Opinion & Analysis
What’s Your Favorite Shot to Hit?
What’s your favorite shot? I mean other than the tap-in for birdie?
“A big drive, out past everyone I’m playing with,” said Eddie, who’d out-driven me all day. He’s from British Columbia and we were on the 14th hole at Indian Wells Celebrity course.
“That’s why he plays with me,” said his friend Brandon who was 5 over through 13. “He’s always longer than me off the tee. Doesn’t mean I don’t beat him though.”
Brandon’s favorite shot is a wedge from around the green, and he’d demonstrated it earlier with a couple of good up-and-downs for par. “I just feel confident I can figure out where to land the ball so it will get near the hole and that I can hit that spot — or nearby.”
“Any shot that doesn’t have water in play is fine with me,” said Garett, a long-hitting though erratic 20-something (age, not handicap) playing at Sierra Lakes. His buddy Daniel, who clearly had made the transformation from college athlete to good golfer, said his favorite shot was a birdie putt from anywhere.
[quote_box_center]“I’d love an 8- to 15-foot birdie putt, but really, anytime I have a birdie putt, even if it’s 35 feet, I’m happy,” he said. “First, it means I hit a good or maybe even great approach shot, and second, now I’ve got my putter, my favorite club in the bag, in my hands.”[/quote_box_center]
Me, I just get more nervous when I’ve got a chance to turn a three-putt birdie into bogey.
“No, you can’t worry about that,” Daniel said. And I had the feeling he meant it.
[quote_box_center]“I love a short par-4 where you can hit a 3-wood or hybrid off the tee and then have a wedge or 9-iron into the green,” Alec told me at San Dimas Canyon. “They’re the two easiest shots for me to hit, maybe because I’m not trying to kill the ball.”[/quote_box_center]
Playing in the threesome with Alec, Jonathan, a physically unimposing guy a little taller than average, maybe a stroke under 6 feet, disagreed.
[quote_box_center]“I love to kill the ball,” he said. “To watch it take off from the tee and in that instant I already know I crushed it. Man, that’s the best feeling.”[/quote_box_center]
And I wondered what it feels like, not ever having hit a drive over 260 myself — and that probably required some combination of downhill and tailwind.
“You know it at contact,” he said, and I remembered the drive he hit on No. 3 earlier; it hung in the air high against the mountain backdrop for a long time until it disappeared over the hillside past the big pond.
“In your follow through your brain is going, ‘Wow, yeah, all right, move just a little left,’ and you see the ball take-off like a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier and it’s just a rocket shot.” And I suppose I would mix metaphors, too, if I ever hit one like that.
“A wedge from 110, third shot on a par-5,” said Sam who likes to play at Desert Willow where he gets the resident-rate savings even though he was born and raised and lives most of the year 3,000 miles away. “I play the white tees here at Firecliff, from the blues, I never get to 110 on the par-5s.”
“What shot do I want if I could choose any shot to hit?” asked Dillon, a high single-digit, early-40s guy who did indeed correctly understand my question.
[quote_box_center]“What shot don’t I want? Anything I could chili-dip or shank. Nothing that has to carry over water. Not a drive, those are problematic.”[/quote_box_center]
He was really giving this some thought.
“I love a 130-yard to 150-yard downhill shot to a green. An 8- or 9-iron, especially when the ball is sitting up in the fairway: a perfect lie, on nice firm, springy turf and the green is right in front, below you, and you see the flag more than you see the traps surrounding the green,” Dillon was on a roll.
[quote_box_center]“The mountains are in the background behind the green, or maybe it’s the ocean, or just some trees, or the desert like here. It’s still all green and beautiful. And I’m here with my dad or good friends and we’re drinking beers and smoking cigars. It’s noon on a weekday; a light, comfortable breeze is blowing, it’s nearly 80 degrees outside and we’re only a few over par with some birdie holes coming up.”[/quote_box_center]
I was aware as he spoke that the answer I’d thought was about one anticipated result was instead much grander. When I’d considered the one shot that’s my favorite to hit — with my solitary focus on a club meeting a ball to produce an outcome — the playing of the stroke overwhelmed the essence of the game.
