[Patrick_Mucci]

What features make a right handed golfer uncomfortable ?

Off the tee and on the approach ?

[Tom_Doak]

A cactus just to the left of their ball.

[David Stamm]

I know I feel uncomfortable when I'm on a tree lined course and right off the tee I have trees tight on the right, and then maybe 100 yds later, trees tight in on the left. Or, a dogleg leg left with the fw's cambered to the right.


On approaches, I never feel quite comfortable on the 5th on the North on Torrey Pines. Downhill lie, semi false front, with a green benched into the hill. I never hit the green the way I want to.

[ed_getka]

Why right-handed? It seems like the more pertinent question would ask about ball flight. What features make a slicer nervous, etc...?

Water all the way down one side or the other for either the tee shot or approach. Carries don't bother me unless they are over 180 yards on approaches, or 210 on tee shots. I hit low trajectory shots that roll out so I can't deal with long forced carries very well.

[Jeff_Brauer]

A cactus just to the left of their ball.

Such humor from "an angry young man!"

According to Pete Dye, for a woman right hander, it was a cart path (or more precisely, parked carts with gawking makes) on the left of the tee as they bend over to tee the ball.

I have heard the tree right off the front corner of the tee before, but only from hookers. The typical slicer doesn't care.

Occaisonally, I hear of golfers complain of tees with cross slopes, if they accentuate the natural ball flight (i.e. to the left for right handed hookers)

Personally, as I stand on the tee, the size of my house payment bothers me far too often to play effectively.  

[Phil McDade]

Patrick:

Most right-handed players slice their tee balls (not the good ones, but good golfers are a minority of golfers), so I'd say a doglegging left hole with a fairway canted so that balls run out to the right. My nine-hole muni has one of those, and it's the best hole on the course, and the most challenging drive, at least for me.

Second would be a long Redan of more than 175 yards, doubly so if the tee shot is uphill. See Lawsonia's 4th -- not quite a classic Redan, but close. I Billy Casper it and always play short.

Sean:

What course?

[James Bennett]

A back pin on a reverse redan, when playing a left-hander.

James B

[JESII]

Pat,

I don't think this is specific to my right-handedness, but when a course slightly obscures the target area (whether fairway or green) so that I can see some of what I want to do, but not all, I get uncomfortable.

Merion is my best case study for this. With very slight elevation changes and clever bunker construction I stand on the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 16th tees plus the 1st, 2nd (both fairway shots) 3rd, 6th, 7th 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th approach shots not quite comfortable with the target and its flow. For example, on #7 if I manage to hit it in the fairway I will typically have a wedge into the green and even if I no the exact yardage to the hole I have a difficult time visualizing the shot I'd like to hit. I tend to let the ground at my ball and on the green dictate what I should try and the green there sits just above eye level which eliminates the ability to see just where the little humps and hollows are in relation to the pin.

Firmness, once again, makes this situation absolutely sing...

[Tim Bert]

Pat,

I don't think this is specific to my right-handedness, but when a course slightly obscures the target area (whether fairway or green) so that I can see some of what I want to do, but not all, I get uncomfortable.

Pacific Dunes #1 tee shot impacted me in this way the first two trips I took there.  It took me until the third trip to get comfortable with what I was seeing.  The contours of the fairway make it appear much tighter than it is.  It is a very uncomfortable first swing of the day for me (Bandon Trails #1 is as well) though I managed it much better this year.  I think I've got a streak of three consecutive satisfactory tee shots in #1 now after some disasters in 2003 and 2005.

[RJ_Daley]

Though I haven't played this course... this sort of feature makes me uncomfortable.  I hate rock ledges, walls, cliffs, and RR walls on courses, particularly on approaches or surrounds of greens.  

[Jim Nugent]

OB tight down the right side, especially if there's not much bailout room down the left.

[Jesse Jones]

Off the tee-any time you face a hazard it's uncomfortable.
I've found the most unnerving is a water hazard running the entire right side of a fairway.
I really like #18 at Quail Hollow. If that little stream were on the right, I'd freak on the tee.
The approach at #5 on Pinehurst #2 I believe is just terrifying for right handers.
A fairway that slopes right to left, making any hook dead.
A block to a front left pin maybe worse.
I think any hole that slopes in that direction R to L--up hill to a green with a hazard to the left is dangerous.

[Steve Kline]

Tee shot - dogleg left with the prevailing wind left to right. I hate trying to draw it back into the wind. That is the most difficult full shot for a right handed golfer. If the hole allows I try to ride the wind and forget about the dogleg.

