greenside bunker, take two to get out, and three putt for another triple.  Wonderful.  After a nice little 4i/7i to the hollow behind the 3rd I nearly flop it in for an eagle but settle for a birdie, and think I may be back on track.  That's short lived as I push not one but two balls into the deep gunk right of the hazard on 4 attempting to drive the green, and after finding neither I finish that with an 8 and its all over for me.  I limp in with a humbling 102, the first triple digit score this 5 handicap has had in perhaps 20 years.

At North Berwick the next day I go around in 76.  Strange game.

[Tom Doak]

I was thinking it was the tee shot on the eighth hole at Pebble Beach -- an awkward blind layup.  But then I realized people were describing their own disasters.

I've hit a lot of bad shots, but the one that stands out:  two down to Urbina with three to play on his first visit to Cypress Point.  I laid up perfectly ... he went for the green and landed in three-putt territory ... and I stepped up and shanked my pitch into the ocean!

[ian]

I had 6 feet for birdie two weeks ago on #17 at the TPC Sawgrass. Missing the par putt coming back would go down as the most disappointing (after hitting the green!).

[Mike_Cirba]

Since I was a kid reading the Sports Illustrated article previewing the 1971 US Open at Merion, it had always been my favorite course in the world, mostly through osmosis.

When I moved to the Philadelphia area in the mid-80s, my drives around the property only solidified my opinion.

A few years back I finally get to realize my ultimate dream and I find myself standing on the renowned first tee with other GCA'ers.  Reading "Colonel Sanders"'s post above, I can only say that I'm fortunate to be lefthanded....

My backswing, which probably didn't make it to "hip-high", resulted in a screaming, long-iron, patio-table-high, pull top-hook, which died in the high grass about 100 yards off the tee.  Had I played the same shot from the correct side of the ball, I'm sure that the membership rolls would have been significantly reduced.    

[Matt_Cohn]

Two summers ago I had the opportunity to play 36 holes at Oak Hill East, site of this summer's PGA Championship, on a pefect June day. In the morning, I played OK, but of course it's a difficult track the first time around.

In the afternoon, playing from the tips, I got off to a good start, parring the first few holes...then the next few...and I stood on the 17th tee having parred the first 16 holes of the golf course.

On 17, I hit a poor approach into the front-left bunker, a poor bunker shot well short of the hole - and made the 20 footer for par.

I blasted a perfect drive on 18, and with the pin front right, I hit a 7-iron straight at the hole...and it came up 3 feet short of the green in the short rough. I hit the chip too hard, and had 8 feet for my 18th consecutive par on one of the country's most legendary courses.

It slid past the edge.

Of all the bogeys and worse that I've made, both in and out of tournaments, I'm not sure if one has bothered me more than that.

[Pete_Pittock]

Every one of my eight second shots at TOC #1 have ended up in the Swilcan Burn.

But they've all been balanced by extraordinary bounces, and all around good luck elsewhere on the course, but that's another thread.