In the end, I realize, it doesn’t really make a difference if the ball ends up tight to the flag, or 300 yards off the tee. Since I’m not getting paid to play, golf is actually about so much more than just the score.
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19th Hole
Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview
The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.
TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.
Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.
However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.
Past Winners at TPC Louisiana
- 2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
- 2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
- 2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
- 2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
- 2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
- 2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)
2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks
Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)
Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.
This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.
McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.
Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)
Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.
Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.
Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)
Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.
NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.
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19th Hole
Vincenzi’s 2024 LIV Adelaide betting preview: Cam Smith ready for big week down under
After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.
For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.
The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.
The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.
*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*
Past Winners at LIV Adelaide
- 2023: Talor Gooch (-19)
Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami
Green in Regulation
- Richard Bland
- Jon Rahm
- Paul Casey
Fairways Hit
- Abraham Ancer
- Graeme McDowell
- Henrik Stenson
Driving Distance
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Joaquin Niemann
- Dean Burmester
Putting
- Cameron Smith
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Matt Jones
2024 LIV Adelaide Picks
Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)
When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.
At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.
The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.
Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)
Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.
In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.
For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.
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Opinion & Analysis
The Wedge Guy: What really makes a wedge work? Part 1
Of all the clubs in our bags, wedges are almost always the simplest in construction and, therefore, the easiest to analyze what might make one work differently from another if you know what to look for.
Wedges are a lot less mysterious than drivers, of course, as the major brands are working with a lot of “pixie dust” inside these modern marvels. That’s carrying over more to irons now, with so many new models featuring internal multi-material technologies, and almost all of them having a “badge” or insert in the back to allow more complex graphics while hiding the actual distribution of mass.
But when it comes to wedges, most on the market today are still single pieces of molded steel, either cast or forged into that shape. So, if you look closely at where the mass is distributed, it’s pretty clear how that wedge is going to perform.
To start, because of their wider soles, the majority of the mass of almost any wedge is along the bottom third of the clubhead. So, the best wedge shots are always those hit between the 2nd and 5th grooves so that more mass is directly behind that impact. Elite tour professionals practice incessantly to learn to do that consistently, wearing out a spot about the size of a penny right there. If impact moves higher than that, the face is dramatically thinner, so smash factor is compromised significantly, which reduces the overall distance the ball will fly.
Every one of us, tour players included, knows that maddening shot that we feel a bit high on the face and it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not your fault.
If your wedges show a wear pattern the size of a silver dollar, and centered above the 3rd or 4th groove, you are not getting anywhere near the same performance from shot to shot. Robot testing proves impact even two to three grooves higher in the face can cause distance loss of up to 35 to 55 feet with modern ‘tour design’ wedges.
In addition, as impact moves above the center of mass, the golf club principle of gear effect causes the ball to fly higher with less spin. Think of modern drivers for a minute. The “holy grail” of driving is high launch and low spin, and the driver engineers are pulling out all stops to get the mass as low in the clubhead as possible to optimize this combination.
Where is all the mass in your wedges? Low. So, disregarding the higher lofts, wedges “want” to launch the ball high with low spin – exactly the opposite of what good wedge play requires penetrating ball flight with high spin.
While almost all major brand wedges have begun putting a tiny bit more thickness in the top portion of the clubhead, conventional and modern ‘tour design’ wedges perform pretty much like they always have. Elite players learn to hit those crisp, spinny penetrating wedge shots by spending lots of practice time learning to consistently make contact low in the face.
So, what about grooves and face texture?
Grooves on any club can only do so much, and no one has any material advantage here. The USGA tightly defines what we manufacturers can do with grooves and face texture, and modern manufacturing techniques allow all of us to push those limits ever closer. And we all do. End of story.