Approach shot - a hazard running down the length of the approach on one side. A cross hazard I don't really worry about because I control my distance well. But if runs the length of the approach or slightly diagonally to it that means any mishit to that side is dead. It is espeically frightening if the other side has short grass that falls away from the green.

[Kyle Harris]

I don't have a picture, but the tee shot on the 6th hole at Mountain Lake (especially from the back tee) makes me EXTREMELY uncomfortable. For a fairway that's almost 100 yards wide, it's difficult to get a line, or feel as though you are lined up correctly over the ball.

[David Lott]

If you fade the ball--

Trees overhanging left through a chute off the tee, and trouble right in the landing area. This tends to make the golfer try to alter his normal shot pattern.

On the approach, whether a fader or drawer, a short left pin placement with trouble (not terminal trouble, like water, which you will play away from, but recoverable trouble, like gnarly grass or deep bunkers.)

[tomgoutman]

Any tee shot where there is no bailout area. Any approach shot where the ball won't stay on the green if you land it there (because the surface is hard) and there is no path to run it up. (Doesn't this define poor golf course design?)

[James Bennett]

see the Nefyn thread by Ed Tilley.  Lots of 'uncomfortable' there.

[Jim Nugent]

A back pin on a reverse redan, when playing a left-hander.

James B

I used to love that, since I faded the ball.  

[Rich Goodale]

Playing against left-handers.  They should have their own courses and own competitions.....

and own keyboards and spell checkers.....

[Kalen Braley]

Patrick:

Most right-handed players slice their tee balls (not the good ones, but good golfers are a minority of golfers), so I'd say a doglegging left hole with a fairway canted so that balls run out to the right. My nine-hole muni has one of those, and it's the best hole on the course, and the most challenging drive, at least for me.

Second would be a long Redan of more than 175 yards, doubly so if the tee shot is uphill. See Lawsonia's 4th -- not quite a classic Redan, but close. I Billy Casper it and always play short.

Sean:

What course?

Phil has nailed it here...

As a typical fader/slicer, trees down the left and/or OB on the right hand side always get me.  Then when you throw in left to right wind, dogleg left holes, or severely downhill shots where the ball remains in the air that much longer to go further off line.

[rjsimper]

Trees overhanging the tee/pinching the tee shot chute on the side from which I intend to work the ball.  

[Doug Siebert]

I hit the ball quite high, so overhanging branches on a tree that's further down the tee or shortly off it tend to bother me much more than most.  I shouldn't be having to play a 'shot' off the tee and alter my trajectory, or have to aim somewhere other than where I would really like to aim, because of a tree that's 20-50 yards from the tee markers I'm playing from!

That makes me a hell of a lot more uncomfortable than a tree overhanging the fairway or even in the center of the fairway 250 yards out.  There's plenty of ways to deal with that while still playing a relatively normal shot, and the penalty for getting it wrong and hitting it is much less severe.

One of my favorite courses in the area actually has both.  Its 3rd is a 330 yard par 4 that's steeply uphill the last 40 yards or so.  There's a half dead tree about 40 yards off the teebox on the right, there's a large healthy tree right center of the fairway about 250 out, and OB left.  If the tee markers are set up on the back right of the teebox, that tree off the tee is fully in play, and I am extremely uncomfortable since I have to aim in the left rough and try to fade it back, and I'm a hooker not a fader.  If I double cross it its OB, if I block it, it hits that tree and is either lost or leaves me a 200+ yard shot into a shallow blind green surface.  Luckily the tees are rarely in that worst case position, but it sure as hell makes me uncomfortable, let me tell you!  If I was allowed to cut down one tree on a golf course within 100 miles of me, that would be the one!

[Brad Swanson]

The approach to #1 green at Greywalls is quite uncomfortable if your wedge yardage isn't dialed in.  The fact that the next par 5 doesn't come until the 13th hole adds pressure to making birdie when the opportunity presents itself (not unlike the hole sequence at Sand Hills).  A 50-100yd wedge to a firm elevated green falling away at all edges doesn't do anything to build confidence early in the round.

From the back

[Phil Benedict]

I can only speak for myself but lost ball potential on the outside of a dogleg off the tee and water to the right of any green give me the willies.  The approach to 16 at TPC Sawgrass is not a favorite, for example.  It's not that big a deal for the pros because they still make par more often than not and don't care about lost balls.  

[Ted Kramer]

Nothing makes me more uncomfortable in terms of hitting a shot than a drive through a shoot of trees - HATE it.

-Ted

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