Then there’s the topic of bounce and grinds, the most complex and confusing part of the wedge formula. Many top brands offer a complex array of sole configurations, all of them admittedly specialized to a particular kind of lie or turf conditions, and/or a particular divot pattern.
But if you don’t play the same turf all the time, and make the same size divot on every swing, how would you ever figure this out?
The only way is to take any wedge you are considering and play it a few rounds, hitting all the shots you face and observing the results. There’s simply no other way.
So, hopefully this will inspire a lively conversation in our comments section, and I’ll chime in to answer any questions you might have.
And next week, I’ll dive into the rest of the wedge formula. Yes, shafts, grips and specifications are essential, too.
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Mike T
Apr 8, 2015 at 2:03 pm
Whoops, wrong article… Big driver, for sure, is what I play for.
Mike T
Apr 8, 2015 at 2:02 pm
Makes complete sense, unlike those barefoot style golf shoes. Unfortunately the price is a ripoff for a product that cost the same to make as any other pair of Adidas.
other paul
Apr 7, 2015 at 5:33 pm
Any drive with the wind, for me. My favorite local course has a shorter (520 ish) par 5 that tends to run with the wind. Love trying to see if I can hit a 8i or less at it. I think I am 1 for 20 tries ????
Tyler
Apr 2, 2015 at 2:26 pm
My favorite shot is a second shot 250+ yard bullet on a par 5 with a 3w off the deck. When I execute that shot perfectly there’s nothing that makes me feel more like a good player than that. That shot separates the duffers from the players.
Chad
Apr 2, 2015 at 1:55 pm
High baby draw all day
SMH
Apr 2, 2015 at 11:33 am
personally my favorite shot is snap hooking one OB
CHRIS
Apr 2, 2015 at 10:27 am
Wedge shots. Anything 100 yards and in. 8 out 10 times I’m within 8 feet.
Gib15
Apr 1, 2015 at 3:18 pm
Tequila. Good in all weather conditions and very playable on any course.
Busterpar
Apr 1, 2015 at 2:00 pm
My favorite shot is my next one. Just like my favorite club is the next one I get to use. If I wait for a “favorite” shot, I’d just be looking at all the others negatively. Can’t play golf that way!
Tom HIll
Apr 1, 2015 at 5:12 pm
Of course you are correct Buster, but that wouldn’t make a real funny or very interesting golf story. Thanks. Hey – you can buy my book, A Perfect Lie – The Hole Truth, at 7-ironpress.com and use the coupon code GOLFWRX for free shipping on the paperback.
JMaron
Apr 1, 2015 at 1:39 pm
Anytime I have an iron into a par 5.
Dave N
Apr 1, 2015 at 12:21 pm
For me, it’s usually an approach shot that is between clubs and requires clearly obvious shaping, like a choked up draw from 130 from a side hill lie to a back left pin. Or a high fade to avoid some limbs of a greenside tree because I was a little erratic off the tee. I’m not always successful, but I love the challenge and it’s so rewarding to pull it of whether I’m out with my buddies playing for $ or trying to squeeze in a few holes solo before the sun goes down.
Ron
Apr 1, 2015 at 10:58 am
My favorite shot is a cut SW to a tight pin placement. Love the feel and control! Oh, yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TJ Horton
Apr 1, 2015 at 8:59 am
A good one…badumtiss
Alex T
Mar 31, 2015 at 2:49 pm
Cool article, reminds me that every golfer is different and what might be a perfect shot-making opportunity for one might be someone else’s nightmare. Personally I love it when it’s windy. When the conditions are good I put too much pressure on myself to hit a perfect shot because I know there’s no excuses if I don’t execute well. Gimme a swirling headwind, slightly downhill, slightly dog-legged tee shot (left or right doesn’t make any difference to me) and pass me my three wood. There’s nothing I love more than sculpting a low slinging hook; gimme that shot and I guarantee I’ll find the fairway everytime, sometimes even the green on anything less than 260 yards. Gimme gorgeous sunshine, firm fairways and no wind/rain and the chances are I’ll top it. Golf is such a weird sport like that.